A view from the west

: st_ouennais; August 16th, 7:20

In a few days the results of the latest A-level examinations will be published. No doubt the local press will be lauding the magnificent pass rates of our local schools, or at least a select few of them. Amongst those 6th formers celebrating exam success, one group locally is statistically likely to be completely absent: those in care.

Ask the questions. Seriously, I hope some States member will ask the questions. How many children in the care system in Jersey get 3 decent A-levels? How many even sit A-levels? Or how about: how does the proportion of children who have been in care in Jersey who go to university compare to the proportion of the overall average for all children in Jersey?

At this point some ill informed person is likely to claim it is because those in care are feckless ,worthless, lay abouts and anti-social pseudo criminal habits. But that isn't true and does not hold up. Children go through care for a huge variety of reasons , including for example being orphaned and having seriously ill parents no longer able to look after them. These are random events just as likely to strike the intelligent and middle class as anyone else. Only 5% of children in care are there for some reason that they contributed to themselves. So what happens to the statistically normal children in care that produces such poor outcomes on average?

However it is not just the formal education aspects that make a huge difference. I was once rather stunned when a good friend, a teacher, asked me who we were inviting to our child's 6th birthday party. Everyone in his class I replied. Fortunately St Mary classes are on the small side. He congratulated me.! I must have looked very surprised because he went on to explain how he knows many instances where parents had calculated who to invite the party in order to promote the right parental contacts. It's the same reasoning people often choose to send their children to fee paying schools, or join the golf or the yacht club, or even the masons. If you doubt it, just read what this site says about the primary benefit of an MBA; yep its networking. http://www.mba360.com/benefit-of-an-mba.html

Now which group of kids do you think don't have access to this network ladder? And notice just how many of those same bodies and clubs figure in the allegations of concealment and collusions of coverup in our child abuse cases. Perhaps now you start to see why the seething anger and trenchant determination to change things is coming out locally.

Tags: care leaver, education, networking

Biscay, Fitzroy, Sole........

: st_ouennais; 22nd October 2008

Senator Syvret has named the very senior civil servant in the education department who is under investigation for child abuse, but not suspended. In an old but extremely valuable feature of many english speaking parliaments around the world, senator Syvret used his parliamentary privilege to reveal the name. As an elected member speaking in the chamber he is immune from slander or other civil (but technically as I understand it not criminal) charges. You can read more at around item 175 of the comments here https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7124117913567332282&postID=5183127454892778480
As a result of the naming in the States, the press are now at liberty to report the facts of this naming. Had I been in the chamber to record the actual exchange I would do so myself.

However to my mind the really breathtakingly outrageous part of all this is the statement that revealed the mindset of the Ministers involved. I have it from more than one source the Education Minister (soon to be just mister) Vibert said they have a duty of care to employees. That's true, but they also have a duty of care to children, especially the 1/3 corporate parent, in charge of schools, Education Minister Vibert. No word of that. The truth of it from his own mouth by implication is that senior civil servants are more in need of exercising of his duty of care than children in the schools run by his department. This is the endemic, imbecilic, and downright wrong headed attitude that got us into this child abuse mess in the first place. He and the other howling monkeys who joined in shouting down senator Syvret have obviously learned nothing from the past year. These are same people who complained about a bit of public heckling at a hustings! They are stuck in their Victorian attitudes - put the troublesome ones away, out of sight out of mind, and keep up appearances at the gentlemens club. He's a jolly good fellow, one of us you know, his father was my uncle's fag at St Duffers.

Anywhere else I can think of such an appalling failure to put the interests of children over well paid civil servants would have resulted in union action by teachers, and parents organising a mass withdrawal of children from schools until action was taken to protect the children. But this is Jersey, and as they say in journalism, if you want to get to the bottom of a story follow the money.....

Tags: child abuse, education

August born children

: st_ouennais; 20th August 2008

I have just heard an astounding statistic on the radio. August born children are 20% less likely to go to university than others in England. I believe the same goes for Jersey since the reasons for the difference are the same here. Unlike France and many other countries, we force our children into classes based solely on their birthdate rather than their needs. There is of course a huge difference in ability and capability between the youngest and oldest in class in the first years of school. Once a child starts to struggle and fall behind, there is nowhere for them to go. We have no facility to allow children to slip a year if it suits them. If others can have a flexible system that suits children's needs, why can't we? I guess its the same old attitude - the system runs for the convenience of the bureaucratic establishement rather than the interests of the users.

À bétôt

Tags: august, education

st_ouennais

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