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BACKGROUND
Section 14 of the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 ("the Act") imposes a statutory duty on education authorities with regard to headteacher and deputy headteacher appointments. The Act sets out the overarching principles with which authorities must comply.
Section 14(2) of the Act states that an education authority's appointment process for senior appointments must entail parental involvement through a school's Parent Council. We intend that the parental role in the appointment process should be extended to meaningful involvement in various specified key stages of the process. We have recently completed a consultation exercise on the detail of these specified stages (Parental Involvement in Headteacher and Depute Headteacher Appointment Procedures - a consultation), the outcome of which has been widespread support for our approach and agreement as to what these stages might be.
We said in our response (Parental Involvement in Headteacher and Depute Headteacher Appointment Procedures - Scottish Executive response to consultation analysis) that we would bring forward regulations early next year. The Executive is therefore using the regulatory powers under section 14 (5) to set a number of detailed aspects of parental involvement in the senior appointments process.
These draft regulations are deliberately light-touch, having considered the views of all key stakeholders in the appointment process. They are intended to ensure that both parents and authorities engage with each other throughout the appointment process, and will be supplemented with guidance that Education Authorities will be required to take into account under section 19 of the Act. It is for each education authority to establish local guidelines on selection panels which meet the legal requirements of parental involvement as set out in these draft regulations. The framework of legislation and guidance will enable each authority to create tailored schemes to maximise their flexibility whilst ensuring compliance.
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