White circular logo with the words "PDA society" in the center on a light grey background.

PDA Society consultation events: gathering feedback on absence, parent blame, and education outside of school settings

This blog is to let you know about the next couple of opportunities to shape our consultation response. Hopefully you’ve already seen the survey we’ve put out, and the consultative conversation around SSP’s. If not details on both and links to get involved are at the bottom of this blog. Next we want to focus on two areas where parent carers — and those with experience of education outside traditional settings — have deep, practical insight: 1. How families and schools work together, especially when things go wrong. 2. How absence and education outside school are understood and protected.

Illustrated hands in shades of blue and purple are raised against a teal background, symbolizing unity and advocacy for autism legislation, with palms facing forward and fingers spread apart.

Parent–school agreements, complaints and power

The White Paper talks about strengthening home–school partnership agreements and resolving issues earlier, closer to school level rather than escalating to tribunal. On the surface, that sounds reasonable. Clear communication and shared expectations are good things 

The overall aim is to reduce adversarial disputes and stop families having to fight for support. However, the documents are less clear about what new independent safeguards would exist if complaints are handled more locally and many families have told us that “partnerships” with schools can be very unequal. 

At the PDA Society we understand that parents can already experience blame and judgement in their relationships with professionals, and we know this often gets worse if they complain or try to advocate for their child where there are differing opinions about what is right for them. It’s really important that any changes to the law don’t make this situation worse.  

So we are inviting parents to join us to workshop what we should be putting in our consultation response. We’ll be asking you to help us answer questions like: 

  • If complaints are to be handled differently, what would make that safe for families? 
  •  If agreements between home and school are strengthened, what needs to be in place to address power imbalance? 
  • What would genuine partnership look like? 

This meeting will take place between 1:30 and 3pm on 12th March and you can book your place here.

Attendance, absence and education outside school

The White Paper places a strong emphasis on attendance and engagement in school. We are worried that absence is being treated primarily as a problem to fix, rather than a signal of distress. We are unsure how education outside school will sit within the new framework. We are concerned about what happens if attendance becomes the focus, but flexibility is not protected. 

If you are the parent of a child who is being educated outside of school, or has been for a period of their education, the parent of a child who struggles to attend school everyday, or if you an educator who specialised in either education outside of school or transitioning children back into education we’d love to hear from you. 

We are hosting an open conversation about absence, what good absence policy looks like, and what support could and should be offered to children who can’t attend school for periods of their education.  

This session will take place on 19th March between 4pm and 6pm. You can book your place here.  

Thank you for helping shape our responses to the government. We hope with your support we can help people making decisions understand the risks that most concern families, and take action that support PDAers to thrive educationally. 

Parents: Parent–school agreements, complaints and power  – Fill in form

Educators: Attendance, absence and education outside school  – Fill in form