NCFR

The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) considers family life education work experience to be employment that involves prevention and education for individuals and families relevant to the ten FLE Content Areas. Employment is typically demonstrated through curriculum and material development, and the development or presentation of workshops, courses or programs involving life skills; i.e. communication, parenting, financial management, sexuality, etc. Family life education can also involve research, program administration and policy development.

Family life education work experience can include a variety of activities (paid or unpaid) such as program development, program coordination/administration, program evaluation, needs assessments, marketing of family life education materials and programs, curriculum or resource development, publications, presentations, group facilitation, and community collaboration. In order to consider work experience activities as family life education the work should reflect these criteria:

• The work is educational and preventive in nature, rather than therapeutic
• The work is related to at least one of the ten family life content areas
• The work considers the whole family, even when working only with individuals (i.e., family systems perspective).
• The work reflects a lifespan perspective - childhood, adolescence, adulthood, later adulthood.
• The work includes identified content or a planned curriculum or program.

Many family life educators work in settings in which only part of their work would be considered family life education. The focus of their work or of the agency in which they work may be intervention or counseling or therapy. Still, they are able to incorporate a preventive, educational approach to their work by teaching life skills or providing education that strengthens an individual and/or their family.

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