Developing the strategy

Developing the strategy

The education authority must seek and take account of the views of all those with an interest in the authority’s implementation of its duties, or its complaints procedures, when developing or reviewing its strategy. This includes parents, Parent Councils, pupils and any other person the authority considers appropriate.

The education authority should involve parents with differing experiences in the drafting of the strategy to ensure that it reflects the broad parental perspective. The authority should consider a variety of methods that are effective, proportionate and meet the needs of parents in their area. This may include: involving parents as part of a working, planning or reference group; the use of focus groups, open forum/open space events for parents to discuss issues in small groups; surveys, workshops, consultation documents, etc. Staff with skills in working with groups and facilitating discussion, e.g. Home Link/Family Link teams and Community Learning and Development staff, can contribute to planning and running events authority-wide or in local areas to ensure that as wide a range of parents’/community views as possible are obtained.

The views of early years providers and parents should be considered when developing or reviewing the strategy. Childcare Partnerships within local authorities provide a good channel for communication with parents of pre-school and nursery children and with service providers. The views of pupils can be obtained through existing systems e.g. Pupil or School Councils and any authority-wide mechanism for consulting children and young people. The education authority should also have arrangements in place that allow parents to access its strategy through the school or its Parent Council. The education authority should also involve Parent Councils and others when reviewing or revising its strategy.

Schools do not exist in isolation. They are based in communities and some larger schools may serve more than one identifiable community. Schools are also part of a network of statutory and voluntary organisations that provide services and support to communities. Therefore, there will be a range of groups that may be able to offer input to the authority’s draft strategy for parental involvement. The strategy will need to take account of any differences in approach that are necessary for each community. The principles established in the National Standards for Community Engagement provide a useful framework when planning effective ways of seeking the views of groups and the wider community.