Education bill pushed back until after elections as staffing concerns raised

SCOTTISH Government plans for an education bill have been pushed back until after the local government elections in May.

The Government had promised the proposed legislation for early this year, but Education Secretary John Swinney said it would now take place later in 2017.

The move means elections will take place without voters knowing exactly how controversial proposals to hand more power to headteachers will work.

The electorate will also not know the detail of controversial proposals to set up educational regions to help run schools.

Mr Swinney said the Government’s consultation on the future governance of schools needed longer to assess and that he did not want to bring forward legislation before then.

He said: “I have got 1,100 responses from the governance review and I am obviously discussing issues around the review with our international advisers.

“In terms of timing I have got to be respectful to the local government election process, which means my time to say things in advance of that is quite limited.

“I will judge the right moment to give my response, but the Government is committed to an Education Bill.”

The intention of the legislation is to ensure that decisions about children’s learning are taken as close as possible to local communities.

However, the consultation on the changes threw up significant concerns, with many warning that schools would be unable to cope because of under-staffing.

Parents also said they felt excluded from the process because consultation documents were “laden with jargon”.