85% are against school collectives plan, says teachers’ union

Plans to introduce executive head teacher posts in Argyll and Bute have been opposed by 85% of its members, a teachers’ union said today.

The EIS has said that only 19 members out of 385 responding to a survey supported the plans for school ‘collectives’ to be introduced in the area.

That figure accounts for 48% of EIS members locally – 35% of respondents said they were in a promoted post, with the rest being main grade class teachers.

Local community councils and Hermitage Academy’s parent council have also opposed the plan.

Argyll and Bute Council’s consultation on the plans, known as ‘Empowering our Educators’ and previously called clusters rather than collectives, closed yesterday, with a decision due to be made in September.

The EIS said it submitted a response to the consultation which included statistical data and comments from members.

Read more – cost of consultants for school collectives revealed

Alison Palmer, the local association secretary, said: “The results of this survey speak for themselves. Our members cannot see the benefit of the proposals, other than for the purposes of budget cuts. The posts, as they are proposed, will not encourage recruitment or retention in rural areas.

“The proposals are more likely to increase workload for all teaching staff.

“We have worked alongside parent councils and community councils for the past few months to ensure as many people as possible are consulted on this proposal. The overwhelming feedback has been categorical opposition to the proposals.

“We maintain this proposal is a distraction from the underlying problems that it claims to seek to address. We hope the council won’t waste any more time or money on this wasteful proposal.”

Fears have previously been expressed that the plans could lead to the number of head teachers in Argyll and Bute reducing from 84 to 14.

This has been denied by the council, who said that under the new plans, heads of school would be non-teaching.

Today a council spokesperson said: “We must be realistic about the challenges education services in Argyll and Bute face.

“Falling school roles and teacher shortages in the long term put the education of our young people at risk, and failure to change will in effect be letting our young people down. We are grateful to everyone who took part in the consultation.

“Their feedback will be vital in shaping the proposals before they are submitted to members of the community services committee for a decision.”