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Help or hindrance? Family and friends as a barrier and enabler

An individual's family members and friends can act as a barrier or enabler to engaging with and completing a course of learning.

Barrier to learning - Having caring responsibilities, whether for children, parents or other relatives, is a priority for many people, and takes up a large proportion of time and energy. This can constitute a barrier to learning, which is sometimes overcome by childcare and respite care provision, although this is by no means always the case. Part of the issue is that parents want to spend time with their children, and this desire outweighs the desire for further learning.

Family and friends can also be a barrier when they are not supportive of an individual's decision to do some learning. This might be through lack of encouragement, or having negative attitudes towards learning. For more about this topic, see Influence of family

Enabler to learning - Family and friends can also act as an enabler to learning by supporting individuals. This can be emotional support, by encouraging a person to pursue their learning and believe in their own ability. People can also offer practical support, such as looking after children while an individual is studying or doing jobs around the house. Some people feel that they wouldn't be able to complete their course of learning without the support of their family:

"...if it hadn't been my Mum encouraging me...I wouldn't have done half the amount [of learning] what I have done, because my Mum knows I can do it."

Through the informal social network which is made up of family and friends, information about learning is passed on. Often people are very receptive to information which is passed on by first person, more so generally than advertising in ways such as posters, leaflets etc. as they already know and trust the source.

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