Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 31:

In page 27, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following:

“(7) The education and training board shall promote contact between parent associations in schools and the community and shall facilitate and give all reasonable assistance to parents associations who wish to elect their representatives to education and training boards.”

The legislative foundation for the development of education policy that is inclusive of the rights of parents in the management of their school at local level is in place since 1998. The Education Act 1998 at section 26(3) provided that the board of management “shall promote contact between the school, parents of students in that school and the community and shall facilitate and give all reasonable assistance to parents who wish to establish a parents' association and to a parents' association when it is established”. This partnership was further developed and built on by the inclusion of the rights of the parents at the level of the local authority area and the enactment of the Vocational Education (Amendment) Act 2001. That Act provides that membership of the committee shall include two members elected by parents of students who have not reached the age of 18 years and who registered as students at recognised schools or centres for education established or maintained by the committee.

The State has already facilitated and given all reasonable assistance to parents as key stakeholders to engage and participate in the governance of further education and training at local level. However, I believe the Education and Training Boards Bill 2012 will cause parents to become disengaged because, if section 28(7) is not amended, it will cause a disintegration of the dynamic partnerships that have been emerging between parents and their educational providers in their local communities in the past ten to 15 years.

Section 28(7)(a) states that:

the Minister shall, for the purpose of subsection (1)(c), specify a national association of parents in respect of the education and training board who shall nominate 2 parents, one of whom shall be a man and one of whom shall be a woman who shall be appointed as members of that board.

Section 28(7)(b) states that:

Where, in the opinion of the Minister, an education and training board provides a significant amount of primary education he or she may, for the purpose of subsection

(1)(c), specify more than one national association of parents in respect of that board who shall each nominate 2 parents, one of whom shall be a man and one of whom shall be a woman for appointment to the board.

Section 28(7)(c) states that:

Where more than one national association of parents is specified under paragraph (b), the members referred to in paragraph (a)and (b)of subsection (1)shall appoint 2 members to the education and training board from among the persons nominated under paragraph (b)of this subsection, one of whom shall be a man and one of whom shall be a woman.

At a local level, parents will always be unevenly organised. Therefore, the ETB as a governing body has a duty of care towards parents as critical stakeholders. In effect, this means that parents must be supported and facilitated in the election of their representatives to the ETBs. Since the Education Act 1998 provides that parents are supported and facilitated to establish parents' associations, it follows that in the interests of good governance and coherence between the Education Act 1998 and the Education and Training Boards Bill, the Minister must consider the amendment as proposed.

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