SSBA & Parental Involvement 21st Century

The Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee is calling for evidence from all interested parties on the general principles of the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill, which was introduced on 28 September 2005.

The purpose of the Bill is to provide for parental involvement in school education. It places a duty on Scottish Ministers and education authorities to promote parents’ involvement in schools.

The Bill repeals the School Boards (Scotland) Act and enables the establishment of parent forums and parent councils. The changes to the Bill from the draft bill on which the Scottish Executive consulted are listed in the Bill’s accompanying Policy Memorandum.

Respondents are invited to set out:

• whether they approve or disapprove of the general principles of the Bill;
• the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed system of parental involvement as opposed to the current system;
• whether they consider that the Scottish Executive consulted effectively on the Bill before it was introduced to the Parliament;
• any concerns they may have about particular elements of the Bill and suggestions as to how the Bill might be improved; and
• whether there are any specific issues that are not adequately addressed in the Bill.

The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill is published as SP Bill 45 and is available from the Scottish Parliament website at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/bills/index.htm along with the Bill’s Policy Memorandum, Explanatory Notes and Financial Memorandum.

All written evidence received may be published by the Parliament and will be treated as a public document unless indicated otherwise. All written responses will be circulated to members of the Education Committee.

Written evidence should be submitted by Friday 18 November. There will be no extension to this deadline except by application in writing to the convener of the Committee.

NOTES

Since evidence submitted may be published, we would prefer responses to be sent by e-mail to education.committee@scottish.parliament.uk with the subject line of Parental Involvement Bill.

If you have a computer, but no email, you can post your response to us on a 3½" disk, preferably in Word. If you cannot use email or a disk, your submission must be typed. Ideally submissions should not exceed four sides of A4 paper. All responses become the property of the Scottish Parliament and we are unable to return documents.

Hard copy submissions should be sent to:

Paul Howell
Education CommitteeRoom T3.40
Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

07-10-2005

A leaflet in Adobe PDF format has now been released about the New Parent Councils.

29-09-2005 and 05-10-2005 more on the same

Today the Scottish Executive published the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill, which will make it easier for parents to get involved in their children's education and with their school.

You can download the Bill from http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/billsInProgress/schools.htm

This link is to the Scottish Executive's analysis of consultation responses http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/09/22105739/57406

Letter which accompanied analysis Analysis Letter

Letter which went out to SB Chairs about the Bill with leaflet capturing the essence of the main changes Minister's Letter and Accompanying Leaflet.

"Newslink" reported from: THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

GIVING PARENTS MORE POWER

The drive to give parents a greater role and say in their children's education took a major step forward today.

The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill, published today, will make it easier for parents to get involved in their children's education and with their school.

In response to consultation on the draft Bill, the proposals have been strengthened to give headteachers a role in parent councils and to give parents the right to raise unresolved concerns with school inspectors.

Other key aspects of the Bill include:

* New flexibilities which allow parents to choose the best system ofparental representation for their school.
* New duties on Ministers and education authorities to promote parental involvement in education.
* New comprehensive annual reports for parents on the school's performance and the headteacher's ambitions for the school.

Education Minister Peter Peacock said:

"Parents have a vital role in helping strengthen our schools. We know that children achieve more when their parents support and are involved in their education. This Bill will make that easier.

"Our research shows that more parents want to get involved in the life of their children's school, but some are put off by the formality of the current arrangements. I want to dismantle these barriers and open up access so that parents will have more of a say in their children's education.

"We have listened carefully to the consultation responses. This is not about forcing parents to scrap systems they are already happy with. If a School Board works well, parents can choose to keep those arrangements. But for the schools where parents want to try something new, something they think will suit them better, the Bill allows and encourages this too.

"And instead of an emphasis on management issues, the new parent councils will be free to focus on any aspect of school life of interest to parents. There will be new responsibilities on education authorities, headteachers and ultimately school inspectors to listen and respond to parent's representations and concerns.

"We are putting new arrangements in place for the benefit of parents,pupils and schools in the 21st century. The changes will mean parents will make their voice better heard and so have more influence over their children's education. That is what this Bill is really about."

COSLA's Education Spokesperson Councillor Rev Ewan Aitken said: "This Bill takes parental involvement in schools into the 21st
century. Every council - indeed every school - is different and parents want choices about how they are involved in their child's education.

"The Bill frees us up from rigid structures and let's explore new ways of reaching parents who are not involved at the moment. But in those areas where current structures really involve parents at the moment they can continue - that is what is good about the flexibility of this Bill."

Graeme Millar, Chairman of the Scottish Consumer Council, said: "The SCC welcomes the Bill and the increased flexibility it will give parents. Our research clearly shows that parents would like to be more involved in the life of their child's school but many feel left out at the moment. It is encouraging to see the support there is for parent councils but parents stress that these need to be supported by schools, education authorities and the Scottish Executive."

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2005/09/29090421

25-07-2005

SSBA's own survey analysis can be viewed here

06-07-2005

A letter was sent to all School Boards detailing the meeting with the Scottish Executive

Letter to Boards (MS Word format - 43Kb)

07-06-2005

On the 7th June, 2005, the SSBA submitted the following official response to this Draft Bill

Formal Response (MS Word format - 65Kb)

14-04-2005

There is below two Ministerial letters which were issued today.

One is to Directors of Education, asking them to get the second letter swiftly to School Board Chairs : -

Letter to Directors - Parental Involvement Bill.pdf (33K)

The second is the letter to School Board Chairs :-

Letter to School Board Chairs.pdf (39K)

Also available here is a detailed comparison which the Scottish Executive has prepared on the School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988 and the proposals in the Bill,

Comparisons.pdf (99K)

19-03-2005

At SSBA's 2005 Annual Conference, the subject of which was "Parents in Partnership" - there were two notable speeches for which we have transcripts, particularly relevant to Parental Involvement in Education, namely

Philip Rycroft, Head of Schools Group, Scottish Executive Education Department and Walter Humes
(click on their names above to read their speeches)

The Parental Involvement Brochure as issued by the Scottish Office to parents and carers of children at schools around the country, can be downloaded here (304k). "Making the difference-improving parents' involvement in schools" is a draft Bill which sets out proposals to strengthen parents' rights and improve parental representation in schools and is officially known as the "Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill".

Questions being addressed here include :-

What is the new Parental Involvement Bill aiming to do?
How would we achieve this?

1. School Boards would be replaced by new bodies

2. Education authorities would promote parental involvement in education and set out how they will do this.

3. Education authorities would have a 'duty' to respond to requests from parents for advice and information about their own children's education.

4. Education authorities would have to ensure that parents are closely involved in the appointments of headteachers and deputy headteachers within any more up-to-date procedures they may wish to introduce.

What would the new Parental Involvement Bill mean for you?

The full-consultation document is available to download here:- http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/education/ipism.pdf( 832k)

The Draft Bill can be viewed on-line here :- http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/education/ipism-06.asp

A report on Research on Parental Involvement is also avaialble from the Scottish Executive web site http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/pvipics-00.asp

The News

As you may be aware this is what the Scottish Executive are intending to do in the near future.
Watch this space for further information as we receive it.
When the Draft Bill is published the Scottish School Board Association will be consulting widely around the country.

Extract from letter SSBA received on 24 September from Colin Reeves, Head of Schools Division at the Scottish Executive Education Department - "We have discussed on a number of occasions Peter Peacock's key priority of improving parents involvement in their child's education. The Executive's commitments were set out in the response to the National Debate, Educating for Excellence published in January 2003 and included:

increasing the involvement of parents in their children's education by providing new guidelines giving parents access;
reviewing and reforming the roles of school boards and
improving communication with parents about education practice and their role in the decision-making process.

As you know, over recent months we have been working on taking these commitments forward and a number of initiatives are now well underway.

Focus groups of school board chairs were held across Scotland to discuss the current roles of school boards and the 1988 Act
George Street Research has completed a research project, asking parents their views on how parental involvement in schools could be improved.
Aberdeen University has been contracted to identify good practice in partnership with parents that already exists in schools in Scotland. They will be publishing their findings in due course, so that schools and parents can build on the principles as they wish in their own local context.
Strathclyde University will be producing a series of materials designed to help parents directly support their own children's learning. This will include single topic leaflet guides for parents (prepared in association with Children in Scotland) that highlight the difference parents can make, and how they can make it. They will be designed as generic materials to which authorities, schools and parent groups can, indeed should add school, class, subject, age or any other specific materials that add the vital local 'gloss' for parents.

My main purpose in writing to you at this juncture is to let you know that in the wake of the First Minister's statement on the future legislative programme, Peter Peacock said to parliament on 9 September "In our backing for parents and pupils, we want to engage parents more fully in the learning process. Over the coming parliamentary year, we will consult parents on how we can strengthen still further their place in education. We will also explore what kind of reformed and more flexible statutory framework will meet our future needs and protect parents' rights while offering them more flexible involvement". We hope to have a draft Bill ready for public consultation by Christmas. And as part of the formal consultation process we intend to organise a series of information events around Scotland in early 2005 to promote debate and understanding of the purpose and implications of the draft Bill. We want there to be ample opportunity for all interested parties to attend these events and respond to the consultations".

Jennifer Gallacher
Office Manager