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After nearly a decade of uncertainty Guernsey’s education system is on the cusp of stabilising, according to the island’s Director of Education.
Nick Hynes spoke to Express following the recent publication of GCSE, Level 3 and A Level results, which saw students praised for their resilience after years of covid disruption.
Grades were recalibrated to fall back in line with pre-pandemic levels, seeing pass rates drop slightly but many remaining higher than those in the UK.
"Our level four pass rates in English were well above England [for example]... and that's really pleasing considering the additional work our schools have already been working on with regards to improving English and literacy across secondary and primary schools,” said Mr Hynes.
Pictured: Guernsey’s Director of Education, Nick Hynes.
While the last students to have sat the 11+ are now out the system, the shadow of the decision to scrap it still hangs over the next academic year.
Due to increased pressure on the public purse Policy & Resources has proposed that the island focus on completing the Education Programme instead of the Hospital Modernisation Programme. It means that the complicated and multi-faceted Education Programme has every possibility of being side-lined once again.
At the moment the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture is pushing forward with updating the Education Law and developing a three-school model with a sixth form campus at Les Ozouets.
Without funding, some of this work might stop and the uncertainty that has plagued Guernsey’s education system could return.
Despite this, My Hynes said: “I always go into any new year with optimism. We always have to work as hard as we can to ensure that those learners that we have achieve the best they can and if we're not then we're in the wrong business really.
"If we're charged with delivering something completely different then that's what we'll do. And that's what we'll always do.
“You have to be optimistic in thinking that Guernsey has the ability to deliver an excellent education system. We have excellent schools on this island and you only have to look at more recent Ofsted inspections, particularly across our primary schools, to see that when measured against other schools, other jurisdictions, they stand up.”
Continued instability has impacted teacher retention, according to Mr Hynes. While the island’s schools are well placed to begin the new year, he lamented that some teachers have left the system.
“We don't have many vacancies. If we don't have a permanent teacher in place, there is an agency teacher who very often is a long standing agency teacher [ready].
“So optimistically, our recruitment programme for September has been really positive and certainly better than some other jurisdictions that I speak to regularly.
“That said, it wouldn't be honest of me to say that we didn't lose a number of teachers in our secondary phase that we didn't want to lose. We've lost some secondary teachers either to different areas of the work environment or to the grant aided colleges - we would prefer not to have lost them, and I think some of those exits have been as a direct result of them seeking certainty.
"Because so many of them have been waiting for the next step... wanting that stability for their family, wanting that certainty for themselves within the workplace.”
The States Assembly will debate the Capital Projects portfolio next month and if the Education Programme continues to be prioritised it could see the island’s education system finally settle.
"My frustration sometimes is that Guernsey has every opportunity to be better than our neighbouring jurisdictions,” said Mr Hynes.
“It has every opportunity to be better than England and should be better than England and could be better than England. But in order to make that next step, in order to make sure that teachers are certain about what the future looks like, we need to move forward.”
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