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Background
Education Appeal Committees ( EACs) hear appeals from parents (and young people in certain circumstances) against a local authority's decision to refuse a placing request, or to exclude a pupil from school. Local authorities establish EACs, but they are independent bodies with members drawn from a pool that includes parents, those with knowledge of education, councillors, and others. In 2004/05 EACs heard almost 400 appeals. Of cases where EACs had made a decision when statistics were collected, 22% were successful.
A report in 2000 by the Scottish Council of the Committee of Tribunals, who oversee all tribunals in Scotland, found that the current processes around EACs were often "seriously unsatisfactory". The Committee's key recommendation was that all those involved with EACs should be properly trained.
In 2004 the Scottish Executive funded George Street Research to conduct research with parents who had appealed to Education Appeal Committees across a range of authority areas (such as urban and rural areas). This research found that parents who had been through the process found it a "bleak and dispiriting experience" and saw the system as biased against them. The report made a number of recommendations aimed at reducing the formality in the system and making it more parent and child friendly.
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