Education rallies against “half truths and inaccuracies”

ESC President Matt Fallaize has said he will not resign over the allegations against him, and his committee has come back with a strong rebuttal.

“Recent leaks of partial information and some half-truths and inaccuracies spoken by a couple of deputies as if they were facts have presented a wholly misleading picture about the actions of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture in employment matters,” the Committee said. 

Legal advice given to the committee has recommended not commenting publicly on the matter, and the committee is trying to balance that advice with the need to set out the “good intent and integrity” of its actions and challenge the “serious and false” accusations against it. 

Pictured: Laurie Barker was appointed to the Director of Education role, which Clare Sealy originally applied for. 

The committee has also revealed that “every effort” was taken to recruit successful candidates Clare Sealy, as the “opportunity should not be lost” to recruit a world-leading educationalist who had shown serious interest in the island’s education system. 

“In March this year interviews were held for a permanent Director of Education.  Two of the applicants were Laurie Baker and Clare Sealy.  The interview panel contained two members of the Committee, two senior civil servants, including one unconnected to the Committee, and two educationalists external to the States.

“The interview panel recommended to the Committee that Ms Baker should be appointed as Director of Education and the panel also unanimously recommended that the opportunity should not be lost to recruit Ms Sealy to a role specialising in her areas of expertise, including curriculum, standards and learning.”

“Subsequently the Committee and senior civil servants agreed that every effort should be made to recruit Ms Sealy to such a role as part of a restructure of the Office of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture.

Pictured: ESC announced the appointment of Clare Sealy, right, in May. 

“Head of Curriculum and Standards is a civil service post.  The process for recruiting to it was run by senior officers.  The authority to appoint to the role rests with the civil service.  In the case of such senior appointments, it is necessary and has long been standard practice for the civil service to take into account the views of the Committee with whom the person appointed will be working most closely. The Committee consistently conveyed the importance of maintaining the agreement with senior officers that every effort should be made to recruit Ms Sealy.”

ESC stand by her appointment and the actions in pursuing it. 

“Ms Sealy is nationally recognised as an outstanding curriculum specialist.  In 2018 the Times Educational Supplement rated her as one of the ten most influential people in the world of education for her work on curriculum and learning.

“On any sensible analysis, she is the outstanding person to lead curriculum development if the Bailiwick is serious about promoting opportunity and excellence for every student and raising standards and outcomes.  It is great news for education that the States have recruited someone of Ms Sealy’s standing. Her knowledge and expertise will be enormously beneficial to schools and students of the present and future.”

The committee, despite its involvement in the process, rejected all claims that they:

• Established a flawed recruitment process for the role of Head of Curriculum and Standards
• Overruled an interview panel
• Applied pressure on a candidate to withdraw from the process to recruit the Head of Curriculum and Standards
• Entered or required others to enter misleading information on an application for an employment permit