A Wide-Angle Approach to Improving Family life and Parenting in Ireland: A Family Life Education Framework

This article explores the contemporary challenges of parenting, particularly those grounded in social stress, and those stemming from wider cultural sources and modernity. Current family and parenting support provision in Ireland are reviewed. A case is made for the development and implementation of a new integrated model of service delivery: A Family Life Education (FLE) framework. Key Family Life Education practice skills grounded in foundational principles are outlined and a 5-stage model to creating and implementing a Family Life Education framework in Ireland is proposed. As a policy option following a period of heightened social stress and economic duress due to the pandemic, this new approach to service provision, will enable and empower parents in their parenting roles, to socialise children to gain pro-social personhood, thereby promoting generalised civility and well-being.