Primary teachers' perception of participation in school councils

Abstract

The School Council is the medium through which constructive relationships between the home and the school are developed and consequently through increased parental involvement in the schools, school staff increase their knowledge base of the socio-cultural context of the communities served by the school. During the last decades, much emphasis has been made on the importance of parents in the child's education, and this is seen clearly by the setting up of the school councils following the existence of PTA's and PA's respectively. This study deals with the existence, functions and different forms of participation of school councils in the primary area of education. Moreover, this research project sets out to highlight the concerns and satisfaction of teachers involved in these school councils. Such issues promoted in this study reflect on the aims, composition problems faced by such councils and how these bodies compare with others present in the E.U.