A school that gives adult learners a chance to succeed academically has shared how it increased its enrolment almost ten fold by identifying where the traditional education system had not worked for its students.

The Adult Education School has enjoyed significant growth since temporarily closing in the summer of 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It had only nine learners in 2022. It now has 85 and hopes to expand to meet increasing demand.

When the school closed during the pandemic, its board led a comprehensive study of adult education needs, which found there was a significant demand for such services.

The study led to a “reimagining” of its offerings in 2022, starting with a pilot GED [General Education Development] scheme that soon evolved into the full GED programme that it offers today.

Since 2022, there have been 39 GED graduates and the Dundonald Street school, a registered charity, now has five tutors and two pathway co-ordinators.

Tim Smith, the lead pathway co-ordinator, said: “When we went into the community and asked if there was a need for the school, the resounding answer was yes, there is a desperate need.

“We spoke with learners, potential learners, former learners, other educational groups and donors.

“The donors always say they would give money to education. They realise they want to be in a community where everyone is educated.

“In the years leading up to Covid, the numbers had started to dwindle and the feedback we got during the feasibility study was that people were coming here and not succeeding.

“The reasons they were failing here were usually the same barriers they were faced with in school and that was when the pathway co-ordination job was created.

“My role is to meet the learner when they first arrive, drill down to what that barrier was and make sure that barrier doesn’t come up again.”

In November 2022, Arlene Brock, a former ombudsman, was hired as managing director and with programme director Thaao Dill relaunched the school in line with the findings of the study.

This included providing free, tailored tutoring and pathway co-ordination; building a close relationship with each learner to identify and remove barriers to academic success; and creating an environment in which falling short is regarded as a necessary step towards the final goal and every small victory is celebrated.

They also co-ordinated support from family members.

Mr Smith added: “My first task was to recruit learners, which involved placing an advert in the media, calling potential learners and their parents, and inviting them to take a chance and join us.

“Enrolment has grown to what it is now mostly through word of mouth.”

Programming includes assessments, life skills classes, job-hunting workshops, interview practice sessions and guidance on further education and careers for all learners.

Additionally, the school’s assessment service is now being taken up by growing numbers of organisations across Bermuda and the model may be able to help generate revenue for its operation going forward.

Mr Smith commended the teaching approach of the school’s tutors, including Nkenge Warren-Swan and Daniel Hill, two veteran teachers who have taught at several Bermuda public schools.

Mr Hill said it was important that a learner was not treated as a subordinate.

He said: “They are handled explicitly like equal partners in the management of their academic life progress. We don’t do anything without their consent.

“Also, each person is working at their grade level. It is very personalised.

“The work that is being done here is awesome and unspeakably unrecognised.

“When I went in June to a graduation with 20-plus students, students the system predicted would never get a further education who were now finishing high school, to me that is awesome.”

He said the school played a wider societal role, including helping some learners who may have negative influences in their lives.

“You get a chance to touch the lives of young Black men, some of whom need a role model, someone to guide them, take them off the streets and lead them into a career,” Mr Hill said.

“They left school because they didn’t want to be there. They never knew they were intelligent because there were too many other things that got in the way.

“It’s a joy to turn that around and to teach someone who now wants to learn.

“I have the best job in the world.”

Mr Smith agreed: “My observation is that we can very quickly make an impact with young Black men aged between 16 and 20 because when they come here they are guaranteed to get positive voices from sensible adults in their life and that makes a difference.”

The school also prides itself on allowing its experienced tutors to teach the way they find works best for each student.

Mr Dill said: “Everybody is capable as long as they receive the right support and whatever that looks like, that’s what we deliver.

“These are master tutors. They have been doing this for decades and have been successful. Why would we tell you how to teach?”

Ms Swan, who was tempted out of retirement by Ms Brock to teach at the school, reflected: “You educate your people, you build your environment, you build your community. When you don’t, you see the various maladies that come our way.

“Meet them where they are and take them from that point forward and recognise the different ways of learning.

“I have had some experience in determining what type of strategies you can use to support students who have those various modalities and I don’t always call them challenges. There is just a different way in which to learn and I meet that.

“I love the independence of how I am able to support and assist every student as well.

“You have a problem you presented and a child doesn’t get it, then you can go and find a method that works.

“It allows you to be creative. You can explore new things for that student.”

• To learn more about the Adult Education School and its programmes, visit www.aesbda.org or support at www.ptix.bm/Event/8583/