A plan to bring in a 33-period week at Dundee secondary schools has been scrapped.
City council education director Michael Wood has admitted the idea did not win enough backing from staff, parents or pupils.
When he proposed the change to councillors in September, he said the structure of the school day varied considerably between the nine secondaries, and argued standardising their timetables would ”maximise the amount of teaching time” staff could deliver.
The education committee agreed to a consultation being held before a decision was taken and the director has accepted this did not go the way he wished.
He said: ”The feedback from staff, pupils, parents and carers was mixed, but there was not a sufficient consensus to enable the proposals to proceed.”
In a report to be considered by the education committee next week, the director says schools will continue with their current timetabling arrangements, with eight having a 30-period week and one a model of 40 shorter periods.
SNP education convener Liz Fordyce said: ”We have listened carefully to the views of parents, pupils and staff and we have responded to what people have said about this idea.”
Councillor Laurie Bidwell, education spokesman for the opposition Labour group, said: ”It is clear from the committee report that this proposal neither persuaded parents and carers nor teachers. With such a mixed response, it is not surprising that the proposal has been withdrawn.
”There are, however, a number of crucial and urgent questions which are not contained within the report and require answers at the education committee.
”In the presentation which was used at the consultation events, the preferred timetable had 31 periods of 50 minutes with the addition of one daily 20-minute period, called tutorial, which combined the functions of registration and some roles connected with guidance.
”How will this entitlement be met for every one of our pupils in her/his secondary school?
”Now that the 33-period week has been abandoned, we also need to hear how our nine secondary schools will timetable examination classes in S4 for the new National 4 and 5 examinations.”