Policy information
Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill, 2019 - Summary of Bill
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
The Education (Student and Parent Charter) Bill 2019 was published on 10th September 2019.
See our Student and Parent Charter page for more information.
The Minister, in preparing the national charter guidelines, will have regard to the need for a school to:
While the detail of the charter guidelines will be determined by the Minister following consultation with the education stakeholders, the Bill gives a glimpse of the types of matters that can be addressed in those guidelines.
In that regard, it provides that the Minister’s guidelines in respect of the content of a school charter may relate to:
- the preparation, review and updating of school plans and policies of the school (other than the admission policy), and
- the development, review and updating of the activities of the school;
The Bill also provides that the Minister may, in the national charter guidelines, address such other information, procedures and matters relating to the school as the Minister considers necessary and appropriate for the purposes of the charter guidelines. This will allow the Minister scope to address any new issues that emerge in the school system in the future and that fall within the overall framework of this legislation.
Under the Bill, the Minister has the power to give a direction to a board where he or she is of the opinion that a board has failed, or is failing, in whole or in part, to comply with its obligation to prepare, publish and implement a charter.
The Bill is also replacing the existing Section 28 of the Education Act, 1998 with a new Section 28 which provides for new standardised grievance procedures in all schools.
The grievance procedures must provide for matters such as:
The Bill provides for two additional functions of a school under Section 9 of the Education Act, 1998.
The new functions of a school are:
1. to promote the involvement of students and their parents in the provision of education to students
2. ensure the implementation of its charter
The existing remit of the Ombudsman for Children to investigate complaints in relation to the administration actions of a school in connection with the performance of its functions under section 9 of the Act of 1998, is not changed in this legislation. However, the Ombudsman for Children will also be able to investigate complaints in relation to the two new functions of a school.