Following the publication of an OECD report which indicates that about a quarter of the adult population of Ireland has difficulties with literacy skills, the theme of this year's annual delegate conference of the National Parents Council (Primary) will be the role of parents in the development of their children's literacy skills. "We have always had a key focus on special needs and adequate resourcing of remedial support as ways of preventing literacy difficulties," says Kathi Dillon, the NPC

chairperson. "But we are now focusing on ways to ensure that such an extensive problem with literacy skills will never arise again." Workshops on literacy at the conference will look at what parents can do to ensure their children have a good start at school, at what sort of support would be useful to parents and at play which helps children to read. "Children learn better when parents and teachers work together," Dillon says. "We will be looking at ways in which parents and teachers can best work together to ensure each child reaches his or her full potential."

One of the most controversial issues which will come up for discussion among the 200 delegates is the issue of safety among school-going children. "As parents are extremely concerned about the security of their children, we have a number of motions on the whole area of safety," Dillon explains. "In particular we will be calling for a public register of known paedophiles in Ireland which would be accessible to parents and teachers. "We will also be discussing issues surrounding the safety of children at school during school hours, and of children who are left on the premises after school hours."

According to Dillon, parents are still awaiting agreement on a complaints procedure, an ongoing area of dispute that will be raised again at this year's conference. "These procedures must allow for an equitable system, which allows parents the right to full information regarding both the process and resolutions. "Whatever system is put in place should be devised with the needs of the child at its centre." Information technology in the classroom is an area of interest to parents throughout the State, following the announcement by the Minister for Education and Science that all schools will be provided with computers. But there is a certain amount of concern surrounding the nature of the education children will receive. The conference will call for the integration of computer studies into the national curriculum. It will also call for the provision of computer materials in the Irish language. "Parents need access to information on the whole area of IT education," says Dillon. "There is a particular need for parental involvement in safety issues relating to use of the Internet in the classroom."

There will be quite a strong emphasis on provision for children with special needs. A number of motions will call for better resourcing and an improvement of the current assessment system. There are also motions on developing the curriculum for children in special schools, ensuring all schools are made wheelchair accessible and for speech and language therapy to be formally recognised as a provision for children with such problems.

The conference will call for parents to be included in the whole-school evaluation procedure, for an urgent review of the teacher-pupil ratio at infant level and for school transport to be provided free of charge. "We will also be pushing for an information and advisory service for parents who have queries on what is available to them with regard to their children's education, and how they can access it."

There have been quite a few positive developments over the past year, Dillon says. "We are delighted with the new primary-school curriculum, which will soon be released," she says. "In particular, we are delighted to see that the parental perspective has been taken on board in the development of the curriculum. "We are also very pleased that the NPC (Primary) has been given statutory recognition under the Education Act, and very pleased that forming a parents association has now become a legal right. We are also delighted with the progress which has been made at national level with regard to partnership between parents and teachers. "The relationship at local level is also quite strong in many areas, but there is still a lot of work to be done."