‘Two big schools will push education back 20 years’

Former Education member Andrea Dudley-Owen is researching an amendment to the current committee’s proposals and is asking ESC to come up with a side-by-side comparison of different models.

‘States members need to have in front of them a fair side-by-side objective comparison between familiar models,’ she said.

‘The community has to know that we have looked at this in the round, not just in isolation, which is what historically we’ve done.’

Deputy Dudley-Owen is in favour of having three 11-16 comprehensive schools with a separate, dedicated 16-18 sixth form college.

She believes a single-site sixth form college would offer a broader range of subjects, be more attractive to teachers, and would allow the curriculum to reflect Guernsey’s cultural and economic requirements.

‘The best model is the model that suits our community, the best model is not the model that is picked up from a template and squeezed onto Guernsey, the best model evolves from what we already have.

‘That can’t be lifted up from somewhere else. Yes, you can take best practice, yes you can pick up tips and take on ideas, but you cannot lift a template of an education system and adopt it – it will not work.’

‘This once-in-a-generation chance to get it right will actually affect more than a generation if we get it wrong because we won’t have the skills, we won’t have the aptitude, we won’t have the confidence of young people being able to take the legacy of Guernsey on.’

Education, Sport & Culture remains convinced that the two-school model is the best system and will herald a new era of academic achievement and social inclusivity.

Committee president Deputy Matt Fallaize is confident their plans will stand any political test.

‘If amendments come forward to the policy letter proposing other models we will be able to show that they are educationally inferior, no less expensive and more disruptive than our model, which the States backed by a two-to-one majority last year.’

In 2023, it is estimated that 2,931 pupils will be in 11-18 education in the island, and under the two-school model this would mean 1,450 pupils in each.

According to Deputy Dudley-Owen, this is too big and dystopian.

‘Children will get lost, children who want to hide will hide in a bigger setting, there’s no doubt about it, and children who want to hide need the most support,’ she said.

‘I know teachers who know the names of every single student in their school – it’s amazing to remember those hundreds of names, but a thousand names?

‘Is the head teacher going to be able to remember all the names? I very much doubt it.’

Education has insisted that the pastoral care and social wellbeing of pupils has been well thought out with small tutor groups, but Deputy Dudley-Owen is concerned this will put even more pressure on over-stretched teachers.

In January 2018, the States voted by 26-13 that detailed plans for a two-school model of education should be drawn up, although Deputy Dudley-Owen believes it is not a foregone conclusion that the latest plans will be approved.

‘There is a perception, that they have created, that it is a fait accompli, but that isn’t the case, it is far from that.’

When Deputy Dudley-Owen asked written questions and later verbal questions in the States earlier this year about a controversial appointment at Education she became the catalyst for a situation that has led to a possible Scrutiny inquiry into the committee’s actions.

However she stressed that the two issues – the appointment row and the schools transformation plan – should not be conflated.