‘Education are dragging their feet’
THE LEADER of the successful bid to halt the two-school model believes that the politicians in charge of education are now ‘dragging their feet’ on the comprehensive review which they have been instructed to carry out.
Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen was responding to the announcement from Education, Sport & Culture that it is planning a policy letter to seek ‘clarity’ on the narrowly-passed requete.
Deputy Dudley-Owen said she was baffled and confused by the latest move from ESC.
‘The committee had plenty of opportunity to bring amendments to the requete during the debate, that was the time to bring that forward, and in fact Policy & Resources offered an amendment which sounded very similar to what ESC is now proposing, but ESC was resolutely opposed to it.
‘I’m afraid I query their modus operandi because the instruction was very clear, the scope of the requete was very clear, the tone of the States was very clear, and the mandate was not too broad.
‘I want to see evidence that they are pausing and reviewing because I have seen one email that suggests they are not doing that.’
The policy letter from ESC is anticipated to include a list of up to five different education models to be part of the review, thereby limiting the remit of the ‘pause and review’ requete.
It will also attempt to safeguard the construction of the Guernsey Institute because that has strong political, community and professional support.
Deputy Dudley-Owen said her requete had never intended to stop the work on the Institute and she believed the committee was not listening and the episode threatened to bring the entire States into disrepute.
‘It does beg the question whether political outcomes are more important to some than educational outcomes.
‘They are dragging their feet.
‘A letter should have been ready and should have gone out to all parents and staff to let them know the review was happening.
‘It is terrible that a week after the debate parents have still not been informed.
‘The committee has a strong communications arm and that should have swung into action straight away.’
One element of the policy letter from ESC will be a ‘back us or sack us’ motion, and committee members have said they are best placed to do the review.
After words of clemency and peace last week, Deputy Dudley-Owen appeared to be losing confidence and patience in the Education committee.
‘The committee gave a strong message before the debate that they would resign if the requete was successful, and on the basis of the strength of their speeches in the Assembly against a review I think they have effectively excluded themselves from being able to independently lead a review.
‘The behaviour of one committee member was very disappointing.
‘I was very shocked at the bullying and intimidation tactics used and I’m afraid that sort of behaviour speaks volumes about a person’s ability to produce a proper comprehensive report.’
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