Dundee City Council has told the Scottish Government it needs more resources to improve school standards — not interference from Holyrood.
The Scottish Government is carrying out a consultation on ways to improve education in Scotland.and who is best-placed to make decisions about the education of children.
But Dundee’s SNP-led administration has made clear its opposition to any centralised control of schooling.
And it warns creating a new tier of education management, either at regional or national level, could harm efforts to raise standards.
The consultation asks respondents to say what barriers within the current governance arrangements are stopping schools “achieving the vision of excellence and equity for all.”
The council’s strongly worded response states: “This is a closed question. It assumes that there are barriers and that these have been created at a local level.
“The real barriers have been imposed on councils over recent years following a series of past and present reductions to the budget.
“These have resulted in a significant level of changes to the way in which the system is organised and to a marked reduction in the level of central staff who are able to provide support to establishments — in essence a capacity issue.
“This would not be resolved by the creation of a new tier described as an educational board and indeed may well be exacerbated.”
Speaking at a meeting of the Children and Families Services Committee this week, Labour group education spokesman Laurie Bidwell commended the response.
He said: “Teachers and other learning practitioners don’t need more bosses and more reorganisation.
“We believe our council adds value to the achievement of excellence and equity in education.
“Clearly the fact that you are bringing this forward, convener, shows you share the director’s and our reservations about the direction of travel being promoted in this one-sided consultation.
“I think we should expect the Scottish Government to stick to its knitting and ensure that it gives us adequate resources and at the same time ensures it improves its workforce planning so that we can return to teacher selection and not merely recruitment.”
Committee convener Stewart Hunter said: “I certainly appreciate the support and hope our response has the full support of the council.
“It comes from our experience of what works. Hopefully the Scottish Government will listen.”
The consultation will close on January 6.
