Parenting skills - the importance of training and validation

EPA was invited to take part at the Policy Debate on Intergenerational Learning on 30 March in Brussels. There, as usual, we emphasised the important role parents and grandparents play in the education of children and also the vast amount of learning they do while parenting. Andrew McCoshan from the ePlatform for Adult Learning in Europe became interested in the topic and as a result he published an article about EPA on this website of the European Commission: Why we need more quality learning opportunities for parents

Digitalisation programme for schools - newsflash from Croatia

The CEDEFOP website reported on a massive digitalisation programme of Croatian schools that will include the introduction of e-class registers (a well-established practice still a controversial one froma a parental point of view in many countries), a national distance learning portal and School 2.0, a 21st century way of schooling. Korak po Korak, the Croatian member of EPA has collected the opinion of some parents on the e-class register (e-class book) they already have experience with. The following reviews do not tackle the educational and trust issues arising from the introduction of this kind of feedback leaving out the child-parent bond yet, an issue in other countries.

Conference report on the Prague EPA Conference

On 24th and 25th April Prague hosted an EPA Conference on Supporting Parents to become the Best Primary Educators. EPA members were enjoying the possibility to explore the capital of the Czech Republic, a white spot on the map of EPA until now, but we also had an opportunity to learn about local and international initiatives aiming at supporting parents in their parenting roles. We were really honoured that the conference was attended and greeted by the Chairman of the Czech Parliamentary Committee on Education, Culture, Youth and Sports, the local mayor, high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Education and Municipality of Prague.

#DeliverNow - on Mother's Day for the EU Maternity Leave Directive

Half of Europe celebrates Mother’s Day today, 3 May, the other half will do so on 10 May. This occasion gives us a good opportunity to highlight the fact that the European Commission seems to be determined to withdraw the EU Maternity Leave Directive. It was adopted by the European Parliament in first reading in 2010, but the European Council is reluctant to put it on their agenda ever since quoting its being untimely because of the economic crisis. It proposes a minimum of 20 weeks of fully paid maternity leave (as compared to the present 14 weeks), the protection of pregnant women’s jobs and also a minimum of 2 weeks paid paternity leave. The European Women’s Lobby has been doing an extensive campaign to save the initiative.