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Creation of parents' forum
13/06/2009
Scotland's parents will be urged to create a National Parents' Forum to contribute to the key decisions affecting the education of their children when Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, addresses a National Parent conference in Glasgow tomorrow.
Fiona Hyslop will tell parents that the Scottish Government would support the creation of a National Forum early in the new school year.
She said:
"This is an exciting time in education. Learning and teaching in Scotland is changing, so that all our young people can be equipped with the skills they need for a changing world.
"Therefore, it is vitally important that Scotland's parents should be part of this change. A recent consultation revealed that there is a growing appetite from Parent Councils across Scotland to have a voice at national level so that parents' views can influence the key decisions affecting the education of their children.
"Other interests, including some minority interests should also be represented at the table. The details would be for parents to decide but its role could be to consider the needs and interests of Parent Council and identifying issues which could be addressed both locally and nationally.
"As we move forward with this major change in Scottish Education, the involvement of parents in their own children's learning and in their own schools is hugely important. The role of the Parent Council in supporting their school and headteacher through this significant period of change is also crucial.
The Cabinet Secretary will tell delegates that she hopes real practical progress can be made at the conference with a view to an inaugural meeting of the new Forum taking place in autumn.
She said: "Since Parent Councils were introduced in 2007 and replaced the outdated school board system, more parents have been finding their voice at local level. Now, however, is the time for their voice to be heard at the national level."
The Scottish Government commissioned research from Carole Millar Research into Views on a National Representative Body for Parent Councils which was published in April this year. The research included 491 responses (approximately 20 per cent of Parent Councils) drawn from a good spread across type of school, rural/urban environments and socio/economic circumstance. Of those who expressed a view, 79 per cent were in favour of a national body.