Fresh doubt over Highland schools 'half-day Fridays' scheme
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A CONTROVERSIAL plan to shut Highland schools half day on a Friday could still go ahead despite a proposed new ruling by the Scottish National Party to guarantee primary pupils a minimum of 25 hours teaching time per week.
Councillor Bill Fernie, Highland Council’s budget leader, said the proposed legislation did not rule out a shorter 4.5-day week.
The issue is likely to remain in the melting pot following the shock news that Highland Council could face doubling the £21m of cuts it needs to find.
Cllr Fernie said the schools could still close half day to save heating and cleaning bills and the 2.5 hours of teaching could be delivered at another times in the week.
But he admitted the closure plan was less likely to happen because it would be “far more awkward” to bring in.
He said: “It would be a lot more awkward because we would have to shift the times of the teaching around and transport would be an even bigger headache. It’s still possible to do but it will be a lot more difficult.”
The council had been proposing to save around £4 million by closing the school early on a Friday and cutting classroom teaching time to 22.5 hours per week.
But the plan was set back on Wednesday when the government announced it intended to pass legislation to halt any such cost-cutting plan.
It said changes to the education bill would guarantee primary pupils a minimum of 25 hours teaching time per week.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning Angela Constance said the decision followed teachers’ and parents’ concerns about the possibility of children in some areas receiving less teacher contact time.
Scotland’s largest teaching union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, welcomed the government’s plan, saying it has always been vehemently opposed to any attempts to reduce the length of the pupil week “which would serve only to dilute the quality of education in Scotland’s primary schools”.
However, COSLA, which represents the majority of Scottish local authorities, said the move was “political opportunism at the expense of local government”.
Councillor Stephanie Primrose, the organisation’s education, children and young person spokeswoman, said: “The government seems to be suggesting that they have no choice but to legislate for the length of the school day despite not once raising it with COSLA.
"They have had plenty of opportunity to discuss this with us. We met with the Cabinet Secretary to discuss the Education Bill only a few weeks ago and have been in almost daily contact with Government as part of the spending review without even a hint to suggest this was on their radar.
"Yet we hear about it only a matter of hours before amendments are submitted. This is either bad planning on their part, or a knee-jerk response to an issue that was far from the top of the pile a matter of weeks ago.
"This is political opportunism at the expense of local government, in full knowledge that there is not any evidence which links better education attainment to a 25-hour school week.”
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