Minister backs parents' learning role

Mr Peacock wants parents to work more closely with teachers

Parents have a central role to play in their children's learning and must be enabled to play their part, Education Minister Peter Peacock has stressed.

Mr Peacock said parents wanted to be involved in their children's education and should be given the chance to do so.

He made his comments while announcing plans to consult on a new approach to parental involvement.

In a speech to the Educational Institute of Scotland conference in Edinburgh, he stressed that parental partnerships would bring new responsibilities as well as rights for parents.

Mr Peacock said: "Parents want to be valued and welcomed members of the school community.

"They want to know how to make their voices heard, to know that they will be listened to, involved in decision-making and sure that their views will be taken seriously."

He added: "We must learn from the schools and education authorities where parental partnerships are strongest and most successful and move away from any inflexible, centralised, one-size-fits-all prescriptive approaches.

"We need clear recognition of parents' wishes and expectations together with a flexible response to meeting them, appropriate to individual schools and groups of parents.

"But there are two sides to any deal - parents must also know what we expect of them.

"Schools should be able to look to engage parents who are willing and better able to support all aspects of their children's learning - as well as ensuring they get to school on time, fit to learn and behave well."