AMONGST the condemnations, confusions and endorsements surrounding plans to hand more power to headteachers we have learned some unexpected things.
A consultation on the Scottish Government proposals has attracted written submissions from anyone who is anyone in Scottish education, but not everyone stuck to the script.
The Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, which represents the primary sector, provided the most eye-catching contribution with a section on parental involvement.
The usual bland generalisations were shunned for a rather more enlightening take which said: “Engagement with parents’ mental health issues, false statements, spurious accusations, inaccurate information, gossip and the use of social media can detract from what school leaders know to be in the best interests of children.”
The National Parent Forum of Scotland’s submission was equally interesting for what it revealed in an aside about the difficulties schools faced with cuts.
“One parent said that following a changed printing contract, a teacher hid an older printer so they could continue using it... because there would be fewer printers under the new contract.”
These contributions aside, the bulk of submissions spoke directly to the plans to allocate more resources directly to headteachers and set up new educational regions to take up some of the work councils currently do.
On the plus side for ministers there was an acceptance from some, including teaching watchdog the General Teaching Council for Scotland, that there are currently too many variations in pupil attainment between council areas.
Others, including right of centre think tank Reform Scotland, urged Mr Swinney to go further and take on vested interests in education.
On the debit side, however, teaching unions warned giving more power to heads would exacerbate an ongoing leadership recruitment crisis because of the additional bureaucracy such a move would entail.
Along with a rejection of plans for new education regions it was a recurring theme.
Even secondary headteachers’ union School Leaders Scotland, which has backed the proposals, said heads needed to be supported with trained business managers.
And there was also a cautionary tale from the Royal Society of Edinburgh which said a recent example of headteacher empowerment in Sweden had resulted in a slump in standards.
Worryingly, the Scottish Parent Teacher Council said the consultation questions were so difficult to understand many of its members could not respond at all.
John Swinney, the Education Secretary, has said his guiding principle is that decisions should be taken by schools because staff there are best placed to know what is required to improve standards.
The problem is that the consultation responses suggest there are many who either disagree with him or, like many parents, still don’t understand what the changes will entail.
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