A FLAGSHIP plan to give more power to headteachers risks turning schools into “silos” lacking democratic control, councils have warned.
Local authority umbrella body Cosla said shifting control away from councils would leave “unelected” school leaders taking decisions rather than elected councillors.
The body also warned removing the influence of councils would create an imbalance with articulate parents from middle-class backgrounds having more of a say than disengaged and vulnerable families.
Read more: Headteachers call for new powers to appoint their own staff
The intervention comes in a submission to the Scottish Government consultation, led by Education Secretary John Swinney, on changes to the way schools are run.
Under the plans the SNP intends to give more power over decisions to headteachers coupled with direct funding to help support pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
New educational regions will be set up with a role similar to current councils and the SNP also wants more involvement from parents.
However, Cosla said local democracy was only “democratic” if decisions were taken by individuals who had been elected.
Its submission to the governance consultation states: “There is a real risk that by devolving accountability… we allow unelected officials to take significant decisions on behalf of communities who already struggle to be heard.
“This would also certainly be true if further responsibilities – including legal responsibilities for raising standards – were devolved. The risk is of schools becoming insular in autonomy, with less scrutiny and less accountability.” Cosla went on to warn that increasing bureaucracy at school level would detract from a focus on teaching.
Read more: Headteachers call for new powers to appoint their own staff
Officials said while the principle of greater parental involvement in decision-making was positive, there was a “real risk” the views of those from “vulnerable and chaotic” households would be lost.
The submission adds: “There is a real risk that schools in the most affluent areas with articulate and involved parents will be afforded more choice through engagement widening the divide between the most and least well off in our society.
“Ultimately, it will be the most vulnerable children and young people who suffer the consequences of this.” The Cosla response concludes: “While we fully support the aims of improving raising attainment … we have serious concerns about the premise of this review and flawed assumptions … that schools are not currently empowered to make decisions and that regional collaboration does not currently occur.
Read more: Headteachers call for new powers to appoint their own staff
“It remains unclear what educational benefit this governance review seeks to achieve. It has not been designed to address any specifically identified issue and, from our consultation exercises we cannot find support for such drastic measures. The governance review paper is based on an assumption that the education system is broken. It is not.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel