Monday 08 February 2021
The Committee for Education, Sport & Culture will ask the States to rescind resolutions from previous debates on the future of secondary education.
Not wanting to start from square one, the Committee does however want to own the final stages of the review of secondary education without being impeded by previous States resolutions directing it to look at options that are simply not viable.
In March 2020, the States directed that three models of secondary education should be reviewed and compared to the baseline two-school model. The Committee believes it illogical to compare models to a baseline that is neither in operation or deliverable due to the strong opposition of the teaching profession and many islanders. The Committee has been clear that it wants comparisons to be against what is in operation today.
The Committee will therefore take the opportunity to ask the States to clear the decks, so to speak, and enable it to proceed with the final stages of the review, unfettered by the complex web of previous resolutions.
Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, said:
'If the States approves our request to rescind these old resolutions, we will continue with the review of Secondary education with a more focused scope - one that doesn't dedicate time to solutions that cannot be delivered. We have all the value of the work done so far, keeping the members of our independent oversight panel on board and we will not be going back to square one.
'Engaging directly with staff will be a key focus for the Committee during the final stages of the review. We have learned much from the significant feedback from staff, via the survey last summer and the series of workshops run in each school late last year, and we are currently planning our next phase of engagement with them.
'We will shortly be able to explain in more detail what our plans are for the final stages of the review, to update staff, States Members and the public on our work developing our own guiding principles and what options remain on the table as a result. For now though our focus is on seeking States approval to rescind previous resolutions that serve only to impede our work in this important area of our mandate.'
Deputy Dudley-Owen has emailed all education staff to explain the Committee's intentions, in which she thanked staff for their stunning display of resilience over recent weeks and expressed the Committee's pride in the work that education staff do. Deputy Dudley-Owen confirmed that:
- Under no circumstances is the concept of selection back on the table;
- The Guernsey Institute is here to stay as upskilling, re-skilling and continual development of young adults and adults has never been more important;
- Work to progress a new Education law has been de-prioritised for now, as the Committee listened to feedback that there was too much change happening at the same time. The Committee intends to take some time to get up to speed on this important workstream, fully own its direction, with a view of taking it to the States within the next 18 months;
- The Committee must, like all States Committees, work under tighter financial constraints because of the impact of the pandemic on public finances. This will be factored into its plans for Secondary education.
