Publication of an expert report containing concerns about the Scottish Government's education reforms was held up for months and only released after the plans were announced.
The paper with the initial findings from the International Council of Education Advisers (ICEA) was finished in April but was not made public until July, after Education Secretary John Swinney confirmed plans for the controversial changes.
The report praised but also warned against becoming "too focused on changing the structure of the education system", suggesting "culture and capacity" are of greater importance.
Documents released under Freedom of Information laws show the ICEA contacted civil servants seeking permission from Mr Swinney to publish the initial findings on April 11 but the report was not made public until July 25.
The Scottish Government said the hold-up was due to the purdah period surrounding the local government and general elections, and the findings were published as soon as was "appropriate and practicable", but Labour have accused the SNP of creating a "cloud of secrecy".
Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: "These are deeply troubling revelations.
"It is unacceptable that this report was kept hidden from the public and parliament until after John Swinney had forced through the reforms that his own advisers explicitly criticise.
"Scotland's teachers, pupils and parents deserve better than an SNP government forcing through Thatcherite education reforms amid a cloud of secrecy."
Mr Swinney unveiled the reforms which include increasing head teachers' power over staff and funding on June 15, a week after the general election but more than a month before the report was published.
The purdah period ahead of the local government elections came into force on April 13 and Holyrood was in recess at the time.
Information restrictions remained in place ahead of the general election and the document was published during the MSPs' summer holidays, after the ICEA chased it up on July 12, asking if Mr Swinney had made a decision and adding they were "keen to get the report published online as soon as possible".
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The initial report of the International Council of Education Advisers was published at the earliest appropriate and practicable opportunity following the local and general election periods."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel