Apart from a pledge to introduce "master principals" in schools, education got little more than a passing mention in yesterday's Throne Speech — prompting criticism from both opposition parties.

But new Minister Dame Jennifer Smith told a press conference she had lots of ideas for shaking up the public school system and was confident she could "take our young people to the next level of education".

Premier Paula Cox told the same press conference that, meaning no disrespect to past Ministers, former Premier Dame Jennifer had been appointed because sometimes "you have to pull out your even bigger guns" to get the job done.

Ms Cox, suggesting Education was seen by many as the most important Ministry, said she was astonished at how many meetings the new Minister had held since being sworn-in on Monday.

Dame Jennifer told the media: "You'll probably see me making an announcement each week from now to December. We are working on a number of areas and as they come we will be telling you, the press, first."

She promised to speak in plain English, avoiding what she called "educationese".

The Minister explained that legislation to enable Bermuda College to be moved from her Ministry under the control of the new Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry would hopefully be tabled this parliamentary session.

In response to a question about how she would succeed in reforming schools where past Ministers have failed, she said: "I don't know how to answer that because it presupposes some things."

She added: "What I will bring to it is a method of working that seems to get cooperation."

As an example, Dame Jennifer cited a planned scheme to have construction firms adopt schools and carry out repair work on ailing buildings.

She said Health Minister Zane DeSilva, head of Island Construction, had already offered to sponsor a school in his constituency and had found someone willing to sponsor another.

Government pledged in the Throne Speech to bring master principals into schools to complement the newly introduced Cambridge Curriculum in maths, science and English and "model effective instructional leadership which leads to improved teacher quality".

"This step will be part of a deliberate strengthening of site leadership to support further autonomy at the schools," it said.

The speech continued: "Amendments will be made to the Education Act to strengthen the Board of Education and to ensure that the structure for accountability that is to be created by the Board and the Commissioner of Education is holistic and addresses all relevant constituencies. These actions will increase student achievement, our foremost priority."

The speech also referred to a "health module" in senior schools which will see graduates directly employed in the health care fields for which they are trained.

United Bermuda Party leader Kim Swan said: "We did not see anything in the speech that gave us confidence the Government will finally break the logjam they created in education reform."

Craig Cannonier, leader of Bermuda Democratic Alliance, said: "We do note that there was next to nothing said in terms of reform of the education system and pray that this is simply because there is a new Minister in place."