School boards need more training, says Ombudsman

SCHOOL boards should receive more training to help them deal with complaints from pupils and their parents, according to the Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan.

Around one-third of the matters referred for investigation to Ms Logan’s office each year are related to education issues, most of which are about how complaints are handled by schools.

Her statutory role is not to investigate the substantive matter but how an organisation such as a school handles the matter. She can, for example, probe how a school’s board of management deals with a complaint that a child is being bullied.