Affect of payment to the educational reform programme

23.11.28.

 7 Deputy R.J. Ward of the Minister for Children and Education regarding the Educational Reform Allowance (OQ.230/2023)

Will the Minister advise how the Educational Reform Allowance included in the offer accepted by headteachers will affect the Educational Reform Programme?

Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier North (The Minister for Children and Education):

I thank the Deputy for his question. The Educational Reform Allowance will support and enable the progress of the Education Reform Programme through additional time and input from school leaders. I am confident that this allowance and the increased commitment of school leaders will have a positive impact on the Education Reform Programme.

1. Deputy R.J. Ward :

Can I just check with the Minister? The money put aside for the 2.4 per cent pay increase given to headteachers after their rejection of the £1,000 is from the Education Reform Programme, so does that mean that the Education Reform Programme would now have less money to implement what you have talked about or not?

Deputy I. Gardiner :

First of all, I would like to correct 2 statements that are incorrect. It was never percentage in the agreement; second, that payment connected to the size of the school and the leadership scale and the input of the extra days outside of the term time. So outside of the term time the deputy head teachers and head teachers would do between 10 to 15 extra days outside of the term time and this is how the reward would be calculated. Outside of the term time, head teachers and deputy head teachers would need to develop several things to make sure that education reform would go forward.

2. Deputy S.Y. Mézec :

Could the Minister explain how an increase in remuneration to attempt to do something to catch up for the degradation in pay for this profession has faced in recent years meets the definition of a reform?

Deputy I. Gardiner :

What is really important to understand is that the demands from the education changed over the years. We are working, and I started to work last year together with the headteachers, to allow more autonomy of schools which obviously will require more time and input from the headteachers. I have been proposed and accepted the Professional Education and Advisory Oversight Forum, the forum that should constitute formal alignment to the Curriculum Council, and it will be the environment that will ensure that oversight and assurance to deliver the ministerial delivery plan. So, we do need this forum and it will require input from the headteachers. I need that the school leaders will support development of the strategic plan for education which clearly outlines demand and capacity, demographic requirements, future catchment arrangements, selective education review, inclusion and standard development. We are on the inclusion journey and it is not an easy journey, it is new for everyone, and headteachers need to create a working environment within the school which will deliver inclusive education to resolve challenges that we are facing. Headteachers will increase their non-term working time from 15 up to 30 days, which would depend on the school environment which recognises the variation in the scale and size of the school. This memorandum of understanding we are not talking about 30 days, it was very clear between 10 to 15 days, but this is an agreement only

for a year once we have reviewed the terms and conditions. Once the review of the terms and conditions has finished, this will be included in an updated pay for the teachers but it is not through the S.E.B., it is through the department and S.E.B. together. It depends on the requirements that we have.

3. Deputy S.Y. Mézec :

I will give it a go; I do not think the initial question was answered. I am asking the Minister if she can explain how an increase in remuneration meets the definition of reform because if we are talking about an Educational Reform Programme that sounds to me like it is meant to be about the way education is delivered and not the remuneration package of the people who deliver that education, that that is a matter to be considered alongside the cost-of-living implications, not the model of education that is delivered to children, so why would those 2 things be connected if remuneration is not part of that definition?

Deputy I. Gardiner :

I think I answered to the previous States Assembly there are 2 parts to the negotiations. One part it is to pay at 7.9 per cent and it has gone through S.E.B. The second part is the delivery of education reform when headteachers and the deputy headteachers are held accountable for performance, quality and standards, revised course standards, revised frameworks, changes that need to be done in school followed by the policies from the department. What headteachers will be paid from the department, from the education reform, will meet what we require them to do outside of the previous scope of their definition. So, this is why we have a terms and conditions review that will update what headteachers are required to do in 2023 and in the future.

4. Deputy L.V. Feltham :

I just wanted to place a bit of context around this and I wondered if the Minister could advise the Assembly and just refresh our memories about what the purpose of the Education Reform Programme is and the anticipated outcomes will be at the end of the programme.

Deputy I. Gardiner :

There are several parts for the education reform and the education reform is, at present we are faced with an increasing complexity in demand, particularly in secondary education, against reducing demographics, demand for low base. We have complexity around various needs and diversity that we are having at schools. We believe there is a clear opportunity to redesign the education system so we can offer excellence in education while recognising choice and ensuring that the standards are reflective of the Island needs.

5. Deputy L.V. Feltham :

I thank the Minister for her answer there; I think it is useful for us to have that context. I am aware that the Education Reform Programme has been ongoing for several years, so could the Minister just update us on where she is at with that particular programme and what the overall budget for that programme is?

Deputy I. Gardiner :

In the previous Government Plan of 2023 and for the next 3 years, I do have £6.1 million at least for this year and I have just about £6 million for the next year when we are concentrating on inclusion. So, once we redesign the school system and delivery to meet the needs of the children that previously would not go to school, they would go to a specialist school, but we are trying to make sure that the children and young people are included in the mainstream education which requires extra support and a different curriculum and a different system working within the school. This is how the £6 million will be spent: 80 per cent of the £6.1 million spent in the school budget and 20 per cent is around recruitment, training, professional development and central team which are doing outreach work.

6. Deputy R.J. Ward :

Let me word this really carefully. The headteachers accepted an additional 2.5 per cent as a pay rise backdated to January, that came from the Education Reform Programme, why is that money not available for all teachers or have the reports of that basically been wrong and that is not what teachers are saying? Can the Minister confirm headteachers have not received that extra pay rise?

Deputy I. Gardiner :

Headteachers received between £2,000 to £3,000 depending on the size of the school, depending on the day that they need to give outside of the term time and depending on their pay scale. We never, ever talked about 2.5 per cent. I have no idea where this number came from. On top of this, teachers were offered £1,000, which I am really disappointed that this offer has never been put to ballot to the teachers for them to decide if they would like to accept this offer or not.