The future of middle schools — introduced two decades ago under the United Bermuda Party — is a topic that continues to divide opinion.

The Progressive Labour Party has pledged to phase them out, saying it would introduce signature schools at the secondary level focusing on “individual learning styles and interests”.

Meanwhile, the One Bermuda Alliance’s election platform avoids the issue of middle schools altogether.

The Hopkins Report, produced in 2007 under the PLP, found that there was “no doubt” that the move to middle schools was “a mistake” for numerous reasons including lack of continuity. However, the review team concluded that a structural response could also “cause more confusion and instability” and therefore stopped short of making a formal recommendation.

It said such a move would not address what it called “the real issue — the low quality of teaching and learning”.

Shadow education minister Diallo Rabain has argued the PLP met that goal in its last term in power.

One Hopkins recommendation that has been met was the aligning of the curriculum, through the implementation of the Cambridge Curriculum in 2010.

In 2016, St George’s Prep and St David’s Primary School recorded the island’s best average Cambridge grade over the previous four years. St George’s Preparatory School principal Mary Lodge said that a fundamental reason for her students’ success was an emphasis on reading while she also cited the benefits, as an aided school, of having the autonomy to hire its own teaching staff.

This was a potential benefit identified in the Hopkins Report, which said: “Schools have neither substantially delegated budgets nor much real autonomy. The governors of aided schools have greater freedoms than in other schools, for example — to identify the teachers they wish to appoint.”

While Bermuda has struggled to keep up with international standards with Cambridge, there is good reason, according to Ms Lodge who spoke to The Royal Gazette on the issue last year.

The relatively low Cambridge Primary Checkpoint results in English, Maths and Science in the public schools did not take into consideration the socio-economic factors that can affect performance, she said.

“Bermuda is the only country or school district where everybody sits the checkpoint exam,” she told us at the time. “The reason this is important is that the other schools that are sitting this exam are international schools, charter schools, schools of diplomats’ children — therefore all standardised tests show a bias towards socio-economic standards.”

When approached this week for comment, Ms Lodge was keen that the positive elements in the public education system be highlighted.

She said: “Our primary school averages for English and Science meet international standards. The middle school reform is taking hold and students are taking O Levels early, in some cases. The dual enrolment with senior schools is the most exciting advance in a generation. Build on what is working. Stop the public dialogue that makes it sound like everything in public education is a failure. We have much to applaud.”

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