Parental Involvement Act

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Background

In March 2005, the Scottish Executive issued their consultation paper and draft Bill, Making the Difference – Improving Parents' Involvement in Schools’. This took forward their commitment to review and reform school board legislation, set out in ‘Educating for Excellence’ their response to the National Debate on Education. While proposals for a new system of parental representation formed a major part of the consultation, the Bill went further, placing a new duty on education authorities to support parental involvement and strengthen parents' rights to information.

The School Boards Act 1988 was restrictive and it is recognised that where parents are involved, children do better.

The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 10 May 2006.

The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act came into force in June 2006.The Act is about the following:

• Strengthening parental involvement and representation
• Ensuring parents' voices are heard better
• Whole relationship between parents and schools and local authorities
• Strengthening parents' rights – as individuals and collectively
• New duty on local authorities to promote parental involvement
• New flexible Parent Councils – shape/ constitution/ to be decided by parents
• New duty on local authorities to respond to parents’ requests about own child’s education. Not prescriptive about operational details.
• New sections in School Development Plans
• To ensure complaints procedures are in place

Key features of the Act

• To promote the involvement of parents in their child’s education and in schools
• To achieve a more flexible and inclusive statutory system for parental representation
• To strengthen parents rights both collectively and individually
• To modernise procedures for senior appointments
• A new statutory system for parent representation – the Parent Forum deciding on its Parent Council

What is meant by ‘parental involvement’?

• Learning at Home – parents as first and ongoing educators of their own children
• Home/ School Partnership – schools parents and the community working together to educate children and make their school the best it can be.
• Parent Representation – parents having an opportunity to comment on practice and a voice in the development of education policy at school, local authority and national level

Parent Forum and Parent Council

• Every parent with a child at the school will be a member of the Parent Forum
• The proposed Parent Council is a smaller body that can represent parent’s views to the school and local authority.
• The Parent Forum decides what kind of Parent Council it wants – how big it should be and how it should be made up

Resources to support change:

• A toolkit is being produced to help schools, local authorities and parents make these changes
• 'Making the Difference' leaflets
• CD Rom with examples of what works in schools
• Model Constitutions
• Parentzone website - www.parentzonescotland.gov.uk
• Parent Institute - www.parent-institute.com

Toolkit

The Scottish Executive Education Department has commissioned Outside the Box to develop a tool-kit for parental involvement in schools. Outside the Box is a recognised Scottish Charity, which provides community development support.

The Toolkit will provide practical information for parents, teachers, support staff and education authorities who will in the coming months be looking at ways to encourage other parents to get involved.

Downloads

See the latest Parental Involvement Act newsletter.