Results of Teachers' Survey published

06 June 2016

Just under half of all teachers (45%) in Jersey’s States and private schools took part in the first island-wide Teachers’ Survey last autumn 2015, and the results are published today.

One of the main results is that 87% of teaching professionals say they are satisfied with their current role.

Chief Education Officer Justin Donovan said "I would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete the survey because the information provided is invaluable. Not only does it enable us to understand how the teaching profession is feeling about working in Jersey at this time, it also provides us with good statistical data about where improvements could and should be made."

Four key issues or themes have emerged from the responses:

• the health and wellbeing of staff
• teachers’ perceptions of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training
• how Senior Leadership Teams in schools support their classroom teachers
• fair rewards for additional responsibilities.

Discussion of teachers' concerns

Mr Donovan added "We would like to understand these themes in more detail so we will be holding four focus groups with a cross-section of teachers. This will enable us to discuss teachers’ concerns in more depth and really understand the issues.

"It has been a time of great change in education across Britain, with a new curriculum and reformed exams, and this has inevitably had an impact on teachers in Jersey as well. It’s important we continue to monitor how our teachers are coping and support them as much as possible."

The survey came about as a direct result of the Education Partnership with the NASUWT teachers’ union, which was launched in autumn 2015, and discussions with the Education Forum, which includes representatives of the other main teaching unions in Jersey.

Education Minister Deputy Rod Bryans said "I’ve said before that great teaching and inspiring teachers are the key to a successful education so we have to really understand the factors that underpin that. It’s important we listen to what our teachers are saying about their work and gather the information together in a structured way so that we can use the results to make improvements."

The focus groups, each including eight to ten teachers, will take place at the end of June and in early July.