Federation of Christian Brothers and other Catholic Schools Parent Councils

Christian Brother Schools were among the first to recognise the value of establishing formal home-school contacts, and to encourage and facilitate the setting up of elected parent councils. By 1973 such councils had been set up in the majority of Christian Brother secondary schools, and these councils had begun to exchange information and, to some extent, coordinate their activities. The next logical step was the coming together of parent councils at national level, to provide mutual support services of various kinds, and also to give effective expression to parental opinion at national level on matters of general education policy.

The first annual general meeting of the CBS parent Federation took place in 1974, and in the years since then the Federation has established itself as a credible national parent organisation. At national level members have become widely experienced and knowledgeable about the education process, and about the major issues of concern to parents. The Federation has made its voice heard and respected by the other parents in the educational field, e.g., the Department of Education, the managerial bodies, and the teachers' associations.

Recognising the value of organised parent activity and the need to mobilise parental opinion on a wider scale in Ireland, the Federation took the initiative in 1975 in bringing together representatives of other groupings of parent associations which, in response to the financial crisis then facing voluntary schools, had by that time begun to develop in various areas throughout the country. Resulting from that initiative the Congress of Catholic Secondary School Parent Associations (CSPA) was formed. It was also a founder member of the National Parents Council and has contributed significantly to its development.

At a wider level the Federation is as constituent and founding member of OE-GIAPEC, the European Organisation of Catholic School Parent associations, and is also affiliated to the European Parents Association. It is thus playing a part in European developments in parental involvement in education and benefiting, on behalf of Irish parents, from the experience and expertise of parents in other European countries where parent participation has reached a much more advanced stage than it has in Ireland.