LAST week, Fife Council’s Education & Children’s Services Committee met to address a number of key topics, one of which is the proposed change to Educational Governance in Scotland. Following a decade of the Scottish Government’s abject failings in education another project to alter the structure of education is on the table.

In September 2016 the Scottish Government began a review that sought views on how education in Scotland is run.

What it did not state though was that, like everything else in Scotland, the decisions were already in the making.

In June of this year a paper entitled Next Steps was published, claiming that there would be a “revolutionised approach to support and improvement in schools” – neatly sidestepping the unfortunate fact that the SNP have had a decade to do this already.

Fife Council has to respond to this, or rather implement the wishes of the Scottish Government.

The major proposal is that Fife will be grouped with Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian and the Borders in a large ‘regional collaborative”. Expressing my deep concerns about this proposal, the lack of wider consultation with senior teaching staff and most importantly, parents, I put forward an amendment to hold this back until further consultation.

Council officers advised this was not possible as the decision had to be made by September 8.

Therefore, parents in Fife need to be aware that this move will further distance local people from the services that affect them directly and impact upon the future educational opportunities of their children.

I understand that Fife Council, like all local authorities in Scotland must do the bidding of the Scottish Government. However, the theory of local government is that councillors decide policy and officers execute policy.

Instead we have just witnessed the opposite. Make no mistake: the centralisation agenda of the SNP marches on and the democratic deficit at the local level continues to grow.

Cllr KATHLEEN LESLIE,

Burntisland and Kinghorn.