Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Axing principal teacher roles will save £370,000 a year claims Dundee City Council

Councillor Michael Marra.
Councillor Michael Marra.

Dundee City Council expects to save £370,000 a year by scrapping principal teacher roles in high schools.

However, Labour Lochee councillor Michael Marra has warned the “real cost” will be the impact the move has on secondary education in the city.

Dundee City Council wants to introduce a new “faculty” system in its eight high schools which see principal teacher roles axed and new curriculum leaders appointed.

Curriculum leaders will be responsible for groups of subjects.

There are currently 191 principal teachers in Dundee’s eight high schools but there will only be eight curriculum leaders in each school if the new system goes ahead next year, although larger schools may have more.

In a response to a Freedom of Information request, Dundee City Council has said the move will save the council £370,000 a year, although teaching union the EIS has warned the wage bill would actually increase while the new system is implemented.

The council’s response states: “It is envisaged that once fully implemented the revised
structures will save in the region of £370,000 per annum.

“The nature of faculties in each school is still under discussion following a consultation
exercise with key stakeholders within each school community.”

Mr Marra described the creation of faculties as “wasteful”.

He said: “We know that there will of course be initial increases in costs as a result of the wasteful imposition of faculties.

“That would be a double blow for Dundee as the Scottish Government has agreed to a new teacher career pathway and the costs of a further transition will have to be met. It’s a crazy situation.

“Taking this £370,000 out of the budget is some way down the road. The real cost will be paid by increased teacher workload, lack of subject leadership and potential industrial action – all of which harm the education of our pupils.”

New figures released by Dundee City Council under Freedom of Information legislation also showed that over 200 pupils left school before the end of fourth year over the past five years.

A total of 211 pupils left high school between 2014/15 and the 2018/19 without sitting their exams.

It is not known if the pupils moved to a different local authority, to college or sat exams elsewhere.

Dundee City Council failed to comment when asked.