School shake-up doubts as councillors clash over plan

CONTROVERSIAL plans to "rush through" a new management structure in schools after the summer holidays are still up in the air after parents and opposition councillors accused education leaders of failing to provide evidence of educational benefits or financial savings.

• Telford College staff out on strike yesterday

Despite a three-hour debate on the issue at the City Chambers on Tuesday, members of the education committee were split on how best to implement the proposals and have instead referred the decision to a meeting of the full council next week.

Parents from 18 schools joined forces to appeal to councillors to delay the implementation of the new structure by a year to give schools time to adjust.

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The changes to a "faculty" system will see 139 principal teachers demoted and 15 deputy head posts axed in a bid to save 2.4 million over two years.

Opposition councillors and the independent members of the committee all voted in favour of a Labour motion calling for more information on the projected financial savings and evidence to back up claims the new model will improve educational attainment.

With all members of the Lib Dem/SNP administration voting in favour of ploughing ahead with the restructure making it 11 votes each, the issue was referred to full council for further debate.

Parents told councillors their main concern over the new structure was the "pace of change".

Speaking on behalf of parent councils across the city, Susan Hardman Moore, chair of the parent council at St Thomas of Aquins, said: "The nub of the matter is the decision to go down this road has been driven by urgent budget constraints, but is it wise to travel so fast?

"We feel strongly that, whatever the educational pros and cons of switching to a faculty structure, the pace of change will result in a poorer service for pupils and demoralised staff."

Education leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren and education director Gillian Tee assured parents that they would adopt a "flexible" approach to the implementation of the new management structure, stressing it could be rolled out across the next two years.

Ms Tee said: "We are committed to a phased approach but do worry about a delay as it would leave more uncertainty."

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Speaking after the meeting, Ms Hardman Moore said: "I'm very disappointed that there was no conclusion."

Franck Bergeret, co- chairman of the parent council at Bruntsfield Primary, added: "The good thing is they want to implement some flexibility.

"I think the Labour motion was fair as they want to see some educational reasons for doing this and the evidence was just not there."

Labour education spokesman Councillor Paul Godzik, who put forward the motion, said: "What is pretty unprecedented is that all the independent members of the committee voted with opposition members."We can see the strength of feeling from parents and there was a number of legitimate questions asked regarding the need for further information."

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