Critic slams ‘sad attempt’ to gloss over Highland Council’s education failings saying ‘the education committee is dysfunctional’
The internal politics of Highland Council are seen as a major impediment to meaningful action to improve education standards in the region, one leading critic has said.
Councillor Helen Crawford was speaking after a bitter slanging match erupted over a bid she backed to improve education and understand the reasons for the slump in results in the Highlands – which goes back to 2016/17.
The result of the debate last week was an amendment to continue almost exactly as before amid widespread concerns from parents about the state of their kids’ education.
Administration councillors accused those seeking information on attainment, attendance, the poor school estate of “politicising” the debate and focussing on what they called “negatives”.
Yet Scottish Government figures for the curriculum for excellence show the region lags far behind the national average and has done since 2016 while for this year P1, P4 or P7 returned some of the lowest results in Scotland.
Cllr Crawford believes it is those in charge who are letting their own political beliefs or approach get in the way of progress, saying: “We need a radical intervention and we need it now.
“It’s a sad day when a simple request for information about education, from a respected former teacher, can be dismissed in such a way.
“I have been a member of the education committee throughout this session and part of the problem is the functioning of that committee. There is a lack of meaningful debate, a lack of informed strategy, and an inability to grasp and base decisions on the evidence.
“I am concerned about that because this is about our children and their life chances and the teaching profession which we hold so dearly. It is no wonder that people are starting to say that the education committee is dysfunctional.
“I find it sad and any attempt by members of that committee to put a gloss on this does our children and our teaching profession a disservice.
“I have in the past proposed multiple amendments and motions to the education committee and to the full council, all of which were voted down always along party lines.
“Previously one of those amendments was for this council to be paired with a top performing council, to learn and understand from them how to drive through the reform that we need.
“I understand this is done as a matter of course in other parts of the UK, automatically pairing the worst performing with the best.
“I have a plea for the chairman of education – can you please revisit that proposal now because we need a radical intervention and we need it now?”
