It's better here, heads learn at their conference

TEACHERS in Guernsey face less external pressure than those in the UK. Local representatives of the National Association of Head Teachers are painting a positive picture of the local situation, pointing out the advantages of not having governors, league tables or Ofsted inspections.

They stressed that the profession should always concentrate on what was best for the children.

'One of the biggest things is having governors in schools in the UK. They have to make lots of decisions and often can't unless teachers and heads give them a lot of information, so there's a lot of workload issues there,' said local NAHT president and Capelles Junior School head teacher Dave Boalch, who was once in charge of a school in Peckham.

He added that governors also had legal powers that had an impact on the school.

'It means head teachers can't concentrate on the job of strategically developing the school, which we can alongside our senior members of staff,' said Castel Primary head teacher and local NAHT secretary Trevor Grayland.

Mr Boalch said that the Ofsted impact was a major issue.

'I think for some schools it can be incredibly threatening. It's now done on a light-touch basis whereby you don't have a big team coming in for a week, but the officer in charge will come in with two or three others having read your background information,' said Mr Boalch.

'On Monday or Tuesday you could be a successful, happy school.

'They come in on Wednesday and, because your figures don't match up compared with others around the UK, you're suddenly a failing school.'

Mr Grayland said that schools tended to get very short notice of visits.

'They look for things that are not going very well. Our 'validation' system does the opposite. It looks for positives and suggests ways to develop.'

Most schools in Guernsey support the island's system over the UK inspectorate approach.

'On the back of Ofsted inspections, there are letters that go out to pupils about their school, some very clearly pointing the finger at individual teachers,' said Mr Boalch.

'For example, one teacher was cited in a report to pupils. She was satisfactory in the report, all the other teachers were more than satisfactory, so she was the one that's failing and ended up having a breakdown.'

He added that published league tables were another unwarranted pressure.

Mr Grayland said that abolishing Key Stage 1 and 2 tests in Guernsey had been a positive move. 'Teachers now do assessments throughout the year that measure a wide range of activities and are much more reliable.

'They are used for formulative assessments so you can move the children on, rather than being judgemental, so there's less stress on the teachers.'

The heads agreed that Guernsey was also lucky to escape the pressures of government targets, different financial pressures and inclusive education.

Guernsey has a better teacher-pupil ratio and more time allocated for planning.