Research Report: CANparent Trial Evaluation - First Interim Report

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Authors Mairi Ann Cullen, Stephen Cullen, Steve Strand, Ioanna Bakopoulou, Geoff Lindsay, Richard Brind, Emily Pickering, Caroline Bryson and Susan Purdon
Published by Department for Education, March 2013

Summary
This 186-page report aims to evaluate the government’s trial CANparent initiative. Piloted in three areas – Camden, High Peak in Derbyshire, and Middlesbrough – the programme offers parents free vouchers they can use to pay for parenting classes from a range of providers. A further pilot in Bristol is exploring other funding models, such as employers paying for courses.

The research sets out to discover how far the trial has gone towards creating a new and competitive market for universal parenting classes, and how successfully this can be sustained with or without subsidy.

It comprised qualitative and quantitative methods, including surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and cost effectiveness analysis, as well as a literature review.
 
Researchers found that in the first seven months of the trial, CANparent classes attracted a representative sample of the population with regard to family status and parent education. Parents from ethnic minority groups made up 46 per cent of participants. More than a third (34 per cent) had higher education qualifications, while 23.6 per cent had none. Just over half of parents (51 per cent) were aged 26 to 35, although the 20 to 25 and 36 to 45 groups were also highly represented.

The overwhelming majority were female (94 per cent), indicating that, at least in the early stages, the CANparent offer w