Schools consultation is a PR exercise
A statement from Tarbert and Skipness Community Council (TSCC) on the ‘Empowering Our Educators’ collective leadership proposal for Argyll and Bute schools:
TSCC has considered the proposal and associated ‘engagement process’, most recently at a public meeting on March 10.
TSCC strongly opposes the implementation of ‘Empowering Our Educators’ (EOE) as currently proposed.
EOE would result in comprehensive and profound changes to the governance and leadership of schools across Argyll and Bute. These changes would affect the educational experience and life chances of thousands of our young people for years to come.
Our children have one chance to receive a good quality education at primary and secondary levels. To risk jeopardising this by implementing reforms which have not been rigorously scrutinised nor are supported by credible evidence would be irresponsible and negligent.
The EOE ‘engagement process’ does not meet the guidelines set out by the Scottish Government for community consultations. Rather than being a genuine consultation, this is a promotional campaign to ‘sell’ EOE.
The Education Department has been assisted in this exercise by a PR company paid for from the public purse - especially troubling in the present financial climate where there is no funding available for a geography teacher at Tarbert Academy and the parent council is regularly asked to provide funds to purchase textbooks.
The EOE literature published by Argyll and Bute Council presents a very biased view of the proposals with a range of claimed benefits which are not supported by evidence. There is no attempt to present a balanced view, nor is there any mention of alternatives, including retaining the existing system.
The feedback questionnaire provided is similarly biased and is clearly designed to ‘manufacture’ consent.
Nowhere in any of the EOE literature is there an acknowledgement of possible disadvantages or harms: the anticipated effects of EOE are presented as being exclusively positive. This is clearly unrealistic.
Several bodies, including Tarbert Academy Parent Council, have requested sight of any risk analysis carried out as part of the process. That this has not been forthcoming leads us to two possible conclusions:
▍ No risk analysis has been carried out
▍ A risk analysis exists but the education department does not wish to share it with interested parties, presumably because it does not present EOE in a favourable light
Neither of these conclusions reflects well on the department or the quality and rigour of the EOE analysis. The first would demonstrate an astonishing lack of competence; the second would betray a failure of integrity and poor commitment to the principles of open and honest communication.
The first duty of the education department, and wider council, when considering school reform must be to ‘do no harm’. In the absence of risk assessment this cannot be demonstrated.
The claims made for EOE do not stand up to scrutiny. It seems just as likely that the planned changes will have the opposite effect. Some of the claims made appear to be contradictory.
It seems unlikely that recruitment issues will be solved by implementing changes in the face of opposition from many school staff and the Educational Institute for Scotland (EIS), representing the majority of teachers in Argyll and Bute. EOE as currently formulated would be better described as an aspirational wish list rather than a credible and workable plan.
EOE is presented as a ‘magic bullet’, quickly and painlessly solving a long list of challenges. Our existing school system has evolved over very many years and has adapted to previous challenges.
We acknowledge that there are difficulties to be faced and improvements to be made but we would urge against ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’ in the quest for quick fixes. It is undoubtedly exciting to a certain type of ambitious middle manager to push through wide-ranging reform, but it is likely to be more effective and less risky to focus on improving what exists.
The ‘proposal in principle’ concept is seriously flawed and it reflects badly on the decision-making capabilities of senior leadership at Argyll and Bute Council that this process has been allowed to proceed so far on this basis. We are asked to consent to a complete reorganisation of the leadership of schools without the most basic facts.
Understandably, the citizens of Tarbert and Skipness aren’t particularly engaged by consideration of vague plans covering the entire Argyll and Bute area.
What people are really interested in are the particulars of what is proposed for Tarbert how many schools will be in our cluster?; will we be joined or merged with Campbeltown or Lochgilphead?; where will our executive head be based?; will teachers or pupils be expected to travel between campuses to achieve some of the anticipated benefits?; will the executive head be accessible to parents and attend parent council meetings?
These, and many other questions, remain unanswered.
Of even greater concern is that the community services committee will be asked to vote in favour of EOE on the ‘proposal in principle’ basis, like writing the education department a blank cheque.
Once approved, it appears that there will be no further opportunity for scrutiny by elected representatives and the education department will have a free hand to implement whatever version of collective leadership it chooses - with or without the consent of the affected communities.
This would be difficult to justify in any circumstance, but it is particularly worrying when the education department has handled this entire process so spectacularly badly.
The timing and character of the EOE ‘engagement process’ has caused considerable annoyance and frustration across our community.
We would urge that EOE be abandoned and the process of considering school reform across Argyll and Bute be re-started on the basis of a genuine, open consultation based on best practice. We believe that this is the only way to restore trust and confidence in the education department and to provide our young people with the education system that they deserve.