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Foreword
Leadership in the education system is a vital component in our objective of creating ambitious excellent schools. The appointment of the Headteacher is one in which few members of a Parent Council might ever be involved, yet when it arises it is one of the most important decisions to be taken in the life of a school.
We know that children learn best when there is parental involvement in their education, and that education is carried out by highly-skilled, well-motivated and well-led teams of professionals. I therefore see it as vital that we extend opportunities for a strong parental voice to be heard at all key stages of the appointments process. Meaningful involvement will not only contribute to our commitment to the highest quality leadership in education, but also enable professional rigour to be brought in an open and transparent manner.
For some time now parents and employers have been telling us that the existing legislation no longer does the job that either they or we require of it. Whilst the 1988 Act has proved useful in ensuring a level of parental involvement, it is now 17 years since it was passed, and even longer since the policy was developed. During that time the educational environment has changed enormously, as have the requirements of employment legislation and the professional practices of Personnel and Human Resources professionals, bringing significant improvements to recruitment and selection procedures.
We therefore need to bring current appointment procedures up to date, while also extending the involvement of parents in the appointment process to all of the key stages. To do so we need to replace the currently highly detailed, inflexible procedures for head teachers and depute appointments to bring maximum flexibility to suit educational and parental needs both now and in the future.
Modernising the appointments system for senior posts in our schools is an essential element of our commitment to ensure the highest quality leadership in our schools. The new Parental Involvement Bill provides a vehicle for taking this work forward. I indicated in the consultation on the Bill that we would be consulting further on parental involvement in the appointments process for senior posts in our schools. This consultation explains the details of our intentions and seeks your views. I encourage you to give us your views on how parents can best be engaged to achieve the most productive outcome.
Peter J Peacock
Minister for Education and Young People
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