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Young parents are getting engaged: Care to Learn is working

04 December 2007

Care to Learn is working, beating targets for getting young parents back into learning. And new research by the independent Institute for Employment Studies (IES) for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) shows that providing help with the cost of childcare while in education or training can make all the difference to a young parent achieving qualifications and progressing into employment.

Author Sally Dench, IES Senior Research Fellow, commented:

‘Care to Learn is helping to retain young parents in learning, but is also encouraging those already disengaged from learning to return to study. Alongside additional information, support and advice, it really is making a difference where it matters, in providing a route through to employment.’

Trevor Fellowes, the LSC’s Director of Learner Support said:

‘It is clear from these reports that an overwhelming number of young parents would not have gone on a course without the support offered by Care to Learn. By helping young parents return to learning and gain the qualifications they need, we help not only them and their children but also our society as a whole.’

The UK has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe, and when education and learning stop, teenage mothers face a cycle of disengagement and disadvantage. To address this, Care to Learn provides financial support for teenage parents in England who want to continue in, or return to learning. It helps with the cost of their childcare and travel.

Encouragement and motivation

For some young women, becoming pregnant interferes little with their motivation to continue with and progress their education. However, many were not very engaged with education before becoming pregnant and need further encouragement to remain in, or return to, learning.

This new research shows that a range of types of provision, specifically for young mothers, can help motivate and support them while learning. These provisions have a number of features in common, in particular they:

• provide a supportive, non-threatening environment involving small groups
• provide help in dealing with a wide-range of personal issues
• cater only for young mothers or ‘mums-to-be’
• offer flexibility that helps young mothers combine learning and parenting.

The research shows that there is still a range of issues to be addressed, for example, introducing more flexibility into mainstream learning to enable disengaged groups to become more involved, and addressing lack of motivation and confidence in learning at an earlier age.

Although this research looked specifically at teenage parents, and often teenage mothers (who nearly always have the main caring responsibilities) there are broader lessons that can be drawn from it around re-motivating disengaged young people in learning.

The study

As part of the national evaluation of Care to Learn, four studies were conducted during 2006 and early 2007:

• a qualitative study of young mothers not in learning – interviews with 51 young mothers who were, or had been, disengaged from learning
• a qualitative study of flexible learning provision for young mothers – interviews were conducted in a range of different types of learning provision, including that provided specifically for young mothers, and general provision
• a telephone survey of learning providers, including FE colleges, sixth form colleges, schools (with and without sixth forms), pupil referral units and work-based learning providers
• a self-completion, postal questionnaire of those receiving Care to Learn funding during the 2003/04 academic year, which generated around 290 responses.
• 82 per cent of those responding to the postal survey reported that they would not have gone on a course without the programme paying for childcare, and 95 per cent were on courses leading to additional qualifications.
• During this period, the proportion of the 2003/04 cohort funded by Care to Learn with no qualifications fell from 36 to 20 per cent.

There are four reports available from IES:

Young Mothers Not in Learning: A qualitative study of barriers and attitudes,
Dench S, Bellis A, Tuohy S, IES Report 439, July 2007

Learning Provision for Young Parents: A survey of learning providers,
Dench S, IES Report 440, July 2007

Learning for Young Mothers: A qualitative study of flexible provision,
Dench S, Bellis A, IES Report 441, July 2007

Impact of Care to Learn: Tracking the destinations of young parents funded in 2003/04,
Dench S, IES Report 442, November 2007

For further information about this research or press copies of any of the reports please contact Andy Davidson, IES press office, on 01273 678322, or Christine Pennington at LSC on 0114 207 4522.

Notes to editors

Care to Learn website: http://caretolearn.lsc.gov.uk/whatiscaretolearn and www.direct.gov.uk/caretolearn

Helpline for young parents thinking about returning to learning: 0845 600 2809

Information for professionals working with young parents: 0161 234 7269

• In 2006/07 Care to Learn supported 6,739 young parents with their childcare and associated travel costs, allowing them to return to learning.
• Care to Learn, combined with family and childcare tax credits for young parents in employment – will contribute towards the PSA target of doubling the numbers of young people in education, training and employment from the present figures of 30 per cent to 60 per cent by 2010.
• Care to Learn provides support to young parents who are aged 20 or younger when their learning starts. Support is available until the young parent finishes their studies, provided they remain in continuous learning.
• Parents can currently claim a maximum of £160 per child per week (and £175 per child if in London). Childcare costs are paid directly to the childcare providers (day nursery, child minder, college nursery or crèche, for example) and the travel costs are paid to the learning provider to distribute to the young parent as appropriate.
• In 1999, the Government launched the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy which set out to halve the rate of conceptions amongst under 18s by 2010; and to improve support for and minimise social exclusion experienced by teenage parents.

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