He was speaking in the wake of yesterday’s special meeting of Dundee council’s education committee to discuss the poor exam record of city schools relative to the rest of Scotland.

This ended in the defeat of his former SNP colleagues’ motion seeking an audit of all measures being taken to tackle deprivation and improve pupil attainment.

Mr Petrie plans to take part in a consultation meeting next week involving parents’ representatives and education department officials. He will be one of two parents attending from Mossgiel Primary.

He said the intention was to expand links between parents and schools, encouraging more “two-way traffic” about the best way to ensure children received the education they needed.

He will be taking the message that teaching methods and the curriculum have changed a lot since most parents were at school. Many found it difficult to support their children by helping with homework, etc.

Mr Petrie said he believed the SNP group had been using education as a political football. He added, “There is no point blaming people. We have got to work together to find the way forward.”