ABSTRACT
Parents might be momentarily impressed by the claim of being answerable only to children. Probably most parents would be reassured to know that formal structures existed within schools for monitoring teachers. The National Consumer Council has become deeply concerned about the adequacy of information given to parents. The parents who obtained least satisfaction from contact with schools were those in semi-skilled and unskilled occupations, and of the pupils who felt that they had not had much help with what to do at 16, nearly two-thirds had solved it by leaving school. Many would argue that if parents are to be assured that the service is sufficiently self-critical to afford their children the best education, there must be formal means for measuring the competence of teachers, which means consequently measuring also the attainments of pupils. The researchers also strongly criticised the absence in teacher training of any guidance is assessing and responding to parents' needs.
