Project Parents's Voices
How can parents from diverse backgrounds be supported to create their own analysis of what it means to be a “good” parent in Europe today and to enter into a dialogue about educational beliefs and values with professionals and policy makers?
ACEPP, along with partners from Belgium –VCOK– and Germany –ISTA– have worked on Parental Universities (UPP) that were initially launched in 2005, with the support from the Bernard van Leer Foundation. These are groups of parents who look at questions on parenthood that affect them, together with researchers and moderators. Afterwards they debate about these issues with teachers, social workers etc. to have their voices heard. This project has attracted a lot of institutional and political interest, and facilitated a lot of cooperation projects between parents, institutions and politicians. For example, parents active in a UPP, have become actively involved in the training of teachers and educators, as well as in the framing of social politics, by having their voices heard. In May 2008 there was a large conference at the university of Sciences Po with 500 participants, including a minister and several important people involved in politics. Since that conference, 11 new UPP have been developed. Within the work with DECET, there are now also several UPP in Germany and Belgium, giving the UPP a European dimension. A website has been created on: www.uppacepp.eu.
Several important seminars were organised within this project: Berlin, 2008 (presentation of the European ‘kick off’ for the project), Paris June, 2009 (a large parents seminar with parents from the 3 countries involved), Berlin December 2009 (seminar for moderators and researchers involved in the project).
On 28 June 2010 a European conference on UPP was organised in Ghent, with the participation of parents of UPP in France, Germany and Belgium. You can read more about this conference under 'Events'.
This project on Parnets's Voices will continue working on the Parental Universities, and will aim further elaboration on European level. The project has been granted a Grundtvig Learning Partnership. DECET partners in Germany, France and Belgium have been granted a further two-year extension of Grundtvig funds from 2010 to 2012. In all 3 countries there is a great interest from the political level.
In France, the parents that are involved in the UPP, have contributed to 45 conferences, have introduced themselves into 124 official institutions and they have been involved in the training of 300 teachers and social workers.
