Parent Conference 2009
Afternoon session
Around 80 delegates attended the afternoon session, which began with a presentation from Carole Millar on her research into national representation for Parent Councils.
PowerPoint file: Carole Millar Research: Views on a National Parents' Body (1.4 MB)
After this, Lorraine Sanda, the National Parental Involvement Co-ordinator, restated the former Cabinet Secretary’s proposal that a National Forum should aim to build on what already exists in terms of support for Parent Councils. However, it was up to parents themselves to decide what they wanted in terms of national representation and the government stood ready to provide support where needed. Delegates were split into groups to look at four key questions to do with national representation. Some of the views to come out of the discussion are stated below.
1. Should the government set up a Forum? Who should the invitation go to?
- There was broad agreement that a National Forum was needed to represent parents' views on a national level.
- A Forum should be set up later in the year.
- The general view was that membership should be restricted to members of Parent Councils.
- The consensus was that the invitation should be sent out to all Parent Councils and there were a few suggestions of other groups to include such as local authorities.
- Some comments were made about the need for Regional Forums to develop at a local level before a national organisation was set up.
- A point was made about the need for use of internet and good communications to ensure those unable to make the meetings were kept in the loop.
2. What support is needed from each of the following?
Government
The general view was that government would need to provide funding and other resources for the new Forum and to facilitate the first meeting at least.
Local authorities
There was broad agreement that the local authority should encourage participation and help publicise the new Forum, but there were concerns that they should not drive the agenda.
Parent Councils
The role of Parent Councils was agreed to be crucial in terms of supporting the Forum by encouraging individuals to come forward and contribute to discussions.
Others
There were some suggestions as to other groups that could provide help such as further education colleges, HMIE (school inspectors), SPION (the local authority parental involvement network) as well as Enquire and Respectme (both voluntary organisations that provide support to parents).
3. What should the priorities of a National Parent Forum be?
- There was agreement that a first priority was to decide on the role and remit of the Forum and where it should meet.
- Longer-term priorities included consultation on government policy, dissemination of good practice and researching parents' needs.
- Establishing a good communications network with parents through use of the internet, newsletters etc was also seen as critical to ensuring that the Forum truly represents parents' views.
- Once the Forum was set up, there was a general view that its main role should be engaging with the Government on national initiatives such as Curriculum for Excellence, National Qualifications and distribution of resources.
- There were also some views that its role should be to provide training, advice and support to Parent Councils.
4. What should the role of Forum members be and what support do they need?
- A key part of the role of Forum members was considered to be reflecting parents' views to Government and local authorities as well as explaining Government priorities in a way that parents can understand.
- There were some views that they should hold an annual conference for parents as well as have information available on the internet.
- In terms of support, the general view was that training should be given to help them in their roles and they should have financial support.
