Greater parental rights in school complaint system planned in new education bill
Full details are to published in the coming weeks and the National Parents Council, Post Primary, “has called for more consultation with parents before the act is made law”.
According to ombudsman Niall Muldoon, the charter will “strengthen the way parents and students are consulted and it will provide a more transparent ways of handling complaints”.
He said it’s expected the charter will replace Section 28 of the Education Act which deals with grievances and complaints in school settings. Part 5 of the Teaching Act, which brought in a fitness to teach hearings, was enacted in July.
“This too offers an avenue of redress to children and their families in relation to professional conduct. It is very important that we now work with the Teaching Council to ensure that people can navigate the system effectively,” he said.
Under the new Education Act, schools will be required to have a parent and student charter based on key guidelines set out by the minister for education.
Schools will also have to provide information on complaints made against it and publish details of where grievances were accepted or upheld. Prior to this, the Department of Education had little say in such complaints with boards of management holding sway.
It also provides for pupils to sit on boards of management and will require schools to publish details on teaching performance.
Róisín Callan of the National Parents Council, Post Primary, said more consultation with parents was needed before the act was made law but that it was important that “parents as the main educators of children under the Constitution” were given a more transparent complaints process and involvement in schools.
Under the new fitness to teach provisions enacted earlier this year, teachers can be banned from the classroom for serious misconduct or poor performance. The first hearings, likely to be held within the next six months, will be held in public.
