The Scottish Government

INTRODUCTION

This guide offers assistance in interpreting the meaning and the intention behind the provisions of the School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988. A guide of this kind cannot, however, give a definitive interpretation of the law: that is the function of the courts. Any Board or other person seeking advice on the meaning of the Act in relation to particular circumstances, is strongly advised to take professional legal advice.

The School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988 came into force on 1 April 1989. The Act provides that every education authority school in Scotland (except nursery schools) should, except in limited circumstances, form a School Board. Boards comprise elected parent and staff members and members co-opted from the local community. They deal with school matters and provide a focus for the involvement of parents in the running of the school.

The Act is not an isolated piece of legislation and has to be considered in the context of education and local government legislation. This is particularly important when considering the legal obligations which fall on education authorities and which Boards have to pay attention to in the discharge of their functions. At present, the main statutory provisions relating to education and local government are to be found in the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

The School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988 sets fairly broad parameters for most aspects of the running and functioning of Boards. This allows the maximum degree of operational flexibility. Boards, for example, are to regulate their own proceedings. Boards can set up committees, up to one-half of which can be non-Board members. Boards can invite anybody they wish to give advice to the Boards. Provided they satisfy the basic requirements established by the Act, it is for Boards themselves to decide the detail of how they wish to organise themselves and conduct their business. The Act also provides Boards with wide powers to seek and require information, even on matters which the Act prevents the Board from controlling. While a Board cannot, for example, regulate the curriculum, it can ask questions about the curriculum and make representations to the headteacher and, if need be, the education authority. Boards can (and indeed should) become involved in all aspects of school life, by exercising their powers under the Act, by seeking delegated functions or by asking questions and making their views known.

The Act gives Boards a number of powers, duties and rights. Taken together, these place Boards in a unique position as a mechanism for the two-way flow of information between parents, schools and education authorities. Perhaps one of the most important functions a Board will ever perform is the collection and dissemination of essential information for the wider parent body. Establishing a dialogue with the wider parent body is crucial if parents are to share in the running of their children's schools and become involved in their children's education. Boards also have important powers in relation to headteacher and senior staff appointments and in the approval of the headteacher's proposals for spending on books and other teaching materials.

This second edition of the Guide to the Legislation incorporates changes to the 1988 Act since its implementation, made mainly by the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 and the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000. The 1996 Act came into effect on 18 September 1996, and the majority of the provisions of the 2000 Act came into effect on 13 October 2000.

The principal changes made by the 1996 Act were to introduce a uniform timetable for the election of members of School Boards; regularise School Board members' terms of office; provide transitional arrangements to bring the terms of office of existing members and those members elected outwith the regular election periods into line with the general rule; and empower a School Board to co-opt parent members to fill parental vacancies that arise after a regular election or during members' term of office. Other changes introduced by the 1996 Act adjust the arrangements for holding by-elections to fill casual vacancies for staff members; apply conflict of interest provisions to meetings of the School Board and appointment committees; define the extent of eligibility of peripatetic teachers as 'staff members'; and enable School Boards to use surplus funds allocated by the education authority for the benefit of the school. The circumstances under which Boards are disestablished are clarified, as is the position of staff in relation to serving on appointment committees.

The 2000 Act places a new duty on Boards to carry out their functions with a view to raising the standard of education at the school; streamlines procedures for filling parental vacancies that arise either following a regular election or during members' term of office; amends the provisions relating to the right of local councillors to be a member of a School Board; removes the formal powers for School Boards to challenge a refusal by the education authority of a request by the Board for delegation of functions; and streamlines the role of the Board in headteacher appointment procedures.

Throughout this guide, where the legislation refers to the Secretary of State, you should read it as referring to Scottish Ministers.

The text on the left hand pages sets out the legislation as amended. On the facing page there are notes expanding some of the legislative provision where this is not particularly clear. As stated above, these notes cannot be seen as a definitive interpretation of the legislation. This is a matter for the courts.