Plan for Scots pupils to have 'minimum learning hours' at school slammed by council bosses

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Council chiefs have hit out at Scottish Government plans to impose a minimum number of “learning hours” for school pupils.Umbrella group COSLA say they have “serious concerns” about proposals they fear could lead to education cuts.The Scottish Government clashed with councils earlier this year over local authority plans to cut school learning times to plug a funding black hole.Ministers responded with plans to set the number of learning hours at 950 hours for primary schools and 1045 for secondaries per school year.The Government consultation says primaries generally provide around 25 learning hours a week and 27.5 for secondaries.A leaked COSLA paper has rejected the response: “We have serious concerns about the approach taken by the Scottish Government.”Council chiefs claimed the Government had initially wanted to ‘freeze’ the length of the school week as it stands, but is now proposing a standardised system across the country.They claim that “roughly” a third of councils do not deliver 27.5 hours a week in secondaries.The COSLA paper stated: “The introduction of regulations to prescribe minimum learning hours would represent a further infringement on the autonomy and democratic mandate of local authorities.“It is not clear that the creation of a national, standardised school week would be able to be implemented across Scotland.”COSLA also claimed the “ambiguous” plan would reduce the flexibility of councils and result in extra costs.The paper added: “It may see disproportionate cuts fall upon the other vital services in order to maintain the new duties. “This may have the net effect of adding pressure to the teaching and school workforce, as these vital support services are reduced to service this Scottish Government