Curb parent power, say heads

by Rebecca Smithers

Handing more power to parents over school policy could be like putting "an alcoholic in charge of a bar", a headteachers' leader warned yesterday. David Hart, the outgoing general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said behaviour in schools was getting worse because parents are failing to teach their children basic social standards. Too many are sending their five-year olds to school unable to hold a knife and fork and without being toilet-trained, he said.

The education secretary, Ruth Kelly, has made "parent power" a central theme of Labour's education policies since her appointment last December.

But Mr Hart questioned the wisdom of this policy, even proposing a radical slimming down of governing bodies which would hand back more powers to headteachers and their senior staff and dilute parental representation.

In his speech at the close of the association's annual conference in Telford, Shropshire, Mr Hart said: "The government's attempt to reinforce the role of parents is a key political strategy. But there is a danger that it sends the wrong message. One that has parent power, not parental responsibility, written all over it."

Mr Hart said one of headteachers' biggest concerns was "the number of pupils who lack basic social standards".

Attributing worsening pupil behaviour to poor parenting, he said all parents should sign up to basic standards, including respect for school staff and a recognition that violence, verbal threats and abuse were unacceptable: "These seem to me to be the minimum standards that our members are entitled to expect their pupils and their parents to observe. And by the way giving more power to those parents who lack responsibility is like putting an alcoholic in charge of a bar."

Mr Hart praised the role played by school governors - the largest sector of volunteers in the public sector - but called for a restructure of governing bodies. "I would suggest that governing bodies are too large, too overloaded with parents and lumbered with too many categories of governor," he said.

Governing bodies can have up to 20 governors, with a third or more of them parents. But Mr Hart said these parents typically failed to speak for the entire parent body: "Most parents are understandably more interested in the needs of their own children.

An advisory council, elected by the parents' body, might well produce a more effective parental representation."

Governing bodies should concentrate solely on their overall strategic responsibilities, leaving the job of leading and managing the school to the headteacher, the effective "chief executive".

Mr Hart focused on the familiar theme of violence and abuse from both pupils and parents, which has dominated the Naht's conference: "Violence is completely and utterly unacceptable. So are verbal threats, physical threats, verbal abuse, foul language, harassment and bullying by parents towards heads and their staffs."

In his final speech to the conference after 27 years as general secretary, Mr Hart also issued a passionate plea to his membership to put an end to their internal war over the government's so-called "workload agreement" which aims to give all teachers a guaranteed half-day a week out of the classroom for marking and preparation. Members are deeply divided over the agreement, and many have warned they will be unable to implement it because no extra money has been provided.

Earlier, Sir Digby Jones, director general of the CBI, told the conference that youngsters must be taught to take risks, lose races and sit exams they can fail. He warned that Britain was creating a nation of "victims" who blame other people for their failures.

The UK would fall behind economic rivals such as China and India unless children are taught to take a chance, he told delegates.

"We are all taking part in something of a deceit because we are teaching the next generation that risk doesn't exist," he said. "We are saying to them, you can have rights until they are coming out of your pores. But responsibilities, taking charge of your own actions? Taking charge of your children's actions if you are a parent? We don't seem to have got it."

- The Guardian