Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006: updated statutory guidance consultation

Introduction to The Consultation

The attached draft statutory guidance for the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 (the Act) is provided for consultation. The Scottish Government invites views from parental organisations, head teachers, local authorities, third sector organisations, professional bodies, members of the public and any other organisation or individual with an interest.

Additional publications to have at hand as you consider this guidance

The amended guidance contains a number of changes to the original (and current) statutory guidance which was issued in 2007. In responding to this consultation it may be helpful to refer to the current statutory guidance. A copy of the current statutory guidance is available at:

https://education.gov.scot/parentzone/Documents/parental-involvement-act-guidance.pdf

You may also wish to read the primary legislation – the Act – which the guidance seeks to explain and clarify. A copy of the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 is available at:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2006/8/contents

Why is the guidance being updated?

The guidance is being updated following an independent review of the Act by the National Parent Forum of Scotland. A commitment to modernise and strengthen the guidance was then included within the national “Learning Together” Action Plan on parental involvement and engagement, developed jointly by the Scottish Government and Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.

How was this draft guidance developed?

The draft amended guidance takes account of various suggestions from a working group which involved officials and representatives from Scottish Government, Education Scotland, the National Parent Forum of Scotland (NPFS), Connect (formerly the Scottish Parent Teacher Council), the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the
Scottish Parental Involvement Officers Network (SPION), the Association of Directors of Education (ADES), the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and Families Need Fathers (FNF).

What are our aims in re-drafting the guidance?

There are two key aims in re-drafting the guidance.

The first aim is to modernise the guidance, taking account of the changes in practice and wider legislation that have occurred since 2007.

The second aim is to strengthen the guidance in so far as possible whilst recognising that the duties and powers in primary statute – ie on the face of the Act itself – remain unchanged.

In updating the guidance we want to ensure that parental involvement and engagement – and the legal duties that underpin this important aspect in education – is given due prominence and recognition as part of wider aims to develop an empowered education system.

Responding to this Consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation by Thursday 30 April 2020 .

Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government’s consultation hub, Citizen Space (http://consult.gov.scot). Access and respond to this consultation online at – https://consult.gov.scot/learning-directorate/parental-involvement-act/.You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of Thursday 30 April 2020.

If you are unable to respond using our consultation hub, please complete the Respondent Information Form to:

Curriculum Development, Parental Engagement & Pupil Participation Team
Scottish Government
Area 2B-North
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ

Handling your response

If you respond using the consultation hub, you will be directed to the About You page before submitting your response. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please complete and return the Respondent Information Form included in this document.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy: /privacy/

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot. If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted,

please send them to the contact address above or at Parental.Involvement@gov.scot.

Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policymaking process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all our consultations online: http://consult.gov.scot. Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.