Scottish Government plans to give headteachers more power have been welcomed by Dundee City Council’s children and families services convener.
Councillor Gregor Murray said education secretary John Swinney had been correct not to allow schools the option of becoming academies that no longer answered to local authorities.
Mr Swinney said the reforms intend “freeing our teachers to teach”.
They will give headteachers the responsibility for closing the attainment gap, which sees pupils from poorer backgrounds perform worse at school than those from more privileged backgrounds.
They will also have more control over teacher recruitment and deciding what is on the school’s curriculum and funding.
They will also see the creation of “regional improvement collaboratives” to co-ordinate council and Scottish Government strategies to improve attainment.
Local government organisation Cosla said the plan “erodes local democratic accountability” but Councillor Murray said it will open up new routes into teaching.
Mr Murray said: “A lot of these principles set out are already in place and happening across Dundee and some of the further commitments, such as reducing the bureaucracy, are very welcome.
“I am especially delighted that Mr Swinney entirely ruled out the request by some parents to remove their school from the local government structures.
“As we have seen elsewhere on these islands, academisation of our schools, and removing them from the democratic oversight and the support from council staff has not been a success, and we should not be trying to emulate that here.”
“We must keep that support structure at the heart of the journey to empower headteachers, pupils, parents and communities.”
Councillor Murray added: “I believe that the staff in particular will welcome the clearer and enhanced progression routes and career development opportunities.
“I fully welcome the commitment that we will not be watering down the academic rigour of our pathways into teaching, whilst also being open minded to new ways to address the issues we have in recruitment in some subject areas.
“I look forward to working with our colleagues across Tayside to ensure the best service for all of our children and families,” said the convener.
The Scottish Conservatives said Mr Swinney’s plans do not go far enough while Labour questioned whether creating regional organisation boards could undermine councils.
