Agenda item

Consider report by Service Director Children and Young People.  (Copy attached.)

The Convener advised that items 5 and 6 below would be approved together.  He advised that as there had already been discussion between the various political groups in the preparation of the consultation response that these items would not be further debated at the meeting.  Councillor Robson’s dissent was noted.

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director, Children and Young People updating on the position of the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland in response to the “Governance Review: Next Steps paper published in June 2017 by the Scottish Government, copies of which were appended to the report.  The report provided a proposal regarding Regional Collaboration produced by the South East Alliance in response to the Next Steps paper “South East Alliance: South East Improvement Collaborative: Collaboration to Deliver Excellence and Equity” as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report. The Scottish Government published its Education Governance: Next Steps paper in June 2017 in response to the Delivery Plan and Consultation document “Empowering Teachers, Parents and Communities to Achieve Excellence and Equity in Education”. Scottish Borders Council submitted an extensive response to this consultation contained in Appendix 4 to the report. At the heart of this response was a clear statement of the Borders’ identity as a region in its own right, the importance of local partnership working in delivering education and the statutory responsibility of Scottish Borders Council to provide education and be accountable for the outcomes delivered for children and young people. This response also highlighted the importance of the partnership agenda in localities and communities and highlighted why services for children and young people must be part of local government governance, as the school existed within a wider concept of service delivery and could not be separated out from the range of service provision and partnerships available locally if the Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) principles were to be realised. This submission was very much in accordance with the submissions made by Headteachers through their local Associations and Trade Unions, who all declared nationally that improving the quality of education was not about new structures and the centralising of education. 

DECISION

NOTED the South East Improvement Collaborative proposal as detailed in Appendix 3, to the report, and Scottish Borders Council’s continued role in the South East Improvement Collaborative.