A HELENSBURGH parent council representative has claimed families and teachers in the area are “sleepwalking” into controversial proposals to shake-up the school management structure.
Stella Kinloch, chair of the Hermitage Academy Parent Council (HAPC), has called for a consultation on the Argyll and Bute-wide changes to be paused until more information has been provided.
And she has appealed for clarity to ensure education isn’t left “in tatters”.
Argyll and Bute Council's “Empowering our Educators” project would see executive head teachers appointed to clusters of schools throughout the area in a non-teaching capacity, with education bosses insisting the shake-up would not result in a loss of jobs.
A consultation on the proposals runs until Friday, March 4 - and early feedback from the HAPC has been far from positive.
Ms Kinloch is co-ordinating attempts by around 40 parent councils from across Argyll and Bute to ask for the consultation to be put on hold until more detailed information is provided on the local authority's proposals.
READ MORE: Council bosses say they want education change plan to be 'cost neutral'
She told a meeting of Helensburgh Community Council (HCC): “The devil is in the detail and it is simply not there.
“We’re all being asked to be on a journey, essentially sleepwalking into proposals that we may not be able to pedal back from.
“They have taken a broad brush approach now without a real consideration of the impacts that this will have for many years to come.
“I don’t believe anybody could genuinely vote on this and say, ‘yes, I’ll agree in principle’ to a wide-sweeping education reform into a structure there is nowhere else in Scotland.
“They are considering this trailblazing; well, it will certainly leave a trail, but it will just leave education in flames, in tatters.”
Ms Kinloch said the parent council is “not against change”, but asked HCC members to help ensure that the full details of the proposed changes are conveyed to the public before any decisions are taken.
READ MORE: Education shake-up plan 'will not lead to fewer teachers' , say council officials
She said: “This proposal will have big impacts on council budgets, and at some point the community councils will be asked to do consultations on budgets and where we can make cuts, how we can reinforce other spending.
“These proposals are intrinsic to those future strategies and budget plans, so, whether you’ve got a child at the school or not, we definitely should all be taking a wider interest as council tax payers in these proposals.
“If you don’t feel you’ve got enough information then please ensure that’s part of your feedback.
“I’m coordinating around 40 parent councils across Argyll and Bute and we are proposing that this consultation is paused until there is lots more information, facts and figures.”
HCC member Sarah Davies, who has spent 40 years working in the education sector, also questioned the timing of the proposals.
She said: “I didn’t feel well informed about it.
“There are some issues that I think are really quite worrying: the fact that there is no budget put forward, no suggested groups of schools. If we agree this nobody knows which schools will be grouped with which.
“The fact that we’re doing this at the end of two years of a pandemic when the schools have really been through a huge amount and the last thing they need is to go through something else at the moment.
“Children and schools and teachers have been through a lot recently and we need to think very carefully about this.”
An Argyll and Bute Council spokesperson said: “On June 10 the community services committee agreed to implement a wide ranging consultation on the Education Change Programme.
“We are consulting widely on the model for school leadership and are seeking the views of every community, all of our parents, all of our school staff and the head teachers, the trade unions and professional association which support them and our pupils across all of Argyll and Bute.
“At this stage, we are consulting only on the principle of collective leadership and not on specific schools or staff that would be included in the collectives.
“We are not going to halt the process prematurely at this stage and, to ensure that views are fairly considered before any further steps are taken in progressing the project, we are encouraging everyone to get involved in the consultation and share their views.
“It is this feedback that will shape the proposals.
“If there is elected member agreement to proceed, only then would work begin on the development of specific school collectives."
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