SPTC Annual Conference 2005

Saturday 12 th November: Moray House, Edinburgh at 10am.

“PARENT FORUMS

the way forward ”

with Peter Peacock,

Minister for Education

Peter Peacock will talk about his plans for “parent forums”
and explain how he hopes these
will improve parental involvement in schools.

After the long summer break, it's back to school again and time for us to be thinking about our annual conference and AGM. These are always important events for us, but this time parents and their role in school will also dominate the political agenda as the Executive's bill on parental involvement starts its journey through Parliament. We are very fortunate that Peter Peacock, the Minister responsible for the legislation, has agreed to speak at our conference, and explain his ideas.

Put the conference date in your diary and watch out for the registration forms which should be arriving in the next few weeks.

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF)

Process

In April we sent all members a consultation on the Executive's proposals for parent forums. We asked you to discuss it either within the PTA committee or more widely. It was encouraging that many schools sent the consultation out although the return rate to them was poor. (One school with 240 children reported getting only 11 replies). We asked you to collect individual votes for or against the proposals as well as the numbers of those who could not decide.

Response

In total, we received 1,222 votes from 144 schools (121 primaries, 20 secondaries, 1 primary/secondary, 1 special and 1 not identified) from 31 local authorities (the exception was Clackmannanshire.). We would like to thank everyone who took part.

The outcome of the vote was:-

• 42.1% supported the proposals
• 32.8% rejected the proposals
• 25.1% said that they were undecided .

Comments

As always, several people supplemented their returns with comments and these put some flesh on the numbers. The comments covered the following broad areas.

1. There were quite a few comments about the lack of information that had been received – this was usually accompanied by a high “don't know” vote.
2. Several reported on the lack of interest amongst the parents as a whole, evidenced by the low return rate.
3. Many expressed general concerns about the perceived vagueness of the proposals, with particular worries about the need for a constitution and who would draw it up.
4. For some, their decision was based on their present experience . Where the school board had recently been successful in lobbying on behalf of the school, no one wanted any change; in schools where the board appeared to do nothing, there was more enthusiasm for parent forums. We still had comments from some PTAs saying that they were not “allowed” to discuss the proposals because they were seen as a fundraising body.
5. Many of the comments both in support and opposition to the proposals were qualified .
   • On the plus side there was: I think it's a good idea but if it becomes too formal like SBs then nobody will join and you've lost both groups. At this moment they have clear rules; professionals tend to join SBs and are interested in budgets etc – it's more formal – whereas PTAs are less formal and are more into the social side. I'm not sure how it will come together.
   • On the negative side there was: We as a board are very happy with the way things are run at present (but) … agree, some areas that need looking at i.e. how long members are on the committee for….the number of members per school should also be allowed to be increased if desired.
6. Some respondents made some quite specific suggestions : the headteacher should attend the meeting; it should be part of their duties.
7. Finally, one school reported that the very process of the consultation had had a positive effect. It had brought the existing board and PTA together .

Conclusion

The result of this survey shows majority support for the proposed parent forums whilst the comments make it clear that even those who want the current school boards to continue recognise that changes need to be made.

The substantial “don't know” vote and accompanying comments indicate that there has been a shocking lack of consultation with the wider parent community. This failure to communicate beyond school boards highlights how disenfranchised many parents and PTAs have become. The forums, if set up, have a clear role to do in bridging this information gap.

The Drummond Equality Game

In this game each player is allocated a role which enables them to experience aspects of the first 20 years of life for a young person from a different background. They are told nothing about this identity and only discover it by reflecting on their experiences of issues such as racism, sexism, disability discrimination and social class as they play the game.

SPTC have helped finance this third edition of the game and we have been particularly impressed by the way the Equality Game teaches young people about the reality of inequalities and provides them with a clear insight into the world outside school.

For further information or to purchase the Game, please contact: Drummond Community High School , 41 Bellevue Place , Edinburgh , EH7 4BS . Tel: 0131 556 2651 or email: admin@drummond.edin.sch.uk

Life used to be so simple ( by Eleanor Coner )

You may remember that this was the title of an article in the last edition of Backchat. It was my personal experience of the increased complications involved when taking out a let for my PTA in a PPP school. I named and shamed the company – FES (who are actually the “facilities management” company not, as I said, the letting agency - not that most people would appreciate the difference). Anyway, it all caused a bit of a stushie and led to several meetings between us and FES .

This gave us a chance to really explain what parents needed and, to be fair to FES , they took our comments on board. They invited us to visit their helpline offices and in the process of our discussions we agreed improvements that we hope will make phoning their helpline a lot easier and more parent-friendly.

It's a shame that the parent's position is so often misunderstood and that it takes so much effort to get our message through. However, at the end of the day, if there is a simpler system, the time and energy will have been well spent. Thanks for listening FES . To read more on this story go to our website at www.sptc.info

Useful Publications

“Bullying – a parent's guide” by Jennifer Thomson is full of useful information and practical tips on such things as: how to get your child to open up; how to prevent your child from getting bullied; and how you can talk to your child's school. If you'd like to order a copy, telephone 01733 898105 or email info@forwardpress.co.uk

Sustrans Information Sheets

Sustrans – the sustainable transport charity – has launched a series of information sheets for parents, teachers and pupils which aim to inform and guide schools through sustainable school travel initiatives. These free resources are available to download from http://www.saferoutetoschools.org.uk or phone 0117 915 0100. Topics covered include: Safe Routes to School, Cycling/Walking to School, Developing a School Travel Plan and Staying Safe on the School Journey.

As always, as we head up towards our Annual General Meeting, we put out an appeal to all members for people to join the SPTC Board of Directors. This is made up of volunteer parents and teachers (no more than one from any one school). It meets six times a year to discuss SPTC policy and educational issues. Directors can also attend conferences and represent parents interests on various national committees.

Look out for more information on how to become a Director with your Conference registration form in September. If you would like to know more, get in contact with the office.

And Finally - Changes to our Database

During the summer we have been busy in the office entering member's information onto our new database. After a lot of work and many cups of coffee, we are just about ready – barring a few niggles. We would really appreciate it if you could check the label on your envelope and if there are any mistakes, let us know. After all, nobody's perfect!