THE future of the 11-plus system should have been debated when proposals for building new schools were put forward. Chamber of Commerce president Mark Trenchard said the previous time the system was discussed was a long time before work began at Les Nicolles.
‘I think there is a big question mark over the 11-plus because of the way we are going with the new schools,’ he said. ‘It’s possibly too late because it would have been sensible to look at it at the time that the new schools were being discussed. It seems to be that we may have missed an opportunity to re-discuss it.’
David Frost, the director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, labelled English schools ‘a national disgrace’ and called for the reintroduction of grammar schools.
Mr Trenchard added: ‘We currently have the Grammar School, which isn’t really a grammar school, and the Elizabeth and Ladies’ Colleges. We have to ask ourselves what we want from our education system, which at the moment is not clear at all.
‘It’s not necessarily that one answer is right or wrong. It might be that we have a different system from the UK, but we need to be clear on what we want. A lot is happening within our education system at the moment.’
He added that he still believed the future looked bright for Guernsey’s education system.
‘I still think we are in a fortunate position. I think that while the facilities are not as good as they could be, the new school and development programme should address that and not a moment too soon either.’
Article posted on 8th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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