A GROUP of global education experts asked to scrutinise Scotland’s school system were put up in one of the country’s most exclusive hotels at taxpayers’ expense amidst accusations of an overly warm relationship with ministers.

The Scottish Government’s newly-convened International Council of Education Advisers (ICEA) was established to provide a critical eye on school policy.

Although the ten experts are giving their time for free, a freedom of information request has revealed total expenses for their first meeting in August were more than £36,000.

The disclosures show that for the two-day meeting, nine members of ICEA were put up at the £250-a-night Sheraton Hotel in Edinburgh for between three and five nights, leading to an accommodation bill of £8,428.

A civil servant was also stationed at the hotel for three nights to “meet and brief members” and “be available to them on request”.

Travel expenses were over £26,000 with seven of the members coming from overseas including Professor Andy Hargreaves, from the School of Education at Boston College, whose flights cost some £6,500.

The details were revealed in an article for the Sceptical Scot website jointly written by Lucy Hunter-Blackburn, an academic and former civil servant, and James McEnaney, a freelance journalist and college lecturer.

The article goes on to suggest that hanging “rather too heavily” over the body is “the atmosphere of a mutual admiration society”.

Four of the members are holders of the Robert Owen Award for “inspirational educators” devised in 2013 by the Scottish Government and gifted by ministers.

After receiving the award from Deputy First Minister John Swinney in 2016 Mr Hargreaves told him on Twitter: “Thank you for your inspiring leadership.”

A few months earlier at a lecture at London’s Royal Society of Arts he referred to Nicola Sturgeon as “the awesome First Minister of Scotland”.

Having a selfie taken with Mr Swinney and Ms Sturgeon at ICEA’s first meeting Dr Carol Campbell, education adviser to the Ontario government, tweeted that she was “thrilled” to meet the pair.

The article on Sceptical Scot states: “For these members of the panel, at least, enthusiasm for improving Scottish education spills over into evident and unselfconscious personal admiration for individual Scottish ministers.”

The article says there are “multiple” other connections between members of the group with three past or present advisers to the government of Ontario and “numerous” jointly authored papers and some co-managed projects.

The article concludes: “This is not so much a range of external scrutineers bringing a challenging variety of perspectives, but more a high-powered consultancy team with strong shared values.”

However, a Scottish Government spokesman defended the scrutinising role of ICEA.

He said: “Members are experts in their field and are giving their time to improve Scottish education for no payment, with only their expenses covered.

“We take value for money very seriously when making transport and travel arrangements and we have published the costs associated with the ICEA.

“The council comprises some of the most highly respected experts in education practice in the world."

The expenses information also appears on the Ferret website, which promotes investigative journalism.

BACKGROUND

ICEA was established in 2016 to advise the Scottish Government on achieving “excellence and equity” in the school system.

Ministers said they wanted the membership of ICEA to

represent world-leading education and business experts with extensive experience of

advising governments on leadership, school improvement and reform.

ICEA has two formal meetings a year - with one scheduled for next week - but is expected to take forward work between meetings.

Its role is to advise on the Scottish Government’s priorities for education and ensure its policies are influenced by international best practice.

The Scottish Government has also set up a teacher panel with members nominated by Education Scotland and the Scottish College for Education Leadership and drawn from 14 local authority areas.

The panel members, who are giving their time for free, include Dr Carol Campbell, an education adviser to Ontario and Dr Avis Glaze, a former Ontario Education Commissioner.

Another prominent member is Professor Andy Hargreaves, from the School of Education at Boston College and a member of the OECD team that recently reviewed Scotland’s curriculum.

Other experts include Professor Alma Harris, director of educational leadership at the University of Malaya, Dr Pak Tee Ng, an associate dean at Singapore’s National Institute of Education and Dr Pasi Sahlberg, a former director general of Finland’s Ministry for Education.

From Scotland, members include Glasgow University’s Professor Chris Chapman, an adviser to the Scottish Government’s Attainment Challenge, and Professor Graham Donaldson, a former chief inspector of schools here.

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive of Virgin Money, has been chosen to provide the group with a perspective from business.