PARENTS, teachers and school staff are set to be consulted on the future of education in parts of Argyll and Bute after councillors stepped in asking for more views to be sought on the issue.
A report detailing the council’s education change programme outlined proposals for changes impacting many rural schools across the area.
Members of the authority’s community services committee were initially recommended to agree and note the recommendations of the report, which were formed by an education transformation board.
But Cowal Conservative councillor Yvonne McNeilly, the committee’s chair and the council’s policy lead for education, moved a motion for more consultation to be carried out among teachers and communities, which was unanimously backed.
Councillor McNeilly said: “The Scottish Government has made it clear to all local authorities that it expects the reform of education to raise attainment and continue improvement.
“That is the context in which we must operate. We must be agile and responsible to the need for change, just as we drive on our journey of improvement.
“Our main focus is on our young people and ensuring that they get the best chance of success we can give them, and the report is a stage of that journey.
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“It answers questions, it addresses recommendations from Audit Scotland while also addressing inequalities.
“I want to add an extra step to enhance what we have already set out, and give more reassurance to fellow members of school communities.”
Councillor McNeilly then put forward a motion asking Douglas Hendry, the council’s executive director with responsibility for education, to progress a programme of engagement with communities, staff and representative bodies on the school leadership model and clustering of schools.
Other councillors on the committee backed the proposal, with Helensburgh Central SNP councillor Lorna Douglas saying: “We had put forward an amendment [to the original recommendation], but it is basically the motion, so I cannot really disagree with what has been put forward.
“It was not just about consulting, but also about gathering evidence around the cluster model and the model of education.
“I appreciate the opportunity of being able to speak to the education team. It was good to contextualise what had been going on, and also to give my views, because I was hugely concerned about a very controversial model.
“I welcome this motion and I hope it comes back with much more consultation and evidence based around the model, because I am still not convinced it will make the difference set out in this report.”
Writing in the Advertiser, Cllr Douglas said she was glad the change programme had been put on hold.
She said: "Shared headship, especially in small rural schools, is one thing, but having only one head teacher for up to seven schools ranging over nursery, primary and secondary is quite another.
"Schools, large or small, are of vital significance to any community, providing a sense of belonging and identity that builds resilience and nurtures pupils as well as learning. This helps our young people develop their full potential in life and in turn make constructive contributions to our communities and to wider society.
"I was told this was not a cost cutting exercise by the council, and that the new approach will encourage more teachers into the area for better career progression. But I fail to see how this would be the case.
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"Doing away with multiple head teachers and replacing them with one executive head is not allowing better career progression, it is effectively removing a whole layer of management – just like the removal of some subject specialist principal teachers and replacing them with faculty heads.
"These moves are driven by financial needs and not education needs."
Kintyre and the Islands Conservative councillor Alastair Redman told Cllr McNeilly: “A big well done to yourself and your hardworking team.
“This shows the council listens. There is a lot of passion out there and we have had our email inboxes full to the brim, justifiably so.
“This will go a way to addressing some of the concerns raised by constituents.”
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