Dempsey to meet parents and students

PARENTS and students will air their views on how to improve the education system at a series of public meetings with Education Minister Noel Dempsey next year.

The 16 regional meetings, details of which will be announced shortly, will kick-start a consultation process first suggested by Mr Dempsey at the annual teacher union conferences last Easter.

The opinions expressed at these meetings are likely to be the basis on which a number of focus groups will then be formed to inform future policy change.

The issues for debate and a possible indication of the minister’s own vision will be included in a discussion document due to be published in advance of the first meetings in late January.

Mr Dempsey and senior officials from his department are likely to attend the seminars and field questions from the public, including parents, pupils, teachers and school management.

The minister has made clear he is anxious to oversee change in key areas such as giving schools and their boards greater autonomy, tackling disadvantage and maintaining and improving professional standards in teaching.

One of his most repeated ambitions is to have greater parental involvement in the education system.

“I believe that parents are a vastly under-utilised resource within our education system. We need to acknowledge this and consider in very practical terms how best to maximise their role,” Mr Dempsey told the Irish National Teachers Organisation annual congress in April.

Despite his intentions, there is strong division among some parent groups over the role they are given in matters of policy, curriculum change and other issues.

Other areas in which Mr Dempsey is keen to see improvements are in the efficient use of resources, particularly in light of recent spending constraints. He has asked the Educational Disadvantage Committee, for example, to find more effective ways of helping children at risk of leaving school early.

The department is also in the process of setting up 10 regional offices and, under decentralisation plans announced in the Budget, approximately 300 civil servants will move jobs from Dublin to Mullingar and Athlone.