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We are a team of  5.4 Family Learning Officers and a Learning Services Coordinator employed by Glasgow Life and based with Glasgow City Council Education Services. Our team are a key strand in Glasgow’s Improvement Challenge; we work closely with a Quality Improvement Officer to help close the ‘poverty related attainment gap’ by building school and nursery staff capacity to develop and deliver a sustainable family learning offer in their establishments. This is because research shows that Parental Engagement in their child’s learning has a bigger influence on attainment than any other social, economic and family background factor.

Education Scotland define Family Learning as ‘a powerful method of engagement and learning which can foster positive attitudes towards life-long learning, promote socio-economic resilience and challenge educational disadvantage’. It recognises the role of the parent as the first educator and supports parents/carers to be better able to support their child’s learning and development.

Working across Early Years and Primary, our team offers resources, training and coaching activities that will enable schools and nurseries to develop effective parental engagement strategies, improve the range and quality of their family learning programmes, increase parental learning and volunteering opportunities, and develop strong partnerships that support quality and sustainability. A 2024 Education Scotland Review found our strategic partnership to be an example of Highly Effective Practise in CLD (Community Learning and Development).

To find out more about our work and for details of activity in your area contact:

kathryn.farrow@glasgow.gov.uk (Quality Improvement Officer Education Services)

laura.kennedy@glasgowlife.org.uk (Learning Services Coordinator Glasgow Life)

You can also click on to our sketch note to download a handy summary of the work of our team.