Oct 26 - GSLP-Libs Present Education Policies Ahead Of Next Month’s Election
The GSLP-Liberal Alliance has pledged to relocate St Martin’s School as part of its education policy ahead of the upcoming elections.
The Leader of the GSLP and caretaker Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said they believe the school has “outgrown” its size, and needs better accessibility for its pupils who tend to have more physical disabilities. While currently in consultation with the teachers and parents, the GSLP-Liberal Alliance hopes to reveal plans for the new school in the party manifesto.
Referring to the provision of education over the past four years, since the GSLP-Liberal Alliance were elected, Mr Picardo said: “We said education was going to be our biggest investment in the last manifesto. Going through that manifesto and preparing our new manifesto now, it is really frankly quite incredible to see how detailed our commitments were and how well we have performed.”
The Minister for Education, Gilbert Licudi, said: “Education was one of the top priorities and we demonstrated that - we have put our money where our mouths were and we invested a lot of money in new schools, the university, infrastructure works, extension works.
“But what we have started is quite simply a process, we have made a great deal of progress but it is simply a process. Four years is not enough to do everything that we wanted to do or everything that can be done in education.
“The process has started in a big way, we started with a bang. And we need to continue in that way with the same sort of commitment we have had over the past four years.”
If elected into Government, the GSLP-Liberal Alliance has come up with an extensive policy on education, which Mr Licudi says will not only improve the infrastructure of the schools, but also enhance the quality of education in Gibraltar.
RELOCATION OF SCHOOLS
In addition to relocating St Martin’s School, the GSLP-Liberal Alliance will look to build a new first school on the Rooke site and move Governor’s Meadow School to that location. This in turn will enable Bishop Fitzgerald school to be rebuilt and expanded over the space vacated by Governor’s Meadow. There are also plans to refurbish and upgrade Bayside School to allow for additional classrooms and more facilities.
GIBRALTAR STUDIES
Gibraltar Studies will be introduced to all school children in first and middle schools as from September 2016. A curriculum will be introduced to allow the subject to be taught in a cohesive and properly structured way across all schools, and will include local history, economics, geology, natural history, flora and fauna, the environment and culture.
TECHNOLOGY
There will be a focus on introducing an interactive technology-based project to improve the learning experience for school children with the introduction and use of iPads or tablets in the classroom starting with middle schools.
WORKING WITH TEACHERS
The GSLP-Liberal Alliance is looking to restructure and improve, in consultation with the Gibraltar Teachers Association, the schools’ advisory service of the Department of Education.
This will include the upgrading of the assistant educational advisor post so that there will be four educational advisors with specific responsibility for the following areas: technology and learning; student welfare; curriculum development and human resources.
The party says it will further improve the assistance given to children with special education needs with specific attention given to mental health issues. The party, while in power, has already increased the number of Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) from 49 to have converted 17 part-time LSA’s to full-time and are providing additional LSAs to schools to cover any temporary needs of children which may arise.
They have also increased the complement of educational psychologists from one to two, and will engage a further educational psychologist so that the complement is increased to three.
{fcomment}
