Major improvements in student behaviour have been reported after a pilot scheme at three primary schools.

Education Minister Terry Lister said staff at Harrington Sound, Somerset and Elliott Primary Schools had noticed a marked improvement in how students handled conflicts.

Staff were trained intensively over two days as part of the ?Living Values? character education program, first introduced in September 2003.

And, with the scheme due to be rolled out in another six schools from March, the Minister said he was pleased with the results of the trial.

?This is what we wanted to see,? he said in a statement last night. ?The staff had begun to make the connections between role-modelling for students, the correct approach to conflicts, and then followed through with students as they practised non-confrontational approaches.

?Each school recorded an 80 per cent drop in student office referrals within the first year of the programme.?

Mr. Lister said the Ministry of Education and Development had decided to join a growing global movement towards character education, in an attempt to address declining standards of behaviour in society.

Pointing to the ?gradual erosion? of behavioural standards in Bermuda over the last four decades, he added: ?We need to return to the values which made Bermuda the unique community that it was.

?We all recognise there has been a change in attitude in Bermuda, and we have to do something about it. Thus, we have adopted a proactive approach by doing our part through public information.?

He said character education equipped youngsters with core values promoting responsibility and ethical citizenship. And he said parents also had an important role to play at home.