Following a two-day visit to the Island, NUT vice president Gill Goodswen said she would like to see education come before bureaucratic box-ticking.

Mrs Goodswen said she received an assurance from Education Minister Anne Craine that she 'wouldn't notice any difference to the Island's education service at next year's visit' as a result of the VAT crisis — particularly in regards to redundancies or class sizes'.

Mrs Goodswen also spoke with teaching staff. She said: 'The feedback from the staff is concern over constantly increasing workloads. People often point to the extra long holidays afforded to the profession, but they don't realise just how long teachers work outside of school hours.'
She added that there was now too much accountability within the education system, particularly with government-led school evaluations, which could be detrimental.

'The Island is lucky to not have Standard Assessment Tests (SATS) or Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections, but teachers on the Island have to contend with the equivalent — School Self Review and Evaluation (SSRE),' she said.

She added that the 'standards agenda is a bureaucratic nightmare' and that it 'takes the trust out of the system'.

Mrs Goodswen argued that what parents wanted was their children to be happy, to learn and to succeed. She questioned how assessments contributed to those core values.

She felt tests tended to be narrowly defined and many important aspects of the job, such as how teachers work with local communities, pass unnoticed.

Meaningless school league tables in the UK unfairly stigmatised schools with the most challenging pupils, she added. And she commented on the additional pressure on staff. Last week a Scottish fatal accident inquiry found the suicide of head teacher Irene Hogg was 'inextricably linked' to a school inspection report.

In the UK 300,000 teachers, who are members of the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers, will vote later this year on whether to boycott SATs.

While in the Island, Mrs Goodswen visited three schools — Victoria Road in Castletown, St John's and Peel Clothworkers' — and was struck by their high standards. She said: 'The old fashioned exteriors belie the new interiors, apart from Victoria Road, which I understand is due for renovation. The quality of education facilities in the Island is generally very high.'

Mrs Goodswen, who was elected as vice president last Easter, will become president of the union in April.

Who is the best teacher in the Isle of Man? It's one of the categories in our Pride in Mann competition. You can nominate your favourite teacher.

>>Forms are available to download through this link PiM_nom_form_09-10.pdf