A group of 35 aspiring teachers filed into their Bermuda College classroom yesterday afternoon.

They were not your average fresh-faced college freshmen as the men and women in this room ranged in age from early 20s to upwards of 40.

But they were eager to begin the new programme which will see them qualify as primary teachers over the next year and they arrived on time with crisp new notebooks and fresh pens and pencils.

The students are the "pioneers" of Bermuda's first effort at local teacher training.

They were greeted by Minister of Education Milton Scott and President of Wheelock College - the American school with which Bermuda has partnered to offer the training - Dr. Marjorie Brakken.

Mr. Scott told the students Bermuda had been contemplating starting such a programme for more than a decade, but intensive efforts over the last year had finally made it a reality.

Over the next year, the students will undertake evening courses and perform 300 hours of co-teaching in Bermuda's schools.

They will schooled in curriculum design and literacy and numeracy strategies intended to reach diverse learners. And in the end they will replenish Bermuda's teaching ranks.

"Next year, we will be able to recruit locally certified teachers for our primary schools programme," Mr. Scott said yesterday.

And he praised the partner institution as a "diverse" college with a wonderful reputation.

"Congratulations not only for being pioneers," added Wheelock president Dr. Brakken. "But also congratulations on making the decision to work with children in schools - to be in education. It is one of the noblest professions one can have."

Student Juanita Telford agreed with the sentiment. She told The Royal Gazette she became interested in becoming a teacher through her work as a school nurse with the Department of Health.

"Part of my job involves teaching Health Education and I really enjoyed that part of the job," she said. "So that got me thinking I'd like to be a teacher full-time. I enrolled in the programme to confirm that teaching is what I really want to do."

Mr. Scott has been particularly pleased that despite a world-wide dearth of male teachers, nearly a third of the students in Bermuda's new programme are men.

"I'm happy to say the number of males in the programme is higher than most educational institutions and even Wheelock College itself," said Mr. Scott.

One of the men enrolled in the programme, Kevin Dill, said that primary students were exactly the age group he wanted to work with and that he had returned to Bermuda specifically to do so.

Mr. Dill said he had been working as a restaurant manager in Los Angeles when he heard about the new training programme.

"I want to become a teacher and to be able to do it here in Bermuda and not have to pack up and go abroad is great," he said.

The Ministry of Education said yesterday in a press release that over 40 applications had been received for the initial year of the course and late applications and expressions continue to arrive.

And Mr. Scott told the students gathered yesterday that next year the Ministry hopes to offer students the opportunity to pursue a Masters in Education degree through Wheelock without leaving the Island.