The objective of this document is to provide an insight into the type of discussions the PSG members have been conducting, using the email-based forum located at www.PartnersinEdu.com.sg

Topic:
What are the typical areas that a PSG get involved in at a school?
This subject had a good response. Members made many suggestions drawn from experience. These included:
· Secretarial Duties (i.e., Updating parent database)
· Website Maintenance, Data Entry
· Recess Duties
· Gate Duties
· Enrichment Programmes for children in school such as reading, story telling, IT, art & craft, TAF, Science corner
· Planning school events such as teachers' day, racial harmony day, sports day etc.
· Planning workshops, talks & seminars for parents & students
· Planning recreational activities for families
· Family Life Ambassador programmes with MCDS
· Family Life Centre - collaboration with MCDS
· Fund raising for needy students, pocket money fund etc

Topic:
Can you tell me some ways that PTSG's have found to recruit members?
The more experienced PSG members provided a lively response to this. The following were ideas that have worked successfully:

a) Host events of interest to parents where PTSG members get free or preferential pricing

Examples are talks and seminars. These are broken up into 2 main areas:

· Parenting
· Educational

PTSG's have run the following with success:

· Talk on Children's eyesight
· "Nutrition & Brain Food" for children. - a popular talk, with all parents.
· Talk on lower and upper primary mathematics, by invited guest from the syllabus team

Academic speakers can be sourced through the Principal from the Head of Department, (HOD) for each subject. Alternatively professional speakers may charge, (typical S$150 per hour)

Free parenting talks are available in collaboration with the Family Service Centre and MCDS. There are certain guidelines & procedures you need to follow. Your school has to sign up to have a Family Life Ambassador (FLA) - this needs approval from the Principal. The Principal will appoint a PTSG member as a FLA.

It is useful to send out questionnaires to all parents to survey the level of interest in attending various talks, and to see the topics that gain most response.

b) PTSG members get access to more information as they receive school updates via email or telephone on events, dates
& changes. Those that do not join have to find out for themselves, and are usually are not 'in the know'.

TOPIC:
Plans to have a National PSG alliance
A great deal of discussion occurred for this one. The main points that arose were as follows:

· With only a few volunteers at present, and a major task in bringing this together, do we have the resources needed?
· Should a national association take a 'top down' or 'grass roots up' approach
· Due to the transient nature of PSG's, how will we recruit people and retain them for long enough?
· How will we fund such an organization?
· Will PSG's want to pay a membership fee to join?
· Someone with the recognition and right connections needs to be found to lead the association so as to achieve prominence and credibility

TOPIC:
What types of structures should be considered when setting up a PSG?
This was a common question asked by new members when joining the forum. Subsequently, we have decided to produce a list of Frequently Asked Questions, (FAQ's) so that the discussions can concentrate on unique topics.

Many members contributed to this, especially the more established ones. The typical framework started with a few parent volunteers and the school principal / VP getting together as an informal group. As time progressed, PSG's would inevitably develop an activity based structure to cope with the various areas of involvement, (talks, school activities, social, fund raising etc)

The issue of volunteerism raised itself on many occasions, and the common theme was that most of the PSG work in fledgling PSG's, (and some established ones) came down to only a handful of dedicated parents and their teacher counterparts!

One comment was that some PSG's were becoming social clubs for the parents, rather than concentrating on assisting the school.

TOPIC:
Parent volunteers - unpaid labour?
Following on from the structure of a PSG, parents were concerned about the balance between assisting the school in activities and becoming unpaid labour for the staff. This is where a 'best practice' document from Partners in Edu would help to focus PSG's into areas that will bring maximum benefit for the school, without 'burning out' the volunteers!

TOPIC:
Active - v- Inactive parent volunteers
One theme that recurs is the debate on how to get more parents interested in taking an active role in their children's school. A 95/ 5 rule seems to apply - (95% of the parents are inactive while the 5% are burning themselves out)

Some schools raise funds by including ALL parents as members automatically, and then charge a nominal annual fee $20. In this way, even the inactive members are making their contribution to the PSG's events programme.

Another school is devising a way to 'reward' active members. They have a 'bronze, silver & gold' system based on the number of hours of voluntary work carried out.

TOPIC:
Parent volunteers who are housewives - so much time to spare?
This thread was started by a member who noticed that people tend to have pre-conceived ideas of housewives or 'homemakers' - believing they have all the time in the world. Mainly the mother's responded to this one, and were quick to point out the many active duties that they fulfil in order to keep the household running, and supporting their children during homework and school events. They cannot take MC, have time off, or breaks very often, so in many respects they work much longer hours than volunteers who are 'in employment'

TOPIC:
The supportive Principal
PSG members agreed that in order to function well within a school, they need a supportive principal and staff. A great deal of interaction occurs between the PSG and the school staff that requires work to be done on both sides. If one side is reticent to take part, the PSG efforts will be thwarted. Members agreed that it is vital that PSG's keep the Principal informed of activities and meetings relating to their school.

TOPIC
Effective feedback channels for parents to air their views
One member responded to the issue of how to develop an effective forum for parent discussion of complaints against the school by highlighting the internet discussion group his school had developed. In this parents had the right to raise any subject relating to the school, without victimising any individual. All parents were involved in moderating the forum, so that the facts could be dealt with fairly, and the issue once discussed, raised with the school authorities.

TOPIC
Should MOE reveal the identity of a complainant?
A parent wrote to 'Streats' newspaper saying that she had written to MOE regarding the way a teacher had treated her child. She wished to remain anonymous, but MOE passed her letter to the principal of the school, and she was upset.

The members had much to say about this one. The general consensus was that parents who have a valid complaint should in the first instance contact the appropriate individual concerned at the school and discuss with them. If they need assistance, the PSG is there for them. Failing a suitable outcome, the issue should be raised with the principal. MOE have set procedures and will automatically send a copy of the complaint to the principal to handle.

TOPIC:
Why are teacher's ranked A to E by MOE?
Much discussion came about from the letter sent to the Zaobao newspaper regarding a retiring Chinese teacher who was frustrated about the teacher ranking system. The system ranks teachers from A to E. According to him, he was put into the E category because he was about to retire. He was deeply hurt by this because he felt that he has put in his best throughout his career.

The principal at South View Primary commented to the group on the facts relating to assessments thus: All teachers are assessed & ranked similar to methods used in business. They are ranked by a panel of HODs and Level/Subject Heads. These officers provide input or feedback to the whole panel so that a fair assessment/judgement can be made on every individual teacher. We also have made the ranking system very clear to all teachers all the time, so they know that a fair system is in place at SVP.

TOPIC:
Helping lower income families to gain access to IT equipment
The forum became interested in the national scheme that has been around for some years, led by the IDA, that takes used PC's and distributes them via self-help groups to needy families. We all knew of families at our respective schools that could benefit from this initiative. We learned that a new plan is underway to let needy families obtain a new PC at a low price. We were interested to find out more about this.

TOPIC:
Dysfunctional families
Several threads sparked this off. The first was an incident where one of the forum members met a little girl one evening sitting on the floor outside a bookshop opposite a gaming hall. The girl was only in Primary 4, and had been left there by the mother while she went off to play the jackpot machines. The question asked in the forum was how can we help children like this who are growing up in such an environment. We do not know the full circumstances, but members were sad to think that the mother didn't seem to care. Many schools have access to counsellors, and operate programmes designed to reach out to children from broken homes. Parent volunteers provide additional support in terms of spending time with the children, teaching them home skills and helping with their homework after school hours.

Another case mentioned involved a secondary school girl who was being counselled after giving birth. This girl was set to return to her education, but the school wanted all the back fees. In this issue, the parents felt that the school should make an exception so that a bad situation can at least be made a little better.

TOPIC:
Victoria School
A short discussion came from the article in Streats newspaper regarding the principal disallowing the use of the lifts at the new school, and the increase in canteen food prices. The PSG chairperson, (who is a member of the forum) explained that they provided parents with comprehensive information regarding the principal's plans beforehand. The PSG were unhappy that some parents had taken the route of talking to the press rather than sitting down with the principal and PSG to resolve any issues.

TOPIC:
Pupils who pick those of the same race
Following the article that came out in the Straits Times of Saturday 26th July, our forum members were keen to discuss the aspects of this issue. The reason suggested by the article why pupils tend to stick in their own racial groups came down to mother tongue and an affinity to remain with your own group.

Many members commented, and agreed that language is one of the biggest factors in this. Take the example of CCA's where the language spoken will be the one of the majority, making the minority to feel ostracised. In this way, students would not want to join a CCA that is predominantly one racial group. Some suggested that English should be the language to bridge all racial groups. Others suggested that schools should make every day racial harmony day, and ensure that we pursue this aim, rather than just once per year.

TOPIC:
Streaming promotes racial harmony
An article by acting Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam
stated that by mixing the races during streaming, this could promote racial harmony. Members, while agreeing with this strategy, were concerned about the principle of streaming in schools. Some considered that those more able get pushed to do their best while those less able are not given the opportunity to. Overall, no one could come up with a better idea to tackle this issue, while allowing the top students to do well.