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Education, Sport and Culture still fully intends to push forward with its plan for secondary education, despite losing political support for the funding of the Transforming Education Programme.
During a debate on Policy and Resources’ Funding and Investment Plan the States’ Assembly voted against P&R’s preferred option, which would’ve funded the next stage of the Programme as a priority.
The situation now leaves ESC in somewhat of a holding pattern, without the money it needs to move the sixth form centre to Les Ozouets and develop the co-located campus with the Guernsey Institute.
Despite this, the multi-layered plans for the Transforming Education Programme still exist and will need to be facilitated at some point.
“We obviously have to sit very quietly, with everything in front of us, knowing what the impact is, and decide what the options are,” said the President of ESC, Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen.
Pictured: President of ESC, Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen.
Express spoke to Deputy Dudley-Owen and the Director of Education in Guernsey, Nick Hynes, several times in the run up to the F&IP debate. Concerns were consistently raised with how any delay would impact staff, and Deputy Dudley-Owen said the Committee is now planning how it supports teachers, staff and parents going forward.
"I believe there’ll be a significant amount of disappointment, frustration, and feeling let down, and we stand with staff and the school communities on that matter, and we will be working closely with the school communities going forward,” she said.
“My bitter disappointment is that we as an adult group, who’ve been asked to run the island, could not see, because of personal prejudices and personal misunderstandings... a way to get behind the kids and invest in them, and I think that’s really sad.
“Despite a very strong and influential dogmatic opposition, the majority of the States have affirmed the vision that we have for delivering education in Guernsey - the States, by majority, have affirmed that this is the vision they want to be realised, and we will continue to deliver that model of education to be as excellent as it can be.”
On the debate itself, Deputy Dudley-Owen said she was disappointed with the result and how it played out in the chamber, citing the many amendments as a cause of confusion for some deputies.
“The amendments changed the propositions significantly... it introduced significant confusion into the debate, and that stayed throughout.”
It’s understood that Treasury will now be producing an impact assessment for deputies, highlighting the financial ramifications of the decisions made last week.
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