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Parental Participation in Schools
 

The role of parents in schools, including in classrooms

Scotland

Austria

Belgium
(Flemish Community)

France

Italy

Netherlands

Portugal
School Boards provide the formal forum for the representation of parental views in the management of a school. Board Members include school staff and parents are always in the majority. Boards’ responsibilities include promoting contacts between the school and community; taking part in the selection of senior staff; and approving the headteacher’s plans for the use of the school’s budget.

Initiatives supported by parents, schools and education providers, include:

  • the work of groups such as the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, and Parent-Teacher or Parent Associations;
  • parents acting as helpers in:

- schools e.g. resources and materials

- classrooms e.g. hearing young children read

- visits to places of interest; and

compiling a directory of skills and services parents are willing to provide.

 Parents support teachers on a voluntary basis by:
  • helping pupils in classrooms;
  • providing particular skills or professional expertise such as inviting students to their work-places;
  • helping renovation work; and
  • offering pupils workshops on the arts, music, sports or foreign languages.
 Parents offer particular skills to help with school projects. At class level, they sometimes assist with:

reading;

  • arts and crafts;
  • administrative tasks;
  • field trips;
  • local road safety; and
  • setting up school libraries.
 Parents are not encouraged to intervene in pedagogical matters but participate in extra-curricular activities. Parents can act as class contacts co-operating in extra-curricular activities, liaison functions and offering advice on textbooks and curricular innovations. Here, too, support is offered on school trips, sports events and fund-raising. Parents perform a wide range of support including organising lunchtimes and assisting in educational tasks as invited. The formal opportunities for parents to be involved in schools and classrooms are set out in the rights, duties and responsibilities stated in the General Principles of The Educational System. Between 1995 and 1997, several studies collected data on parental participation in schools and identified good practice and reasons for difficulties. Across the country, around 40% of primary schools and 65% of lower secondary schools involved parents in aspects of administration or management. While parents assist in extra-curricular activities in about a quarter of schools, there was evidence of parental involvement in classrooms in only 5% of them.

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