Education barking up wrong tree, deputy says

How to fund the new post-16 campus at Les Ozouets is still undecided

The Education, Sport and Culture (ESC) Committee should consider stepping down for "continually barking up the wrong tree" over how to fund post-16 education in Guernsey, a deputy has said.

On Thursday, the ESC president said members should be "ashamed" for leaving plans for the future of post-16 education undecided.

Funding has still not been agreed to pay for a new post-16 campus at Les Ozouets.

Deputy David De Lisle said those who voted to block borrowing to pay for the project did not feel responsible for a lack of certainty around its future.

He said: "I'm not responsible for that, ESC is totally out of kilter in terms of trying to do something that the States obviously didn't want to do.

"I think they should have looked at their position, because they've been continually barking up the wrong tree."

Former Guernsey teacher Caroline McManus said ESC should not be surprised by the States decision not to fund their plans, and that they should reconsider what they are asking for.

She said: "The ESC want to build a very, very fancy institute with everything on one site - perhaps they could have gone to the States, instead of taking the same request back again, and trying to persuade people that they made the wrong decision, perhaps they should have changed what they were asking for."

Ella Roussel, vice-chair of the Youth Commission, said failures to determine the future of secondary state education in Guernsey was pushing teachers into the private system.

She said they were struggling with uncertainty and a lack of organisation.

Miss Roussel said: "Teachers are finding it very difficult in these kinds of environments, there's lots of stress with this, huge change.

"I've seen them with my own eyes migrating to private schools because that is a more organised and a much safer environment for teachers."