The following summary of the Review of Public Education document was released by Government on Sunday afternoon.

The Review of Public Education in Bermuda was commissioned by the Minister of Education, Sports and Recreation in February 2007, undertaken in March and reported April 2007. The aims of the Review were:

* to evaluate the effectiveness of public education in Bermuda and identify strengths and areas for improvement;

* and, to provide evidence for a thorough reform of the public education system using a transparent methodology with very clear recommendations for action that will result in rapid improvement of this sector of government within short time scales.

The review was based on direct observation of education taking place in Bermuda. All public primary, middle, secondary and special schools were visited as well as a sample of pre-schools and Bermuda College. Over one hundred lessons were observed. The process included interviews with key stakeholders, analysis of documentation and performance data, public meetings and over 100 e-mail contributions were received. The Review was conducted openly, with the support of the Minister, the Cabinet and the Premier.

WHAT THE REVIEW FOUND

Overall

Only just over one third of public schools in Bermuda are good or better in terms of their effectiveness. A small amount of outstanding work was seen. In contrast, the great majority of schools were satisfactory at best, and four were inadequate and a serious cause for concern.

As a group, the middle schools were least effective. There are areas of under-performance throughout the school system, which become more evident as students get older. As a result, many do not make the progress they should. The professional leadership of education through the Ministry is inadequate and the Board of Education ineffective.

Standards of achievement The Review confirms the public perception that standards in Bermudan schools are not as high as they could be. Students in the great majority of pre-schools and primary schools however achieve at least satisfactory standards. Students make a slow start and insufficient progress in middle schools and generally achieve standards that are too low by the end of this phase. This reduces the effectiveness of the secondary schools and contributes both to the low rates of graduation and to standards which, by the end of schooling, compare unfavourably to private schools in Bermuda and public education in England and the USA.

The quality of teaching and learning

A number of factors contribute to the widespread under-performance in schools, the most telling of which relates to the quality of teaching and learning. It must be a major concern that an unacceptably high proportion of teaching — about one lesson in four — is inadequate and there is little which is outstanding.

Much teaching is typified by low expectations and limited pedagogic skill, and little of the class teaching observed was geared to the needs of individual learners. This reflects adversely on school leadership and has implications for the initial training, selection and professional development of teachers in Bermuda and for accountability and performance management.

The quality of school leadership

School principals are generally efficient in administering their schools. They are less effective in assuring the quality of teaching and learning. They make use of such data as there is and interpret the curriculum framework as best they can.

But the benign appraisal and reporting arrangements for teachers are no substitute for close and continuing monitoring and improvement of the quality of teaching and learning in their schools. In many cases, this requires principals to spend more time in classes, evaluating the quality of education and the extent to which all students are learning. There is a culture of low expectations and lacklustre teaching that only principals can address. To do so would have an immediate impact on pupils’ progress and behaviour.

Curriculum

The curriculum is inconsistent between schools. This variation becomes a problem when pupils from different schools move up to the next school, and lose momentum. This argues for much closer curriculum links between schools or groups of schools. The Bermudian curriculum and the accompanying standards, which are of recent origin, cover a wealth of content but are not sufficiently clear, coherent or demanding to contribute much to the raising of achievement. There is insufficient attention given to the teaching of Bermudian history and a lack of focus on sports and athletics.

Equality and inclusion issues, special educational needs

Most children having special educational needs are included in mainstream schools. The reading recovery programme can make a crucial contribution early in the child’s primary schooling. Learning support arrangements, however, are being used too indiscriminately and extensively to compensate for inadequate teaching of reading in the classroom.

Strategic and operational leadership

The Ministry has lost the trust and confidence of schools and the public. It is a poorly-led and mismanaged organisation, lacking in strategic vision and the skills to realise it. The Ministry exercises much control but little leadership — it is secretive and operates through direction.

Schools are overly regimented by the Ministry for Education on which they are dependent for information, guidance and support.

Senior staff have not acted to identify and improve the schools — including one at secondary, one at middle and two at primary level — which are, on the evidence of the Review, failing to provide consistently satisfactory education for their students. The Ministry stifles initiatives suggested by schools and its own education officers and is on balance a barrier to educational progress. It has no apparent standards of service, and although the system is awash with resources, they are not deployed where they are needed.

The Ministry urgently needs a radical overhaul together with the appointment of exceptional leadership and first rate management in order to improve public education.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Although these findings present a fairly bleak picture of the school system in Bermuda there is one very strong redeeming feature. It is clear that there is a strong potential for improvement amongst the great majority of teachers and principals.

Indeed this potential seems also to be linked with a strong desire to improve — a desire that has been inhibited by the paternalistic culture that has been engendered by the Ministry of Education.

For these reasons the Review Team believes that the most appropriate reform model for the Bermudian education system is one that is based on “re-professionalisation” rather than “restructuring” or some “market solutions” such as vouchers.

Both of these latter approaches have their attractions however.

There is no doubt, for example, that the move to the middle schools was a mistake but the Review Team believes that a structural response would only cause more confusion and instability and leave the real issue — the low quality of teaching and learning — untouched. Similarly a voucher system or something similar would put more choice and contestability into the system. It would be more efficient and save resource, but it would not address social equity.

The re-professionalisation reform model being proposed, if implemented well, has a number of advantages:

* It addresses the system as a whole and will have potentially positive and interactive impact at all levels.

* It will produce significant improvements in levels of student achievement within a short space of time.

* As the approach will be sequenced over time it will allow standards to continue to rise into the medium and long term.

* It will build capacity within the system allowing it to become increasingly self-sustaining and confident.

It is not an easy solution however — to be effective the “re-professionalisation reform model” requires co-ordinating many “moving parts” within the system.

This will require strong leadership and careful attention to detail particularly in the early phases of the work. There are ten interrelated elements to the reform model all of which need to be acted on over a short time period. The first five of these recommendations are however the most urgent and will bring the most early gains. Significant progress needs to be made in these areas during the school year 2007/08.

Recommendation 1: Dramatically improve the quality of teaching

Schools need to ensure that every lesson counts, by instituting quality assurance of teaching and learning, led by the principal to include:

* internal audit of the quality and effectiveness of teaching across the school, with external corroboration or validation;

* systematic monitoring of the progress of every pupil, reviewed regularly; |0xb7|annual objectives and performance review of everyone in the system, on a trial basis for 2007/2008;

* identify and appoint ‘excellent’ or ‘advanced skills’ teachers and give them an outreach developmental function.

Recommendation 2: Move quickly to improve the quality of leadership by principals

The quality of principal leadership is pivotal to the raising of standards of learning and teaching. The following actions will assist in principal development:

* performance management, including 360 degree appraisal, by a school improvement adviser and another principal or Consultant Leader;

* appointment of consultant leaders from off-Island to support the work of existing Principals as a mentor/coach;

* development of principal standards and high quality training opportunities.

Recommendation 3: Radically reform the Ministry of Education

There is a need for:

* An immediate change of ‘senior personnel’;

* A thorough reconfiguration of the Ministry in order to develop a culture that focuses on the schools as its clients.

This reform will result in a major restructuring of the Ministry with appointments to all posts on the basis of merit, with five year contracts and robust performance management.

The performance of the Ministry will be subject to scrutiny by the interim Executive Board.

Recommendation 4: Strengthen the strategic management of the education system

We recommend the appointment of an interim Executive Board, to implement the recommendations of this report and to act for the government in reforming the Ministry. The Board could be either a new body or a reconstituted and more powerful Board of Education. Once established, the interim Executive Board should develop a three-year strategic plan encompassing the BEST project and this review.

Recommendation 5: Introduce delegation and transparent accountability at all levels

The culture of paternalism and the prevalence of hierarchy are stifling professionalism and innovation within the education system. It is imperative that the system moves rapidly towards increased delegation of resources and responsibility, as well as enhanced school autonomy.

This will include:

* Establishing rigorous standards at P3, P6, M3, S2 and S4 and authentic testing annually for all students at these levels;

* Targets for student performance at each of these grades;

* Performance management at each level of the system; A system of annual school reviews.

Recommendation 6: Federate secondary and tertiary education and, as soon as possible, raise the school leaving age

These proposals are designed to address the very real concerns about graduation rates from the senior schools and the lack of coherent vocational provision on the Island.

* Increase the level of resource for vocational education and training in the two senior schools and Bermuda College.

* Federate the two senior schools with an Executive Principal for the Federation with a Head-teacher appointed to lead each school. The Federation would be governed by a Board with substantial delegated powers.

* Establish a curriculum consortium between the two senior schools and Bermuda College.

* Raise the school leaving age to 18.

Recommendation 7: Create self-governing Federations around clusters of primary schools and each middle school

This recommendation addresses the need to redress the problems created by the restructuring in 1997 with minimal system wide dislocation. The creation of federated Boards for each Middle School with its feeder Primaries would allow:

* a sequenced approach to devolution with each Board having some powers to hire and fire and control of resources;

* recognition of existing local arrangements;

* rapid alignment of curriculum and progression across the two phases of education;

* establishment of a secure platform of standards of teaching and achievement which would provide the basis for further restructuring options in the future.

Recommendation 8: Align the curriculum both vertically and horizontally

To ensure adequate progression between grades and phases of education and to place learning at the heart of the curriculum process, there needs to be a clear match between standards curriculum and assessment. In particular, sharpen, clarify and remove duplication for the curriculum standards expected by the end of P2, P4, P6, M3 and S2.

Recommendation 9: Respond to concerns about inclusion and behaviour

We consider that the weight of learning support in primary schools should focus on students with learning difficulties within the classroom rather than through withdrawal. The aim should be to equip them with the skills needed for engaging with the school curriculum.

Recommendation 10: Harness the power of parents, business and the community in the reform effort.

The Review Team believes that stakeholders should have greater direct involvement in the management of schools and have greater opportunities to support learning. The Review favours the appointment of boards, filled largely by election, to run schools or federations of schools, building on the current example of aided schools.

FinallyThe adoption and implementation of these recommendations will result in a rapid raising of standards in Bermudian schools. This is not a text book solution; it is not possible to start with a clean sheet of paper. Some of these interconnected recommendations are akin to trimming the sails of a yacht; others amount to replacing the keel. At present, many schools are coasting and will win no races.

These recommendations are informed by the principle of identifying the most effective strategies to impact on student learning with the minimum of disruption to the educational process.

This is to ensure that all students in the Island’s schools fully reach their potential.