Education happy to go its own way

Not quite four weeks into the New Year, it has already completed two public hearings and we hope there are plenty more to come. There's news and political value in these questions and answers.

Although yesterday’s session with Education, Sport & Culture was adversely affected with technical issues for the 30-or-so viewers logging in on YouTube.

Of course they started with the big ticket stuff on the sixth-form centre at Les Ozouets and viewers were able to pick out about three words in every 100, and the matter wasn’t resolved until that discussion had virtually ended, about a quarter of the way into proceedings.

These Scrutiny hearings are fascinating for the news that they trawl up – confirmation that the States was about to buy a boat, anyone? – but also for what they reveal about the approach of the committees.

Also, encouraged by the fact that the committee can bring volunteer ‘guests’ from the political ranks into the proceedings, the questioning says quite a lot about the political temperature of the moment, even if sometimes Scrutiny president Deputy Yvonne Burford must wish she had more chance to take the microphone a little more, rather than leave it to appointees joining for the day.

Yesterday Deputy Lindsay De Sausmarez was getting rather hot under the collar about the island’s Education Strategy, and we know she’s not alone in that in the Assembly.

It should have been debated by the States, say its critics, as the previous one was in 2015.

The published strategy is a few bullet points and an overview which would fit comfortably on a page of A4, with some supporting videos on the States website.

We learned that whether it was appropriate for the island’s Education Strategy to have been drawn up largely with teachers and education professionals, rather than politicians, is a question that won't be addressed. Education's not for turning.

On whether it’s appropriate or not to have that work debated, possibly amended or even not agreed by politicians, it appears not.

Across the breadth of its mandate, this Education Committee yesterday largely demonstrated that it may not be all that happy with the scrutiny – despite protestations that it is – but it certainly intends to continue to do things its way.