CHILDREN AND EDUCATION
Jersey increasingly needs parents to work to support its economy and keep down immigration pressure.
With Jersey’s high cost of living, more mothers work in Jersey than in other jurisdictions. Yet many parents struggle with the costs of childcare and Jersey is lagging behind the UK and other jurisdictions in providing free or subsidised childcare for 1-3 year olds.
More childcare support is needed not only to help working parents but to provide better safeguarding and potential family support for children.
Most parents are good parents. Some unfortunately struggle with parenting. Poor parenting leads long-term to a far greater cost to the public than the education of children. As a community, we need to improve the support of all children in their journey towards adulthood.
The How Proposition list proposes
- Free childcare for parents of 1-3 year olds
- to enable educational/wellbeing problems for children to be identified earlier o accompanied by extension of Parish nursery facility buildings
- placed under management/control of child care professionals led by strategic Child Care delivery Panel with independent child care provider representation.
- Parenting classes to be compulsory at strategic life stages.
- Strategic delivery panel to:
- produce delivery plan for children’s therapeutic centres including secure units that can also provide accommodation for UK children when surplus capacity
- review performance of Jersey Care Commission and outcome in context of Greenfields, to enable lessons to be learned and identify delivery gaps
- address inequality between regulation of private childcare and government childcare.
Difficulties in staffing and government bureaucracy are preventing optimal education for the Island’s children while placing unreasonable demands on teaching staff.
The How Proposition list proposes a reorganisation of the education sector to improve its independence from government. This would lead to government providing a watchdog role. Government also to provide administrative support to, as opposed to management of, teachers.