Parental involvement in Governance Diarmuid Moore Community Development

Parental involvement in Governance Diarmuid Moore Community Development Specialist Early Years Organisation diarmuidm@early-years. org

Why is this important • It is important because community based Early Years settings need a reliable and stable governance structure. • It is important for compliance with legislation and regulation – particularly now that we have a charity commission (most of the groups are charities or are in the process of registering) • It is important because the management committee should be a support and supervision mechanism for the staff and particularly the leader • It is increasingly important for inspection for those groups that have social services and ETI inspection. Although Minimum standards currently does not say a great deal ETI are looking at this area a lot more and have developed a new self evaluation document for management committees • It is important for children as there is research that demonstrates that children have better outcomes in settings that are well connected to their community and the involvement of parents in running the group their children attend is one powerful way that they can make those connections

Parental Involvement in Governance “ It was cringe worthy there were only 3 or 4 parents out of 20 and when we asked for volunteers to join the committee they all looked at the floor until they came up with a few excuses. I could not wait to move the meeting onto the planned activities for the children. ” “We have a very supportive committee. There are 12 of us we share the workload and try our best to support the staff and the setting generally. Personally its been one of my best experiences. I have learnt so much and made lots of new friends. ”

Why do parents not get involved • • • • Too busy (or are they? ) Apathetic (or are they? ) Lack of confidence Perceived lack of skills/contribution to make Concerned about the responsibility Bewildered by the complexity of regulation Might be liable for debt/claims Bad previous experiences Poorly informed about the role of committee Not made clear how you join Gatekeepers – other committee members/leading staff Perceptions of the management committee as a “clique” Conflict or difficult issues in the committee Concerned about relationships with staff as a parent

And what can settings do about it? Education An Active Sustainable Committee Support Advocacy

And what do can a setting do about it? • Education Ø Understanding of roles Ø Understanding of responsibilities Ø Understanding of how a committee works together and with their staff • Support Ø The Training that is available Ø Where to go to get advice Ø How to arrange Peer Support • Advocacy Ø Why its important Ø Sell The positive experiences Ø Succession planning (what about the next committee)

And what can professionals do to support settings? • Look for ways to reduce the work that inspection puts on settings – perhaps by coordinating ETI and Social Services inspection regimes in some way • Be understanding in our expectations of voluntary management groups – be proportionate and reasonable in how we work with them – they are not usually experts in either child development of in governance • It might be reasonable to look at the Fit persons test for preschools – not required for nursery schools for example • Streamline the legal structure so that community settings can become incorporated charities thus getting the protection of limited liability without being answerable to two different regulators (Charity commission and Companies House) • For Early Years – carry out the research, publish findings and act upon the recommendations that are produced • Parallel to that continue to work on the ground with groups to support their governance and leadership