THE controversial body blamed for botching the introduction of Scotland’s curriculum has come under fire from teachers amidst plans for it to spearhead new reforms.

Teaching unions said Education Scotland was a “damaged brand “ and should not be given greater control over schools under current moves to sideline councils.

The criticism comes after John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister and Education Secretary, announced plans to give more power over decisions to headteachers.

In addition, the Scottish Government brought forward proposals to introduce new regional bodies which will take over the responsibility for supporting improvement from councils.

However, whereas local government is run by democratically elected councillors, the new regions will be led by appointed directors who will report directly to the chief inspector of schools.

Writing in The Herald, Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teaching union, said Education Scotland had “singularly failed” , to provide the leadership or support required by schools on curriculum and assessment.

Mr Flanagan believes regional collaboratives could be a vehicle for providing better support for schools at a time of cuts.

But he also warned they appeared more likely to become a point of dispute between the Scottish Government and council umbrella body COSLA.

He said: “Central to the disagreement is the fact that whilst the proposals talk much about decentralising decision-making, in practice they point strongly to an actual centralising of control through the medium of a reformed Education Scotland.

“That Education Scotland needs reform, as a minimum, is beyond question; it has failed to deliver the required support or leadership to schools on curriculum and assessment and in terms of the new qualifications it has been posted missing over the last few years.

“In a binary political atmosphere, the Scottish Government is reluctant to own its own mistakes, but it needs to recognise that Education Scotland is a damaged brand. Placing it centre stage in the review proposals is a mistake.”

Mr Swinney said: “The EIS is rightly recognising the real potential that regional collaboratives have to provide the support teachers need. That is very welcome.

“We believe that they can make a real difference in the classroom and the EIS is right to say that, in the end, that is the only place it matters.

“In our reform plan we are explicitly committed to building consensus and working in partnership on the design of regional improvement collaboratives.”