The SNP’s plans to give Scottish headteachers millions of pounds to raise standards in schools have come under fire from education experts, who say the reforms are being rushed through and could end up damaging pupils’ progress.
A coalition of council leaders and teaching unions said they feared the proposals, which are aimed at reducing the growing attainment gap between rich and poor pupils in Scotland, may backfire by increasing the administrative burden on already overworked teachers.
“What we’re in danger of doing here is when we throw out the bath water, we’re going to throw the pupil out with it”
David O’Neill, Cosla president
They also accused the Scottish Government of attempting to take power away from local communities in favour of centralisation, as the £100m policy will be funded by increasing council tax on expensive properties before being redistributed nationally.
The concerns were raised at a meeting organised by Cosla, the umbrella body representing most Scottish councils, which was also attended by teachers’ leaders and representatives from the country’s biggest unions.
Larry Flanagan, the general secretary of Scotland’s largest teaching union the EIS, said it would be “absolute folly” to reorganise the education system at a time when it was already strained, while Fiona Dalziel of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association said the plans were being “rushed”.
Negative impact
David O’Neill, the president of Cosla, said the reforms could “absolutely” have a negative impact on pupils as schools struggled to come to terms with the new system.
“What we’re in danger of doing here is when we throw out the bath water, we’re going to throw the pupil out with it.”
He added: “Headteachers are valued and trusted public servants, but they are not elected. No one votes for a headteacher and nor should they.
“Councillors stand for election and should be held responsible for taxes raised and money spent in their area.
“Parents and communities who have concerns to raise or points to make have no democratic ability to do so under this new regime.”
Mr O’Neill also said the reforms would “destroy” the historic link between council taxes raised from householders being spent on local services, creating a situation where “money raised in one community will be spent in another”.
Mandate for reform
The policy, due to be brought it from next April, will shift responsibility for raising standards from local education authorities to schools.
The amount of money given to headteachers will depend on the number of their pupils in receipt of free school meals.
A Scottish Government spokesman said it had “secured a mandate at the recent election to raise an additional £100m per year through council tax reforms and for this to be allocated to schools”, adding that the money would go to those with the greatest need.
He added: “This additional funding will further support our schools to raise attainment across the board and substantially close the gap between the attainment of young people from Scotland’s least and most deprived areas.
“It will be for schools themselves to decide how to use the funding to raise attainment.”
