Agenda item

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Education  (attached).

*11.40am – 12.25pm

*estimated times

Submitted - a report on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Education seeking the opinion of the scrutiny committee on the proposed education principles that would form the basis for fulfilling the Education Department's vision for the system to ensure a high quality of education for the children and young people of Gwynedd for the twenty first century.

Based on the results of the consultation with Governors and schools, and the Education Department's vision, members of the scrutiny committee were specifically asked for their views on the following principles that were being considered as the foundation for the education system for Gwynedd in future:

·         A system of viable secondary schools;

·         Two age ranges within the same class in the primary sector;

·         Approximately 80% of non-contact time for the Head teacher to concentrate on leadership issues in the primary sector.

Based on readily available information, the following observations were highlighted during the discussion:

·         There must be clarity about what the impact of adopting these principles will be.

·         It was likely that a teacher or a teacher's hours would be cut in some schools and that would be very difficult for a head teacher, especially if he/she was in charge of two or three schools.

·         This was only the beginning and there was a great deal more scrutiny to be done.

·         The lack of applicants for posts in the majority of primary and secondary schools was a cause for concern. 

·         The system was too fractured to attract the next generation of leaders.  For example, department heads at the smallest secondary schools did not have the opportunity to develop leadership skills because, as single person departments, they did not have the time to lead the department and there was no one in the department to manage it.  Furthermore, since primary schools were often too small to have a deputy head teacher, opportunities here were also lacking for people to develop leadership skills.

·         The substantially greater demands imposed on people with regard to educating and leading meant that posts in schools had become far less attractive.

·         The questions in the questionnaire could have been more penetrating, e.g. rather than asking only for an opinion on the statement "It is important to give Head teacher enough time to manage and lead ...", the respondents should also have been asked whether they agreed with the statement despite its implications.

·         As regards the suggestion that secondary school head teachers should be in charge of around 900 pupils, there was a wish to see robust evidence in support of this in the form of research work in this country and throughout Europe about the size of school that worked best and yielded the best result among children.

·         Although the intention to merge some small schools to make them more viable was welcomed, this was not practically possible in Gwynedd at present and the head teachers would spend a large proportion of their time travelling between sites.

·         the colleges' recruitment policy, which insisted that those seeking to pursue a teacher training course held a 2:1 degree at least, meant that young people would go to England to train as teachers and that this, in turn, was leading to a shortage of teachers locally.

·         recruiting teachers in Meirionnydd and Dwyfor was especially problematic as specialist teachers in different subjects were reluctant to teach at schools that were unable to provide them with a sixth form teaching experience.

·         Tywyn Secondary School, which only had 280 pupils, had had an excellent report from Estyn recently; why, therefore, consider that a school needed 900 pupils to be viable?

·         the way forward to ensure the future of schools with fewer pupils / teachers was to make greater use of technology, such as Skype, where children at one school could join in with lessons at another school that had a specialist teacher.

·         no changes should be introduced without prior consultation with the communities affected and to always presume against closing schools.

·         Since a number of head teachers would reach retirement age in the coming years, sufficient preparation should be made in anticipation of this, e.g. through providing a portfolio highlighting the advantages of teaching in Gwynedd and circulating it widely.

·         Teaching posts in Gwynedd were only advertised on the Council website and people teaching in other parts of the country were unlikely to look at it.  Jobs should be advertised farther afield and teachers, consequently, would be attracted back to the county.

·         There were concerns that collaborative arrangements between secondary schools would affect the lifelong learning schools established in Bala and Dolgellau.

·         In terms of teaching a range of ages, collaborating up was likely to mean moving children from one school to another and the only way of doing this, eventually, was to close a few schools.

·         There was general support for the principles, but it was acknowledged that there were huge challenges in being able to deliver on this.