asked the Minister for Education the proposals she has for the formal involvement of parents at different levels in the planning of education and for their integration into the structure of the education system.
Written Answers. - Parents' Involvement in Education.
89.
My Department has facilitated parents in organising themselves into a National Parents' Council through which the views of parents may be expressed. This council is now organised with two separate tiers — one at primary level and the other at post-primary — with provision for formal liasion between them. It is open to the council to make submissions to my Department on matters of general policy. The national executive is the main point of contact between the National Parents Council and my Department but a consequence of the establishment of the council should be the promotion of effective participation by parents in education locally at the level of each individual school and to this end I would urge the formation of a parents' association in association with every school where one does not already exist.
Parents are formally represented on the boards of management of primary schools and many post-primary schools. They are also represented on various educational agencies such as the Primary Curriculum Review Body, the Primary Education Review Body and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.