Four-and-a-half day school week plan to be dropped

A Scottish council looks set to drop plans to switch to a four-and-a-half day school week following consultation.

The local authority in Dumfries and Galloway was considering the move to "develop and enhance" education provision in the region.

However, the majority of parents who took part in their survey were against the plans.

A council report has recommended maintaining the current school week structure in the face of feedback.

The move was being considered as part of plans to modernise teaching provision across Dumfries and Galloway.

A lengthy consultation process was undertaken to gather the views of parents, teachers and pupils.

However, it faced calls to postpone the proposals - with the early finish on a Friday described as "yet another headache" for families by the union Unison.

Now the findings of the consultation will be taken to an education committee meeting on 8 November with a recommendation to drop plans to change the school week.

A summary of the feedback to go before councillors found there were considerable concerns about childcare and transport issues.

More than half of parents who took part in the survey were against the move.

School staff views were split with more in favour of the shift than against it but more than a quarter still unsure.

Pupil surveys also found more students backed the plans than opposed them but there were also significant numbers still undecided.

The council report said that officers had been aware for "some years" of support for the move.

It said it had been important to undertake a "comprehensive consultation" to find out the views of everyone involved.

"The level of engagement demonstrates that this is not an easy decision, and that people have strong views," it added.

However, it concluded that given the range of concerns raised it would be better to maintain the current structure of the week.

The move has been welcomed by the local branch of the teaching union the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS).

Association secretary Andrew O'Halloran said: "There were too many unanswered questions for the proposals to have been rolled out across the authority."

He said the council had been unable to provide the union with clarity on the impact of a number of aspects of the plans.

He added that the union looked forward to working on other ways to improve education in the region.