ABSTRACT
One of the main conclusions of the All Party Parliamentary Hearings on Parenting in 1994 was the need to engage in funding ‘Relationship Education’, especially in schools, noting that this required suitable training for teachers and outside educators as well as a renewed emphasis upon sex education (Soley, 1994, p. 6). Senior figures in the National Children’s Bureau have long argued for a coherent policy for parent education. To some this might seem like an unaffordable luxury. In detailing an agenda for action, Pugh et al. (1994, p. 235) have developed a detailed suggestion for education for family life in schools, further education colleges and the Youth Service as well as clear support and care for prospective parents before they conceive a child. The key to grasping the importance of such an agenda lies in realising that ourselves having all been children once is no guarantee that we will make competent parents. Indeed, in view of emerging evidence of child abuse by parents and other forms of behaviour regarded as ‘poor parenting’, it seems clear that we need to rebuild all human service provision towards facilitating better family living. Clearly, the UK’s National Curriculum should be fundamentally reoriented towards family living. In 1984, Pugh and De’Ath set out a very detailed case for Family Life Education on behalf of the National Children’s Bureau. Education needs to be about preparing individuals to be decent citizens, to have decent relationships and partnerships. Family abuse, intimidation and discrimination all need to be tackled, not as ‘additional items’ but by reorienting the curriculum.
