For Parent Councils - sharing ideas

7 Responses to “Conference for Parents and Parent Councils, 7 June Glasgow”

1. Henry Paul June 7th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
   At the conference, Fiona Hyslop MSP stated “we will provide support to set up a new National Parent Body”. What does she mean by support? Does she mean support as in the football supporter model i.e. stand on the sidelines and shout a lot, or will she actually invest some money and effort to help parents form a new National Parent Body?

   I think that Glow should be used to facilitate the setting up of a new National Parent Body. Glow has a great deal to offer parents and, by using it to help set up the new NPB, we would also be able to explain the value of Glow to parents. An approximate road map could be as follows:

   Steps to forming “Parent Glow” the new NPB.

   Step 1. Glow provides all PCs with a unique e-mail address. This would be along the lines of: madrascollegepc.fife@glowscotland.org.uk . This would be derived from the EA and the school’s name in order to avoid the problem of two or more schools with the same name in different parts of Scotland. The advantage of this system is that the PC chair (or clerk) could log in to Glow and access the e-mails from anywhere, and the address would not change when the chair was replaced.

   Step 2. Glow hosts a discussion forum in cyberspace to seek ideas from parents in all 32 EAs about what they want from a new NPB.

   Step 3. Parents in each EA would elect a parent to represent them. Meetings would be held in a Glow-enabled EA to allow all parents to be able either to input their ideas directly, or by video link. The role of this new Executive Board would be to produce a constitution for a new NPB and resolve how it would be funded. All schools would be given free membership for one year in a manner similar to that provided by most EAs for providing insurance to their fledgling PCs.

   Step 4. A conference would be hosted by a Glow enabled EA, and those parents unable to travel could take part by video link. The conference could also be live on Glow with inputs from any Glow users. Conference would ratify the constitution of new NPB, produced by the new Executive Board. An online poll could be used to confirm parental support for the new constitution.

   Step 4. Glow would host training materials for PCs.

   Step 5. Parent Glow would be formed in April 2009.

   Glow and Parent Councils are new bodies, and both are unique to Scotland. Eventually, it is hoped that Glow will be in every school in every EA in Scotland, therefore by using Glow to help form the new NPB we will raise the profile of Glow with parents and help them to become more familiar with it. Glow could be used to canvas parent opinion directly on a range of subjects, and online polls could be conducted on important issues. Although Glow would host the new NPB, it would be independent and run by people employed by the parents.

2. Phil Kennerley June 9th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
   I attended the conference in Glasgow on Saturday (after a journey of over 400 miles involving road, sea and air) with the hope that all the expense, effort and 56 hours would be worth it. I’m delighted to say it was. The speakers were informative with well thought out presentations and obviously passionate about the future of education in Scotland .I chose to attend the workshop on The Curriculum For Excellence, which was outstanding. It was slightly disappointing when, with limited time for questions, some delegates attempted to dictate how a national parent council body should be set up, pedalling there wares like door to door sales men. So to them I would ask, please give it a rest; stop fighting for your own slice of cake. Parent councils are new, fresh, foreword looking groups, the days of organisations that feel they can dominate others, with big characters and egos in charge are gone. I for one would not want to be represented by an extinct association with a superficial face lift. Anyway back to what’s really important, well done to every one involved with the conference the bar has been set very high for next year.

   Phil Kennerley
   Shetland

3. Sarah Atkin June 9th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
   We need an independent, publicly funded National Body whose primary purpose is to lobby on behalf of parents; to be the voice of parents in Scottish education - an equal partner (and eventually equally as influential) as Local Authorities and the EIS. Where is the parent voice to be on national issues without it? Government has a responsibility to ensure such a body is established as soon as possible. There is already plenty of expertise from the old School Board Association and Parent Teacher Council to call upon.

4. Miranda Harvey June 11th, 2008 at 10:31 am
   I found the most informative and energising part of the conference to be the time I spent talking to other parents. It’s great to see so many people committed to the education of their own (and everyone else’s) children.

   The workshop I attended (Getting the most our of your parent council) was interesting, though I don’t think it would be easy for most parent councils to copy the model given (a project where the school was fortunate enough to be able to set up a residential outdoor education-based bonding event). It clearly worked for the parents involved, who were bursting with enthusiasm and commitment!

   While I am actively involved with a national organisation, my priority would be to get all the support and help I can for my “home” parent councils to get them up and running. Other parent were really informative about the level and nature of support they got from local authority officers, and I will be using that information to try and build relationships with other parent councils in my local authority area.

   Other delegates at the conference passed me websites that had been used in the IT workshop - I don’t want to paste them here in case it is a breach of some kind of rule, but perhaps Lorraine could arrange to have them put on the blog somewhere?

   Miranda Harvey
   Edinburgh

5. Andrew Brown June 13th, 2008 at 11:47 am
   Hi Miranda - you can find all the websites I showed on my post about the conference on my site at this address:

   http://www.whereisab.co.uk/blog/?p=615

   Thanks for the opportunity to speak to those that attended my session

6. Donald Gunn MacDonald June 27th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
   I would like to congratulate Learning and Teaching Scotland for a thoroughly enjoyable Conference.

   My lasting memory is one of enthusiasm for our new set-up and pleasure at the news that most schools have Parent Councils. There was very obvious commitment by the Minister, Fiona Hyslop, in her support of parents in their various roles in the education of their children. I feel we can all take much from her address to us.

   The partnership formed by a Parent Council, the Headteacher, the School Staff and the Community is vital to the overall health of our schools.

   But the next step must be to encourage Parent Councils and each local authority to develop and support the formation of area Parent Council groups to allow parents to have meaningful representation at the local authority level. In my view this should now have support from each local authority. Let us call these groups Area Parent Council Forums. I believe Area Parent Council Forums can best serve the school system when they have within a local authority area, as separate Parent Councils, come together, agreed their own organisation, set their own agendas and are chaired by someone elected from the parent body.

   It is refreshing to hear from HMIE that they will be consulting with Parent Councils during school inspections. When local authorities are inspected I hope that the authority will be expected to have supported the formation of Area Parent Council Forums and to thereafter take account of their representations. This must be part of the inspection process.

   This will set the scene to allow a National Parent Council Association to become a reality: a National Parent Council Association must have the capacity to allow elected parental representation from each of the local authorities in Scotland to represent the parent view to Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Government. Government may have, in the short term, to promote and support this

   The Scottish Parent Councils Association wish to see this to take place. When an elected body with representatives from Area Parent Councils Forums from across Scotland comes into being we will stand down. We feel there is no need for duplication and certainly do not want to see former systems continue.

   We want to see parent representation at School Level, at Local Authority Level and at a National Level. Nothing more but nothing less will satisfy the needs of Scottish education.

   I have pondered over statements from Learning and Teaching Scotland: I have copied comments below:

   “Collaboration and Representation

   Excellent schools place high importance on what parents expect and their views have a significant influence on determining the schools vision.

   Through consultation of future plans the parental views help to formulate the school’s priorities for improvement.

   The school also seeks regular feedback from the parent groups and representatives on specific events, the quality of education, school leadership and how the school is managed.

   Parent representatives communicate regularly with the rest of the parent body: just imagine the canvassing opinions and views.

   In an excellent school parents are confident in contributing their ideas, expressing concerns and making suggestions.”

   (From an MP4 File: L+T Scotland, 20th March 2008)

   and

   AifL
   ASSESSMENT IS FOR LEARNING

   Parents help children to identify and reflect on evidence of their (children’s) learning
   at school, at home and in the wider community.

   Teachers take account of parents’ views and evidence about their children’s learning,
   as well as evidence from school-based activities.

   Parent Councils talk with school staff to share their understanding of standards and how judgments about their children’s achievements are made in the school.

   Parent Councils discuss the overall picture of achievement in the school with staff and contribute their ideas about how the school might plan for improvement.

   Parents talk with their children in a similar way about what they are learning, at school, through homework and through activities at home and outside the school.

   Parents talk with their children and teachers about their children’s next steps in learning and how they can help.

   Staff encourages pupils to talk with their parents about the feedback they are given, and take account in turn of feedback from parents about their children’s learning.

   Parents know what their children are learning, and talk with them about the things they think they have done well and why, and what, they need to do to improve their work.

   Parents support their children to reflect on their own learning and to consider carefully what others say about it.

   (From a Word File: L+T Scotland, 27th June 2008)

   Excellent schools will achieve this: but it also needs to be replicated at a local authority level and then equally obviously at a national level.

   Good local government and national government must promote and support this collaborative approach to achieve genuine representation at all levels within Scotland.

   Donald Gunn MacDonald
   Vice President
   The Scottish Parent Councils Association
   01540 673365 or 07711352244
   macddg@aol.com

7. Fiona Mullen July 7th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
   As chair of a Parent Council, I agreed to attend the conference with only half-hearted enthusiasm as I didnt expect much from it. I am delighted to say that I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was extremely informative, both in terms of the official speakers and workshops but almost more so in terms of the networking with other members of parent councils in other areas.

   We are fortunate in Renfrewshire that our the local authority have worked very hard to support and inform parent councils and hold regular liaison meetings for representatives of all the authorities’ parent councils to get together, learn about new initiatives and have an opportunity to talk to each other and learn from each other.

   However, for parent councils to be a success, we need national representation. Much has been said about the fact that the Scottish Executive will support the formation of a national body but that the impetus must come from the parents themselves. But how can we do this if we cant get in touch with each other.

   I have tried for several months to get an email list of all the chairs of just the secondary school parent councils in Renfrewshire and managed to get 4 out of 11 so far. How can we hope to set up a national body if we have no way of contacting each other?

   GLOW may be the answer as suggested above but remember that some authorities are way ahead of others in the implementation of GLOW and some schools, particularly secondary schools are massively behind and have not even begun its implementation.

   I believe that a facilitation by the Scottish Executive in the creation of a national body is the only way forward. Not dictating terms or remit but simply providing a forum where parent council members can come together and discuss the way forward.

   I would be happy to be involved but simply dont know where to start!

   Fiona Mullen
   Park Mains Parent Council
   Erskine

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