Education ‘deeply disappointed’ three-school report was leaked
THE Committee for Education, Sport and Culture says it is ‘deeply disappointed’ that an interim report on the future of secondary schooling has been leaked.
The report, which has been seen by deputies, showed that the three-school model preferred by many of them was more expensive than other models.
The capital costs of creating the favoured three 11-16 schools with a separate sixth-form college on a different site were significantly higher.
It was leaked to the Guernsey Press after the committee refused to publish it.
ESC president Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen focused on the leak rather than the report’s contents.
‘We need to look impartially and professionally at what is right for secondary education. Leaking incomplete reports written very late in the last term is not an example of any sort of professionalism, does a great disservice to the staff and is disrespectful to the views of the electorate.
‘I hope it is the last example we see of a political culture which plagued Guernsey in the last term. This behaviour must now be behind us and has no place in any policy-making, especially education.’
The new ESC committee has already put its stamp on the investigations in the ‘pause and review’ of the two-school model by bringing in the current four-school system of schooling to act as a benchmark.
Deputy Dudley-Owen said that they inherited the review document, and it required a broader and more objective approach. ‘It must be understood that this review was politically designed by the former committee and its terms narrowed to such an extent as to limit the outcomes, as it compares models against the two-school model, which has already been rejected by the profession and the community.
‘These terms were agreed by a majority of the previous States, many of whom were strongly in support of the two-school model and not returned at the General Election.’
She feared the interim report would become the focus of debate rather than staff feedback. Contributions from staff workshops had not been factored into the interim report so it was unfair to release it. ‘It undermines the good work that has been done to build a platform for meaningful stakeholder engagement.
‘Importantly, the leaked and incomplete work doesn’t include anything from the extensive programme of workshops carried out with secondary staff.’
