Education Advisory

Parent Advisory Councils in every school was the goal of a new School Act in BC in 1989. This came about after a two-year public process examining the education system (Royal Commission or Sullivan Commission). Home schooling was also brought to the fore (though never illegal) by more expansive regulations A new Independent School Act further validated the growth of private and independent schools. My involvement in an earlier round of public discussion, “Let’s Talk About Schools” in 1984-5 foreshadowed future developments. My presentations highlighted the following: - School Boards are an outdated form of education delivery (Public Interest, Fall 1984) - School-based management as modeled in private schools should prevail - Return parents to a central role in education decision-making. Have mandated parent advisory councils in each and every school. - Enhance options so that parents can choose from a much wider range of choices in the public school system, in the independent system and other styles that are now emerging, for example, home education. Parents are the missing link in education because the current top-down management is run by pedagogues and ideologues.