A GROUNDBREAKING scheme to improve education by giving headteachers more power is being undermined by too much direction from ministers, according to a think tank.

Reform Scotland praised the introduction of the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF), but raised concerns over the “highly-prescriptive” guidance which accompanies the direct funding plan for headteachers.

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

However, Reform Scotland’s Commission on School Reform said accompanying guidance appeared “inconsistent” with empowerment.

The paper states: “The intention behind the publication of the guidance document is certainly laudable in the sense that it aims to assist schools, many of whom especially in the primary sector, have never had such large sums at their disposal.

“However... the document is full of specific directions to schools about what they may and may not do... in this sense its tone is closer to what one might have expected from a set of operational requirements.

“Indeed the document, by repeatedly insisting they comply with established local authority processes and accounting procedures in disposing of their additional funds, rather suggests to schools that compliance with such strictures is at least as important, or more important, than being innovative and creative.”

Commission member and former headteacher Frank Lennon said the PEF was the first major test of the government’s presumption that decisions should be taken at a school level.

He added: “The guidance 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 effects of poverty on attainment.”

However, a Scottish Government spokeswoman said the whole premise of the Reform Scotland report was wrong.

She said: “The scheme provides additional support to thousands of schools across Scotland to be spent at the discretion of teachers and school leaders.

“The operational guidance was discussed and agreed with headteacher representatives and key local authority representatives.

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

A spokesman for council umbrella body Cosla said: “The use of public money requires guidance to ensure it is used in line with the expectations of the policy.

“This guidance recognises the concerns of headteachers about being directly accountable for spending decisions.

“It notes that education and headteachers do not operate in isolation of other parts of civic society and that they should be cognisant of the legal implications of money which is directed via local authorities.”

Details of the fund announced in December with the Scottish Government announcing cash would be allocated directly to individual schools for the first time.

Headteachers will decide how to spend the money, which will amount to around £1,200 for each pupil from P1-S3 known to be eligible for free school meals – a key indicator of poverty.