No way to compare performance of schools using new inspections
IN A letter published on 18 January, I warned that the changes to secondary education proposed by the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture would be welcomed only by lazy and incompetent teachers, would encourage the recruitment of teachers who were more interested in big salaries and long holidays than in inspiring children and encouraging learning, and would inevitably cause a fall in the educational standards in Guernsey.
Recently we were told by Deputy Matt Fallaize that ES&C intends to ditch the standard criteria by which inspectors have judged schools in the UK and also in Guernsey until now. Instead, Guernsey’s new comprehensive will be assessed on factors chosen ‘specifically for the local context in the Bailiwick environment’.
If anyone is confused by that description, it simply means that even the inspectors will have no way to compare the performance of the new school with those it replaced or with equivalent schools in the UK. Naturally, the points on which teachers will be assessed will be decided after consulting parents, employers and independent education experts. No? Silly me – they will be chosen by the teachers themselves, as will the length of the notice of inspection the school will need to give time for any incriminating evidence to be cleared away before the inspection starts.
I am sure that Deputy Fallaize will be as sorry as I am that we will have no clear, early indication of his claim that the changes would ‘give every child equal access to the best possible education’ was correct, or if my suggestion was right that they would leave Guernsey with a cut-price, economy-class education for the majority and a first class one only for the privileged minority at independent colleges that are in a position to offer that service today thanks largely to the generous States financial support (taxpayers’ money) they received in the past.
The only direct, reliable and objective way left to compare the performance of Guernsey Comprehensive with the three independent colleges and with schools elsewhere will be through GCSE and A-level results, so I wonder how long it will be before ES&C proposes replacing them for students at the comprehensive with a local ‘Bailiwick Baccalaureate’ that will be worthless outside the island.
BARRIE PAIGE
GY6 8BP.