More Vision please

The typewriter keyboard as we now know it was configured in 1874, some say to deliberately slow down the typist. People were getting too quick for the existing technology and so the keyboard had to be changed to fit the machine’s capacity.

Since then, a number of more efficient keyboard designs have been marketed but none have able to succeed because most of the typewriters in the world have the QWERTY keyboard. Why would you want to go against the world standard?
 
This is the problem facing our Education department with their new Vision. They seem to want to reinvent education in the face of a world where everyone relies on the current exam system as proof of competence.
 
Will the world follow Guernsey?
 
No.
 
In ten years time we might be producing the most well rounded individuals to come out of any school system but if they haven’t got those pieces of paper, it’s going to require a far sighted employer or university to take the risk of working with these unproven quantities.
 
The problem though is that the department is right. The current education system is out of date, inefficient and not fit for purpose in the 21st century.
 
So, how to change for the better but still show our children as qualified?
 
What do world class employers look for in terms of qualifications?
 
What do local employers look for?
 
How about UK universities?
 
Right or wrong, these are the benchmarks we need to be aiming for.
 
Can we do both?
 
Can we reinvent an education system which takes advantage of all of the things we now know about learning and make best use of the tools now available to us whilst at the same time equipping our children to pass UK national or recognised international exams?
 
Yes, I think we can but to do so needs careful and detailed planning.
 
Will this be what Guernsey ends up with?
 
We’ll have to wait for Education to produce something other than a Vision.  Something which states this is what we want to do and this is how we’re going to do it.
 
Something with specific, measurable, achievable and realistic targets with a defined time frame of implementation. This isn’t rocket science, it’s basic business planning.
 
Education have the expertise within their organisation to do these things and a seeming willingness to instigate change for the better.
 
I’m sure that they already have something more specific in mind if not already being worked on. 

I’d just like them to tell the rest of us.