Video Upload Options

Family life education (FLE) develops skills and builds knowledge about the optimal functioning of the family, which is considered a primary social group, an organism, or a microsystem within society. Family studies are rooted on evidence-based research into the dynamics of interpersonal and intergenerational family relationships, human attachment and lifespan, and the process of socialization of the individual within the family and other social environments. As a science (named Family science), it explores, describes, explains, or evaluates the interconnectedness between the individual, the family, and the social environment from multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary perspectives: socio-educational, socio-economic, psychosocial, health environment, socio-legal, social policy or other fields. UNESCO defines the family as a group of individuals related by blood, marriage, or adoption, a corporate unit of interacting and interdependent personalities who share a common theme and goals, have a commitment over time, and share resources and living space. Family sociology defines the family as a substructure (microstructure or small social group) within society, below referred to as the “family group,” whose members are bound by attachments, rights, and responsibilities (social, emotional, moral, legal, economic, religious, etc.). Social work with parents, children, and youth care for vulnerable or crisis-affected persons, and their families. FLE professionals work primarily in educational institutions at various formal levels; they are involved in adult education within the context of lifelong learning (LLL), as well as in community-based services and faith-based organizations, in private practice, and in the military or healthcare sectors. They should develop transdisciplinary knowledge, provide training to support and educate people in building equitable family relationships, improving the quality of family life and functionality, and developing the ability to manage their family group, based on a simple (minimalist) lifestyle practice ^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}.

The purpose of this study is to present family life education as an interdisciplinary field, a social science and social support for families that extends into a transdisciplinary framework with preventive, educational, and supportive functions relevant for professional helpers working in education, counselling, and social work in the community. The paper presents the concepts of family and social functions; the socialization agents and processes with special characteristics; the socioecological theory and life model for interventions on families and family–community interactions. It also addresses the quality-of-life concept across individual, social, and public-services dimensions, as well as its historical development in Romania’s cultural context. Finally, the paper describes voluntary simplicity as a good practice and a possible alternative to modern family lifestyle characterized by consumerism, overload, and competition.