SCOTTISH state schools should be accountable to boards of governors rather than councils, an educational expert has said.
Keir Bloomer, the former director of education at Clackmannanshire Council, said the revised model of governance - used extensively in the private sector - would increase accountability to local communities.
His comments come in a new book of ideas to improve the education system compiled by the Scottish Conservative Party.
He wrote: "Teachers and schools have powerful feelings of responsibility to young people, their families and, to perhaps a lesser extent, their communities. However, they are not formally accountable to any of these.
"Schools' accountability is to local and national politicians through local education directorates, school inspectors and other bodies. Many teachers, however, have no strong feelings of responsibility to them."
Mr Bloomer said it was important accountability was more closely aligned with feelings of responsibility. He added: "Scotland does not have a tradition of effective governing bodies except in the independent sector.
"However, such bodies are a potential source of strength and a useful counterweight in a system in which the power of central government is increasing as that of local government declines."
Mr Bloomer also criticised Scottish ministers for their "self-congratulation" over exam results that he said had actually worsened over the last decade.
Another contributor to the book, Lindsay Paterson, professor of education policy at Edinburgh University, called for changes to the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) school reforms that "ignored" the value of tradition. He said: "Curricular change ought always to be accompanied by a cultural debate, a discussion of what matters from the past. That has not happened in Scotland."
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said reforms on promoting choice, decentralisation and diversity had been driven forward in other countries, but had been blocked in Scotland.
A Scottish Government spokesman said schools had undergone a radical transformation in recent years with the introduction of CfE. He said: "A record number of pupils gained Higher passes this year and international results show Scotland was the only country in the UK to see a narrowing in the attainment gap between most advantaged and most disadvantaged school pupils in maths, reading and science."
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