Gamal: “I tried my best, tried my best. You know. I had to learn. Read books,
went to the library, went to bookshops, bought books about raising children up,
read them, they gave me certain ideas, and, yes .. ”
Interviewer: “Okay. Can you tell me about some of the things you read, or some
of the things you learned in those first ...year or two? ”
Gamal: “ Yes, it is just how to raise children, there is one book in particular,
‘Between 1 and 5’, and it was quite helpful, how to feed, how to change the
nappies, their sleeping pattern, how many times you wake up at night to feed
them, things like that, yes, and .. extremely helpful, yes. ”
It is not only a matter of possessing the skills, but having access to the facilities where
they can be exercised. Gamal was enabled to cope in unfamiliar and unexpected
circumstances by his previous education. His life was transformed by taking on single
parenthood, but sustained by the access to collective knowledge that his education
gave him.
Other respondents reported how access to dictionaries had helped in a variety of ways
- a traditional but nonetheless immensely valuable knowledge source. Less traditional
sources include websites, which accounts in part for the increased confidence
generated by even minor acquisition of IT skills.
Lastly, but in a sense of primary importance, is the confidence to admit ignorance and
to ask for help when you do not know something. This gives access to other people as
sources of knowledge, and also of advice and information on further channels.
7. Family lives
It is a truism that family structures have become more complex, as demographic and
social trends combine to produce a bewildering array of changing relationships. The
effects of learning are correspondingly variegated, but they can be grouped under
three broad headings:
- the (reciprocal) relationships between parents’ attitudes and behaviour and
their children’s education;
- enhancing adults’ capacity to do a good job as parents;
- the effects on relationships within the family, including the extended
family.
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