Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, to the House.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I thank the Minister for coming into the House to take this Commencement matter. The nub of what I want to raise is the importance of introducing a parents charter and to ask when we can expect it and when this new section 28 can be brought in to the school admissions policy.

Recently, I became aware of numerous cases of people having problems trying to get in contact with their child's school to raise an issue. In terms of the current process, as the Minister, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, will know well, the Department's website asks if the parent has contacted the Department of Education and Skills, which many parents think they should do, but the Department of Education and Skills, despite being funders of education, has no role at all. Schools are running themselves under the board of management. I believe there is a much greater need for parents to be involved in the running of the school so that when they do have an issue, it can be dealt with effectively.

I was made aware of a case recently where an issue was brought to the attention of the principal, was ignored for seven months and was only responded to when the parents in question contacted the chairperson of the board of management. They were then informed that if they had a complaint they should write to the secretary of the board of management. The secretary of the board of management and the principal are one and the same person. The parents did that. They were first told that all letters were only opened at a board of management meeting and that the secretary was not aware of it. However, it now turns out that it was the secretary who opened the letter and who was present while the decision was taken on the course of action that would be taken to address the parent's complaint, and it was the principal who contacted the parents. These parents were concerned that it is very much a one-sided process. Despite the school saying it is open and transparent, the parents were not present in the school when it was discussed but the principal was present. There is no recourse for a parent to get somewhere with a genuine concern. In addition, if one checks with someone in the Department of Education and Skills they will say the trustees should be contacted. The trustee in most of our voluntary secondary schools is the bishop or the organisation. If someone contacts the bishop, the bishop will say they will now contact the chair of the board of management, but that is the person about whom the complaint is being made. It is totally up to them.

In the four years I have been a Member of this House I have been contacted by numerous people who have had difficulties in getting school principals to return calls or answer letters. It is wrong for a principal in a school to ignore a letter for seven months and only respond when this parent took the matter to the chair of the board, even though the chair of the board referred it back to the secretary, who is the principal. There is an urgent need to ensure the parents charter is incorporated in the school admissions Bill and have this process in place because parents are under the misguided belief that it is the Department of Education and Skills they should contact when the Department, as far as I can see, has no role in the matter. I raise this Commencement matter so that concerns of parents can be addressed and that schools are held accountable for complaints procedures or concerns parents may wish to raise.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, to thank the Senator for raising this issue. The Minister, Deputy O'Sullivan, is in the Dáil answering oral questions. I welcome the opportunity to address the role and clarify the position of the Department of Education and Skills in the complaint procedure process for secondary schools.

The Senator will be aware that, under the Education Act 1998, legally, all schools are managed by the school board of management on behalf of the school's patrons or trustees or education and training board, ETB, known as the management authority. It is the management authority that employs the school's teachers and other staff members. In ETB schools, the ETB is the employer. The school principal manages the school on a day to day basis.

Accordingly, whereas the Department of Education and Skills provides funding and policy direction for schools neither the Minister nor the Department has legal powers to instruct schools to follow a particular course of direction with regard to individual complaint cases or to investigate individual complaints except where the complaint involves a refused enrolment, expulsion or suspension in accordance with section 29 of the 1998 Education Act.

In dealing with parental complaints, the Department's role is to clarify for parents how their grievances and complaints against the school can be progressed. Where parents feel that the school's board of management has failed to investigate or adequately investigate their complaint, they should contact the Ombudsman for Children. The Office of the Ombudsman for Children may independently investigate complaints about schools recognised with the Department of Education and Skills, provided the parent has firstly and fully followed the school's complaints procedures.Section 28 is the section of the Education Act 1998 that provides for parental complaints in schools. It expresses a desirability of determining appeals and resolving grievances in the school.

The Minister for Education and Skills is not satisfied with the current provisions of section 28 and plans to revise it to provide in law for a parent and student charter. Changing how schools engage with, listen and respond to parent concerns will be an important part of the charter. Providing parents with the rationale for any decision is important. If schools help parents to understand the basis for a decision, they are more likely to accept the fairness of decisions.

A core objective of the charter is to shift away from reacting to problems only after they give arise to grievances. The emphasis will be on improving the day-to-day experience students and their parents can expect from schools in order that grievances will not arise or will be resolved quickly and informally. As a result, the need to resort to a formal grievance process should be much reduced. The Minister's intention is to amend section 28 of the Education Act 1998 to require every school to have a parent and student charter in accordance with principles set down in legislation that will set a national standard. Her plan is to have this change introduced during the passage of the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2015.

Mary Moran (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State. He referred to a complaint continuing on to the Ombudsman for Children. Unfortunately, if a child is 18 years old, this will not count. The guildelines of the Department of Education and Skill provide that the principal must arrange a meeting and that the complaint must be resolved within ten days. The parents in question wrote a letter in March and did not receive a reply until the end of April, at which time they were told the principal was too busy to meet them within the ten day timeframe. They then received a letter giving three hours notice of a meeting, which was not suitable either.

Young people are at the heart of this issue. The voluntary contribution is also relevant. It is supposed to be voluntary, but they are hearing that pupils in class are either radiators or sponges. Those who have paid their voluntary contribution are the radiators radiating warmth, while those who have not paid are the sponges in society. This is totally unacceptable and we urgently need to look at the matter. Schools should be held accountable for dealing with issues such as this, which are very damaging to young children.

I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House. As a fellow former teacher, we share the same passion for students, those whom we taught and those yet to come down the road. That is why this issue needs to be dealt with in legislation as quickly as possible.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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I share the Senator's concerns. While an incident such as a student being described as a sponge is rare, it would be outrageous if such a comparison were to be made that one student was a radiator, while another was a sponge. Most professionals never use that terminology, but, unfortunately, such instances can and sometimes do occur. As the Minister has stated formally in her reply which I have given to the House, it is her absolute intention to introduce a student and parent charter in legislation by amending section 28 of the Education Act 1998 by means of the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2015.