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APPENDIX 5: OVERVIEW OFTHE PUBLIC CONSULTATION EVENTS
Introduction
A programme of public consultation events was conducted during the early stages of the consultation period to support the consultation process, with the aim of bringing the issue to the public eye and encouraging a wider range of individuals and general public members to respond to the consultation.
This consisted of a series of twelve public meetings in different parts of Scotland which were organised by the Scottish Civic Forum on behalf of SEED and convened by representatives of both SEED and the Scottish Civic Forum. The meetings were held in:
Inverness
Aberdeen
Edinburgh
Dundee
Musselburgh
Stirling
Ayr
Glasgow (Anniesland)
Glasgow (centre)
Stornoway
Oban
Hawick.
At the Oban meeting there was a videoconference link to Tiree enabling a group there to tune in to the Scottish Executive presentation. The Tiree participants conducted their own discussion and participated in a question and answer session with SEED representatives via the video conference link.
At each event representatives from the SEED gave a presentation setting the context and outlining the proposals in the draft Bill ( see Appendix 4). Break out group discussions were then run by Civic Forum representatives, followed by a plenary feedback, and question and answer session. The principal findings from the discussion sessions were summarised in reports produced by Scottish Civic Forum and have been incorporated into this report. Although no separate report has been produced for Tiree, as no Civic Forum representative was present to take notes, the issues raised by this group have been taken into account by representatives of SEED who facilitated the question and answer session by videolink, and included in this analysis.
Who were the participants?
The profile of registered participants at the twelve events is summarised in table 5.1. A total of 427 respondents participated in the public consultation events. The largest number of participants were present at the Musselburgh event (58 participants) closely followed by the Glasgow centre event (54 participants). The fewest participants were present at Stornoway (9 participants). Each of the other events consisted of between 22 and 45 participants.
Table Ap 5.1
Profile of Participants at the Public Consultation Events
Respondent Type | Inverness | Aberdeen | Edinburgh | Dundee | Musselbrugh | Stirling | Ayr | Glasgow
Anniesland | Glasgow
Centre | Stornoway | Oban and Tiree 2 | Hawick | TOTAL |
|---|
School Boards | 11 | 16 | 5 | 12 | 28 | 23 | 20 | 7 | 29 | 3 | 17 | 11 | 182 |
|---|
Schools 1 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 58 |
|---|
Not specified/unknown | 7 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 19 | - | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | 49 |
|---|
Education Authority | 2 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | - | 10 | 7 | 48 |
|---|
Other Parent | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 27 |
|---|
PTA committees | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | 1 | 2 | 23 |
|---|
Religious Organisations | - | | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 8 | - | - | - | 11 |
|---|
Vol Orgs/ Representative Bodies | - | 1 | 3 | -- | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 8 |
|---|
Teaching staff | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 3 | - | 6 |
|---|
Other | - | - | 1 | 2 | | 1 | - | - | - | - | 5 | 1 | 5 |
|---|
Education Organisations | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 4 |
|---|
Joint School Board & PTA | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
|---|
TOTAL | 30 | 43 | 22 | 29 | 58 | 36 | 29 | 33 | 54 | 9 | 50 | 34 | 427 |
|---|
1 The "school" category encompasses respondents who wrote down the name of a school and did not identify further whether or not they were responding as a parent, teacher or other employee of the school. This also includes those who identified themselves as non teaching school staff.
2 Five participants on Tiree participated in the Oban event by way of a videoconference link.
Balance of Respondent types
Table 4.2 shows each respondent category as a percentage of the total number present at the public consultation events. The greatest number of participants were from School Boards and/or PTAs (43%). This was followed by participants from schools consisting of almost 14% of the total (including both teaching staff and non teaching staff) and education authorities (11%). A smaller number of participants were from representative, voluntary or educational organisations. In some cases, the category into which a participant fitted was not known because it had not been recorded by the participant at the event.
Table Ap 5.2
Balance of Respondent Types
Respondent Type | Total Number | % of total |
|---|
School Boards | 182 | 43.1 |
|---|
Schools | 58 | 13.7 |
|---|
Not specified/unknown | 49 | 11.6 |
|---|
Education Authority | 48 | 11.4 |
|---|
Other Parent | 27 | 6.4 |
|---|
PTA committees | 23 | 5.5 |
|---|
Religious Organisations | 11 | 2.6 |
|---|
Vol Orgs/ Representative Bodies | 8 | 1.9 |
|---|
Teaching staff | 6 | 1.4 |
|---|
Other | 5 | 1.2 |
|---|
Education Organisations | 4 | 0.9 |
|---|
Joint School Board & PTA | 1 | 0.2 |
|---|
TOTAL | 422 | 100% |
|---|
Main Themes
The discussions were structured around six questions that had been identified by the Scottish Executive. The six questions reflected the principal questions that were included in the larger consultation document. The findings in relation to each of these six questions are included in relation to the relevant consultation questions in the main body of this report.
The main issues arising in relation to each question are grouped below. There is also a section on additional points that were raised. Some themes appear under more than one question as they were raised in meetings in response to different questions. Not every point has been included here. Rather, the main points, themes and issues that came up repeatedly or matters that may be uniquely significant have been included in the analysis.
The six questions around which discussions were framed consisted of the following:
Q1: Do you agree that there should be a new system of parental representation in schools - Parents' Forums?
Q2: Do you agree that the Parents' Forums should be set up in a way that parents want and focus more on representing the views of parents in the school than on the school's management?
Q3: Do you think that the new system will encourage more parents to get involved in their children's schools?
Q4: Do you agree that education authorities should have a new duty to support parental involvement and draw up strategies showing how they will make this happen?
Q5: Do you agree that education authorities should have a legal duty to respond to requests from parents for advice and information about their children's education?
Q6: Do you agree that parents should still be involved in new systems to appoint headteachers and deputies?
The key findings in relation to each of these questions are analysed in Appendix 6, in a summary report produced by the Scottish Civic Forum.
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