Report raises concerns of education reforms guidance

A commission set up to examine education reforms has raised concerns over the “highly-prescriptive'' guidance which accompanies direct funding for headteachers.

The Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) hands cash directly to schools to spend on measures to reduce the attainment gap between the poorest and wealthiest pupils.

It is aimed at giving headteachers more control, reflecting Education Secretary John Swinney's view there should be a presumption that decisions are taken at school level.

The Commission on School Reform has described it as a “major step in the direction of greater autonomy for schools'' but it also noted accompanying guidance for headteachers appears “inconsistent'' with Mr Swinney's view.

National operational guidance was issued to every headteacher as a guide to how they might invest their allocation of the funding from April 1.

In its paper on the fund, the commission states the guidance “is full of specific directions to schools about what they may and may not do'', and “repeatedly insists'' schools “comply with established local authority processes and accounting procedures in disposing of their additional funds''.

The guidance also “places local authorities rather than schools at the heart of the whole operational process'', according to the commission, and advises that councils will also “issue complementary guidance about how the funding will operate locally''.

The commission, set up in 2011 by the Reform Scotland and Centre for Scottish Public Policy think tanks, considered the PEF and its operation as the Government undertakes a wider review of governance in education.

Commission member Frank Lennon said: “The introduction of the Pupil Equity Fund is both the first major step towards increased school autonomy and the first major test of the governance review's presumption that decisions should be taken at a school level.

“However, the Pupil Equity Fund's accompanying guidance gives us concern, even at this early stage.

“It is highly prescriptive about what schools may and may not do with the money and places local authorities, not schools, at the heart of the whole operational process.

“Throughout the guidance, deference to local authorities is evident. This may be benign but it is nonetheless damaging because it is precisely that system from which we need to escape.

“Unless the rhetoric behind the Government's drive towards school autonomy is matched by the reality, we will simply perpetuate the risk-averse and centralist culture which has been responsible for the lack of innovation to tackle the very effects of poverty on attainment which the Pupil Equity Fund is designed to address.''

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The whole premise of this report is wrong.

“The #120 million Pupil Equity Funding scheme provides additional support to thousands of schools across Scotland, to be spent at the discretion of teachers and school leaders.

“The operational guidance for the scheme was discussed and agreed with headteacher representatives from School Leaders Scotland, the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland and key local authority representatives.

“This aligns with current school governance arrangements where statutory responsibilities for the delivery of education reside with local authorities.

“The principles set out in the guidance reflect good practice and have been issued to support headteachers in their decision-making around using Pupil Equity Funding to close the poverty-related attainment gap.''

Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: “Frank Lennon, as a very experienced former head teacher, is quite right to raise his concerns.

“The language used in the Scottish Government's guidance makes clear that local authorities would still have very considerable power to determine how the money is spent, and therefore there is a worry that there would be too much of a straitjacket for schools which wanted to pursue different options.''