A Parent Teacher Association is worried the imminent Terra Nova testing will serve as a battleground for teachers to stage industrial action — as they did three years ago.

Northlands PTA President Ruth Moran is making the claim two weeks before the testing is due to start.

Ms Moran said: “The teachers and principals at Government schools are once again working without contracts. Three years ago they were working without a contract and the teachers chose to boycott the Terra Nova testing. So all Government schools did not do the Terra Nova three years ago.

“No one has said to me they’re going to strike now, but they’re working without a contract again and the test was the bargaining chip they used three years ago.”

Bermuda Union of Teachers (BUT) general secretary Mike Charles was off the Island yesterday and unavailable for comment.

In May 2004 teachers staged work-to-rule action, refusing to perform custodial duties such as administrating exams and supervising recesses and lunches.

The tactic meant the public school system did not have the personnel it needed to conduct the Terra Nova in 2004. Local students had prepared for the assessment test, but never took it. Parents stepped in to assist the Ministry during the work-to-rule by monitoring pupils during recess and lunch periods, but parents were not trained to help administer the tests.

This time would be slightly different if teachers staged action because earlier this week the Ministry of Education announced it will recruit parents to serve as “observers” during the Terra Nova assessment tests.

Ms Moran is worried that tactic is a deliberate attempt by the Ministry to play defence. She suspects the Ministry is recruiting parents to temporarily replace teachers for the three-day Terra Nova exam, just in case the BUT takes industrial action.

Ms Moran said: “The Ministry of Education has put PTA presidents of Government schools in a horrible situation.

We are the parent-teacher association, we expect our teachers to support everything that we do. But yet the Ministry of Education is asking us to cross the picket line if in fact the teachers decide to go on strike.”

The BUT has said in a previous press statement that it has no objection to parent involvement, but felt the move was unprofessional because teachers were not consulted first.

It would be highly usual for parents to serve as exam invigilators because a parent could end up in the same room as a son or daughter. Plus the Ministry has specifically said parents would be “observers”, a role far less involved than invigilators.

Nonetheless Ms Moran is still concerned, especially because parents have been told to expect five hours of observer training.

“Five hours of training to wonder from classroom to classroom? The Ministry’s not telling us something,” she said.

The Ministry of Education declined comment on Ms Moran’s claim but referred The Royal Gazette to an April 24 release.

It stated: “Increasing the total number of observers increases the opportunity for all schools to have this form of support. Engaging parents in this process provides an opportunity for parents to play a more active role in what happens in schools.”

The Terra Nova is an annual assessment test given to a wide range of students between P3 and S2 in Mathematics and Reading. Officials use the results of the test to measure local students against their counterparts in North America.

This year’s tests are scheduled to run from May 8 to May 10.

PTA chief sees industrial trouble on the horizon