FLAGSHIP moves to give more funding direct to Scottish headteachers has been dismissed as “populist” by a leading official.

The accusation came after the Scottish Government announced moves to give legal responsibilities for raising standards to schools as part of a new delivery plan for education.

The proposals will also see millions of pounds of funding given directly to headteachers as well as the setting up of education regions to “decentralise management”.

John Swinney, the Education Secretary, said the intention was to drive improvements by allowing more decisions to be made by schools who were best placed to know what their communities needed.

However, Maureen McKenna, director of education for Glasgow City Council and president of the Association of Directors of Education, said local authorities performed a vital role.

She said: “My whole thrust over the past eight years has been to empower schools to deliver for their own communities and we hold them to account.

“I’ve seen heads who have not been coping at all. One is now a class teacher, one is a depute and one we sacked - who is going to do that?

“We should be putting our efforts into working together to improve these inconsistencies rather than jumping to a populist solution of giving money to schools because they are really good.”

However, Mr Swinney questioned whether all local authorities had the capacity or quality of leadership to effectively deliver education and called for greater collaboration.

Crucially, he also appeared to rule out the complete removal of schools from council control saying he was committed to a public education system “under democratic control”.

He said: “Does each authority have the capacity and capability to deliver the type of educational policy that we require in our schools?

“Is there enough quality of leadership to handle these issues? Does that exist universally across all the authorities? These are some questions we have got to explore to determine if we have all the arrangements necessary in place.

“I’ve spent many years as finance secretary trying to encourage people to work more collaboratively and to break down boundaries. At a time when resources are getting tight and where we clearly need to focus on improving outcomes, one thing that has frustrated me is the pace of development.”

Mr Swinney told the Times Education Supplement Scotland schools needed to be in greater control “because they will be the best judges of the needs of young people”.

Meanwhile, the Educational Institute of Scotland issued a fresh warning over the proposals to bypass councils after research from England.

The Education Policy Institute produced a league table which found academy trusts are no better than local authorities at raising school standards.

David Laws, former schools minister and the institute’s chairman, said successive governments had been “in denial” about failing academies while the Local Government Association said it showed academies were no “magic bullet” for improving schools.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, said: “Contrary to the claims of the UK government, this research confirms that the academisation programme of removing schools from local authority control neither raises standards nor enhances the educational experience of pupils.

“Although the Scottish Government has not gone down the academy route, it is considering changes to the role that Scotland’s councils play in the running of our schools.

“This research evidences the fact that removing schools from local authority control is not the answer in terms of raising standards and addressing the impact of poverty.”