From participation to consultation

As parents of children in government schools are urged to stand as candidates and vote in this month's biennial school council elections, the councils are facing the challenge of taking the next step in their evolution towards becoming a stronger force in education.

The long-serving president of the School Councils Association, Frans Borg, said that over the years parents had become more involved in schools, while schools had become more open to the idea of school councils and to parental participation in certain areas.

The next watershed, he said, would be for policy makers, education authorities and heads of school to hold meaningful consultation with parents on the changes that needed to take place in the educational system.

The last school council elections were held at the end of January 2003, when enough parents put forward their candidatures to hold elections in 60 per cent of schools. When posts are not contested the interested parents are appointed automatically. At least one parent from each of 6,000 families had voted for their parent representatives on the councils.

The targets this year are elections in 75 per cent of the schools and 10,000 votes cast. At a press conference yesterday, Education Minister Louis Galea called on parents to stand for the elections and to bring out the vote.

School councils were first established in 1988. Each council is composed of a school president, the head of school as secretary/treasurer, three elected members of the teaching staff and three elected parents. Among the council's present powers are the administration of school funds, the fostering of parental participation and parent-teacher relations and the discussion of the curriculum. They are not allowed to interfere in matters of teaching, discipline or school administration.

The National Minimum Curriculum puts great stock in the input of parents, urging that they be seen as collaborators in the educational process and saying the very success of the curriculum depends upon heads working together with parents in a creative manner.

In keeping with this principle, the strategic plan for the implementation of the curriculum lays down that every school must include ways of involving parents in its development plan.

School councils are urged to offer parents training in parenting skills, child development and educational matters, including how to promote their child's learning at home.

According to the plan, councils must also play an active role in bringing parents and schools closer together by keeping parents informed and consulting them.

So what stage have school councils reached in their evolution? "In general, schools have become more open to their input," said Mr Borg. "Whereas before quite a number never held meetings for school councils, now that number is negligible.

"There are also a number of new heads who came up from schools with a pro-parent culture. Parental participation seems to be getting fashionable. A start has been made in consulting councils about the school development plan.

"On some councils' initiative, meetings have been held for parents to explain educational issues, such as the abacus method of doing mathematics,

"Some councils are moving away from an exclusive fund-raising role to that of taking a leading role in the organisation of activities such as prize days and open days.

"On their part, parents have become more outspoken about educational matters, while in speaking up they tend to hold greater respect for the educators. Their input has become more constructive and in line with the curriculum. They're not just making complaints, but they're informed about educational matters, pro-active and ask relevant questions."

The next breakthrough, said Mr Borg, who has long championed greater parental participation, would be for administrative and curricular decisions to be taken after full consultation with parents.

Parents, he said, needed to be given a greater say in such matters as bringing about a higher quality education, making the system more humane in terms of exam pressure and the amount of homework given, and in giving schools more autonomy.

"The system cannot change if parents are not on board. They have to be seen as a force for change and consulted. This does not entail any legislative changes, but a change in mentality, as part of the national commitment towards our children," said Mr Borg.

Meeting on homework

The Association of School Councils is organising a meeting for parents at Robert Sammut Hall in Floriana on Thursday, January 13 at 9.30 a.m.

The aim of the meeting is to discuss the need for a homework policy in schools. It will be addressed by the Education Division's director of curriculum Ray Camilleri.