schools when they return to Canada this week. They have just completed a month's teaching practice in two local schools as part of their degree courses at Queen's University in Ontario.

Joanne McQuarrie taught at Port Royal School in Southampton and Karen Craig at Gilbert Institute in Paget. They will both graduate next month with double, or "concurrent'' five-year degrees, where the Bachelor of Education is taken alongside the selected primary degree.

They are part of the 40 or so Queen's students who complete this specialised training by spending a short spell in various schools around the world. They had to pay their own way here, but cut down on expenses by staying in the homes of other teachers.

"There are people from Queen's who have gone as far afield as Australia and Bangladesh. But I wanted to go to a small country so that I could get to know the whole place, rather than a tiny corner. Living with Bermudians has given me a wonderful opportunity to get to know the people and to do some of the things that Bermudians do. It's been a great experience,'' said Miss McQuarrie.

She believes it is invaluable for teachers to travel abroad, to see and compare the educational philosophies and facilities of other countries.

"The first things that struck me was the politeness of the children and that the school itself was very well equipped,'' she said.

She was impressed to see that Port Royal had computers in just about every room, laser discs and other electronic teaching aids: "It is far better equipped than most of the schools I've seen in Ontario'' -- an observation that may surprise some Bermudians.

Miss Craig found herself rather disconcerted by the children all wearing uniform.

"Up till now, I had used the children's appearance to help me remember their names, but I couldn't do that in Bermuda, as they're all dressed alike,'' she said laughing.

The other major difference, in her view, was that Bermuda's schools seemed to be more structured, especially when it came to reading.

"Children of five and six were busy learning how to read at Gilbert. Now in Canada, children of that age are given more time to explore and play and concentrate on social interaction,'' she said, admitting that the end result appeared to be about the same, as older children in both systems were at the same stage of literacy.

"I liked the fact that Bermuda teachers read to the children a lot. They are very encouraging of the whole reading process here.'' Miss McQuarrie was highly complimentary about the behaviour of Bermudian children, commenting that there is "far less swearing'' than in Canadian schools. She believes that the more polite and calmer atmosphere in Port Royal's classrooms may be partly due to the fact that Bermuda has not adopted Canada's "main streaming'' system, under which children with physical or emotional problems are allowed to take their place alongside normal children in the classroom.

And while she admitted that, in an idealistic sense, this may be the "right'' thing to do, in practical terms, she claimed it can cause havoc and certainly makes a teacher's life far more difficult.

"Maybe Canada's experiment would work if we had the support assistants we were originally promised. But cuts in funding have meant that teachers very rarely get any support at all. It's not unusual to have children with Down's Syndrome, autistic children who have fits, and children on very strong medication for hyper-activity, lumped together with specially gifted children, who also have very different needs. I must admit I prefer not to have main streaming as you get so much more done.'' Miss Craig, on the other hand, and perhaps because she was luckier in the assistance of specialists during her teaching practices in Canada, feels that the new system is a good one that benefits everybody.

"It certainly helps disadvantaged children to lead more normal lives and gives them role models to emulate,'' she said.

Another difference noted by Miss Craig was that religion still plays a role in the life of Bermuda schools.

"In Canada, we are not allowed to touch it in the classroom, or at morning assemblies. We don't even say The Lord's Prayer anymore because Canada is now such a multi-cultured country and it's felt it wouldn't be appropriate.'' Miss McQuarrie agreed with this observation, adding that the nearest thing to religion in morning assemblies in Canada is "a moment's silence for personal reflection''. In fact, she noted, morning assemblies are virtually a thing of the past in larger schools. "Usually, it's a P.A. system broadcasting messages all over the school!'' Both countries, she felt, have problems with the fact that today's children seem to have a shorter attention span and she blames this squarely on the effects of television.

"When I was growing up, my dad got rid of the TV because we were spending too much time watching it, so I never really came up against this problem until I got to university.'' Now, she said, children, on average, have a 30-second attention span, which happens to be the average time allotted to information items on TV. "So in the classroom you end up doing mini-lessons -- and if you don't have laser lights and all sorts of things like that, it's really tough to keep their attention for any length of time at all.'' But, according to Miss McQuarrie, physical education fares better here, probably, she said, because of Bermuda's kinder climate.

"Canadian children are couch potatoes because for much of the year, the weather is too bad for them to go out and play, so they're basically unfit.

Here, the children are playing out of doors all year round, involved in sports and swimming, and there's not quite so much temptation to watch TV or the VCR.'' She was impressed also, with the Bermudian practice of encouraging even young children to keep homework diaries.

"They begin this in kindergarten -- even if they are just told to colour a picture, which then has to be signed by a parent. Canadian parents would go out of their minds if they had to cope with this every night! But I think it's a good thing, as it helps children to learn how to organise their time, it teaches priorities and when they get to high school they are much better prepared.'' Both student teachers said they were grateful for the opportunity of staying in private homes, where they have both seen aspects of the Island which they feel they would have missed as tourists.

"It's so friendly here. I can't get used to people beeping just to say `hallo'. I went to see the Canadian base before it closed down, took part in a sailing race and went to the christening of Port Royal's new dinghy. I even saw the Gombey dancers, quite by chance, one evening at the Southampton Princess. And I love walking the railway trail. It's so beautiful. I'll be back,'' enthused Miss McQuarrie.

This sentiment was echoed by Miss Craig, who said she had spent much of her leisure time in walking, especially on the beaches.

"It's been a fantastic experience,'' she said, "I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world!'' KAREN CRAIG of Queen's University completed her teacher practice course at Gilbert Institute.

THE CANADIAN CONNECTION -- Two student teachers from Queen's University spent a month teaching in Bermuda's primary schools. Here, Miss Joanne McQuarrie helps Christopher Taylor and Sarah Cooper with a reading lesson at Port Royal School.