Information Bulletin
23 October 2006
Changes to School Boards: The Parental Involvement Act: 'A New Law to Support Parents'
In June this year the Scottish Parliament passed the Parental Involvement Act. This piece of legislation strengthens and modernises parental involvement within schools. It aims to encourage parents to be involved in their children’s learning and ensure that parents are welcomed within schools as partners.
There are three ways in which parents often support children to learn –
- at home, by reading books, labels, signs and counting with children
- at school, by helping children through assisting on trips, or by volunteering to help with projects.
- by representation. The well-known method of using School Boards to represent parents’ views will be changing in order that more parents may become involved.
The Parental Involvement Act states that all parents are members of what is known as the Parent Forum. This describes all parents and carers who have a child at a particular school. As a member of the Parent Forum, parents can expect to get advice and information on their child’s learning as well as expect to be informed of events and activities within the school.
The Parent Forum will be represented by a “Parent Council”. The role of the Parent Council is to support the school and its children, and represent the views of all parents. The Parent Councils will also bridge the gap between the school and the wider community, and report back to members of the Parent Forum regarding issues that affect pupils and the school.
The Act takes away the burden of the formal election process and the constraints on the membership of School Boards, and gives parents the freedom to decide on the type of Parent Council that it believes will represent them the best. Each school will be considering the best way to hear the parents’ views and to begin the process of forming their Parent Council. This will mostly begin in November, with a view to each school having a fully formed Parent Council ready by the end of June 2007. School Boards will be abolished in July 2007.
Parents will be invited to attend meetings and express their views, and are encouraged to take part. Parents are asked to look out for dates at their child’s school.
Ends.