State of 'high alert' remains on education changes

Parent groups who campaigned against cluster school proposals for Argyll and Bute are staying on high alert despite the plans being officially dropped.

 

Controversial plans for education changes, which would have seen executive head teachers in charge of school collectives, were discontinued at a meeting of the council's community services committee on Thursday August 25 after a three-hour debate.

 

Fears are now being expressed that the council could go 'underground' with the next round of proposed changes for schools and that people could lose their chance to have a say.

 

The council's community services committee meeting did agree that work should continue to deliver improvement and address local and national challenges the education service is encountering.

 

More than 800 responses were given as part of a consultation exercise that generated huge debate and protests across communities, including parent councils and the region's largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS).

 

A report that went before the community services committee accused lobbying groups and the EIS of spreading 'misinformation' about the 'Empowering Our Educators' plans, and of being 'disruptive' and detracting from the 'real focus of the consultation'.

 

Dalmally Primary Parent Council (DPCC) was one of many groups that objected to the proposals and wanted clearer and better engagement as part of the consultation that cost Argyll and Bute Council £25,000 to market.

 

The council’s policy lead for education Councillor Yvonne McNeilly has called for the authority to move forward but says the need for school changes still remains.

 

DPCC chairperson Kelda Platt said: 'People are feeling that it's great that the proposals as they were, were recommended to be dropped, but there are concerns that vibes from the council are that they are going to carry on with making changes without consulting properly with us and will just do their own thing. Trust has been damaged.

 

'There's a worry the council might go underground with it and we might lose our chance to have a say. People are not confident that the next suite of proposals for change will be any better. We are still on high alert.'

 

Lobbying group Wise4all campaigner Tracy Mayo said: 'While we are delighted that this proposal will not be progressed in its current format we still can’t relax, how can we when our opinion counts for so little?

 

'What is staggering is that a department tasked with delivering education could show so little compassion and respect for what it calls its stakeholders.'

 

Ardrishaig Primary Parent Council has called for an inquiry to re-establish 'some degree of standards' within the council and to start rebuilding a working relationship between council and community.

 

The call comes in a letter to Argyll and Bute councillors, MSPs and MPs flagging up the report to the community services committee that they say read as though parent councils and community councils had 'done a bad job' and as though council officers did not believe the results of the consultation anyway.

 

The letter said 'any kind of collaboration with council officers was a struggle' and it alleged the standard of behaviour at council-level was 'now set so low' and 'lower than any of us thought possible'.

 

It also added: 'It would not be wise to ignore the reality of this situation any longer. An inquiry is necessary to re-establish some degree of standards within the council and to make a start on rebuilding a working relationship between council and community.'

 

This week, Councillor McNeilly said there had been an 'extraordinary response' to the 'Empowering Our Educators' plans and that Argyll and Bute Council had kept its assurances to listen and respond accordingly.

 

'We now have to move forward,' she said. 'There is so much good work still to be done.

 

'While the need for change remains, we will take lessons from this engagement exercise for progressing the future of our education service.'

 

Alison Palmer who is secretary of EIS's Argyll and Bute branch and sits on the community services committee, also slammed the 'misinformation' accusations in the report that went before the committee.

 

The report said education service and the wider project team 'spent an increasing amount of effort addressing questions and concerns around the misinformation in circulation, which was disruptive and detracted from the real focus of the consultation'.

 

Ms Palmer said relationships and trust now had to be rebuilt, offering to work with council officials to help alleviate any concerns over the future of education in Argyll and Bute. She said an 'honest and open working relationship' was needed.