Parental Involvement Act 2006
The Scottish Government passed the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 to help parents and schools work together as partners in children’s learning and encourage and support more parents to become involved.
The Parent Forum and the Parent Council
The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 has changed the arrangements for parental representation in all schools. Since August 2007, all parents and carers are automatically members of the Parent Forum for their school and they have a right to establish a Parent Council to represent them.
Parent Forum
The membership of the Parent Forum is made up of all parents/carers who have a child at an education authority school. Membership of the Parent Forum allows parents/carers to have a say in the local arrangements to enable their collective view to be represented on matters such as the quality and standards of education at the school and other matters of interest to parents/carers. One of the ways parents in the Parent Forum will be able to express their views will be through the Parent Council.
Parent Council
The Parent Council is a group of parents selected by members of the Parent Forum to represent all the parents of children at the school. Parent Councils are very flexible groups and the Parent Forum can decide on the type of group it wants to represent their views. The type of things a Parent Council could get involved in include:
- supporting the work of the school
- gathering and representing parents' views to the Head Teacher, Education Authority and Education Scotland
- promoting contact between the school, parents, pupils and the local community
- involvement in the appointment of senior school staff
- fundraising and events
Parent Councils are recognised in law from August 2007. As a statutory body, the Parent Council has the right to information and advice on matters which affect children's education. The school and the local authority must listen to what the Parent Council says and give it a proper response. Every school's Parent Council will be different because it will be parents in each school who make the key decisions.