NEWS that teachers’ leaders are warming to the idea of devolving budgets, and with them power, from local authority to school level takes the SNP Government’s educational reform plans a significant step towards fruition.
While some headteachers have been suspicious of being given power without sufficient budgets – a curious echo of what Holyrood alleges of Westminster – the principle of handing more funding to schools instead of councils is gaining traction. The key lies in what is on the table: headteachers having control of staffing in particular, with additional flexibility for spending on, for example, children with additional support needs.
What is not on table, as far as headteachers are concerned, is the academy school model pursued by the Tory government in England. School Leaders’ Scotland wants overall control of education to remain with local authorities. That said, responsibility breeds effectiveness, and underlying the proposal in Scotland is the understanding that giving more power to schools can only improve matters for children. Teacher, as it were, knows best.
However, a few questions need to be chalked on the Holyrood blackboard before anyone gets a gold star. While headteachers may know the needs of their schools intimately, will they all be adept at wielding this new power? How would their decisions be monitored? Would some schools have to hire managers to administer the new procedures?
Also, while it is easy to paint local authorities as pen-pushers clinging to power, and to accuse them of siphoning off money to other areas, it could still be argued that they have a better overview of what is needed across the board to benefit those who need it most. The point has been well made that some money that schools would now get might still be best spent on community programmes helping children outwith school.
However, while more homework may be needed on these proposals, they are finding favour, and local authorities should be encouraged to join the discussion constructively.
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