Education Ministers from the three Crown Dependencies met last Friday, 20th March, to discuss areas of common interest and explore more opportunities for close working between the three jurisdictions.
 
Deputy Robert Sillars, Guernsey’s Education Minister, said: ‘We have had very fruitful discussions today as Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey face common issues and challenges. By working together in the past, in areas such as Higher Education, we have been successful and we want to continue sharing knowledge, resources and experience over more areas in the future.’
 
Tim Crookall MHK, Minister for Education and Children in the Isle of Man, said: ‘Discussions today have been invaluable on how high schools in an Island context could work more closely together. We have also had detailed discussions on how to further develop higher education opportunities in Island communities, which will clearly benefit young people in all our Islands. We look forward to progressing these ideas.’
 
Deputy Rod Bryan, Jersey’s Minister of Education, Sport and Culture, said: ‘It is clear that the three jurisdictions are facing very similar challenges. It makes sense for us to bring our collective experiences and skills together to develop imaginative solutions to these issues. I look forward to working productively with Guernsey and the Isle of Man in the years to come.’
 
The Ministers have identified three key action areas which will be taken forward:

•         Sharing experiences and developing the soft federation model (Guernsey)
•         Researching the scope for on-Island higher education (Isle of Man)
•         Coordinating the measurement of impacts of early intervention strategies (Jersey).