All Deputies Need To Engage With Education

Wednesday, 28 June 2023 12:44

Committee president Andrea Dudley-Owen says very few deputies went to meetings about updating the Education Law, yet then went on to amend it.

Guernsey's Education President wants far more engagement in the evolution of education from the majority of deputies.

Last week, the committee withdrew its policy letter from debate as amendment after amendment was laid against it, and succeeded in being passed. It meant the legislation started to look very different to the draft put before the Assembly early on in the June debate.

She told Island FM the Roffey/Soulsby amendment on governance was the tipping point:

"It felt futile to continue, where we wouldn't be able to deliver the law as planned and would significantly delay the work, in addition to a great deal of expense which hadn't been accounted for in the amendment, or acknowledged by the bringers of the amendment."

Deputy Dudley-Owen has promised to bring back a revised policy letter to the States before the end of this political term, in June 2025.

It is seen as the foundation on which Guernsey's education transition sits. But she says to be successful, deputies need to engage with her committee and attend meetings:

"We absolutely need all deputies, not just a very small handful of those who've been engaged with us. The majority are not coming along to the presentations, they're not responding to offers of meetings."