Unhelpful silence over dispute

By September, all five secondary schools were to be part of a new federation working together 'for the greater good of all students'.

There was to be a common timetable structure so all secondary school students would receive 25 hours of teaching a week and have access to a broader curriculum, with teachers working across the schools.

It was seen as the beginning of a transformation of secondary education.

But on Wednesday, we learnt that the largest teaching union had registered a dispute with the States saying that Education was trying to enforce changes to their contracts without negotiation.

The attempted imposition of new contracts and longer working hours has not been welcomed.

The department had warned that more clarity was needed in contracts back in January – indeed, it stated one of the main risks was the possibility of staff becoming unsettled during this period of change.

It is one thing to foresee a problem. It is another to then stop it happening.

Education's position on this is unclear as it has refused to comment on the dispute, which is unfortunate.

The industrial disputes service does not think it is in the public interest to confirm the dispute, despite it being widespread public knowledge.

Managing change has never been the States' strong point - just look at the recent debacle surrounding the introduction of its new payments system.

The department believes considerable progress has been made, but this is still early stages in the federation process.

Crucially, it is meant to lead to decentralisation away from the department, resulting in cost savings and more control being placed into the hands of schools, for example over the recruitment of staff.

Education clearly needs to manage this transformation carefully if it is to take with it the teachers its success so relies on.