NC Parenting Education Network

The North Carolina Parenting Education Network (NCPEN) is working to build the field of parenting education in the state with a focus on partnerships between parents and child care providers, teachers, and parent educators. Working together we can help each child reach his or her own potential! NCPEN is an unfunded collaborative of parenting education organizations and agencies.

Bylaws | Current Work| Upcoming Conferences

Defining Parent Education

Defining Parent Education & Parenting Educator
In the Spring Forum 08, we began to define parent education
A small group of NCPEN worked to refine these definitions resulting in the following work. It is anticipated that once defined, legislation may be introduced to introduce the definitions legally, then lead to a next step of professionalizing the field based on qualifications earned as a bona fide parent educator. Then court judges and others can refer parents to appropriate educational sources for mandated parent education.

Definition draft (12-08):

Parenting education is an organized, programmatic effort that is strengths-based and designed to support parents and other parenting partners while enhancing their competence & confidence to improve their child-rearing knowledge and skills. Parenting education has been shown to decrease child maltreatment, substance use and abuse in families and communities, and increase child resilience and school performance, which lead to academic success. Parenting education takes place within a variety of contexts, varies in duration and intensity, and is delivered independently or in collaboration with other support services by qualified parenting educators.

Parenting educators are qualified when they have both experience and education working with families and:
* are versed in the priority areas of how to guide, understand, nurture, and motivate children, how to be an advocate for children, and how to model and encourage care for self,
* understands theoretical frameworks in human development and family processes,
* uses appropriate educational outreach methods and apply research relevant to child development and family processes, * embraces and engages diverse family audiences
* successfully develops, evaluates, and implements educational and outreach programs
* continues to grow personally and professionally, and,
* provides leadership to the emerging field of parenting education.
(based on the National Extension Parenting Educators' Framework, 2002).

In North Carolina, we acknowledge the NC Parent Educator Credential (CPEI-IV).
NCPEN (www.ncpen.org) recognizes that Parenting Educators function along a continuum while possessing varying levels of education and experiences which qualify them to provide a range of services that support parents. The term, "Parenting Educator" (or "Parent Educator") and the credentials "CPE-I", "CPE-II", "CPE-II", or "CPE-IV" designate individuals who have been certified/credentialed by the North Carolina Parenting Education Network (NCPEN). Minimum requirements to become certified at the lowest level (IV) are at least two (2) years experience working with families as a volunteer or program assistant, documentation of experience and education in each NEPEF area and a letter of reference from a supervisor about the experience working with families.

• parenting education is interchangeable with parent education