News / Radical education overhaul proposed
SHETLAND Islands Council is proposing a brand new overhaul of secondary education in the isles that would see two junior high schools close and three others losing S3 and S4 pupils.
The radical plan is designed to bring schooling into the 21st century using communications technology and linking schools with the local colleges and employers.
The council also hopes its proposals will help achieve savings targets of £3.25 million.
However the plans will undoubtedly provoke anger in the community, where parents are fighting hard to keep existing schools open.
The proposals are the latest in a long line of changes that have been put forward to bring down the education budget and take account of declining school roles.
In September councillors abandoned one idea to retain the three junior high schools on Whalsay, Yell and Unst as three year establishments in favour of a complete reexamination of the school estate.
The council consulted for one week on five separate options last month.
The study has also taken into account the current review into tertiary education in the isles, which proposes linking Shetland College and the NAFC Marine Centre into a single institution.
However the proposals spelled out in a report published on Wednesday morning and due to be debated by the SIC’s education and families committee next Wednesday (13 November) bear little relation to anything that has been put forward before.
The report proposes that SIC chief executive Mark Boden leads a new programme to create a partnership between Shetland’s two high schools in Lerwick and Brae with the further and higher education sector.
SIC children’s services director Helen Budge would lead a plan to create a “Shetland Learning Campus” that aligns curriculums across all secondary schools with online access to learning materials.
This would also give students clear opportunities for independent learning in their own time, provide access to adult learners and bring teachers up to scratch with online learning.
Local employers would also be linked in to the curriculum to allow vocational courses to be developed.
However the plan would see consultation on closing Aith junior high school by next summer, and Sandwick junior high by the summer of 2016 if there is space for its pupils in the existing Anderson High School.
It would also see the loss of S3 and S4 pupils from the island junior highs on Whalsay, Yell and Unst.
Education consultant Don Ledingham who has drawn up the recommendations will address the education families committee when it meets next week.
BBC Radio Shetland will be holding a Speakeasy debate on the subject on Wednesday evening (6 November) from 6.10pm.
The council reports can be accessed here.
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