JOHN Swinney faces further criticism today of his proposals for reform of the way schools are managed.
Like many of those objecting to the education secretary’s plans, EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan is not opposing reform. He is clear both schools and teachers could badly do with better support in addressing the challenges ahead. That need is greater due to a stripping out of support for learning and teaching which has been forced on councils by budget pressures. Outside assistance for schools has “crashed”, the leader of Scotland’s biggest teaching union says. But he is deeply critical of the way ministers propose to address the resulting deficit, and of the plans for leadership of the so-called regional collaboratives which Mr Swinney is to set up. These bodies will sit outside the local authorities to which schools have traditionally looked for support. They will have new leaders, answerable to Education Scotland. But does this irretrievably undermine the plans?
Mr Flanagan believes it does. Education Scotland is a damaged brand, he says, which has undermined trust in the schools inspection process and which was “posted missing” in Scottish Education’s most crucial debate in recent years, over assessment for the new curriculum.
Whether or not independent inspection has been blunted by being brought under the wing of the Government agency is debatable. It is true both the number of inspectors and of inspections has been reduced, even as the body was charged with helping roll out the Curriculum for Excellence. Meanwhile Education Scotland appeared weak and rudderless during the assessment debate – retreating behind bureaucratic processes and a growing wall of documentation.
But Mr Flanagan believes the new collaboratives could work, with local leadership drawn from the ranks of local authorities. In this he echoes the views of Cosla education spokesman Stephen McCabe, who castigated ministers last week for a lack of faith in local democracy, and the lack of a meaningful role for councils.
What schools need more than anything is a period of stabilit. Mr Flanagan reflects a common frustration of teachers that they are not listened to while education is politicised and classrooms subjected to incessant reform. The EIS is keen teachers and students are not disregarded while central and local government lock horns. But Mr Flanagan does take sides in his criticism of the SNP’s centralising tendencies. Making the new support bodies answer to Education Scotland amounts to excessive centralisation, he says. Meanwhile it is fanciful to expect councils to fund these networks while handing control to a government agency he adds - and he should know.
The recurring concern from critics is that there is an underlying tension between the centralisation these reforms represent and their stated goal of empowering schools and headteachers at a local level. Sooner or later it is a contradiction Mr Swinney will have to address.
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