Learning with Parents Awarded £58,292 Grant to Support Digital Platform

The Access Foundation has approved a grant of £58,292 to support the development of a digital platform Learning with Parents which helps disadvantaged families reconnect with education and learning together in the home.

Learning with Parents is a small, Bristol-based charity that works at a national level, directly reaching over 8,000 families a year, as well as influencing the sector more broadly through advocacy work.

The charity focuses on closing the gap in education opportunities and achievement for the UK’s most disadvantaged families.

The grant provided by the Foundation will enable the development team to create a new and simple method of authentication for the platform, which will avoid the need for passwords, removing a significant barrier for many families to access it.

Forgotten passwords has been reported as one of the biggest barriers to learning by parents and teachers with almost 400 messages about lost passwords in the last twelve months.

In the UK not all children have equal opportunities to access good education. Despite being a focus for all schools, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are still months behind their more affluent peers (Education Policy Institute, 2020).

The new platform replaces traditional homework with true home learning and is optimised to help parents facing the biggest barriers and monitors effective parental engagement for all their children.

Tom Harbour, CEO of Learning with Parents commented:

“At Learning with Parents, we know that having frequent and positive learning interactions at home plays a vital role in a child’s development. For many parents, particularly those on low incomes, evidence shows that apparently simple barriers like forgetting their login details can significantly reduce their engagement. We are thrilled to be partnering with The Access Foundation on this transformative initiative to remove the need for parents to have user accounts and passwords, whilst maintaining feedback loops and teacher insights. This is another big step on our charity's journey to ensure that every child is supported at home to fulfil their potential.”