The National Academy for Parenting Practitioners is 'crucial' for developing the skills needed to support parents, Ms Hughes said at a National Families and Parenting Institute conference. Key stakeholders, including NFPI, are working with the DfES to create a specification for the academy. This will be released shortly for contract bidding.
The Academy will act as a national centre and source of advice, with three main aims: training practitioners and experts, developing ideas and good practice within the workforce, and supporting the Government's parenting agenda.
Ms Hughes said, 'EPPE research holds out the hope of severing the link between disadvantage and underachievement, but only if early years provision is of high quality, and parents are engaged in a way that empowers them and develops their confidence - something many of today's parents feel they lack.'