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Making the difference - improving parents' involvement in schools: a consultation on a draft bill

3 the proposals

The draft Bill aims to strengthen parental involvement in education, by supporting parents' direct involvement in their children's education, by introducing a more flexible system of parental representation in schools with the details decided by parents locally, and by ensuring that education authorities listen to parents more and engage with them more proactively.

The key proposals contained in the draft Bill are to:

• replace School Boards with more flexible and inclusive bodies to represent parents' views - new 'parent forums' (Sections 4-8)
• ensure schools respond to requests from parents for advice and information about their children's education, building on existing reporting arrangements
• ensure education authorities draw up strategies for parental involvement in education and schools
• require education authorities to promote and support the new parent forums
• establish a complaints procedure about the way authorities discharge their responsibilities under the draft Bill (Sections 1-3, 9, 10 and 12)
• provide for education authorities to modernise their appointments systems for headteachers and deputy headteachers while retaining the principle of parental involvement in such appointments (Section 11).

The draft Bill gives parents new rights, individually to:

• be directly involved in setting up a parent forum in their child's school in a form which reflects their wishes and preferences
• request and get advice and information on any matter relating to their child's school education from the education authority (as appropriate from the school or from teachers or from the authority's headquarters)
• complain to an education authority about how it carries out any of its duties in the new Bill.

The draft Bill gives parents new rights collectively (as the parent forum) to:

• be consulted on the education authority's Strategy for Parental Involvement
• be supported by their education authority
• have their voice and views listened to and responded to by the headteacher and education authority
• request and get information from the headteacher or education authority
• be consulted about the school's arrangements for consultation between parents and teachers
• be involved in new appointments processes for headteachers and deputy headteachers.

The following sections of the consultation paper expand on each of the key proposals, and set out a series of questions on which we would particularly welcome your views.

3.1 PROMOTING PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT (Sections 1-3)

The draft Bill places an explicit new statutory duty on education authorities to support parental involvement in the education provided to their children both in schools and more widely. The purpose is to achieve more and better parental involvement and ensure that support for parents is a high priority for all education authorities from now on. We see this duty as a key driver - a legal obligation which will ensure an active strategic approach in every part of Scotland.

As drafted, the new duty on education authorities is to promote parental involvement not only in the education provided in schools but also in education in a broader sense. By this we mean in the child's widest learning experience, their development and their ability to achieve their full potential, areas where parental influence and support are critical. This builds on the provision in the Standards in Scotland's Schools Act 2000 (the '2000 Act') where Section 5(2)(a) already requires education authorities to include in their Annual Statement of Improvement Objectives an account of the ways in which they will seek to involve parents in promoting the education of their children - again education in the wider sense, not just confined to school education.

Question 1: Do you agree with the placing of a new duty on education authorities to promote parental involvement?

The draft Bill also requires each education authority to consult parents and any other relevant parties before preparing a 'Strategy for Parental Involvement' (SPI) setting out how it intends to implement this and other new statutory duties contained in the draft Bill. Authorities will also be required to consult new parent forums to be established in the Bill (see the next section of this paper) if any have been set up before the SPI is agreed. The SPIs would then form part of education authorities' Annual Statement of Improvement Objectives, which were introduced in the 2000 Act and on which they report annually to the Scottish Executive. School Development Plans in future will also ensure that commitment to promoting parental involvement is embedded at individual school level.

Question 2: Do you agree that education authorities should be required to prepare new Strategies for Parental Involvement (SPIs)?

Question 3: Do you agree that incorporating these Strategies in existing Annual Statements of Education Improvement Objectives and School Development Plans (as set out in the 2000 Act) is the right way for education authorities to set out their intentions? Or should this be done in some other way?

3.2 THE PARENT FORUM (Sections 4-8)

The draft Bill proposes that a new type of representative body for parents in Scotland's schools - a school's parent forum - should replace the current system of School Boards. The School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988 ('the 1988 Act') will be repealed.

While the current School Board system has worked well for some schools and parents, responses to the National Debate and subsequent discussions and consultations suggest that review and reform are needed. This paper and the draft Bill set out proposals for a new system of representation which we believe will work better for many more parents.

We intend to move away from a centrally determined 'one size fits all' approach to parental representation in schools and introduce a more flexible, parent-friendly system which will encourage the involvement of a wider range and number of parents, and therefore be more genuinely representative. We want the parents at each school to be able to decide on the arrangements which suit them and their school best.

The draft Bill does not affect Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) directly. Unlike School Boards, they are not legal bodies set up by an Act of Parliament, and indeed pre-date Boards by some 40 years. However the intention of the Bill is to enable parents in a school to set up a parent forum which, if this is what they wish, can readily encompass the traditional functions of a PTA.

In effect the existing PTA 'committee' could become the new parent forum or the existing School Board could, if that is what the parents wish. Or, they could combine elements of both into an entirely new structure. It will be absolutely for the parents in the school to decide these matters.

Question 4: Do you agree that the current system of parental representation, i.e. School Boards should be replaced by a more flexible system of parent forums, as decided locally by the parents, in a way which suits them and their school best?

Question 5: The Bill does not prescribe the means of appointment to the new forums (elections to Boards are mandatory) but provides for parents to decide this locally.
Do you agree?

Education authorities to promote parent forums (Section 4)

We recognise the support which education authorities have given to School Boards, but now propose a specific new statutory duty on education authorities in relation to the new parent forums. This duty would require education authorities to promote the establishment of a parent forum for each school in their area and to support its operation.

Question 6: Do you agree that education authorities should have a new duty to promote the establishment of a parent forum in each school and to support their operation?

We expect that most schools will wish to have their own parent forum. However, parents in combined schools or clusters of schools may prefer to have one overarching parent forum to represent all their interests. A provision could be added to the Bill to enable this to happen where it was the preferred option of the parents in each school.

Question 7: Should the Bill provide for 'composite' parent forums where this is the preferred option of parents in each school in a combined school or cluster of schools?

Establishing the parent forum (Section 5)

Although parents will have the ultimate say on what the parent forum in their child's school will look like, who will be on it and how it will operate, the draft Bill includes provision for education authorities to assist with the establishment of the first parent forum in a school, if this is the wish of the parent body.

The intention in the Bill is to give parents absolute freedom to decide on the arrangements for the new parent forum for their school. They will no doubt wish to consider various 'models' before deciding. The following list provides some examples.

• Something which builds on the existing PTA - parents might wish to change their existing PTA into a new parent forum.
• Something that may resemble a current School Board - a body with a relatively formal structure which meets regularly and with an agenda, minutes and so on. Where parents believe that the existing arrangements are what will work best for them, they would be entirely free to base the new parent forum on those current arrangements, including election and appointment.
• Something which combines the 'best' of a School Board and of a PTA - with the exact balance or combination varying from school to school in light of the different experiences and expectations of the parents.
• Potential options for identifying the members of the new parent forum include - various sorts of election, decisions taken at a meeting, representatives drawn from the school as a whole or from each class or year, and so on.
• Parents may wish to establish a larger forum which itself meets perhaps relatively infrequently but delegates specific roles or tasks to smaller working groups. These groups might focus on fund-raising, a particular campaign, or supporting various in- or out-of-school activities, and each of them could come together to report to the meetings of the full parent forum.
• In a small school, where there were only a small number of parents, they might agree that one of them should be responsible for seeking the others' views and representing them as required.
• Alternatively, the parent forum could consist of all the parents in a school. They might all agree to meet regularly to discuss issues of interest, ensuring that the views of any absentees are sought and taken account of.

The above 'models' or examples are intended only to illustrate the range of options which the Bill opens up to parents. None of the above is specifically recommended or endorsed. The intention is that parents in a school could choose whatever model they think would suit them best.
They might draw on elements of the above models, or they could reject them all and devise their own parent forum from scratch. Importantly, however, there will be a right for parents to have the forum of their choosing and to have further rights to information and decision making as a consequence.

To help establish parent forums initially, education authorities may assist the process by preparing a 'scheme' for the first establishment of a parent forum in a school. The draft Bill enables a significant number of parents (equivalent to a quarter of the number of children in the school, e.g. 25 parents in a school of 100 pupils) to require a local authority to initiate the process if they have not already offered. The education authority would issue a notice to parents signalling their intention to prepare the scheme. It would seek parents' views on how their parent forum should be constituted and suggest alternatives by way of example only.

Parents might however decide that they did not want a parent forum in their school or that they wanted to set it up themselves entirely without education authority help. The draft Bill provides for these situations. In deciding which option to pursue we suggest that the option preferred by the greatest number of parents responding should be the one selected.

Question 8: Do you agree with the proposal for the involvement of education authorities to get the initial parent forum off the ground? If not, what alternative would you suggest?

Ministers' view is that a parent forum should determine its own operational arrangements such as the size of the body, the terms of office of members, procedures for meetings, conduct of business, whether there are to be co-opted members, the way future appointments are to be made etc. While our intention is to allow a parent forum flexibility in its discussions, we recognise that specific guidance will be required for instances where the parent forum may wish to discuss information of a personal nature relating to a named individual. For practical reasons the first constitution would be drawn up under the education authority scheme for establishment, or by the parents if they have opted to do that instead. Thereafter the constitution becomes a matter for the parent forum.

The term 'parent forum' is a legal definition, used throughout the draft Bill. It is not intended to be prescriptive. Parents will be able to choose an 'everyday' name for the parent forum in their school. The Bill expressly provides for the parent forum in a school to define the name by which it is to be known.

Question 9: The draft Bill leaves the forum's 'constitution' to be determined locally, either by the parents or initially under the education authority scheme. Do you agree with this approach? If not, what alternative would you suggest and why?

Membership of parent forums (Section 6)

The draft Bill specifies that a member of a parent forum must either be a parent of a pupil in attendance at the school or an individual co-opted by the parent forum. For the purposes of the Bill, the term 'parent' includes a child's guardian and any person who is liable to maintain or has parental responsibilities in relation to the child, or has care of the child or young person. We recognise that there are particular issues relating to looked-after children and would welcome views on how their interests can be addressed and catered for in the Bill.

Question 10: Do you agree that membership of a parent forum should be confined to parents (the broad definition) of children attending the school or individuals co-opted by the parent forum? Should parents always be in the majority?

Question 11: Do you have a view as to how the needs of looked-after children should be addressed and catered for in the Bill?

The immediate functions of a parent forum are unlikely to involve members in activities which would be defined as childcare under the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003. That means disclosure checks for parent forum members would not be required as a matter of course.

The 2003 Act however, will apply if a member of the parent forum were to be involved in caring for, training, supervising or being in sole charge of children. In those cases they would, like any other parent or staff member, be subject to appropriate disclosure checking.

Question 12: Do you agree that the Bill should not result in parent forum members being subject to automatic disclosure checks but that members, like any other parent, should only be checked when engaging in activities defined under the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003?

The draft Bill does not propose that anyone should have the right to attend parent forum meetings, other than the members. It would be a matter for the parent forum who they choose to invite. Current School Board arrangements require headteachers to attend as advisors and specify that councillors have a right to attend School Board meetings in their ward.

There are arguments for ensuring the headteacher should attend as of right, to ensure no distance emerges between the headteacher and the parent forum and to ensure discussions are based on up-to-date and accurate information about the school.

Question 13: On balance, do you agree that 'rights of attendance' for certain non-members of a parent forum should not be a part of the new arrangements? In other words do you agree that non-members of the parent forum should attend only by invitation or do you believe the headteacher should have the right to attend, with the councillor or other individual by invitation?

The functions and financial powers of a parent forum (Sections 7-8)

The draft Bill sets out a list of 'functions' for a parent forum - its broad role and the areas in which we envisage it operating. It would be for each forum itself to decide on the weight, emphasis and effort afforded to each function. At first sight the list of functions may seem daunting. It is not intended to be. The purpose is to express in general terms the range of functions which we see a parent forum exercising, in a way which allows flexibility of interpretation as to the way each forum will focus its activities. That said, some of the functions are expressed in more specific terms than others, e.g. the importance of a forum reporting back to the whole parent body at least annually - but leaving the forum to decide how best to do that.

School Board functions focus particularly on the administration and management of a school and are clearly prescribed. Our intention is that the new parent forums should be freer to consult on, discuss and represent the views of parents on any and all areas of interest to the wider parent body. The intention is that they should also be clearly representative of, represent the views of, and be accountable to, all the parents in the school. The draft Bill sets out a number of functions relating to this key representational role.

• Finding out the views of parents at the school about quality and standards at the school, how the parent forum is carrying out its functions and any other matters of interest or concern to parents.
• Reporting the views of parents at the school to the headteacher, education authority or another party.
• Making representations to the headteacher and education authority about their arrangements for promoting parental involvement in their own children's education and more generally.
• Reporting to parents on its own activities annually.

The draft Bill also sets out other functions which the parent forum can engage in to the extent it considers appropriate, e.g.

• to seek to raise quality and standards in the school
• to support those managing the school in developing the personality, talents and mental and physical abilities of each child to their fullest potential
• promoting contact between the school, current and prospective parents, the local community and other individuals or groups
• amending its constitution.

Question 14: Do you consider these functions appropriate to parent forums? Would you suggest removing or adding any, or making some obligatory and others optional?

Question 15: The Bill has been drafted to allow the parent forum to find out and report the views of parents in the school on any matters which are of interest or concern to them. Do you agree with this open-ended provision or would you suggest defining the areas of interest more restrictively?

The draft Bill also includes provisions comparable to the current arrangements for School Boards which will:

• enable parent forums to enter into contracts with third parties, except in relation to land
• ensure that members do not incur personal liability if they are acting in good faith and carrying out their statutory functions.

At present, School Boards are designated as 'agents' of the education authority, for the purpose of dealings with a third party, but PTAs are not. We have considered carefully what would be the best option for parent forums and propose that, as a new statutory body, a parent forum should be an 'agent' of the authority for these purposes. We recognise that this may have implications for the perceived independence of the forum but believe that this would be outweighed by the confidence it would give third parties in their dealings with the forum.

We understand too that being designated an 'agent' of the education authority might (as is currently the case with School Boards) restrict the parent forum to activities covered under the education authority's own insurance arrangements. In other words this could preclude its engagement in some of the activities which PTAs currently engage in, such as sales of work, etc. because PTAs are able (through membership of the SPTC) to secure wider insurance cover.

We would propose to explore ways in which parent forums, if designated 'agents' of the education authority, could engage in activities that they might reasonably wish to, and be covered by appropriate insurance.

Question 16: Do you agree that the Bill should designate parent forums as 'agents' of the education authority for the purpose of their dealings with third parties, and that the issue of insurance should be looked into further? Or do you take an alternative view?

The draft Bill also enables a parent forum to raise and spend funds, prevents it from acquiring an interest in heritable property and ensures that, where a parent forum ceases to exist, any property it owns would pass to the education authority for the benefit of the school.

The education authority's duties to the parent forum (Section 9)

We think it is important to set out specific statutory duties of education authorities in relation to parent forums. For them to work effectively they will need support from education authorities in terms of financial support and 'in kind' as well as a good flow of advice and information and responses to any questions and representations. The Bill is therefore drafted to oblige education authorities to:

• comply with any reasonable request for information from a parent forum (which would also be expected to comply with similar requests from the education authority or headteacher)
• ensure that the headteacher and staff are available to give advice and information to the parent forum on what is being done to promote parental involvement in education in the school
• make available a reasonable level of funding for the parent forum to meet expenses for administration, training and other activities, and have the option of offering services or accommodation
• inform the parent forum about the school's arrangements for consultation between parents and teachers
• ensure that parent forums receive replies to any representations made to the authority or headteacher.

Question 17: Are these the appropriate obligations to place on education authorities in relation to their working with parent forums?

Question 18: Do you agree with the provisions requiring education authorities to provide financial support or support in kind to parent forums or would you suggest alternative arrangements?

3.3 FOUR OTHER PROPOSALS IN THE BILL

Advice and information to parents - a new education authority duty (Section 10)

Parents already get report cards and have access to parents' evenings or other arrangements to learn about their child's progress. The draft Bill in no way seeks to diminish existing rights but rather to expand and build upon them.

The right of parents to get advice and information on matters relating to the education provided to their children is of critical importance if there is to be a real partnership within schools.
In many cases parents will be content with the arrangements which the education authority and school already have in place for the provision of regular updates and feedback on their children's education and progress. But there will be circumstances where parents want more specific advice and information.

The proposal in the draft Bill is that a parent's right to request and be given such advice and information should be enshrined in a duty on an education authority (or its headteachers or teachers) to give advice and information in response to a reasonable request from a parent on any matter relating to the education provided to their child.

Question 19: Do you agree with the proposed duty on education authorities to provide advice and information to individual parents on request, on matters relating to the education of their children?

The appointment of headteachers and deputy headteachers (Section 11)

Ministers believe that the appointments' system for headteachers and deputy headteachers, which is set out in Schedule 2 to the 1988 Act and which has been in place for 16 years, is outdated and needs to be changed. Selection and appointment procedures have changed hugely over that period. Modernising the appointments system is an essential element of the Executive's commitment to identify and secure the highest quality leadership in our schools. The Executive wishes to stress that it supports and endorses continued parental involvement in the appointment processes for such posts.

Instead of prescribing a new system centrally for such appointments the draft Bill requires an education authority to inform Ministers and parent forums about its procedures to fill headteacher or deputy headteacher posts and for the involvement of the parent forum in that appointment process.

The draft Bill also allows for Ministers to make regulations imposing requirements which an appointments process must satisfy. The intention will be to consult widely, and separately, before any regulations are drawn up. When we consult we shall focus on current best practice in both the private and public sectors, which involves a more thorough and balanced assessment of candidates' strengths and capabilities than the single interview procedure.

Question 20: Do you agree that education authorities should be enabled to replace the current system of appointing headteachers and deputy headteachers with more modern, flexible processes and procedures?

Question 21: If you do not agree that the principle of parental involvement should be retained by the involvement of parent forums in the new senior appointments processes, please give your reasons.

Complaints procedures (Section 12)

The draft Bill proposes that an education authority, after consultation with parents and parent forums, are to establish a procedure for handling complaints or other representations made about the authority's exercise of its functions under the Bill and to publicise such complaints procedures.

Ministers are of the view that it is important in support of good relationships between authorities, schools and parents that, for the occasions when there may be any breakdown in these relationships, there is a well-publicised procedure for making and handling complaints.

Question 22: Do you agree with the proposal to require education authorities to establish complaints procedures in relation to the way they exercise their functions under the Bill?

Transitional arrangements, etc. (Sections 13-16)

The draft Bill allows for the repeal of the School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988 to make way for the new proposals. Transitional and commencement provisions are also included to allow the new arrangements for parent forums to be phased in if appropriate.

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