Legal Aspects of Participation Practices in the Albanian Education Context

Abstract

The article aims to provide an analysis of Albanian legislation regarding children’s and parents’ participation in education, by taking into account their respective roles and duties as known in the legal framework, as well as their on-going functional role as participants in practice. This research will analyse Albanian legislation and policies as regards the educational system, shedding light on the steps needed to be taken towards achieving international standards regarding the promotion of the participation of children and parents in education. Albania was under a communist regime, in which parental participation in the educational system was extremely limited and information given to parents was only regarding the progress of their child. After the fall of this monist regime changes did not happen immediately in the Albanian education system. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was one of the first international instruments ratified by the Albanian government focusing on the sanctioning and protection of the rights of the child, in a time when these rights were considered non-existent. Sanctioning the right of the child to express freely his or her own views in various issues where the child’s opinion is necessary requires that Albanian legislation includes the participation of children in every field especially in education. A general principle of the Convention is that the child’s right to be heard be considered as one of the four principles needed for the interpretation of all other articles. Research also demonstrates that effective schools have high levels of children’s and parental involvement. Despite the fact that legal steps have been taken towards recognition of the involvement of children and parents in education creating bodies such as the pupils’ government, school boards, parental councils, and lately the national council of parents, there are still unclear legal ways to implement their participation in the Albanian education system. In order to make partici pation possible, first and foremost, it is important to provide information regarding school activities, processes and decisions which must be transmitted to the children and parents, by creating routes of communication. This can be achieved by setting up some useful mechanisms that promote children’s and parents’ participation in education.