Transforming Education in Guernsey

The Committee for Education, Sport & Culture set out an ambitious five year programme to transform all parts of the Island’s educational system.  The programme included building new facilities at primary, secondary and further education, changes to education law, governance and education structures and required a capital investment in the region of £100m and a programme investment of around £8m.  Early attempts to define the work needed and to mobilise a team had been slow.  We were engaged to develop the conditions for the Island’s educational ambitions to be realised.

What we did:

  • Engaged with and brought together those individuals and groups whose support was critical for the changes to be delivered and developed a shared vision and commitment to making things better.
  • Developed clarity about what would happen to whom and when and how it supported their values and ambitions. This enabled all stakeholders to understand the change journey, change options and benefits.
  • Created a programme governance structure and brought together a team that was ready, willing and able to achieve tangible progress in creative and agile ways. Developed an agile culture and mindset that supported the need for early progress, requiring some adjustments to traditional change approaches.
  • Facilitated the recruitment and development of internal and local professionals to support the programme during future phases, fulfilling our commitment to help the client deliver the changes with minimum dependence on external support.

What we achieved:

  • Leaders from across the education system with an agreed narrative about how educational changes would improve the lives of people in Guernsey and help secure the Island’s economy.
  • A programme governance structure and team that were clearly aligned to delivering the programme agenda, but within the context of the wider public sector reform frame. This included an emerging ethos of cross transformation and business collaboration and mutual support.
  • A future operating design for all areas of education, a transformation journey and business cases that were underpinned by a detailed assessment of future demographic, changes in teaching practices and the adoption of digital services.
  • Transfer of ownership to local and internal resources for the next stages of the programme and increased support from ‘enabling change’ teams such as HR and communications.

Eddie Pinkard, Director of Transformation

Matt Fallaize, President, Committee for Education, Sport & Culture