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Promoting parents' role in education
08/11/2008
The Scottish Government wants parents to have a lead role in developing the education provision of their children and Parents Councils to become even more integral and effective in schools, the Minister for Children and Early Years said today.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC), Adam Ingram said:
"Parents are the vital link in ensuring the success of our children's education and we are committed to listening and responding to their concerns.
"We have already demonstrated this through our funding of a national parental involvement coordinator, who is working closely with parent bodies, such as the SPTC, local authorities and government to make this happen.
"Furthermore, we have put in place a team of three regional coordinators who are building up local links between parents and schools, promoting partnership working and helping share best practise across the country.
"Through Curriculum for Excellence we are focused on equipping children with skills for work and skills for life. We need the input of parents to make sure that the curriculum can achieve this by meeting the teaching and learning needs of our young people."
Mr Ingram will also be outlining the Scottish Government's plans to gather the views of parents and their representative organisations through a first-ever survey of all Parent Councils in Scotland.
Mr Ingram said:
"Parent Councils have been very successful and we now have more parents involved than ever before, with representation in over 90 per cent of schools in Scotland.
"We want Parent Councils to be as effective as possible and this survey will determine the support they need, how this can be best delivered and how they can take a more active role in ensuring parent voices are heard.
"The survey will be carried out over the next three months and I will be considering the findings in February 2009."
Since September last year, Parent Councils have been established throughout Scottish local authority schools and indications are that more parents are involved than was the case under the previous School Boards.
A study of Parent Councils will be carried out by Carole Miller Research and, in addition to the national survey, will include attendance at regional meetings of Parent Councils and meetings with key stakeholder groups, including the SPTC, the Scottish Parent Councils Association, the Scottish Catholic Education Service and the Scottish Muslims Parents Association.
The Scottish Government is funding a National Parental Coordinator post at Learning and Teaching Scotland until 2010 to support education authorities and parents to work together. We have also established a team of three coordinators to work directly with schools on specific aspects of parental involvement, with the aim of sharing what they learn as good practice nationally. The team's work will complement Curriculum for Excellence.
Work being taken forward to encourage parents involvement in Curriculum for Excellence includes:
- A dedicated Curriculum for Excellence website
- A range of resources from Learning and Teaching Scotland, including a DVD which has been distributed to all Parent Councils
- A series of events aimed at parents, pupils and employers, including a workshop held in June at the Parent Council Conference in Glasgow