ESC plan will see teaching standards fall
DEPUTY Matt Fallaize and the other members of the Education, Sport & Culture committee have a high regard for the management, ethos and role of Guernsey’s three independent colleges and seem to be satisfied with the per capita funding agreement the committee has negotiated with the schools for scholarship pupils (GP 14 January).
This is no surprise, since most States members have close links with the colleges and the funding agreement is very like those already in place for children at playschools and students attending universities. Parents and/or pupils choose where the education will take place and the ESC committee pay those establishments based on the number who have chosen each.
What is surprising is that the committee has rejected this successful formula for the other secondary schools and has chosen instead to copy the largely discredited and deeply unpopular UK comprehensive school system.
This decision will have brought joy to the hearts of every lazy and incompetent teacher and will increase recruitment of teachers whose ambition is limited to earning a generous salary in a pleasant environment doing a job free of stress because they will not be accountable to anyone with a personal interest in the quality of their work.
Those who are concerned about the quality of the teaching (pupils, parents and future employers plus anyone who cares about the future success of the island economy) will not be allowed to interfere with this cozy arrangement.
BARRIE PAIGE