Scottish Government

1 INTRODUCTION

Background

1.1 Parent Councils were established in August 2007 and at present 92% of all schools have a Parent Council. These replaced the School Boards.

1.2 Historically there have been two key organisations that represented parents to schools each with national bodies that represented views at a National Level These were:

• the Scottish School Boards Association and
• the Scottish Parent Teacher Council ( SPTC).

1.3 The Scottish School Board Association has now been replaced by the Scottish Parent Council Association ( SPCA) but the SPTC, which was originally established to represent the Parent Teacher Associations, still exists.

1.4 These two bodies do overlap in representing and supporting parents and Parent Councils.

1.5 It has been seen as important that the Parent Councils themselves determine what the next steps might be in the development of any national body. To aid this, the Scottish Government have commissioned this research to gather the views of Parent Councils and other organisations representing parents on the formation of a national body to represent the views of the Parent Councils.

1.6 This survey is the first to be undertaken across all Parent Councils. To date no information exists at a national level to determine what stage of development Parent Councils have reached nor any evaluation of the Parent Councils.

Aims and Objectives

1.7 The key aim of this research is:

To seek the views of the newly formed Parent Councils and other relevant organisations on the shape and character that a national body might take to represent the views of Parent Councils.

1.8 The more detailed objectives of the research are;

• To determine whether Parent Councils wish to see a national body formed to represent their views at a national level.
• To seek views on what form such a body would take including amongst others its main role, its functions, its composition etc.
• To identify the key principles that might underpin the development of a national representative body.

Methodology

1.9 There were three key strands to the methodology adopted.

• A survey of all Parent Councils
• Depth interviews with 8 key stakeholders
• 4 discussion workshops held with parents

Survey

1.10 A questionnaire together with a letter explaining the reasons for the survey plus a briefing paper were sent to the chairs of all parent councils. A reply paid envelope was included. Since no single database of all chairs of Parent Councils currently exists they were sent by post addressed to the chairs at each school address. They were sent to all state schools, including all primary schools, secondary schools and special schools. Independent schools were excluded from the survey.

1.11 In addition, the questionnaire and associated documents could be accessed from the home page of the parentzone website. This allowed an electronic version to be available if Parent Councils wished to forward copies to their members. Questionnaires could be returned by post or electronically.

1.12 In total 2606 questionnaires were sent out in early November 2008. A final date for return was set at 31 January 2009. It is estimated that 92% of schools have Parent Councils. In total 491 responses were received to the questionnaire. This represents a response rate of 19% of those sent out and 20% of the number of Parent Councils thought to be in existence. The data from this survey have a sampling error of +/- 4% on a finding of 50% ¹.

1.13 The response rate will have been affected by a number of factors, including:

• It is not clear at this stage how many of the Parent Councils that have been set up are yet active.
• There will be a proportion that will not have had a meeting within the time period of the survey.
• The distribution mechanism for the questionnaires was dependent on the mail reaching the Parent Council chair via the school at the appropriate time.

1.14 All of these factors would have affected the response rate. Every effort was made to give opportunity to respond. Reminders were sent via the Parental Involvement Officers at each local authority who assisted by encouraging Parent Councils in their areas to respond.

1.15 The responses provided a good spread across both rural and urban Scotland.

Table 1.1: Urban /rural indicator

There was also a good spread of response from both primary and secondary schools

Table 1.2: Type of school

Depth Interviews

1.16 Depth interviews were undertaken with the following organisations

• Scottish Parent Council Association
• Scottish Parent Teacher Council
• Consumer Focus Scotland
• Parenting across Scotland
• ENQUIRE
• Scottish Catholic Education Service
• Scottish Parental Involvement Officers Network
• Church of Scotland

1.17 Each interview was undertaken in person. Typically interviews lasted between 90 minutes and 2 hours. All were audiotape recorded and transcriptions made.

Discussion Workshops

1.18 Four discussion workshops with parents were held, two in Dundee and two in Glasgow but open to attendance from across the country. Two events took place in the mornings and the remaining two in the evenings with the aim of finding times that would be convenient for all parents. Members of Parent Councils were invited to attend. Parental Involvement Officers across local authorities sent out the invitations to Parent Councils electronically.

1.19 In total 59 parents took part with between 9 and 20 attending each of the events. 16 local authorities were represented providing a good geographical spread. The discussion aimed to move the debate on from what was covered within the questionnaire onto issues such as:

• Membership
• Funding
• Independence
• Primary Role of a national body
• Involvement of parents
• Inclusivity
• Breadth of remit

1.20 The discussion also took place at a time when some of the Parent Councils are not yet well established, whilst others were well established and well informed. The variation in their stage of development impacted on the discussions of general principles.

Structure of this report

1.21 The following chapter examines the context within which this research sits. It provides some information relating to the current situation in more detail identifies what support is currently available to parents and to Parent Councils.

1.22Chapter 3 explores the activities that Parent Councils are currently engaged in, the advice and support that is seen by Parent Councils to be provided and where that support is provided from.

1.23Chapter 4 examines the activities that Parent Councils hope to undertake for which they feel they need more advice and support. It also considers the issues that they would like to get further support and advice on in the future.

1.24Chapter 5 aims to measure the perceived need for a national body and explores the reasons given for taking a view either in favour of a national body or against having a national body.

1.25Chapter 6 examines the role that Parent Councils feel a national body should be taking including examining the priorities for such an organisation and how some of these roles might be best achieved.

1.26Chapter 7 examines the findings of primarily the qualitative aspects of this study to explore some of the key principles that might underpin the development of any national body. This includes a discussion on issues such as: Membership/Funding/Independence, Breadth of Remit, Structure, Governance and Capacity.

1.27Chapter 8 looks at the issues surrounding engaging Parent Council members in a national body.

1.28 The final chapter draws together some of the key findings and considers the next steps that might be taken in the development of a national body.