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Parent Forums - Draft Bill
On the 1st of March 2005 the Scottish Executive issued a Draft Bill about Parental Involvement in Education, specifically proposing a new representative body called a "Parent Forum".
Interested parties and the public were given until 7th June, 2005, to let the Government know what they thought of the proposed new Bill.
An underlying concern for parents was that this new representative body may replace both the School Boards and the various types of Parents Associations.
To read the activities and background to this Bill, visit our page Parents in 21st Century
The SSBA issued a copy of the government's questionnaire and a couple of questions of their own, to all schools in Scotland (to be returned by 31st May), so as to establish parent's opinions on the matter.
Finally the SSBA responded to the Scottish Executive on your behalf.
Click here to see the response
Many school boards had gone to great lengths to accurately portray their own school's parents views on the matter, issuing their own questionnaires and holding special meetings. Responses to the questionnaire were often lengthy, detailed and full of well thought-out opinions. We wish therefore to share with you the responses we have received. There were 485 responses in all received out of 2,700 or so schools in Scotland.
Some editing took place for clarity and confidentiality (including the removal of schools and individuals names). The content is not the responsibility or necessarily the views of SSBA and if something is objectionable (although we have looked over them) please email ssba@ssba.cc
Each response can be either viewed on-line or can be downloaded from the table below as a MS Word document which should work with most computers running MS Word or MS Wordpad.
| Question 1 Do you agree with the placing of a new duty on education authorities to promote parental involvement ? Response - 17 pages - Question 1 Responses or download Question 1 Responses (89kb) |
| Question 2 Do you agree that education authorities should be required to prepare new Strategies for Parental Involvement (SPIs) ? Response - 14 pages - Question 2 Responses or download Question 2 Responses (80kb) |
| Question 3 Do you agree that incorporating these Strategies in existing Annual Statements of Education Improvement Objectives and School Development Plans (as set out in the 2000 Act) is the right way for education authorities to set out their intentions ? Or should this be done in some other way ? Response - 14 pages - Question 3 Responses or download Question 3 Responses (78kb) |
| Question 4 Do you agree that the current system of parental representation i.e. School Boards should be replaced by a more flexible system of parent forum, as decided locally by the parents, in a way which best suits them and their school best ? Response - 24 pages - Question 4 Responses or download Question 4 Responses (124kb) |
| Question 5 The Bill does not prescribe the means of appointment to the new forums (elections to Boards are mandatory) but provides for parents to decide this locally. Do you agree ? Response - 19 pages - Question 5 Responses or download Question 5 Responses (101kb) |
| Question 6 Do you agree that education authorities should have a new duty to promote the establishment of a parent forum in each school and to support their operation ? Response - 16 pages - Question 6 Responses or download Question 6 Responses (85kb) |
| Question 7 Should the Bill provide for ‘composite’ parent forums where this is the preferred option of parents in each school in a combined school or cluster of schools ? Response - 15 pages - Question 7 Responses or download Question 7 Responses (82kb) |
| Question 8 Do you agree with the proposal for the involvement of education authorities to get the initial parent forum off the ground ? If not, what alternative would you suggest ? Response - 15 pages - Question 8 Responses or download Question 8 Responses (85kb) |
| Question 9 The draft Bill leaves the forum’s ‘constitution’ to be determined locally’ either by the parents or initially under the education authority scheme. Do you agree with the approach? If not, what alternative would you suggest and why ? Response - 19 pages - Question 9 Responses or download Question 9 Responses (103kb) |
| Question 10 Do you agree that membership of a parent forum should be confined to parents (the broad definition) of children attending the school or individuals co-opted by the parent forum ? Should parents always be in the majority ? Response - 18 pages - Question 10 Responses or download Question 10 Responses (96kb) |
| Question 11 Do you have a view as to how the needs of looked-after children should be addressed and catered for in the Bill ? Response - 13 pages - Question 11 Responses or download Question 11 Responses (72kb) |
| Question 12 Do you agree that the Bill should not result in parent forum members being subject to automatic disclosure checks but that members, like any other parent, should only be checked when engaging in activities defined under the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 ? Response - 12 pages - Question 12 Responses or download Question 12 Responses (65kb) |
| Question 13 On balance, do you agree that ‘rights of attendance’ for certain non-members of a parent forum should not be a part of the new arrangements ? In other words do you agree that non-members of the parent forum should attend only by invitation or do you believe the Headteacher should have the right to attend, with the councillor or other individual by invitation ? Response - 21 pages - Question 13 Responses or download Question 13 Responses (113kb) |
| Question 14 Do you consider these functions appropriate to parent forums ? Would you suggest removing or adding any , or making some obligatory and others optional ? Response - 18 pages - Question 14 Responses or download Question 14 Responses (92kb) |
| Question 15 The Bill has been drafted to allow the parent forum to find out and report the views of parents in the school on any matter which are of interest or concern to them. Do you agree with this open-ended provision or would you suggest defining the areas of interest more restrictively ? Response - 15 pages - Question 15 Responses or download Question 15 Responses (85kb) |
| Question 16 Do you agree that the Bill should designate parent forums as ‘agents’ of the education authority for the purpose of their dealings with third parties, and the issue of insurance should be looked into further? Or do you take an alternative view ? Response - 13 pages - Question 16 Responses or download Question 16 Responses (75kb) |
| Question 17 Are these the appropriate obligations to place on education authorities in relation to their wording with parent forums ? Response - 12 pages - Question 17 Responses or download Question 17 Responses (64kb) |
| Question 18 Do you agree with the provisions requiring education authorities to provide financial support or support in kind to parent forums or would you suggest alternative arrangements ? Response - 13 pages - Question 18 Responses or download Question 18 Responses (74kb) |
| Question 19 Do you agree with the proposed duty on education authorities to provide advice and information to individual parents on request, on matters relating to the education of the children ? Response -12 pages - Question 19 Responses or download Question 19 Responses (62kb) |
| Question 20 Do you agree that education authorities should be enabled to replace the current system of appointing Headteachers and deputy Headteachers with more modern, flexible processes and procedures ? Response - 16 pages - Question 20 Responses or download Question 20 Responses (88kb) |
| Question 21 If you do not agree that the principle of parental involvement should be retained by the involvement of parent forums in the new senior appointments processes, please give your reasons. Response - 12 pages - Question 21 Responses or download Question 21 Responses (67kb) |
| Question 22 Do you agree with the proposal to require education authorities to establish complaints procedures in relation to the way they exercise their functions under the Bill ? Response - 11 pages - Question 22 Responses or download Question 22 Responses (59kb) |
| SSBA Question 1 Do you believe there is any need for repeal of the School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988, or do you think that parental representation could be modernised by merely ‘tweaking’ the Act ? Response -13 pages - SSBA Question 1 Responses or download SSBA Question 1 Responses (78kb) |
| SSBA Question 2 Do you believe that the Draft Bill will achieve the stated aims of involving more parents in their children’s learning ? Response - 12 pages - SSBA Question 2 Responses or download SSBA Question 2 Responses (70kb) |
| Additional Comments Response - an amazing 87 pages of views and ideas - Additional Comment Responses or download Additional Comment Responses (331kb) |
The SSBA would like to thank all those who participated and shared their views with us on this matter.
We now await the Scottish Executives next move on this matter.
