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The Life Chances study began in inner Melbourne in 1990 with 167 babies and their parents. Since then, stages of the study have focused on different issues, from services for young children, to experiences of school and finding a job and to parenting. Stage 13 of the study explored how the experience of becoming and being a parent affected economic security and financial wellbeing. It provided insights into the influences of gender and policy contexts, including paid parental leave, childcare and the right to flexible work on parents' decisions about work and care. The research team designed the study in two parts: an initial survey of current participants (122) in the Life Chances study; and in-depth interviews with 17 who were parents. The interviews explored the impacts of becoming and being a parent on their financial wellbeing, employment and domestic arrangements. Thirteen mothers and four fathers were interviewed, with 26 children in total ranging in age from nine weeks to eight years.

The interview process revealed that: (1) most parents wanted to share the work and care; (2) the gender pay gap reinforced gender roles; (3) take-up and coverage of paid parental leave was patchy; and (4) limited and costly childcare restricts choice. The report concludes that there is a need to create more equitable distribution of care. Recent refocused policy efforts by the federal government are positive attempts to place women's economic security more firmly on the agenda. Applying a gender lens to all family-related policy areas will ensure the removal of barriers to gender equity, enable women to participate more fully in paid employment and reduce the mismatch between desired work and care arrangements for men and women. Policy levers include boosting childcare affordability and availability, developing models of paid parental leave that encourage more equitable distribution of care between mothers and fathers/partners, and supporting greater take‑up of flexible work options by fathers/partners.

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Neighbourhood Houses in Australia are community place-based organisations that provide education, support services, and develop responses to local issues with local communities. The practices within Neighbourhood Houses are informed by community development. Yet knowledge, understanding and practices of community development vary across the workforce. In 2019, Neighbourhood Houses Victoria commenced a programme of professional learning for the workforce.

This paper draws on data from an impact evaluation and examines the benefits and barriers to embedding a professional learning programme in community development within its workforce. Using practice theory to examine the tensions and contradictions inherent in delivering professional learning in neoliberal times of managerialism and accountability in not-for-profit organisations. The contradictions of practice will resonate with organisations seeking to implement a professional learning across a broad range of human service organisations such as settlement houses, human services and community education settings. We claim most not-for-profit workforces are impacted by the discursive practices of neoliberalism such as contractual arrangements and the adoption of business practices to comply with funding requirements. These compliance requirements contrast with the philosophy and practices of community development and have the potential to impact on professional learning and the practices within these workplaces.

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The longitudinal Life Chances study arose from the Brotherhood of St Laurence's (BSL's) concern about the level of child poverty in Australia and a desire to better understand what affects children's life chances. It began with the parents of 167 infants born in two suburbs in inner Melbourne in 1990. The children were a representative cross-section of all births in the suburbs at that time. Each stage of the study has highlighted the impacts of advantage and disadvantage on life chances.

Stage 12 examines the participants of the study who turned 30 in 2020. Turning 30 has been associated with the establishment of a career, financial independence, family formation, home ownership and other signifiers of adulthood. Over the past three decades, economic and social change means that these expectations have been shaken and no longer hold true for many 30-year-olds. This report focuses on economic security and financial wellbeing, observing a noticeable trend of needing to rely on family resources. Changes in social and economic policy mean that there is an effective shift towards reliance on the family safety net, a trend known as familialism. Of course, families have always provided support but policy that relies on such support entrenches inequities, as not all families can provide the same level of support.

The report argues that reversing the drift towards familialism requires a commitment to policies focused on creating a just and equitable future for all. This would see investment in sustainable and inclusive jobs, quality education, affordable health care, housing and child care. It would include providing adequate social security to meet current and future challenges.

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Neighbourhood Houses are significant sites of community-based adult learning spaces that are empowering, supportive and caring. They embody inclusive community development processes and adult learning practices that facilitate formal, informal, and incidental learning. Practices in these sites of social inclusion support relationships and shared learning. This paper uncovers the relational practices in Neighbourhood Houses as people develop knowledge, skills and new ways of knowing through their participation. Many participants in this research lacked confidence as learners and were reengaging with learning following former negative and/or incomplete education experiences. They came to learn new skills following personal interests, to re-engage with learning for employment, seeking involvement in the community and reconnecting with others following periods of isolation and loneliness.

Drawing on Bourdieu's Theory of Practice we interpret the dispositions, practices and habitus in the Houses that support learner relationships and learning. We argue it is the Houses' intimate and nurturing relational practices that transform learners' lives, families and their local communities. This qualitative case study research involved adult and life-long learners in Neighbourhood Houses across Victoria. In-depth interviews were conducted with 87 diverse participants and from a mixture of rural, regional and urban Neighbourhood House locations.

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Neighbourhood Houses in Australia are spaces of education and learning that cater to and work with adult learners across a lifespan. They are known as fourth sector education providers in the Adult and Community Education (ACE) sector. With a history spanning nearly 45 years, Neighbourhood Houses provide vital education opportunities for adult learners. The research is set against the backdrop of the current project of lifelong learning, which has dominated adult education discourses for more than 30 years. Neighbourhood Houses are learning organisations and sites of social inclusion that embody adult learning practices. This empirical research of learners' experiences in Neighbourhood Houses reveals the complex and varying reasons for participating in ACE that are beyond the realms of formal adult education and include reasons such as decreasing social isolation, fostering friendships and new networks, increased wellbeing, raising income capacity and further learning to improve employment prospects. In doing this, we provide three case studies from the larger data sample of this study to give insight into the complexity of adult education and learners' experiences that occur in this dynamic space of learning. The outcomes for participants vary but include greater mastery of English language, improved foundational literacy, numeracy and computer skills, increased understanding of civics and citizenship and Australian history culture and society, while reconstructing previously held negative views of themselves as learners.

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Neighbourhood Houses are significant sites of formal and informal education for adult learners. Intrinsically connected to local communities they play an important role in decreasing social isolation and building social inclusion. The focus of this research is on adult learners and adult learning that engages with 'second chance' learners who [participated] in adult learning programs in the Barwon and South West regions of Victoria. The greater Geelong region is characterised by declining care automotive and textile manufacturing industries and emerging new industries such as hospitality and tourism. The data from the research participants in the study include career changers, long term and recently unemployed, newly arrived and migrant communities, young people and older adults.

This paper focuses on the learning practices of second chance learners who frequently have negative perceptions of themselves as unsuccessful learners, but are transformed through their learning experiences in Neighbourhood Houses. [The authors] argue the unique social space of the Neighbourhood House, the support and guidance offered by staff and teachers, the unique pedagogy and small group learning experiences, allow adult learners to reconstruct a new identity for themselves as successful learners.

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