Why not a ‘New College Guernsey for all’ option?

It is difficult to know where to start with a response to this article because there are so many statements that are begging to be shot down in flames. To make things a little easier for the reader to understand let me give you an insight into what a tertiary college, designed to meet the needs of the island, might look like.

First, take a typical College of Further Education that delivers a wide range of full and part-time courses including: full time L3 BTecs (often used as a route to university), full time L2 and L1 BTecs (often used as a route to progress on to a L3 or into local industry as an apprentice), part-time day release apprenticeship programmes, year 10 and year 11 School Links, half-day release programmes Btec L1 and L2 programmes, GCSEs in English and mathematics, HE courses, full and foundation degrees and adult evening classes.

Now take a typical sixth form that would be delivering A-levels and the IB. Then, cost effectively with particular consideration to the Guernsey taxpayer, put the two institutions together. Voilà, you now have a tertiary college.

But some people don’t like the term ‘tertiary’ college or ‘FE’ college or even ‘sixth form’ college. So let’s simply call it New College Guernsey to be known as a post-16 college.

Ok, now let’s start with the letter’s statement: ‘In a tertiary college environment, with the more arm’s-length role of a lecturer, the student is left more to his/her own devices, and so the structure is not ideal for A-level students.’

All of the full-time students that currently attend the CoFE receive a lot of pastoral care and, where necessary, they have a personal learning coach. This would be exactly the same at New College Guernsey.

We are not talking about schoolchildren here, we are talking about young adults, 16-19 years. They need a transitional learning environment that prepares them for university and/or the world of work. The last thing they need is an extension of the school environment.

New College Guernsey would provide that transitional learning environment for all of our young adult learners. Their ‘left more to his/her own devices’ statement strikes me as someone who is obsessed with ‘controlling the school child’. New College Guernsey would have a far more young-adult, learner-centred approach, enabling them to progressively take more control over their own learning.

Next, the statement: ‘potential security issues posed by the diverse range of students to be accommodated on the same site as opposed to the younger students being educated together in an environment restricted to school ages’.

Please stop scaremongering, this is a red herring statement and it won’t work. At the CoFE, we have been successfully delivering to a wide range of students across all levels and all ages since the 1980s. For example, 14- to 16-year-olds from local schools attending Links classes since the 1980s, 16- to 19-year-olds in full-time classes L1, L2 and L3 (mixed with 16- to 25 year-olds), adult evening classes (18 and beyond) and day-release apprentices (typically 16-26, but some have been over the age of 30). This inclusive approach to learning benefits all learners regardless of their age.

They write: ‘Faculty of Advanced Academic Study, usually leading to A-levels or the International Baccalaureate’ and ‘Faculty of Technology, Construction and Engineering’.

Well done. With these titles you have really underscored your obsession with dividing learners again. If it isn’t by academic selection at 11 years old then let it be academic vocational selection at 16. I simply do not see your logic in creating this artificial academic/vocational divide. And, with all due respect, I really don’t think that you can see how some people might see your approach as being quite pompous and arrogant.

The letter’s statement: ‘the two most important factors are the student and the teacher and not the buildings’.

I totally agree. Yes, we have finally found some common ground where we can agree.

Now take the following scenario. A group of Guernsey sixth formers who are currently studying for their A-levels are now suddenly placed in a purpose-built New College Guernsey; the same learners, the same sixth-form tutors, the same A-levels etc. Now explain to me why you think that they would suddenly start ‘under-performing’?

It is my belief that the new building with new facilities could only enhance their performance and better prepare them for work or university.

If the States deputies are now so willing to spend an additional £93,000 of taxpayers to simply investigate the two sixth-form school option (actually three post-16 centres of learning if we include the college of FE), then why not also investigate the one ‘New College Guernsey for all’ option?

It really is time to say goodbye to Mr Chips* and his old-fashioned methods and views on education. He served us well in his day but now we need a new post-16 modern college for Guernsey. So please come and join us in building a new post-16 system that is inclusive and equitable quality with lifelong learning opportunities for all in Guernsey.

JOHN SEMENOWICZ,

St Sampson’s.

*Goodbye, Mr Chips is a 1939 British drama film about a beloved aged school teacher.