The new Post-Primary Education Forum involving parents, teacher unions and school managers can make a real impact, writes Rose Tully

Many years have passed since the foundation of the National Parents Council Post-Primary (NPCpp), the aim of which was to give parents a voice. NPCpp has worked to enable the involvement of parents in the education of their own child/children and to give parents partnership in the broader education system.

There were many years of struggling before the implementation of the Education Act 1998, which has given parents the statutory right to participation in the education system. Parents are the primary educators of their children as outlined by our Constitution. They are now united in the NPCpp and seek to move forward and participate in all levels of the education system. They require active participation and are ready to accept their responsibility in an enlightened and meaningful way.

NPCpp began an internal review during 2006/2007. The five national parent bodies encompassed in NPCpp are working collectively and collaborating closely to move the organisation forward. As part of the internal review, the directors highlighted the need for a stronger partnership approach to many educational matters. With this in mind, meetings were arranged with all teacher and management representative groups with the objective of establishing a structure that would promote dialogue in areas of education of common interest.

NPCpp's view is that there are many important educational issues that are common to all of the partners in education and a shared and united approach would enhance the quality of information that we can make available to parents, while at the same time fostering a "knowledge-based" understanding of our teacher and management partners and their perspectives on issues.

Underpinning our education system is the level of investment undertaken by the State, and this is the most important issue of concern to everyone involved in education. Unprecedented economic growth has witnessed significant increases in educational spending, but the allocation of funds is well short of our expectations.

Every year NPCpp has held formal meetings with our education partners. Many issues highlighted at these meetings have formed a common agenda to support even further the establishment of the Post-Primary Education Forum (PPEF). The forum will highlight these educational issues as a priority for investment.

NPCpp sees the forum as having a dual role - supporting the Minister for Education and Science in her efforts to increase the overall budgetary allocation to education and also highlighting priorities in education.

The establishment of the forum will address issues that are common to parents, teachers and management bodies. The serious costs associated with educating children and the increase in the drop-out of children from formal education have been highlighted in the media recently. Issues discussed by the forum, if addressed in the forthcoming Budget, would help to overcome the above educational difficulties. The following is the shared viewpoint of the forum on priorities for the future development of the second-level education system:

•Improvement in the pupil-teacher ratio to reduce class sizes, thereby improving the educational chances of our students and widening the scope to offer students more subject choice.

•Implementation in full of the Report of the Task Force on Student Behaviour in Second-Level Schools 2006 to support schools and parents in fostering positive student behaviour.

•The development of a properly resourced national Esol (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Strategy.

•Enhancement and development of schemes to deal with educational disadvantage.

Strategic investment in the development of inter-cultural education in our schools.

•Adequate resources to support students with special educational needs in mainstream post-primary schools before the final roll out of the EPSEN Act.

•An improvement in the allocation of teaching hours to schools for learning support.

•An augmented budget for information communications technology (ICT). This budget must include provision for training for all teachers in the use of ICT in the classroom.

The forum will meet regularly to discuss major issues and it will identify priority areas for development and investment in education. It will offer informed and consensus views on key issues in post-primary education. PPEF will heighten Government and public awareness of those issues and secure support for high priority investment in second-level and further education.

This is a very significant initiative for NPCpp. We welcome the support of our partners and we call on all parents nationally to focus on the education system that their children participate in daily. We are appealing for parents to become involved with us so as to provide a better and brighter future for your children.

Rose Tully is the PRO of the National Parents Council Post-Primary (NPCpp)