Parent-school involvement urged

Press, 29 July 1986, Page 6

Parent-school involvement urged

Parents should become more involved with their children’s schools, says the Education Department’s assistant secretary of schools and development, Mr Peter Brice. Mr Brice said that if parents were worried about developments in the schools, they should go direct to the teachers and principal concerned.

“It’s far better to do that and find out exactly what a school is doing, than to go on hearsay, and second and third views about what might be going on.” While some people were criticising what happened in schools, teachers were trying very hard to involve more parents in

their children’s education, he said. They would be delighted if more parents played an active part in schools. Many were very disappointed by the low numbers of parents who took part in school activities. Mr Brice said the introduction of the new health syllabus in 38 schools last year showed that increased consultation between parents and teachers worked well. With the consultation, parents were able to build on toe work toe teachers had done at school. "But that can only happen when there is a good interchange between schools and parents.”