Membership and Insurance Renewal - now due

2004 Conference Report

SPTC's conference, Kids Behaving Badly? turned into a fully interactive session ably led by our two speakers, David Cameron from East Lothian and Alan McLean an educational psychologist. We began by discussing whether things were really worse now than previously. Once we'd decided the answer was "no", we went on to consider what could be done to improve behaviour in schools. The over-riding message was clear. There needs to be much more active dialogue and partnership between parents and schools.

In the conference feedback the most commonly cited need was for schools to listen more - to pupils and to parents. There was a call for schools to listen to parents' concerns, to take them seriously, share information and accept that sometimes school doesn't know best.

The other side of the coin was the second most frequent demand for better communication with parents. Delegates said that this should be fuller, more frequent and two-way. That old chestnut of more time for teachers to discuss with parents came up. Delegates also asked for communication to be "real", not just an endless production of policy documents; and parents should be told when things go wrong/the child is failing.

The conference also called on teachers to show more understanding; to appreciate that bad behaviour is sometimes the reaction of a child in trouble and that shouting did not help. It was pointed out that children sometimes didn't understand what was expected of them and this resulted in inappropriate behaviour. Teachers were urged to value all children, including the quiet average child who was often in danger of getting lost and to be more consistent in how they deal with children.

However, there was a recognition that teachers could not do everything on their own and they were urged to ask for help from their colleagues, the management and from parents.

Finally there were calls for greater openness, more honesty about what children can achieve, and what teachers can achieve, more working together, in fact genuine partnership.

Whilst it might be said that the people who attended the conference were a self-selected group, the messages that came from them were the same messages that parents have always given. Partnership for parents has got to be two-way. It cannot just be parents dancing to the school's demands. Whilst schools have undoubted expertise on children as a group, parents are the experts on their own children. There is a need to join these different expertises together and to tackle problems of indiscipline jointly.

Scottish Executive Initiatives

Child Protection
New Child Protection legislation came into force in January and we are busy trying to establish exactly what it means for PTAs. We are in active discussion with the Executive and will give full information in the February Backchat. Meantime, carry on as before.

Changes to 5 - 14 testing
The Scottish Executive has been running a series of pilot projects to develop a system of assessment that gives more accurate information on pupils' progress. The various pilots have proved a great success and popular with teachers. The various "trial" schemes will now be rolled out everywhere. Parents will still find that their children are assessed for the different 5 - 14 levels (A to F) but the tests will be randomly generated (not selected from a catalogue) and will test across the whole curriculum in English and Maths, so they will give better information. Moreover, the test results will not be used to assess the school (another system will be used for that ) so the new 5 - 14 tests will be targeted only on pupils' progress.

Improved Information
Recently the Executive launched the first of a series of leaflets aimed at providing parents with better information. The first of these was a leaflet on homework. It pointed out that, over a pupil's time at school, homework could be the equivalent of a whole year's school work whilst "helping" need be no more than asking about it. The leaflets should be in your school now and the idea is that you should help decide how they could be used. Should they be sent out as they are or should some of the information be included in a school newsletter?

Changes to school boards
The Executive will soon be launching a consultation on changes to school boards. The idea is to make them more parent-friendly. Watch this space and get ready to give your views.

Part-time jobs

Kate Hasson, whose responsibilities cover development and Executive Career Planning, writes about some interesting research findings from Careers Scotland.

Pupils with clear goals do well

Careers Scotland has recently published three research reports. The first study found clear evidence that school students with career goals have higher academic attainment than those who don't. These pupils also demonstrated more positive views and commitment across a range of other factors from enjoying school to working hard for exams.

Part-time work pays off

Two other reports look at the extent of part-time work among students in S3 upwards and the influence of part-time work on areas such as knowledge of the working environment, values and perception of money management. The research also showed that young people who were working part-time had higher aspirations for their future jobs than those who had never had a part-time job.

The reports contain information that parents and teachers should find useful in discussing these issues with young people. The reports can either be accessed on the Careers Scotland web site at www.careers-scotland.org.uk (follow the links to Learning and Guidance Community then click on Research) or hard copies can be obtained by calling Kate Hasson on 01896 662441.

The Careers Scotland web site has an area especially for Parents and Carers. There you can find a range of information to help you discuss the choices and decisions facing young people today with your son or daughter.

Work experience - a new SPTC survey

What do you think? Is work experience good? Should it be scrapped or could it be improved? This is your chance to tell us. We are running one of our occasional surveys and again we ask you to consult either your committee or parents more widely, and give us the actual number voting for each option.

Money Management

Recently we have had two cases where the PTA Treasurer has taken sizeable sums from the PTA funds. In one case, it was over £4,000. It is therefore very important that everyone uses best practice to manage PTA funds. This is important both to avoid fraud and to protect the Treasurer from false accusations of fraud. We strongly advise that the following are always done:

1. Two people count any money raised.
   
2. Two signatures are required for any cheques or cash withdrawals. (More than two people should be eligible to sign, so that if one of the designated signatories is away, the PTA still has access to its funds). An alarming number of the cheques coming to us to pay for SPTC membership have only one signature.
   
3. No one should sign a blank cheque to allow for future payment. The payee and amount should always be filled in first.
   
4. The Treasurer must keep an up-to-date record of all payments and receipts.
   
5. At each Committee meeting the Treasurer must present a report of all income and expenditure since the last meeting and of the current balance. This report should be provided to the Committee, even if the Treasurer is unable to attend in person.
   
6. The other Committee members have a duty to require this report and to note it. If it is not produced, they should actively find out why.
   
7. The accounts should be audited every year by someone who is neither a member of the Committee nor relative of a Committee member. The auditor does not have to be a qualified accountant but does have to be someone who is used to working with numbers.
   
8. Don't leave it all to the Treasurer. Good money management is everyone's responsibility.

The above information is also in our leaflets A Simple Guide to Money Matters and Office Bearers and their Roles. Both can be requested from the office or downloaded from our website. We are also currently preparing a simple sheet for keeping financial records. This will be available by the end of January. Again, you will be able to request it from the office or download it from our website www.sptc.info

SUCCESS STORIES

The A-Z of Scots Education Law - a Guide for Parents