Students 'go on strike' over teacher shortages

Specialist teachers may be sent from Guernsey to Alderney to help students prepare for GCSE exams after a whole year group at Alderney's only secondary school said a shortage of permanent teachers was affecting their future prospects.

To highlight their concerns, the eight pupils in Year 11 at St Anne's School all chose not to attend school for one day on Thursday, with the full support of their families.

The students called for more permanent teachers to be appointed, saying they had been taught by a succession of supply staff in a number of subjects.

The States of Guernsey said recruiting skilled teachers continued to be difficult but remained a priority.

"We've had teachers leave constantly," said Lilian, one of the students, who added that pupils had "missed quite a lot of the curriculum" as a result.

She said: "We just want to make it so our voices are heard properly, and that, when we leave school, our education is going to be fulfilled - and we actually get to do the job that we want to do.

"But, if we don't have those grades, we're going to struggle a lot - and we need to have those grades to do what we want to do when we're older."

Another student, Poppy, said many of the class members had been faced with no option but "to go to tutoring and do after school classes" in the hope of boosting grades.

The students' parents, carers and family members, who joined together to express concerns, said the school had struggled for "several years" to attract and retain permanent staff.

They said that they had been "engaging directly" with authorities in both Alderney and Guernsey for more than a year, but requests for action had been "largely ignored".

Neil, a grandparent of one of the students, said there were "huge chunks of the curriculum" not yet covered in classes.

He said: "They're going to be one or two grades below what they really should be... a lot of them will miss those grades. They won't be going on to sixth form.

"That's ruining their whole education from here onwards."

Roland, the father of one of the students, added: "They're at crisis point in terms of the available teaching staff.

"It's at a really horrendous level at the moment to get them to their exams."

Paul Dix, a UK-based teacher, expert in inclusive behaviour support and director of support organisation When The Adults Change, said "consistent adult behaviour" was "the absolute foundation of great education".

He said: "What we call churn - which is different adults, different days, different subjects - I think the younger you are, the harder that is to deal with.

"What you need are those consistent faces, with consistent boundaries, with consistently positive approaches, and that's what makes children feel safe.

"And, when you feel safe, it's very easy to learn, it's easy to trust, it's easy to build great relationships with adults.

"But, without it, you see consistency being established and then it withering on the vine, and then somebody else trying to pick it up in a slightly different way, and it's very difficult to do."

The States of Guernsey, which is responsible for publicly-funded education in Alderney, said it had been "working closely" with St Anne's in recent weeks to provide additional support for GCSE students.

It said it was considering sending "subject specialists" from Guernsey next term to help.

Director of Education Nick Hynes said: "I fully recognise that many students may be feeling frustrated and that there has been disruption to their learning, and we understand that this is an important and sometimes stressful time for them.

"However, I know the school has been addressing these issues with individual mentoring sessions and putting on additional revision sessions on a range of subjects both during the holidays and after school.

"All of this work is being done with the aim of helping every student succeed.

"St Anne's, the Education Office and, more recently, the Governing Board have all been making sustained efforts to address the root of these challenges as well, particularly around staffing."

Hynes said he would spend time at St Anne's "early in the Easter term" and he would be available to speak to parents, carers and students.

The BBC has asked the States of Guernsey to confirm the number of teaching posts at St Anne's being filled by temporary staff.

With exam season fast approaching, students and their families accepted that future generations, rather than the current cohort, would be most likely to benefit from permanent staff recruitment.

They said that there were "some excellent teachers in the school".

But they maintained the students were right to go public about the challenges they faced due to a shortage of permanent staff.

"They needed to do something," said Roland, of the pupils' decision not to attend last week.

"If nothing else, it's an exercise in expressing their rights and trying to make sure things improve."

Poppy added: "There's lots of concern in the lower years that this isn't going to be changed.

"They've watched so many year groups go through this and we decided that we should be the year group - before we leave - to make a stance and try and make that change that should happen in our school."

Another pupil, Fraser, said: "It's just really hard to catch up on months of learning in only a short few weeks and my brother - who's going to be growing up in this school - I want him to have the best chance to get the best grades he can."

Meanwhile, Neil said his daughter was considering her future in Alderney as a result of concerns about St Anne's School.

"She's got a child that's just starting school," he said.

"If education is still like this when he gets into the secondary level, she will be forced to leave."