Ep2 has run several one and three day coaching courses for local authority staff and volunteers working with hard to reach parents living in economically deprived wards within the region. They play a vital front line role in working with parents and families and encourage them to access a range of opportunities such as adult and family learning courses that build skills and confidence, improving their chances of moving onto further education and employment or being better placed to support their children in their achievements at school. Their role often extends to helping resolve issues or difficulties that parents and children encounter. All of the course participants work in schools in communities where there is high unemployment, low educational achievement and various other social issues. They often work with families facing multiple difficulties and problems that can sometimes account for their failure in engaging with social and economic opportunities. It was anticipated that if participants were introduced to the concept of coaching it would help them in their approach to empower both parents and children. The coaching skills acquired would support them to build increased trust and rapport with families and enable families to begin to think of ways in which they could resolve some of the problems that they encounter. The long term vision is that this will foster a culture where families start to feel more confident in taking control of their lives and working through problems themselves. Some comments from participants:
It was informative and really made me think I shall look forward to using these techniques and passing them on to co-workers The training helped me to understand how I can communicate more effectively I have enjoyed today’s session, it has been a very positive experience, I hope to be able to use these skills when working with parents in the community I found it very interesting- a further follow up session at some point would be really useful
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