£100,000 has recently been awarded to the WEA West Midlands for a two year parenting project in Birmingham. The project, funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), will use education to help adults improve their parenting skills.

The aims of the 'Supporting Parenting through Adult and community Education' (SPACE) project, are to engage parents and provide them with the skills, knowledge and confidence for positive parenting. The project will deliver free, flexible and accessible parenting skills programmes, with support for childcare. We hope that this support will help parents overcome issues experienced while trying to access education programmes, such as location, affordability and childcare costs.

In order to engage parents who aren't currently participating in structured learning we are currently looking to identify partners to help carry out outreach work and identify parent groups. Howard Croft, WEA's Regional Projects Coordinator says: "This is excellent news. The funding will mean that hundreds of socially excluded parents living in inner city Birmingham can benefit from local, free, fun and friendly courses to develop positive parenting skills".

Courses are set to begin in September 2009 and provide opportunities for parents in Birmingham to develop a wide range of new skills.

For more information visit the WEA West Midlands region website here.