European Social Fund in England

U-Too training

This is a not-for-profit company which specialises in accredited training for young single mothers of school age, or thereabouts, in parenting skills.

The need for such a course was highlighted by Swindon's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. Swindon recently recorded the highest levels of teenage pregnancy in the South West.

The training programme adopted follows a national model and has been very well received locally. However, when U-Too were commissioned in 2003 to undertake a survey of the needs of disaffected young men living in deprived wards, the lack of contact of young fathers with their children was revealed. A complimentary parenting course for young fathers was therefore funded in 2004.

Again, the response to recruitment was very encouraging. However, delivery has had to be substantially redesigned to accommodate their needs. Whereas the girls were prepared to study on a module-by-module basis, the young men insisted in pursuing their particular interests of the moment. They were happy to do this as a group. But there were extreme variations between them in the speed and the quality of their written work.

To meet the needs of this hard-to-reach target group, the entire portfolio of course materials and exercises has been re-written during the course of six months, to a worksheet-by-worksheet format. With one afternoon per week set aside for group work, and the time between available for the slower workers to catch up, the dynamic of the group has been retained - and even reinforced - and their portfolios have built up as fast or faster than in the conventional model. Sessions led by older male tutors, and a "feed your baby" session, have been the highlights of the course so far.

There is a waiting list of applicants, encouraged by word of mouth alone, for the next course starting in January 2005.