The Foreign Affairs Committee’s Sub-Committee on the Overseas Territories discussed some barriers to Falklands students accessing UK education earlier this year.
The UK General Election was called two days after this meeting, which stopped further action.
The Director of Education Sarah Stannard told the education committee on Thursday she is in contact with the administrator of the committee to understand what can be done as a follow up now there is a new government in place.
Ms Stannard said the Home Office visited in March and have since been in touch with a couple of options regarding English language tests for students wishing to study in the UK.
Ms Stannard said she is still of the belief any students who have completed their GCSEs in the Falkland Islands shouldn’t be required to do these.
Updates on discussions at Farmers Week, access to education in the UK and the inspection of the schools and Stanley House were also discussed.
In her report Ms Stannard spoke about the successful workshops on education and training held during Farmers Week. Two topics were presented to attendees, asking them to consider how to encourage young people to develop skills for a career in Camp, and also where should young people learn Agriculture.
MLA Leona Roberts, portfolio holder for Education, said the phrasing for the first question was ‘a career in camp’ and not specifically a career in agriculture.
The wording was to widen the focus from only agricultural roles to other careers which would benefit camp.
Ideas from this workshop are being reviewed with a plan being brought to the education board during term one, and updates sent to the Rural Business Association.
On the benefits of training overseas, attendees to the workshop were asked if there is a significant benefit to studying in New Zealand or Australia, versus the UK. This was met with ‘a firm yes’, with participants believing agricultural education in these countries delivers more benefit than the same education in the UK.
However Ms Stannard added participants didn’t want this to limit those who would prefer to go to the UK to study.
An update was given on options for the inspection of Schools and Stanley House with two potential schemes identified.
The British Schools Overseas Scheme (BSO) currently has 277 schools participating, and requires inspections every three years.
Standards inspected are comparable to British independent school standards, and the Department for Education’s national minimum standards for Boarding Schools. Ofsted monitor the BSO process for quality assurance.
The second identified option is COBIS Accreditation and Compliance Scheme, which has 240 schools participating.
Reviews are scheduled after one year, and three years, with a full re-inspection every five years.
Schools may apply for compliance only, which covers areas including safeguarding, student welfare, facilities, governance and boarding.
Alternatively, they can apply for Compliance and Accreditation Standards, which adds learning and teaching, leadership in the school, communication and extra-curricular, enrichment and engagement.
Quality Assurance is provided by the UK Quality Assurance Agency.
The Education Department plan to review the details of both systems, and hold meetings with COBIS and at least one of the BSO inspection organisations.
They will also take up references from schools who use these systems, before discussing with the Treasury whether a financial dispensation can be granted for the appointment of a service, and hope to bring a recommendation to the September Board Meeting.