Teaching union: we have the pause, where’s the review?

Earlier this month Education, Sport & Culture revealed its preferred model for three 11-16 schools and a sixth form centre at Les Ozouets next to the Guernsey Institute.

A spokesman for the National Education Union said its members were keen to hear more about the plans.

‘The NEU takes careful note of the statements that Deputy Dudley-Owen has made to the local media, but employees still await answers to repeated requests for details and reassurances around ESC’s latest proposals.

‘In particular, NEU reps have sought reassurances about class size, curriculum breadth and the scope and quality of 21st century facilities for Guernsey’s post-11 students in the years ahead.

‘Thus far, those reassurances have not been forthcoming from the president of ESC.

‘Recognising that Deputy Dudley-Owen has so far delivered upon the “pause” but fallen short on the promised “review”, the NEU now calls upon ESC to take a leaf out of the Civil Contingencies Authority playbook by sharing all the review data upon which key decisions are to be made.

‘It is only by doing so that the committee is likely to command the confidence of those working in education, of politicians committed to good governance and of the wider Guernsey public.’

The education debate will reach a crunch point later this week when ESC asks for permission to be released from old resolutions linked to secondary education which were approved by the previous Assembly.

For instance, it is proposing to rescind the direction that a comprehensive comparison of schooling models should be carried out with the two-school model as the benchmark.

In such a pivotal week, the teaching union has questioned how meaningful the future consultation will be.

‘The NEU also notes that Deputy Dudley-Owen has pledged her commitment to “face-to-face engagement with secondary staff before finalising plans for the policy letter”.

‘With that engagement still to take place in a week when ESC is going to the States in an attempt to control the terms of consideration of the debate around secondary education, NEU reps have concerns about the extent to which engagement with employees and debate in the States can be “meaningful” or “informed” in the absence of crucial details.

‘Your readers will clearly recall that the last set of ESC proposals only foundered once the details became available to those working in our schools.’