Guernsey Teaching Union Angered Deputies 'Didn't Understand Vote'

The NASUWT says the States has failed everyone in the education system with its vote last week.

The Assembly decided to approve the post-16 model of education, but not fund it.

Wayne Bates from the NASUWT says this follows a decade of frustrating indecision and will have long-term consequences:

"Having buildings that are way past their usable life is not ideal, and it is going to affect the educational experience.

The uncertainty that goes with not knowing what is going to happen in the future is clearly going to put people off applying for positions in Guernsey, but also I imagine that there are a number of teachers and lecturers now that will have just have had enough and will be looking to move out the island just to get some certainty about where they will be in two, five or ten years time."

It's now being reported that some didn't understand the implications of the way they voted.

Mr Bates says if that is true, it's incredible:

"It basically sends a message from the States of deliberation to the young people of Guensey that we don't care about your education.

If the deputies didn't understand what they were voting for - and from my perspective as an outsider looking in it was quite clear what they were voting for - then that is quite disturbing."

Mr Bates says the debate essentially asked members to choose between Health or Education - and this should never have been the case:

"Guernsey is not a poor place and the States should have put provisions in place to ensure that both Education and Health received the funding that they required."