Many parents would appreciate professional advice and support in child-raising issues. In
Germany, there are various programmes offering mothers and fathers information for
different phases of child-raising and giving them the necessary reassurance to master
difficult parenting situations. Similar offers and innovative approaches to promote parental skills can also be found in other European countries.

The international conference on “Promoting parental skills in Europe – instruments and effects” will be an opportunity to introduce and discuss experiences with different approaches, instruments and their effects in parental education – taking into account specific national and institutional contexts. Speakers from Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany and the UK will be taking part in the discussions.

Six different workshops will analyse and debate central aspects such as quality assurance or experiences with voucher schemes for parent education programmes. The conference aims at promoting Europe-wide exchanges between experts from various national and regional ministries and authorities and from academia as well as from relevant organisations working in the field of parental support.

The international conference is organised by the Institute of Social Work and Social
Education and the German Association for Public and Private Welfare on behalf of the
German Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

You will find enclosed the preliminary conference programme and the registration form.
We kindly ask you to return the registration form by 20 January 2010 (please see the form for contact details).