National Representation
At the end of 2008, the Scottish Government commissioned a report into Views on a National Representative Body for Parent Councils to find out what parents views are on having a voice at a national level. The report included interviews with parental stakeholder groups, discussion forums with Parent Council representatives and a survey of all Parent Councils in Scotland.
The report looked at three different levels of Parental Involvement:
- Local - the individual school and Parent Council. This is the main priority of many parents and it was encouraging that parents felt well supported by their local school and local authority
- Regional - Parent Councils have also been coming together in regional groups to share experiences and network with other Parent Councils in their area
- National - the results of the survey showed that of those who expressed a view, almost 80 per cent were in favour of a national body to represent parents views.
Following on from this, the second national conference for Parent Councils to be organised by the Scottish Government at Hampden Park on June 13, 2009 included a session in the afternoon where delegates had the chance to discuss details about setting up a Parent Forum.
The intention in setting up a forum is to have a group of parents from across all parts of Scotland where parents could represent their views on educational issues to government at a national level. The National Forum would complement the work of other existing organisations.
The first meeting of the National Parent Forum took place on November 21, 2009 at the Radisson Hotel in Glasgow with representatives from 30 out of the 32 local authorities in Scotland taking part.