A Scottish council is continuing to push ahead with its plans to bring in “executive headteachers” to run clusters of up to eight schools - but the proposed changes have “next to no support from primary leaders”, says Scotland’s primary heads’ association.
Argyll and Bute Council is planning to introduce a “cluster leadership model” that would see up to seven primaries and one secondary being led by an executive headteacher in part to address difficulties recruiting leaders to its small rural primaries.
However, primary leaders’ body the AHDS has hit out at the plans, saying they could effectively lead to the role of headteacher being wiped out in the authority’s small primary schools.
The EIS teaching union has previously said the plans are “a cost-cutting exercise that will not empower schools” and that they will decrease the number of headteachers in the authority from 84 to around 14.
AHDS general secretary Greg Dempster said: “These plans have next to no support from primary leaders. The council talks about an executive head overseeing a secondary and a number of primaries, with a head of school in the primaries - but it’s not clear what the difference is between a primary headteacher, and a head of school.
“If the problem is attracting people to take up leadership roles in these small schools, why would it be easier to recruit a ‘head of school’ than a headteacher when it isn’t even clear what that is?
“If we don’t have headteacher roles in smaller primary schools, these schools are going to be put under the headship of secondary school leaders - is that the best thing for primary education? Probably not because they still have the secondary to run and that is their professional focus.
“There are lots of unanswered questions about these groupings and nothing that points to any material benefit for schools, pupils or recruitment.”
Last year, Argyll and Bute Council published a report on its Education Change Programme that included plans for a “cluster leadership model” - one of the benefits of which, it said, was “reducing the likelihood of failure to recruit to key posts”.
Now the council is consulting on the plans, with the consultation due to close on 4 March and a report on the findings expected by the autumn.
No implementation date for the change has been set but the plans published last year envisage that the cluster leadership model will be brought in on a phased basis, with three “early adopters” clusters.
The proposed Kintyre cluster would include one secondary and six primaries coming together, with a combined roll of 885 pupils, and all situated on the Kintyre peninsula.
The proposed Bute cluster would include the two primaries and the joint campus on the Isle of Bute, creating a cluster with a combined roll of 649 pupils.
The proposed Dunoon cluster would potentially involve seven primaries and one secondary, with a combined roll of 1,450 pupils. The primaries would be “within or in close proximity to the town of Dunoon”.
Under the plans there would be a promoted member of staff in each school building and some of those leadership posts could be given the title “head of school”.
A petition opposing the plans - which was started some eight months ago when they first came to light - has attracted almost 850 signatures.
However, some of the potential benefits, according to the council, are: staff could be moved across the cluster on a temporary or longer-term basis to provide cover; there would be greater sharing of good practice and innovation among staff in different schools; and pupils would be able to work together in a more frequent and structured way which “will prepare them more effectively for transition to secondary”.
The plans also envisage that “provision to primary children by secondary staff will become the norm, enhancing overall curricular learning experiences for children, as well as greatly benefitting their transition experience”.
An Argyll and Bute Council spokesperson said: “Our proposed leadership model focuses on delivering a sustainable education service for the children and young people of Argyll and Bute. We are currently consulting on this school leadership model with our communities and stakeholders, including our trade union and professional association colleagues such as AHDS. For further information, please see www.empoweringoureducators.co.uk.”
