The candidates standing in the Douglas East constituency are: Clare Barber, Joney Faragher, Peter Gilmour, Michael Josem, Jon Joughin, Christine Urquhart and Amanda Walker.
The Isle of Man Branch of NAHT is striving to put education front and centre of this general election and have been encouraged by the response of candidates to join in and participate in our hustings. Although all of the Douglas East candidates were invited to our hustings to demonstrate their passion and commitment to education, it was ultimately four of the seven candidates who chose to join us: Peter Gilmour, Joney Faragher, Amanda Walker, and Michael Josem. I’m sure the electorate will bear this in mind when casting their votes at the ballot box.
The following clips set out a flavour of how the hustings event unfolded, beginning with the candidates’ opening statements:
Opening statements
The evening began with the candidates drawing lots to determine the order of the speakers. Charing the event was NAHT member and Isle of Man Administrative Secretary Jonathan Ayres . He began proceedings by inviting each candidate to make an opening statement.
Teachers’ pay
A novel question from the floor asked the candidates to consider a rather radical proposal: double teachers pay but compel them to reapply for their job every five years. Here’s how the candidates responded:
The post C19 landscape
Candidates were quizzed next on their views of the effect of the C19 pandemic on education, particularly the national lockdowns.
A range of question topics under the theme of education
There were lots of great questions from the floor over the course of the hustings event. As well as those questions captured in the video footage which features in this blog, the candidates were quizzed on their passion for education; and by young voters concerned about funding and accommodation options existing within the Isle of Man.
Audio recording
Candidate Michael Josem made an audio recording of the entire event and has given permission for this to be shared together with an unedited transcript which is available on his website. It is available here, though please do pay regard to the notices around the accuracy of the transcript which has been generated by an automated speech recognition service.
Audio recording courtesy of candidate Michael Josem
The Isle of Man Branch of NAHT has organised a series of hustings events focused on education. It is an opportunity for school staff, parents, governors and anyone else interested in the future of education on the island to hear from the candidates. Hustings # 4 will be held on Thursday evening (16th September 2021) in the constituency of serving Education Minister Alex Allinson, one of the candidates in the constituency of Ramsey.
The NAHT manifesto for education in the Isle of Man can be seen here ⬇️
manxmaxim.com 