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The need for parenting education in middle and high schools
In the past decade there has been an increasing call from educators,
and most especially from child abuse and neglect interventionists,
for parenting education before a person becomes a parent. As New
York State answers this call, we cite support and a rationale for
this important initiative.
Reppucci,
(1997) explains that: “The ideology behind parent education
classes geared toward youth (sometimes referred to as family life
education) is that educating school-age children and adolescents
about child-rearing roles and responsibilities prior to parenthood
decreases the risk of child maltreatment by these children as adults
(Wekerle & Wolfe, 1993). In other words, it is a model
for primary prevention” (Bartz, 1980). The author draws
upon The National Children’s Bureau description of parent education
as a “continuous process, starting with birth and early childhood
and going through school days, adolescence and committed relationships,
pregnancy and parenthood itself with education tailored appropriately
to developmental tasks” (quoted in O’Connor, 1990, p.
85). Often programs are “reality based, offering experiential
learning with infants and small children in on or off-site child-
care centers (Luster & Youatt, 1989). They sometimes are incorporated
into existing classes, such as personal and social education, moral
education, home economics, and a variety of primary school classes”
(pp.10-11).
In
the conclusions of “Child Neglect: A guide for intervention”
(1993b) Gaudin, suggests: “Schools are in a key position to
offer preparation for parenting and life skills development beginning
with very young children in kindergarten through critical preteen
and teenage years and for young adult parents through extended hour
programs. Curricula should include child development and child care
skills, interpersonal skills, problem- solving and decision- making
skills, budgeting, health maintenance/physical fitness, and identity
enhancement skills (Gazda. 1989;1991). Development of these critical
life skills would do much to prevent neglect in the current and
next generation of parents” (p. 63).
Over
a decade ago O’Connor (1990) wrote this: “Education for
Parenthood has for many years been a neglected, low status area
of school curricula, despite a professed belief in the family as
a stabilizing influence on society” (p. 86). After completing
a survey of high school teachers regarding the status and priority
of parenthood education in their schools, O’Connor noted: “I
concluded it was unhelpful to be prescriptive about the content
and context of courses. For example, they can and do occur in a
number of forms and places. These include, Personal and Social Education,
Moral Education, G.C.S.E., examined courses within Home Economics,
and a variety of topic work in primary schools. However, whilst
it is sensible to avoid being prescriptive about where they occur,
or how they are labeled, there are certain principles, which should
inform the rationale and method of such courses. Any such courses
should aim to explore the student’s own perceptions and attitudes
about parenting and child- care (p.86).
Prout
and Prendergast (1985-cited in O’Connor, p. 86) reported: “Our
research, especially our conversations with pupils, has convinced
us that the assertion that young people do bring a rich knowledge
about childcare, the family and parenthood to school with them is
empirically true.” O’Connor notes that “they argue
that this area of education needs to move away from the ‘medical
model’ of accepted ‘legitimate’ knowledge to one
based on feelings and attitudes, the affective domain. This obviously
has great implications for teaching methods and in-service education-for
a didactic, ‘expert’ approach would be quite inappropriate
in this context, whereas a supportive ‘group work’ one
would be (p.86).
Finally,
O’Connor advises that “Whether they (courses) use an integrated
or separate approach, should be decided on a ‘whole school’
basis. The crucial point is that all pupils should partake in them
and that they should be taught by teachers of both sexes-who are
convinced of their necessity” (p. 88).
Tomison
(1997) cites programs “in New South Wales that have been developed
to assist children to become better citizens, predominantly under
the personal development, health and physical education key learning
area. These include the teaching of conflict resolution skills and
the National Health Promoting Schools Strategy, which aims to develop
interpersonal relationship skills. … Under this approach, education
is strongly involved in preparing young people to function in society,
rather than working to educate on a purely academic agenda (Tomison,
1996a)” (p.40).
Tomison
(1998) described The Starting Out Project, Burnside New South Wales’
whose “purpose is to prevent abuse by educating young people
about child development and the impact of abuse on children. The
project assists young people prepare for the demands of parenting
before they become parents. It enables them to reflect on the way
they were parented and to begin to think about how they want to
parent. It creates the possibility for breaking cycles of negative
parenting and reinforcing more constructive and nurturing forms
of parenting. Acknowledging the importance of adequate social support,
the program includes networking activities where students role-play
being parents and seeking assistance. In this way the program attempts
to familiarize students with available supports in the hope that
they will be more likely to use them in the future” (pp. 13-14).
In
their important work on primary prevention Wekerle & Wolfe (1993)
recommend: “An alternative approach to targeting subjects with
specific risk-indicators would be to use more general indicators,
such as first time parenthood, or to offer intervention on a truly
community-wide basis to all potential and present parents. The logic
of this approach is that presumably there is no ceiling to developing
personal and relational competency. It is good if prevention programs
are not stigmatized by an ‘at risk’ label” (p. 534).
Wolfe
(1993) tells us how we should proceed: “ On a more primary
level prevention services for youth populations could integrate
educational concepts (e.g. attitudes and knowledge issues affecting
healthy versus violent relationships) with practical skills aimed
at non-controlling conflict resolution. Such efforts have been undertaken
recently by School Boards (e.g. Jaffe et al., 1992) and by protective
service agencies … following from the belief that this age
group offers a unique window of opportunity to challenge existing
beliefs and attitudes concerning the use of power and aggression
towards others. Accordingly, educationally focused prevention programs
targeted to low- and high-risk adolescents merit development and
evaluation in schools, communities and service agencies, on such
topics as control and power in relationships, sexual and physical
violence and family and childrearing values” (p. 107).
Students
as ideal candidates for parenting preparation
While a past educator (deLissovoy, 1978) felt students might not
be interested in parenting, he nevertheless saw many pre-parenting
skills such as issues of the self, interpersonal relationships skills,
and values identification as interesting to students. We include
below a more current rationale for teaching adolescents this material.
Simpson
(2001) delineates the developmental tasks of teens. In her excellent
summary of theory and research, we see that much of the work of
adolescence makes these students good candidates for preparation
for parenthood. She describes this as a time rich for introspection
and reflection…very important to parenting. Students are even
better able to put themselves in another’s shoes. Students
are also able to become better decision- makers and problem- solvers
and with abstract thinking are able to imagine solutions that have
not concretely seen or experienced. Students are better able to
plan and think about goals. Students are also more able to think
about other’s intentions and emotional states (p. 31).
Wekrele
and Wolfe (1998-as cited in Trickett & Schellenbach) reinforce
this belief: “Adolescence marks the stage when primary affective
ties are being moved from the family to the peer network and romantic
partnerships. In parallel, adolescents’ increased capacity
for abstract thought and their motivation to achieve an autonomous
identity propel them toward exploration of self within the relational
domain, including such psychological processes as heightened social
comparison and self-reflection (Crockett & Petersen, 1993)….
In adolescence, specific relationship goals such an intimacy, companionship,
nurturance, and assistance have the opportunity to be fulfilled
by the adolescents’ exploration of peer-ships and partnerships
(Furman & Buhrmeister, 1985, 1992). Also important, relationship
skills are being acquired, reinforced, and refined, including methods
of handling interpersonal conflict” (pp. 353-354).
Tomison
(1997) also discusses adolescent learning readiness: “One possible
solution advocated by Conte and Fogarty (1990) is based on the premise
that many of the different health/life skills programs share some
basic goals: the encouragement of independent thinking; the resistance
of peer pressure; the development of decision making; assertiveness
and effective communication skills. Conte & Fogarty (1990) perceive
some benefit in developing a general prevention curriculum primarily
promoting mental health and empowering individuals, but with a secondary
focus on applying the generic skills to specific problems and situations”
(pp.58-59).
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