Make heads of schools accountable
Thursday 17th November 2011, 2:40PM GMT.
ONE of the striking consequences of the debate about GCSE exam results has been the number of people in ordinary conversation who have been quick to say the secondary schools would have performed better were it not for the distortion caused by the colleges and the Grammar School.
Since the system is wrong, what else can you expect? Yet that approach rather misses the point – and gives the secondaries every excuse for not trying harder.
What consultants Frontier Economics and employers via the work carried out in preparing the island’s skills strategy have highlighted is that the secondary schools are doing less well now than they have in the past.
Whatever benchmark is deemed appropriate – and there are others beyond GCSEs – parents would wish to see results consistently improving. In that case, what the non-secondary schools do is to a degree irrelevant. It is the success of the teaching-learning process in each individual school that matters.
Where critics of the system may have a point, however, is on the allocation of resources. Above average children do well by any standards, go on to university and may or may not come back here.
If that results in a net ‘brain drain’ then the island is more reliant on guest labour and – the undebated issue – those young adults who have not left the island.
Statistically, then, the greatest number of individuals who do less well at school stay here, raise families and pay their bills and find jobs in areas that do not require high fliers. For a community that makes its living largely in the financial services sector and wholly in a knowledge-based economy, that looks like a serious disconnect.
Certainly the skills strategy has spotted it and employers have, too.
Taking brighter pupils from other schools and putting them in the secondaries isn’t the answer, because they will do well in any event.
The nub is improving performance at secondary level, which means giving the heads the responsibility, the authority and the funding required so they can recruit the teachers they need and then be accountable for the results achieved.
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What a nub!
In Tony Blair’s autobiography, he recounts how Chamberlain is reviled as a weak prime minister due to his appeasement policy towards Hitler. Chamberlain’s error, he argues, was not his policy but a failure to ask the right question. Blair’s analysis is that following Chamberlain’s meeting with Hitler at Berchtesgaden (in which Hitler raved like a madman), Chamberlain would have come away with the idea that the German leader would probably be voted out by his electorate.
The nub was not would Hitler be contained by the German public but was, in fact, should you face down fascism?
If Chamberlain had asked the right question, perhaps he would chosen non-appeasment because he may have concluded that fascism is such a powerful ideology that it has to be dealt with at the earliest opportunity.
In the same way, the Comment is also guilty of asking the wrong question. The question is not whether Heads should be accountable (of course) or whether it is right that a portion of promising 10 /11 year olds should be identified and hot-housed (of course not).
The nub is – do you believe in equality of opportunity or do you believe in systemising inequality at an early age?
If you believe in the latter, then, amongst other unpleasant consequences, you accept the following:-
• the majority of Guernsey students will be at a disadvantage in applying for well paid finance jobs. A review of many banks will show that they are, in large part, “7th forms” for Grammar and College students. Why, because the relative performance of these students will be slightly better than high school students as they are allowed to study more GCSEs and have a more academically rigorous education. This means that their CV’s won’t immediately be dumped by employers.
• that all parents realise the above, but median average earnings in Guernsey means that most children will get a below average education as the majority of parents will not be able to afford a College education for their child.
To solve this issue, Guernsey needs to remove the unreliable 11plus and get four top performing heads for the state secondary schools. Then, every child will get an equally funded and fair chance at a decent secondary education (at schools with their fair share of promising students and sharp- elbowed parents).
The colleges will still survive because there are enough wealthy people in Guernsey who are so punctiliously discriminatory in their lifestyle spending choices that they will accept increased UK rates for a Guernsey private education. Hence, there will be reduced need for States revenue and capital expenditure funding.
Finally, this all means that the majority of parents, instead of crucifying themselves in having to pay school private fees (or feeling guilty if they don’t) can, instead, elect:-
• to pay off their mortgages
• save for their old age
• or their child’s further education
or, dare I dream, just have a nicer less anxious life.
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A two word precis …. DUMBING DOWN
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Ray
Not necessarily, but what is indisputable (based on a crude analysis of our respective posts on this matter) is that my nub is bigger than yours:)
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You’ll need to prove that Mrs Hobbes v Locke :-)
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Ray
:-)
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Hobbesvlocke for CM
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Oh GP you are so right about funding but if only it were that simple.
Giving head teachers the tools is part of the solution but so much more can be improved at systemic level. The 11+ system is deeply flawed but it is not going to be abolished anytime soon. We must keep the pressure up for long term change. In the meantime lets change what we can.
The nub is we live in a small community with unique antiquated laws which hold us back from competing with other jurisdictions. We are also in a recession. But we must press on.
1) Housing License system
Scrap the current housing license system to put a stop to the disruption and unfair advantages of local teachers so there is a level playing field on which local and non local teachers compete for recruitment and promotion. Provide incentives to attract the most ambitious overseas teachers in the prime of their careers. Have faith that local teachers will rise to this challenge on a merit basis rather than succeed by virtue of local status.
2) Teacher Performance
Ensure the head teachers are instigating the robust capability measures designed to maintain standards of teacher performance. No-one should face repercussions for having the difficult conversations required but they must be accountable for any continued underperformance due to avoidance of the issues.
3) Funding
a) End classroom disruption in the High schools by channeling additional resources towards those who find lessons challenging for a number of reasons. Lots more teaching assistants. Provide incentives and training for non working mothers to do this job. Tackle any social issues head on. Clamp down on swearing, smoking, bullying and prejudice. This is to do with self respect.
b) Instigate robust discipline measures and if alternative facilities for those who should be excluded are inadequate then address that.
c) Don’t just leave LMDC to rot for the next few years until it is rebuilt, deal with all and any structural problems and redecorate urgently.
4) Parents
Engage the parents by making PTA’s mandatory for all schools and holding parents evenings twice a year for every year group. Proactively encourage participation. Set adequate levels of homework and provide guidelines for mandatory reading at home. Offer homework clubs and other support measures for those children disadvantaged by problems in their home life. Campaign to clamp down on use by school children of TV, computers and all electronic games. The new uniforms will instill a more businesslike attitude if backed up by other changes. Subsidise this change to silence the critics that it is an unwarranted expense in tough times.
5) Aspirations
A cultural shift is required to ensure those who do not pass the 11+ are aware of what is expected of them academically as a minimum standard. Aspirations of head teachers need to be raised significantly so that this will filter down. Heads have become despondent about the problems they are dealing with and need to take action now that expectations have risen. They need support. Offer additional opportunities for exceptional students to switch to Grammar or College at later stages. All secondary schools should have a sixth form so that the aspirations of both teachers and pupils are enhanced. Raise the school leaving age to 18 inclusive of vocational and apprenticeship schemes.
Lets be ambitious but we need to invest – ministers please help us find the funding now!
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Great post. Full of good ideas.
I really hope you are wrong on 11plus. and would like this issue to, at least, be addressed in the Mulkerrin Review.
If it isn’t, I will feel like those UK MPs who, amidst all the uncertainty over the Eurozone, want a referendum on Europe i.e. if not now then when?
I am with you totally in calling for more investment on education. However, given the current economic climate this is perhaps unlikely. We need to make sure that in a era declining economic prospects such funding is used as effectively as possible
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Hobbesvlocke
IF the funding can’t be found then all these powerful professional people who say the results are a disgrace need to put their money (and influence) where their mouth is or accept the standards of local school leavers. Pushing for more licenses is a cop out.
I think the earliest opportunity for the 11+ will be completion of the school rebuilding project but we need to keep the pressure up now and your post put forward excellent rationale.
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Excellent post Spartacus (except of course for the 11+ bit)
The Daily Mail is full of stories about UK parents in the few remaining 11+ areas and most of the non 11+ areas doing desperate things such as moving house,pretending to be catholic,lodging their children with relatives within a preferred school catchment area, taking out second or third mortgages … ANYTHING to avoid being forced to accept what they perceive as a way below average education in their local comprehensive,caused in the main it seems by teachers having to work at the speed of the lowest common denominator
I have to ask WHY would anyone want to abolish an 11+ system which takes the brightest pupils and nurtures them amongst similarly bright and mostly well behaved students for the next five or six years to prepare them for the type of employment opportunities this island has to offer
Abolishing the 11+ would be akin to ordering Manchester United to field a minimum of four Accrington Stanley players in each game in order to make it ‘fair’
‘Fair’ I suspect doesn’t feature too highly on the list of job interview questions
By all means lets take up your suggestions and do all we can to improve our Guernsey High Schools but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater
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Excluding the part about uniforms (I’m not convinced and evidently neither is the research) I totally agree about the role of parents.
It needs to be emphasised that raising and educating children is not primarily the responsibility of the state, but rather the parents / legal guardians. I wonder how many parents drop their children at the school gate and think what goes on there isn’t their problem.
My wife and I see it as our right and responsibility (and privilege) to raise and educate our child/ren. The role of the school isn’t to usurp this but rather to serve and complement parental input.
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Ray
I take your point but the compromise should be that players can move up and down in the league.
Paul Le Page
I agree with you but parental shortcomings are never the fault of the child and not always the fault of the parent(s). Disadvantaged children should not be let down by both sides of the parent/teacher partnership, if one side is weak the other should fill the gap. I know the schools already do a good job with this but feel more can be done.
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Agree entirely Spartacus – both have their role to play. For me it’s just a matter of where the buck ultimately stops, and I believe this is always with the parents. If the schools aren’t doing their job properly it’s up to parents to get involved, which is why I agree with you that parental involvement in school life is essential. Not sure PTAs should be mandatory though but to be honest they shouldn’t need to be – parents should want to get involved!
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Paul Le Page
If parents want to get involved and there is no PTA or parents evening what do they do?
If even supportive parents have no avenues for involvement what hope is there that those who have problems will take more interest.
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To those who think that the South Pole lies somewhere on the Equator.
My first serious job after school was working in an office. That year,I was one of two junior staff that the firm took on.
I always arrived at work in good time whilst my colleague invariably didn’t. Consequently, even though his work was of a good standard, he was routinely reprimanded for his tardiness.
I asked him once why he was always late. He replied “being on time is boring”.
When I thought about what he had said, it occurred to me that he had mixed up two different polar opposites. The opposite of being early is, surely, being late. Similarly, the opposite of being boring is, clearly, being interesting. Certainly, we can state that being late is not particularly interesting. In the absurd case, my colleague’s logic might lead him to state, perhaps, that West is the opposite of North.
I am reminded of this conversation when I hear quite visceral opinions that the removal of the 11plus would automatically lead to a reduction in standards. It won’t. The opposite of selection is non-slection. The opposite of a decrease in standards is an increase in standards i.e. selection and standards are not necessarily linked.
In Guernsey, we just need a few good high schools which all parents can trust to teach the basics well and get the best out of the more able pupils. Presently, this isn’t happening and the majority of parents are paying once for education through taxation and either paying again for private education or wishing they were in a position to do so. What a system. Surely, we can do better than this.
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Hobbesvlocke
Ray has a valid concern but I agree with you. The greater good is best served by the comprehensive system both socially and academically. But any radical change to the selective system will cause disruption and carry costs – now is not the right time.
The case for keeping 11+ will weaken if the high schools improve significantly and there seems to be unanimous belief this is achievable. We cannot assume changes of political figures will easily facilitate improvements though, the community at large must be proactive.
Regarding your ex colleague, it seems he had an effective strategy for drawing attention to his good standard of work!
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Spartacus
I agree, the concern is valid but not automatic. Additionally, your point re cost implications is well made (unfortunately:)).
On this matter, however, I think that it must cost more to organise and manage the 11plus system with all its attendant complications than to have non-selection.
Then add-back the cost of further consequences of the 11plus:-
• the extra costs (being private tuition and private school fees) paid by those parents who value a top quality education but don’t see the potential for it to occur at their nearest high school and don’t want their children to be disadvantaged. The cost of this educational arms- race is enormous but to little increased overall benefit to the community. There will, after all, only be the same amount of jobs for school leavers.
• the relatively higher price of dwellings near to the best performing primary schools and the best of the high schools; remember, a family’s actual standard of living won’t be any higher in these areas (e.g. the house will still be just as untidy and arguments will continue to rage about whether to watch X Factor or Strictly) – the parents, though, will just have taken on much more crippling debt.
• the resources caused by the extra ferrying about of students who don’t go to their nearest school.
• If you can, try and put a cost of all the social resentment caused by the above
That black hole would soon be filled.
Maybe, we’ll have to agree to disagree :)
re last para
It may have been, but he got fired anyway.
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No apologies for quoting from the Mail on Sunday Editorial Comment ..
After a few lines on the demise of the Euro he tackles the UK education system ..
‘In this country it has been equally plain that our State education system is a colossal failure,covering its uselessness by issuing sheaves of inflated certificates.
The victims of this system can barely read,write or count,are utterly ignorant of national history and geography,hard science or any foreign language.They have seldom,if ever,been criticised,rebuked or disciplined,have never faced competition,in class or on the games field,nor been given any serious idea of what the real world is like.
Worse,almost every day of their school lives has been infused with the belief that there is no connection between effort and reward,that there should be no penalties for failure,that the State will always provide them with some sort of living.
No wonder that in such schools the diligent minority are often bullied as they strive to learn amid the howling chaos.
The official response has been to cover up the truth with ludicrous claims that ever-rising exam grades equal rising standards.Teachers who dare to tell the truth about classroom disorder are disciplined when they should be thanked – and heeded.
And now this poor betrayed generation pays a woeful price.
Turned out into a bleak,hard world,they find that employers cannot be bothered with them.Businesses large and small have learnt over many years that the products of our bog-standard schools think that they are somehow guaranteed a warm place to live,clothes to wear,a TV set,a mobile phone and plenty of food and drink cooked by other people.
They cannot be relied upon to turn up for work on time,or at all.They need to have the simplest tasks explained to them.They cannot accept that the low wages on offer might actually be all that they are worth.
And so they are shoved aside by young migrants who come from harsher,less coddled societies and who understand the ancient rule that if you don’t work,you starve.
This must now change.Those who weep the noisiest tears about youth unemployment are the same people who have for years defended our appalling schools and denounced those who criticised them.They are the people who introduced ‘child-centred’education and stripped authority from teachers.
They are the ones who thought it unkind to correct bad spelling and rejected effective teaching methods as ‘authoritarian’.They are the people who said competition was bad for the young.
The damage that they did was a crime against an entire generation.The pity is that it is not these wrong-headed zealots who suffer,but the innocent young.However the most important thing is that the mistake is now being corrected.
We have had no end of a lesson.If we do not now pay attention to it,then it is hard to see what future we have as a country.’
He might have added that many of the zealots probably believe that the South Pole lies somewhere on the Equator
Guernsey is often said to be 5-10 years behind the UK.Please use this time to avoid the obvious pitfalls that dumbing down would inflict on our little island
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Hobbesvlocke
I don’t disagree with your rationale. In what timeframe would you realistically like to see this change?
Ray
It’s a stark warning indeed. Who is this columnist and what is his basis for this assessment? I’m not saying he is wrong just wondering how credible he is.
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Again, good question.
My major gripe is that there doesn’t seem to have been a recent, in depth, assessment of the worth and appropriateness of the 11plus system in terms of giving a top quality 21st century education for all Guernsey students.
Education and society have moved on since R A Butler’s 1944 Education Act which introduced the 11plus.
So a review is what, I would like to see and if it could happen next year so much the better
The review might show that selection is still the most effective an fairest way of educating students. Following which, I will be eating a mixture of humble pie and my collection of hats er… forever.
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It was the Mail on Sunday’s Editor’s opinion column,much like our’The voice of islanders column’ in the Press
I would think the basis of his comment is just pure unadulterated common sense in that if you mix very good apples with very bad apples your going to end up with mediocre apples
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Why the 11plus is as mad as your maddest sports teacher.
A recent survey of the Premier League showed that 288 players were born in the months of September, October and November, whilst only 136 were born between June, July and August.
Is it right to infer from this that children born towards the end of the year make innately better footballers?
Of course not, it merely highlights the fact that bigger, more mature boys make the first team at school at the expense of those children born towards the end of the school year who possess, perhaps, more promise but are less physically developed.
Naturally, the sports teacher selects the most effective player at the time for his team. Having made the first team, the bigger boy gets better training than his younger peers and it becomes more difficult for him to be removed. Hence, an advantage gained in the early years means a measurably increased chance at professional level.
Similar surveys showing similar results have been carried out across the major European football leagues and across different sports
It is the same with the 11plus. In part, the 11plus tends to reward precocious talent rather than actual talent. This is shame because the 11plus therefore discriminates against late bloomers.
Compared to other species, nature allows humans an extraordinary time to learn. As Robert H Frank points out in his book Winner-Takes-All” in choosing selection “you have unwittingly belittled man’s cardinal educational capital – time to mature”.
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The 11+ was very appropriate when it was introduced in 1944 as the country needed a small elite of professionals and a vast army of unskilled labourers, just as the military needed an elite core of officers and a lot of cannon fodder. It allowed bright children from poorer families to join the elite, which was previously reserved for public schoolboys.
Those days have long, long gone. Why are we still stuck with a system designed nearly 70 years ago?
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….if it ain’t broke …..
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Ray
We should not need so many “essential” housing licenses for non local skilled professionals. Locals should be trained to fill demand but are not. Something must be broke.
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Spartacus
Actually it would be very interesting indeed if a survey was carried out to determine what career paths were taken up by local students who completed their local education in say 2005 / 2006 … once they have had time to settle in and stay with that chosen career,whether it be in the island or elsewhere
Perhaps the States already keep those figures?
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Spartacus
The Daily Mail was late this morning so I had time to think a bit more about how to discover what career paths local school leavers were following four or five years after leaving school
Every now and then I get invited to answer surveys online about my shopping preferences / whether I think the Euro will finally crash in March or April 2012 / how do I dispose of my belly button fluff and other such riveting questions
I think one of the firms involved is ‘Island Opinion’?
They could carry out such a survey quite easily and ask about close or distant relatives’ children or even neighbours children who left school in 2005 / 2006 and what employment or further schooling they are now engaged in
It wouldn’t be 100% scientific but could indicate whether or not it would be worth paying out a modicum of taxpayers money on ‘proper’ survey
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Ray, the problem is that it IS ‘broke’.
The process of separating our youth at 11 like some sort of wheat from the chaff exercise is a major contributor to many of Guernsey’s societal problems, if not at the root of most of them.
When are you going to lift your head up from the Daily Mail long enough to see this?
Just because the UK has made a dog’s dinner of comprehensive education does not mean that it is unworkable.
As other posters have pointed out on numberous occasions during our debates, many European countries with academic results far exceeding the UK’s run such systems very successfully.
It is time for radical change but where are the politicians with the vision and drive to realise such a transformation of Guernsey’s education system?
I hope that the Mulkerrin review grasps this nettle. If not, then I fear for the future of Guernsey’s next generation of school children. We have already failed the majority of the current cohort and this cannot be allowed to continue…
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If anything is ‘broke’it is probably the way we recruit our teachers
If we continue to recruit from the messed up UK system then we are just importing their woes into our schools because that’s the only system of teaching the recruits know
Perhaps we would be better recruiting from Europe if they are producing such excellent results
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Ray
Maybe the skills strategy review will have some answers about what ex pupils are now doing, I too would be interested to know more details.
Perhaps we should be recruiting more local teachers rather than more and more licenses which cause continuity problems. The key to this is in the training and experience and I think you are right that we can benefit from the best European systems.
There needs to be diversity of experience from non locals within our education system but there would be added benefit if local teachers gained experience working within the best European systems too before returning to Guernsey.
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Ray, if it ain’t broke, why are we having this conversation?
Some good points here about teacher recruitment. One major problem for Guernsey is that the Education Department is very slow at getting its act together when a vacancy occurs so the best teachers already have jobs. This particularly affects local students at college in the UK. The dilemma they are faced with is: do I accept a job in England in March or do I wait for the Guernsey jobs to be advertised in June and risk not getting one at all? That is what happens when you have a system run by civil servants. In England, if a school knows it has a vacancy it advertises straight away. No messing about.
If you don’t believe that comprehensive schools can be successful how do you explain that Guernsey has three very successful comprehensive schools? (Elizabeth College, Ladies College and Blanchelande) These schools admit students from a wide range of abilities and no-one is complaining about their outcomes.
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Grumpy
If what you are saying about recruitment is correct Guernsey better get its act together quickly to sort that out for next years vacancies as this is ridiculous.
Are you saying not only do we have problems recruiting non local teachers due to the housing laws and unfair competition but we also have problems persuading our local candidates to come home because of timing issues. So effectively we get what’s left following UK recruitment i.e. rejects? Do you know who is responsible for the delay in advertising?
I like your way of thinking of the colleges as comprehensives and can see where you are coming from. Unfortunately its not quite the same thing as every college pupil has an advantage of some kind to get them a place there.
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Grumpy Teacher talks a lot of common sense. The 11+ is outdated, divisive and only tests for one aspect of a child’s ability. I also don’t understand why it still exists as the schools teach the same GCSEs anyway.
Streaming within non-selective schools would make more sense. As children develop they may move up or down a stream. This would mean the more able are not held back and gets rid of the ‘failure’ label.
Added to this, there needs to be pride in a school and a sense of community. The stronger these are, the better the school performs. This is something that requires work from the teachers, parents and children.
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Hmmmm
A bit difficult to argue against that!
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Thank you Grammar School Girl. Whether you are a current or past student you have described what happens in many very successful “comprehensive” schools (state funded and independent) all over the UK and Europe too. The part about pride in the school rings especially true. (No PTA at La Mare but the Grammar School has a strong PTA. Why is that?)
With regard to recruitment, I understand it goes something like this:
Teacher decides to retire, sends in letter to Education Department.
Request goes to the Board which meet on 3rd Tuesday of month. Agenda for this month is too full so it is deferred.
Board finally approves. Request goes to staffing sub-committee which meets on 4th Wednesday of month. Officer dealing with comittee is on leave. Deferred.
Sub committee approves. Goes to finance officer
Finance officer is off sick with stress…… You probably get the picture by now.
In contrast, I hear Elizabeth College need a maths teacher for September. How do I know that? They have advertised for one!
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Grumpy
I’ll take your word for it that this process exists. Clearly teacher recruitment needs to be much more pragmatic as indicated in the nub of this GP article.
Why would the board need to approve replacing a teacher? I can understand them needing approval for additional staffing but not replacements. If the rest of the red tape is necessary then surely it can be sorted out at a later stage of the recruitment process.
Clearly for teacher recruitment timing is of the essence due to the term times and notice periods needing to be matched. Someone should have dealt with this delay – this should be such an easy fix.
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Spartacus
That’s where the fifty proposed redundancies can be found
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Maybe so Ray but that’s 1 not 50 and if the finance officer is doing the job of 50 no wonder he is off with stress!
Seriously though I would hate to see the education department streamlined to such a point that the workload is shifted to the teachers.
The Robinson report stated
“Running the existing Education provision is an immensely demanding task. Lest those not closely involved forget, Guernsey’s sector has to fulfil not just the range of responsibilities of a British local education authority but also those of central government ministries and of the range of inspection and regulatory bodies.”
By all means let them find efficiencies but my feeling is that drastic staffing cuts would currently make things worse not better.
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