Teachers, parents and students from the Island's public schools have been speaking their minds to the Education Ministry at a series of round table talks designed to open up the lines of communication.

A number of meetings have already been held with staff and students from the pre-schools, primary, middle and senior schools, but more are planned as Minister Paula Cox aims to break down barriers and thrash out issues.

During an interview with The Royal Gazette, Ms Cox said since she had taken over the Ministry about 15 months ago, there had been a number of things that had stuck out in her memory.

However, she said the open meetings with educators, parents and pupils was perhaps one of the most meaningful and memorable, and she said she hoped to meet with as many people as possible.

“It's been tremendously busy, but I think one of the things that sticks out is an exercise where we were trying to make some sort of meaningful outreach into the educator community,” said Ms Cox.

“It's no secret that clearly there seems to have been some polarisation between the Ministry and some of our teachers, and I think for me its helpful to try and heal those divisions and bridge the gaps, so over the last month or so we have been having round table discussions.

“That means that all throughout the different levels of the system, people were written to and invited to participate in round table discussions.

“But it's in an interesting phase now where it seems as if its starting to go out a little wider and becoming more pervasive than that.”

Ms Cox said she has met with teachers and administrators from the pre-school system, right up to the senior schools, along with students from the middle and senior schools.

And she also met one Saturday morning with some parents, who were representatives of the various Parent Teacher Students Associations.

However, she said as the message begins to seep through the system, she thinks more and more people will be looking for the opportunity to take part, so the discussions will continue.

“They were all positive in terms of the information we got, but another aspect was meeting with the students - students at the middle and primary level, and middle and senior level,” added Ms Cox.

“I think that was interesting. As a result of that, there was copious notes taken. They certainly had the opportunity to discuss and dialogue, to maybe also vent, and also to have questions asked and answered.

“What seems to have been the prevalent feeling is that they welcomed the opportunity to continue with these sort of meetings.”

Ms Cox said at each meeting there was anywhere between ten and 20 people, including herself and either the Education Permanent Secretary Michelle Khaldun or one of the Senior Education Officers, and, on each occasion, a variety of issues were raised.

“Minutes were taken and action plans drawn up,” she added.

“I think it was very, very useful. There were some issues and concerns where we were able to move relatively quickly on. Any issue that you think could come up, did come up.

“When you listen to the teachers, you see and hear how much they care about their students, and you have such tremendous passion and ability, and you want to make sure that we harness that for the benefit of our education community.”

And so Ms Cox said when she was asked to think back and reflect on some of the achievements of the ministry in the last year, the round table discussions were what came to mind.

She added: “I must admit, some of it wasn't pretty, but at the same time, I thought it was tremendously constructive.

“Don't get me wrong, we parked our titles at the door, so while none of them called me Paula, they were quite frank and they were quite direct where there were issues.

“To me, that's part of the process of trying to get back to where we should be. Everybody wants to see our children succeed and sometimes stuff gets in the way.”

Other highlights of the year for the Minister, she said, was the retreat last August in which educators gathered to discuss and map out the path for education in Bermuda, as well as raising the bar.

And she said, ironically, she also viewed the teachers demonstration and strike action over pay as greatly important last year, as she said a message was sent by teachers loud and clear.

“Whatever I may personally think about (the march) and whether it should or should not have happened, the point is you can't see a group of in-the-main committed and able people and not take note of their hurt or their dissatisfaction,” she added.

“You can't bury your head in the sand or be an ostrich. I may wish it did not happen, and I may wish there was a better history in terms of the types of relationships, but you have to be in the business of building partnerships and trust - mutual trust. It goes both ways. That is what we are working towards.”