One of the actions arising from the February 26 parent council meeting was for the parent council to write a letter to John Fyffe, PKC Director of Education. Several parents had been in touch with us, to point out that the parent council should have been involved in drawing up the job specification for the headteacher’s position, before that position was advertised.
The parents referred to the following information in the guidance to the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006:
Consultation with Parent Council
4. An education authority must, when preparing–
(a)strategies; and
(b)job or person specifications,
in relation to making a relevant appointment, consult with any Parent Council established for the school to which a relevant appointment is to be made, and must have regard to the views of that Parent Council when preparing any such strategies and specifications.
Regulation 4, The Parental Involvement in Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher Appointments (Scotland) Regulations 2007
See also appendices one and two of PKC’s own response to the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006: in particular the first box in the flow-chart on page 4 and the recommended changes in the top-right box of the table on page 2 of 5.
We asked Councillor Ian Campbell to take this matter up on our behalf. He brought the guidance quoted above to the attention of John Fyffe, Director of Education and Children’s Services. Councillor Campbell assures us that Mr Fyffe is now in the process of changing selection procedures for senior school appointments, in response to our query.
However, many parents felt strongly that the parent council should ask for a formal reassurance that this will be happening and for more information on when it will happen. The parent council agreed to send a letter to John Fyffe on this topic. This letter was sent on Wednesday, March 18.
Anyone who is interested can download and read a copy of the letter.