Parent councils
Performance specification
The class parent councils elected by the class parent bodies form the school parent council, which exercises the parents' right of co-determination at the school.
At schools or in school years which do not form year classes, the class parent representatives shall be replaced by the class parent representatives, and in vocational schools with part-time teaching by the departmental parent advisory councils. Decisions of the school conference which shape the school's teaching system in the course of the schools' increased autonomy require the consent of the school parents' council.
The Parents' Council has to agree to important decisions of the School Council and the General Conference, including the decision on the school programme. It also has a right of co-determination in the establishment and termination of a school experiment and in the conversion of a school into an experimental school. In addition, it has the right to be heard, the right to be informed and the right to take the initiative. District and municipal parents' councils, which, like the state parents' council, are elected by delegates from the school parents' councils, have, among other things, the right to be heard on school development plans of the school authorities.
State Parents' Council
The consent of the State Parents' Council is required:
- general provisions on educational objectives and courses, in particular in core curricula, syllabuses and examination regulations, insofar as they shape the teaching system of schools,
- general provisions regulating admission to secondary schools and transitions between educational pathways,
- general guidelines for the selection of learning materials and
- general school regulations, insofar as they shape the teaching system.
In addition, the Land Parents' Council has the right to be heard and the right to provide information and make proposals to the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. Measures requiring consent are to be discussed with the parents' representatives with the aim of reaching an agreement.
Information on parental co-determination rights in Hessen's schools can be found in the brochure "Worüber Eltern in Hessen informiert sollten. Mitbestimmung und Mitwirkung der Eltern in Hessens Schulen" (Parents' Co-determination and Participation in Hessen's Schools), which the Parents' Council of Hessen distributes on request for a fee. In addition, further publications are available on the homepage of the Parents' Council.
Legal basis