The new Bermuda Educators' Council is to begin meeting in the coming weeks to implement and oversee the licensing and registering of all teachers on the Island.

Minister for Education and Development Paula Cox said a list of council members would be published in The Royal Gazette within the next few weeks, and they would then start meeting immediately. About 15 educators - including teachers and principals from private, public and special schools - union representatives, parents and members of the community, will meet regularly to thrash out how the licensing scheme should operate.

As part of the council's brief, it must ensure that all teachers in Bermuda have the qualifications and training to teach, as well as the development to enable them to continue teaching.

It will be independent from Government, and will act as a registration and professional body for all teachers on the Island. However, how it implements the licensing scheme could be a source of disagreement, as claims have already been made by the Bermuda Union of Teachers and the Opposition, the United Bermuda Party (UBP) that the new legislation did not go far enough.

They have both called for the licensing scheme to have some sort of qualifying exam.

During an interview with The Royal Gazette, Ms Cox said: "The process is moving on. We are soon going to be gazetting the membership of the council and that really is going to be your main thrust for moving it forward.

"I think it demystifies it, and also de-politicises it, and dare I say it, `de-Ministrycises' it, because certain things the Ministry should not be involved in. We don't need to have all the hot potatoes.

"Listening to the teachers around the table, they said `other professions had professional bodies and registration councils, why can't we'?

"I said that's exactly what the Bermuda Educators Council is. It's your baby, as opposed to us being the one in the ring negotiating, saying whether this is a good teacher or that's a good teacher. They will be the ones having ownership, and that's healthy."

During a lengthy debate in the House of Assembly last year, Ms Cox told Parliament that the council would also be responsible for the conduct of teachers, as well as their licensing.

Those that fail to meet the grade, will be taken off the register and forbidden to teach in Bermuda. Last year, the Minister said: "We have looked to see how best to maintain high professional standards, while not disadvantaging students because of bureaucratic rigidity.

"It really is aimed to be an empowering tool that helps us to enhance the quality and calibre of our education."

She said while the Ministry had created some guidelines for the council to work to, it would be up to the council itself to decide on the detail of the licensing scheme. But last year, both the BUT and the UBP raised concerns over the legislation to form the council, which they claimed was not far-reaching enough.

Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith said he believed the council would not improve standards, as little would change from the present situation, and he said Government had been walking on egg shells, giving the council precise direction in some areas, and leaving it open in others. He urged the council to demand all teachers be made to sit a qualifying exam in order to become licensed in Bermuda, and Mike Charles, general secretary of the BUT, agreed.

Mr. Charles said accepting teachers with a degree from a recognised college and some initial teacher training, as suggested by Government in the legislation, was no different to the present set-up and would not raise standards.

And Mr. Charles said the union also wished to see senior members of the Ministry licensed. When asked if the council would be deciding which qualifications it would or would not accept, Ms Cox said: "I think they (council members) have the ability to do that. While the legislation sets out the parameters, I think there are some areas they will need to thrash out.

"Just like within the Ministry, while we may give a clear undertaking that where we have people in the Ministry who are going to be acting, in terms of a supervisory role, principals and educators, we gave a clear commitment that their terms of contract would be revamped, so there is a requirement they are in compliance and are licensed.

"I think that that will be one of the sticking points and in my view that was one of the major sticking points the BUT had, and I gave an undertaking that that was going to be addressed."