"Change can be considered"

Wednesday 29 January 2020

Changes can be considered for most of the areas unions have raised concerns over, ESC has said in response to the growing levels of opposition teachers have shown to the plans for transforming secondary education.

This was the key message in a document Education has released, as it continues to amp up its efforts to better communicate its plans.

The document was accompanying a letter which has been sent to staff from all of Guernsey's States run secondary schools who recently raised concerns over the two college model. ESC broke concerns down into three categories: one, an area where change can happen, two, an area where change is possible, but more clarification would be needed, and three, the problem is fixed as of right now.

Only three of those concerns were marked in red - areas which cannot change: the footprint of the buildings, the uniforms and split schools, and corridor spacing. The other 40+ areas could see change considered after clarification or further discussion with staff, and even the three red areas have details explanations. 

To read the document, which took place with union representatives as a result of surveys of their members in the autumn term, click here.

ESC's letter - which can be read here - updates teachers and other school staff on what changes have been made in recent weeks to address their concerns, while also outlining what changes could be made going forwards.

Pictured: ESC has said there is room for change on many of their details - and they want to talk to staff before any changes happen. 

It also said further discussions were planned between all involved parties. 

Education member Deputy Peter Roffey said: "We received a lot of feedback from staff at drop-in sessions held in each secondary school towards the end of 2019. Feedback was also received from workshops held between the Committee’s advisors and staff groups in schools. We wanted to go back to colleagues in schools to keep them up to date with how we are responding to their feedback. We have identified changes made following their feedback, changes still being explored, and changes which are not possible within the policy and financial boundaries set by the States or which cannot reasonably be justified. This work is an ongoing process of refining how space is used and will be subject to further discussion between the Committee, officials and school staff in the weeks ahead.