 The plans would give parents a greater say in policy-making |
Plans for a national body to represent the interests of parents of schoolchildren have sparked a row. The Scottish Consumer Council wants the Scottish Executive to set up and fund an independent body to give parents a greater say in education policy-making.
But the two existing organisations - the Scottish Parent Teacher Council and the Scottish School Boards Association - have rejected the plans.
They claim the consumer council's plans are poorly informed and inappropriate.
The SPTC and the SSBA have set aside their own longstanding differences to issue a joint statement rejecting the report.
They said the SCC had no real understanding of education or long-term relationship with parents.
Draft legislation
Education Minister Peter Peacock held a meeting with the SCC last year.
He asked the organisation to return with a more detailed policy paper, which it has now done.
The possibility of a new parent body comes in the wake of the executive's consultation over draft legislation, which would abolish school boards and create a less rigid system of parent forums.
The Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill will enable new parent councils to be established, with a wider focus than school boards.
The SSBA said the new parent forums could simply become "moaning shops" for disgruntled parents.
However, the SPTC offered support for the more flexible format.
Meanwhile, Mr Peacock said on Tuesday that the executive was on course to meet its pledge to cut primary one class sizes to 25 by 2007.
He was speaking as figures showed that the number of pupils in publicly-funded state schools in September 2005 was 10,000 lower than the previous year.
"We're committed to cutting class sizes and these statistics show that's exactly what we're doing," he said.
'Fractional reduction'
"Already, two-thirds of classes have 25 pupils or fewer and this figure will continue to improve."
But Scottish National Party education spokeswoman Fiona Hyslop pointed out that the figures showed 34.2% of single stage P1 classes had more than 25 pupils.
"There can be little prospect of the Labour and Lib Dem government achieving the target class size if 34% of those classes are still over that mark, especially when there has only been a fractional reduction from the previous year," she said.
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We're committed to cutting class sizes and these statistics show that's exactly what we're doing
