Parents’ representatives devote a considerable amount of time for the benefit of the European Schools in general and our children in particular, covering aspects that do not require continuous intervention of parents in national schools (e.g. transport, canteen, representation in the Education Council and in the coordination bodies…). If you happen to be one of these active colleagues, you have more than our gratitude, you have the right to ask for some special leave [1] according to the staff regulations.
Many representatives end up using their annual leave to contribute to this common goal because they are not aware of this option.
Indeed, it’s getting increasingly difficult to get parents’ representatives. While in the past it was not unusual that one parent didn’t engage in paid work and could devote time to those activities, there are more and more families where both parents work for an employer. The representative role is already time consuming (informing and collecting feedback), but if on top of that parents have to use their annual leave to attend the school meetings, it’s simply a no go for many of them.
The rules for special leave [1] do not allow for luxury unlimited absences (maximum 4 days per civil year) and they don’t even cover all types of time-consuming activities in the European Schools, but at least the minimum rights should be known by parents’ representatives and managers alike. Precisely, the HR unit dealing with European Schools is in the process of reminding all managers of these rules.
Generation 2004 welcomes this action by HR but suggests going further. The current interpretation of special leave rules is rather restrictive: an elected representative of the Parents’ Associations of the European Schools is only entitled to attend meetings organised by the Board of Administration of the School, the Governing Board of the European Schools or one of their sub committees
Generation 2004 believes that the special leave should cover at least school Education Council meetings:
- Parents are members of the Education Council, a formal governance body of the European Schools, established by the General rules of the European Schools [2].
- Education Council meetings often take place during office hours.
As always, we would love to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us [3] or leave a comment below.
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004 [4].