Who’s really running the government?
When it comes to Education, Charlie Parker’s modernisation programme may not be the kind of change it needs
Deputy Young is not standing for election again. Senator Vallois has also gone on record saying that she will not stand for government in 2022, stating her latest stint as being; “The worst term I have ever spent as a States member”. In May this year her Twitter tirade went on to say; “I will continue to fight for what I believe and those who I engage and work with believe but there is only so much you can do.” She ends the thread with a tantalising; “I will keep silent and let people make their own minds up!” Who or what is she alluding to, her Ministerial colleagues, those within education, or something else? She has previously quit a number of high profile posts .
One of Jersey’s most seasoned politicians, Tracey Vallois entered the States in 2008. At the last election she topped the voter’s poll with 15,518 votes. What voters, including myself, liked about her was her non-nonsense approach. Not so much anti-establishment as non-conformist. She made no secret of coveting the education post during her election campaign. As leader of Educational Scrutiny in the previous government, Tracey had witnessed enough to believe that she could a better job. She was the teachers champion, trying to right the wrongs of institutionalised bullying.
Soon into the post, she had likened the difficulty making changes within education as trying to turn around a tanker. Two years down the line the ship does not seem to have moved very much, if at all. We do not know how hard she has pushed but it appears that increasingly, she is becoming supernumerary. Rumour has it that she was marginalised almost as soon as she took on the job. Her office being in town when she wanted to be in the thick of things in the education offices at Highlands.
Most ministers are not experts in the field that they are appointed to and rely on their civil servants. Some end up as mouthpieces whilst others seek a more hands-on role. Tracey’s manifesto spoke of wanting to ‘reduce paperwork, our children are not numbers on a spreadsheet’; ‘enable creative teaching’ and ‘placing trust back into the teaching profession’. Such an ambitious agenda ran contrary to the infrastructure implemented by the previous incumbent.
The department that she inherited had been engineered to fit a micro-management model. Nepotism and cronyism are evident at all levels of senior management. How many top jobs at education have had more than one candidate? Early on she would have realised there is a cabal that is reluctant to embrace the changes she wanted to make. They are of a mind that the task is so much easier if the department works to simple, measurable targets. They have an antipathy to anything that cannot be quantified.
This principle also happens to be central to Charlie Parker’s modernisation programme. Uncertainties created by pedagogy are a non-starter. Empowering teachers means losing control. Is this what she was alluding to when she said? “It’s when you want to make a difference and those that you rely on bully and ridicule you.”
Public sector management does not welcome enterprise, you are expected to be compliant. Enthusiasm is one thing, showing initiative is a step too far. Tracey’s direct approach does not sit well with those around her. People do not want their shortcomings to be exposed, they prefer a more sedentary life. It has been well documented that Jersey’s education department has one of the lowest budgets as a percentage of GDP in the world. Pre-Covid, Senator Vallois was complaining about proposed cuts to the education budget as part of cost-cutting measures.
It is impossible to facilitate change when starved of funds.
As part of Charlie Parker’s re-structuring, her department has been subsumed into C.Y.P.E.S, further undermining her position. The Senator alludes to money being spent on consultants. CYPES Director General, Mark Rodgers, is employed on a temporary contract. He is aided by Dr Amanda Kelly, another consultant. And there are other parties, eating up vital capital that should be for all pupils.
What is most worrying is the effect this dissonance has on our children. ‘Putting children first’ is a myth, especially if they require special consideration. Support reduces as the need increases. A recent whistle-blower has described the support given as being ‘chaotic’. Behind the scenes upheaval has taken precedence as people pursue ‘personal agendas’, jostling for position and trying to make sure little changes except for their title. To turn around this tanker is going to take longer than one semester.
Originally published in the Jersey Evening Post
