Parents To Be Given £600 To Help Their Children With Homework

Parents To Be Given £600 To Help Their Children With Homework
Homework
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Homework

Mums and dads are to be paid more than £600 to teach them how to help their children with their homework.

They will receive the money to attend a new-style 'parenting academy' where they will learn how to improve children's skills in reading, writing, maths and science.

The programme will be launched next year at a cost of £1 million.

It will initially target parents from 1,500 families centred around 14 primary schools in Middlesbrough and Camden, North London. Parents of under-11s will attend the academy six times each term – 18 times in the academic year – with each session lasting 90 minutes.

They will receive a grant of around £600 for attending, although the full value of the awards has yet to be finalised. It is being led by the Education Endowment Foundation, a charity set up with £125m government funding in an attempt to raise standards in poor areas.

The EEF said the parenting academy – modelled on a similar project in Chicago – would 'aim to equip parents with the skills to support their children's learning in numeracy, literacy and science'.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told the Telegraph: "I have reservations about simply paying them, but if the money enabled parents to take time off work in order to attend, it could be very helpful."

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