Politics and antiquated teaching methods are partially to blame for the current state of public education, according to Dr. Lou Matthews, who worked on the six-person team led by UK professor Dr. David Hopkins which recently released a damning report on the education system.

The comprehensive review released last week made recommendations for an overhaul of the Ministry of Education and a “rapid raising of standards”.

Yesterday, Dr. Matthews said that while the report found the move to the middle school system was “a mistake” there are examples of the system working elsewhere. The problem, he said, was how it was done.

“The moves to middle schools and senior schools were monumental shocks to the system,” he said. “Let me say that in and of themselves, a shift to middle school philosophy or a comprehensive senior school is not bad.

“Yet the transition, as it was driven politically, did not build from the successes.”

Dr. Matthews said education had become a political football.

“We are seeing the results of using education as the backdrop to political positioning in this country,” he said.

“While I understand that this aspect of the political process is commonplace in democracies, I don’t believe that our system has been sufficiently insulated from political fluctuations.”

Dr. Matthews, who taught at both Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy before working overseas, said one of the problems was that over the years Bermuda has taken on methods from abroad but not incorporated them with the strengths of Bermudian culture.

“We have been in a restructuring mode since the early 90s,” he said. “Yet, our national mindset has been to borrow ‘things’ from other places, which in and of itself isn’t bad, it just doesn’t automatically lead to excellent and innovative practice. Innovation and excellence are engineered specifically around local constraints and factors.

“Existent factors for success were: a sense of neighbourhood, which many have lamented as lost; excellent education principals; Bermudian connectedness; high standards and personal accountability.

“As we borrowed, we ought to have infused the best qualities of what we had into the new ‘system’, in a sense engineering or evolving as we go.”

Dr. Matthews added that the restructuring concentrated on buildings and curriculum while failing to focus on the transition expected from teachers.

This meant that many teachers were not up to date on the latest teaching methods and relied on methods which concentrate on passive learners, such as copying notes from the board. Nowadays teachers should be ensuring students are engaged and exploring curriculum content instead of learning it verbatim, he said.

“The problem is that standards being promoted today require a ‘paradigm’ shift in teaching,” Dr. Matthews said.

“Students in today’s environments are being asked to learn more content, earlier, and in more depth than any generation in recent years.

“In short, changes in the culture of teaching have not kept apace of modern day expectations for teaching and learning.”

During the review, Dr. Matthews and the team visited the 25 public schools on the Island and sat in on 100 lessons. In the report unveiled last week the team recommended an overhaul of the Ministry of Education, which it said was a “poorly led and mismatched organisation” that is “secretive”, “paternalistic” and “stifles” progress in education.

It also said principals should spend more time in classes, the quality of teaching should be addressed and curriculum streamlined.

Despite the findings, Dr. Matthews said there were reasons to be optimistic.

“From the outset of the team’s work, there was clear indication in talking with stakeholders, of consensus ‘willingness’ for change,” he said.

“This last consensus view that emerged as we were doing our work, I have found to be rare in other school change situations with my work with students in the US.

“I have never seen the Island more unified over one issue and goal. This to me has been our strength, historically — the ability to transform.

“We must now call on this strength.”

Dr. Matthews has taught in several US states at the college level. He received a PhD in Mathematics Education from Illinois State University in 2002. Much of his current research is based on how teachers incorporate visions of culturally relevant mathematics teaching into practice and the mathematics experiences of Black students in schools.