Bearing in mind the recent difficulties of the ASTI strike and the subsequent effect on our students and ultimately on the parent movement, I feel it is opportune to reflect on the future of the parent movement as we forge into the third millennium.
Some of what I am about to say will not find favour with the various post-primary organisations, but I am looking at the parent movement from the perspective of recent events and my own experience of working within the Government system for the last four years for an organisation like the National Parents Council Post-Primary (NPCPP).
It was with great sadness that I observed the recent interactions of the NPCPP. Any industrial dispute creates polarisation, and the ASTI dispute probably crystallised the various factions of opinions in the parent movement. The opportunity for strong leadership for post-primary parents was lost in the early stages of this dispute. There was unseemly infighting in the NPCPP at the very moment parents needed direction, advice and, above all, a strong independent voice. The leadership allowed the PR baton to pass to a member organisation, which caught the mood of parents and with whom the media then recognised as the legitimate voice for all parents. While the events of the past months swayed public opinion in favour of students and parents, the NPCPP must now be careful and not overplay its hand. The fractious relationship between the ASTI and the NPCPP must be resolved, quickly and without rancor. The parent movement must not lose sight of who they are representing and in particular the legitimate voice they exercise on behalf of our children - the students of the post-primary system. Over the next five years post-primary parents must rationalise into one united national organisation with a ground-up approach from county, regional to national organisation. This does not mean that the individual organisations will lose their identity; a way can be found so that the ethos of the various groups is protected.
In the new world of parenting, where two parents are often working, finding the time for committees and voluntary work is an impossibility. We must channel the capabilities of those who are prepared to commit themselves to developing a county, regional and national structure for the National Parents Council.
This will be a hard choice for many of the national parent organisations, but to ensure the best education provision and the best use of members' available time a new unity of purpose must be achieved.
I still cannot understand or comprehend that after the allocation of funding worth £500,000 by the Department of Education and Science over the last five years that the NPCPP still does not have a professional full-time national organiser with the back-up of secretarial support. The council of the NPCPP need to address this at the earliest opportunity.
Irish post-primary parents deserve an efficient, professional representative organisation. The opportunity to move forward is there. Strong leadership and a focused NPCPP can then be one of the strong partners in the educational system.
School discipline
A major issue of concern for parents, teachers, school management and VECs is the spectre of discipline in schools. I would suggest that this is one area of co-operation and partnership that the education partners must tackle together.
Parents have the prime responsibility for their children. We must not be afraid to make our views known to our children. We must not allow ourselves to lose confidence in our own moral authority when confronted with defiance. There is no prescription for proper parenting and we all look for models of how to handle our teenagers, but there are none. We must learn as we go along - every child is different.
Parents cannot totally pass the responsibility for discipline on to the school authorities or on to the individual class teacher. Present systems of school discipline must be examined and overhauled. I wrote about school suspensions four years ago and my views have not changed. Parents - in agreement with the various school authorities - must find new methods of imparting discipline. In many cases, suspension does not solve the student's discipline problem or deal with reasons behind the misbehaviour.
Dr Vincent Maloney, in his book Coping With Adolescence, states: "Family life has changed today. Teenagers are better educated and have travelled more than teenagers in the past. They have a higher standard of living and are much more assertive. They speak up for themselves and claim their rights, and will not let themselves be browbeaten or bullied - as may have happened in the past.
"Today's parents have to learn to cope with all these changes, they have to understand them and be able to stand up for their own rights while avoiding, as far as possible, the conflicts that they are likely to encounter." In partnership, I believe, a "national seminar on school discipline" should be initiated between parents, teachers, the Department of Education and Science and school management. From that seminar should flow the seeds of dealing with "angry classroom violence", mentioned at the recent teachers' conferences. In addition, parents must be made more aware of the new system of appeals against school expulsions, suspensions or refusal to enrol a pupil. Under the recently introduced procedures, parents, or a student who has reached the age of 18, may bring a grievance to a special appeals board, set up by Dr Michael Woods, Minister for Education and Science. At an independent hearing, parents will be entitled to question the school's board of management on the decision. This is one of the real benefits for parents and students of Section 29 of 1998 Education Act.
Parents also have another avenue of appeal under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, which provides that the National Education Welfare Board will also be able to appeal certain categories of decisions and may also make submissions to appeal hearings. The Minister has established an appeals administration unit within his Department to administer the new appeals process.
The past year has been difficult for the Class of 2001. I would like to congratulate the TUI for their acceptance of the PPF and remaining with benchmarking. Students within the VEC system have been fortunate in that their education has remained uninterrupted. We have wonderful, committed young people, and those who had an interrupted year, particularly the exam students will, with the help of their peers, parents and families - and yes, their teachers - get their just reward when the results are published next August.
We are living in a more complex world. The basic requirements of a strong education system will not change, but as parents you must at all times be that strong voice, be that full partner in the education system, be active not passive and, above all, have a clear vision of the goals you wish to achieve.
Nick Killian was first elected as a parents' representative of Co Meath VEC in 1991. He is currently chair of Co Meath VEC. This is an edited version of his address to the annual congress of the Parents Association for Vocational Schools and Community Colleges.
