A SCOTTISH council is to cut the number of senior staff in its secondary schools under controversial proposals to save £600,000.
West Dunbartonshire Council has drawn up plans to remove deputy headteachers from the majority of its secondary schools from April next year.
Officials also intend to reduce the number of principal teachers in each school by grouping together subjects into so-called "faculties".
Under the plans, which affect Clydebank High School, Dumbarton Academy, Our Lady and St Patrick's High School, St Peter the Apostle High School and Vale of Leven Academy, each subject would no longer have a dedicated principal teacher in charge.
Instead, one principal teacher would take responsibility for a number of different subjects and staff who lose their promoted posts could see a drop in salary of some 20 per cent.
A council consultation on the proposal states: "Education service is required to cut £600,000 from the management structure budget in secondary schools.
"This change, while very challenging for us, will result in the required cost saving through a reduced number of promoted posts, but significantly, no compulsory job losses."
The move comes just months after West Dunbartonshire was forced to back down over proposals to save £1 million by cutting the school week. The council withdrew the plan after a backlash from parents, who described the move as "a disgrace".
Michael Dolan, president of the West Dunbartonshire local association of the Educational Institute of Scotland teaching union, said: "There has been increasing pressure on departments since the introduction of the new curriculum and an intimate knowledge of subjects is essential to support pupils. That only comes when you have a dedicated teacher who takes responsibility for their subject day in and day out.
"Ultimately, this will mean some subjects will lose the driving force within their specialist area because they will end up with a faculty head who has no in-depth knowledge of that area and that has to impact on attainment.
"The principal motivation for this is not the quality of education. It is simply about cost cutting and that is unfair on pupils."
However, a council spokesman said West Dunbartonshire was committed to improving the life chances of pupils through education.
He said: "The proposed changes to our secondary education structures will continue to support improving attainment in West Dunbartonshire, along with all our other major initiatives.
"These include the recent good news that our area is to be one of the first beneficiaries of a new £100m attainment fund announced by the Scottish Government. It is an exciting time for West Dunbartonshire and our pupils."
The council said the new secondary school structure matched that already adopted by other councils in Scotland and the new faculties would match curricular areas within the Curriculum for Excellence.
As a result, subjects will be grouped in eight curricular areas of literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing, expressive arts, social subjects, sciences, technologies and religious and moral education.
The move to faculties has been an issue in councils across Scotland over the past few years with some local authorities merging subject areas such as history, geography and English into joint faculties under one senior teacher.
Teaching unions have argued the move can see subject groupings which bear no relationship to each, leading to departments with faculty heads who have no understanding of the subjects they are in charge of.
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