Minister for Education and Development Paula Cox has announced that 27 people have so far applied to train as teachers at Bermuda College this year.

In the House of Assembly, she said the one-year teacher training course was proving to be popular among people in Bermuda hoping for a new career in education. The Minister said the course last year, which was the first of its kind on the Island, had proved to be a major success, resulting in 23 newly qualified teachers ready to enter the Government school system this September.

She said the course, which is run in conjunction with Wheelock College in Boston, had the same standard of instruction as participants would have received at an institution overseas.

However, she said the programme enabled those people unable to go overseas to train as teachers, due to financial or job restrictions, to achieve their goal on the Island. And Ms Cox said the course had included 300 hours of "rigorous supervised" practical teaching in classrooms around Bermuda.

The Minister said already this summer, 27 people had shown an interest in starting on the second course next month.

She said: "They will follow the same rigorous set of courses as their predecessors, and will rise to fill vacancies as teachers."

But she warned that the course was "not an easy road for the participants to travel".

She added: "It required commitment to the cause and loyalty to the idea of becoming a teacher.

The Minister said applicants were selected based on their academic standing from previous courses undertaken, and their references.However, she said preference in admissions was given to those people already employed in the Government education system, and who possessed degrees in those areas where there was a critical need for specialised teachers, such as science, math, and social studies.