Planned changes to the Department of Education, following a damning report, are set to be unveiled to Tynwald members today (Tuesday).

The Beamans Report - ordered by Chief Minister Howard Quayle earlier this year - revealed a ’fractured’ relationship between the Department of Education, Sport & Culture and its teaching staff.

Soon after it was published last month, department chief executive Professor Ronald Barr resigned.

Education Minister Alex Allinson has now also confirmed that the role of director of education has been ’redefined’.

The government’s ’high-level’ action plan, in response to the report, is due to be placed before Tynwald for debate next week.

Ahead of that, a presentation will be given to Tynwald members today, to outline the ’draft interim organisational structure’, due to be put in place ahead of more far-reaching reforms.

’It is important that we consult staff and teachers regarding this before finalising it,’ Dr Allinson said.

One of the recommendations of the Beamans report was to separate out some of the functions of the role of director of education, a position occupied by Geoff Moorcroft.

Beamans said the role as currently set out, which sees him as line manager to 37 head teachers, the college principal and five school improvement advisers, made ’no sense from an organisational, management or governance perspective’.

On the eve of the presentation to Tynwald members, Dr Allinson told the Examiner: ’The role of director of education has been redefined and the functions of support and improvement separated from inspection.

’Unfortunately, at the moment I am unable to comment regarding the individuals who will be providing the different roles.’

The report into the department, by Beamans Management Consultants revealed a deeply damaged relationship between the DESC and its teachers, laying bare the depths of mistrust.

Following Professor Barr’s resignation, former teacher and DESC official Graham Kinrade moved over from his position as director of Government Technology Services to become the interim chief executive.

One of the key recommendations of the Beamans Report was the need for an interim organisation structure to be put in place, while more deep-rooted reforms of the department are developed.

In its formal response, which will be debated in Tynwald next week, CoMin says it ’fully supports’ the interim approach to organisational reform.

’The first stage involves reducing the span of control and breadth of responsibility for the role of director of education and in doing so separating responsibility for policy, inspection and education advisory and support services,’ CoMin says.

’In the interests of good governance the roles of advising schools and assessing their performance should be distinctly separate.’

Meanwhile, following a consultation, with teachers and parents over the summer, on remote learning during the Covid-19 lockdown, a presentation was made to head teachers last week. Dr Allinson said: ’An agreed framework for providing this, learning from the experiences here and internationally has been agreed and will be published in the near future, hopefully next week.’