Reassurances from ESC have not been forthcoming - Education Union

Tuesday 23 March 2021

Education's engagement with staff has been neither "meaningful" nor "informed", according to a local teachers' union, as it states that the Education, Sport & Culture Committee has "delivered upon the pause but fallen short on the promised review" of secondary school reforms.

The National Education Union said local education staff "still await answers to repeated requests for details and reassurances" around ESC's latest proposals in a statement that expresses deep concerns about the dialogue between politicians and union reps.

Meanwhile, in a a shorter comment, NASUWT regional officer Gary Upton said that ESC's recent three schools announcement "seemed to address many of the concerns members' had with the original proposals" and that the union anticipated further engagement as the plans progress. 

Education's proposals to rescind all previous States resolutions relating to secondary and post-16 education will be debated in the States this week. However, the committee has already announced its intention to propose a three 11-16 school model with a single Sixth Form Centre located on the same site as The Guernsey Institute.

Committee President Andrea Dudley-Owen said the committee is still to flesh out the finer "technical and operational details", which may not be ready when her committee publishes its proposals on 10 May. 

Pictured: In announcing the committee's plans for a three 11-16 model earlier this month, Deputy Dudley-Owen admitted that announcement "will give rise to many questions about the details. Some of these questions will be answered in our policy letter in a couple of months, some will take time to work through once the States has provided its direction on the secondary and post-16 policy we want to adopt for Guernsey’s system of comprehensive education."

A spokesperson for the National Education Union said: “The NEU takes careful note of the statements that Deputy Dudley-Owen has made to the local media recently, but employees still await answers to repeated requests for details and reassurances around ESC's latest proposals."

"In particular, NEU reps have sought reassurances about class-size, curriculum breadth and the scope and quality of 21st Century facilities for Guernsey's post-11 students in the years ahead. Thus far, those reassurances have not been forthcoming from the President of ESC.”

“The NEU also notes that Deputy Dudley-Owen has pledged her commitment to -'face-to-face engagement with secondary staff before finalising plans for the policy letter'. 

"With that engagement still to take place in a week when ESC is going to the States in an attempt to control the terms of consideration of the debate around secondary education, NEU reps have concerns about the extent to which engagement with employees and debate in the States can be 'meaningful' or 'informed' in the absence of crucial details. Your readers will clearly recall that the last set of ESC proposals only floundered once the details became available to those working in our schools.”

Pictured: The National Education Union's local reps question how this week's States debate can be meaningful or informed in the absence of "crucial details" about what the Education, Sport & Culture Committee is proposing. 

The spokesperson called for ESC to do considerably more to engage with the profession. 

“Recognising that Deputy Dudley-Owen has so far delivered upon the “Pause” but fallen short on the promised  “Review”, the NEU now calls upon ESC to take a leaf out of the Civil Contingencies Authority playbook by sharing all the review data upon which key decisions are to be made," said the spokesperson.

"It is only by doing so that the committee is likely to command the confidence of those working in education, of politicians committed to good governance and of the wider Guernsey public.”