"Someone to talk to and Someone to listen" - Supporting young pregnant women and young parents in school

1. Introduction

Throughout the document we have included the voices of young parents which reflect their experience of being pregnant and a parent at school. We are grateful to these young people for their help and support in the development of this document.

The Pregnancy and Parenthood in Young People Strategy highlights the importance of education, training and employment for young parents, as part of overall holistic support. This resource aims to support Local Authorities in regard to Action 4.9 to develop guidance for schools to ensure that support and planning processes are in place to allow young people who become pregnant to remain in their own school.

This resource can be modified locally to enable local authorities and schools to develop a document relevant to local approaches, or it can be used in its current form. It sets out why young pregnant women and young parents (mothers and fathers) need additional support to reduce barriers to learning.

Appendix A sets out how to plan that support, with the young person and their needs at the heart. Young parents are also young people, and should have their rights recognised as such. It is important that they are able to experience life as such. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) helps us to understand and ensure young people are provided with those rights.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the inequalities already experienced by young parents. Support for young parents to access learning, training and career advice is more important than ever. As part of this support, enabling young parents to remain or re‑engage in school is key.