WORKING parents should be given time off work to help out at their children’s school, a major report has suggested.

The National Parent Forum of Scotland said time spent in employment was one of the barriers to getting families more involved in education.

Research has already shown involving parents in their children’s education is one of the most important ways to raise standards.

The recommendation comes after the forum reviewed the impact of legislation passed in 2006 to improve parental engagement.

The act placed a duty on councils to implement a parental involvement strategy, but the forum found “substantial variation” between the approaches taken by different councils.

The forum has called on the Scottish Government to look at reforms which would encourage flexible working to allow parents to engage more.

The report said: “While this would require a culture change among many employers, it would remove some of the barriers to parental involvement.

“A national scheme or charter to encourage employers could be considered as the first step in achieving this culture change.

“National policy proposals and guidance to help encourage, support and enable

volunteering in schools by local parents, family members and the wider community would require to be developed.”

Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, welcomed the report’s findings.

She said: “Many businesses already offer flexible working opportunities and dedicated days for volunteering to enable employees to engage with positive results.

“As businesses, we are ready to work with government and schools to understand what further role we can play to enable more employees to engage with schools.”

Other key recommendations from the report include a call for the legislation to be extended to cover the early years before primary school.

Many parents also felt communication could be better between schools and the home with a shortage of information about children’s learning, particularly in secondary.

However, a survey by Ipsos MORI Scotland commissioned for the review found no evidence parents wanted a more formal say in the running of schools.

John Swinney, the Education Secretary, said: “Education is key to helping Scotland’s young people fulfil their potential and we know engaged parents make a big difference to achieving this.

“That is why I want to strengthen opportunities for parents to get involved in the life and work of their local school and why we commissioned the forum to undertake this important review.

“I will consider the report’s recommendations in the context of our review of school governance.”