Supporting Parents to set up a Parent Council
Many parents and schools will need support to work through the process of setting up a Parent Council. Before education authorities contact parents and schools to begin the process, they should think about how parents can be supported.
Who can help parents?
- Home school link workers who are good at engaging with parents who do not usually get involved
- Community learning and development workers who have skills in facilitating and supporting people to set up constitutions and groups
- Parents who can support other parents using their own skills
- Teachers and other school staff skilled at listening and supporting parents to make their own decisions
- Quality improvement officers who support headteachers to develop new areas of their work and ensure the quality of partnership with parents is taken into consideration
- Senior staff in the education authority who, as part of their job, work with parents
- Administrative staff can support communication with the Parent Forum and administration of a working group.
The following checklist highlights some of the issues that the education authority and schools will need to think about when identifying how to support parents through the process.