The Cayman Islands is looking to Bermuda as a role model in education reform.

Public school officials in the island have been aided by the same man who helped Bermuda plan its restructuring, William Cook Jr. of Cambridge Management Group, Inc. in Alabama.

And Caymanian education officials will visit Bermuda in November to see how Bermuda is going about developing a national curriculum.

Education Permanent Secretary for the Cayman Islands Joy Basdeo yesterday told The Royal Gazette officials became interested in Dr. Cook's model of strategic planning after visiting Bermuda in 1993.

The islands will also use Dr. Cook's model for revamping the Health Ministry and Cayman Airlines.

The model includes bringing together a microcosm of the community and putting together common beliefs, a mission statement, objectives, strategies to reach the objectives, and recommendations.

It was used by Bermuda's Education Planning Team in the late 1980s to come up with 200 recommendations for changes to the school system.

While some of those changes, such as the abolition of the secondary school transfer exam and the inclusion of special needs students in regular schools, have taken place, the reforms are not expected to be completed until 2002.

Cayman, which came up with 105 recommendations in November 1994, expects to have its reforms in place before the year 2000.

They changes include: Establishing continuity between pre-school and year 12 for each subject area; Establishing a national curriculum; Developing local accredited examinations based on the national curriculum at year three, six, nine and 12 "to provide measurable, qualitative and quantitative outcomes which may be used as a gauge of achievement''; Infusing key elements of Caymanian culture in all subjects of the curriculum; Establishing a criteria which sets a minimum standard of competency for graduation from the senior high school; Cayman Islands visit Ensuring that all personnel within educational institutions are suitably qualified and receive opportunities for further professional training; Increasing the budget allocated for the education of exceptional students; Creating an independent school inspectorate to ensure standards are maintained; and Establishing a community-based school board for each school to promote more effective schools.

Mrs. Basdeo said the reforms had been divided into three phases and so far the majority of phase one, which included 72 of the 105 recommendations, had been accomplished.

"We are particularly pleased with the amount of parents involved,'' she said.

"Half of the Education Planning Team were educators and the other half were drawn from parents and the community, of course most of the people were parents.

"We wanted the community to feel and be a part of this five-year plan. We were interested in Dr. Cook's model of strategic planning. We began planning in January, 1994. It was approved by Parliament in March, 1995 and we had our first review in April.'' While it has taken Bermuda eight years to implement education reforms, Mrs.

Basdeo said she believed that the Cayman Islands will have its changes in place before the year 2000.

She noted that this was because Bermuda was building a new school structure while the Cayman Islands was making changes to its existing structure.

She said the Cayman Islands already had middle schools and senior high schools.

While noting that the senior school on Grand Cayman had 850 students, Mrs.

Basdeo said: "We would wish that the school were smaller, but we have a very stable staff of about 72 people.

"We used to have grammar schools and secondary schools until we went comprehensive in 1973. We believe we made the right choice. We don't have any regrets. I think comprehensive education is what we need for a small island.'' Cayman education officials have also developed a community college modelled after the Bermuda College.

"I appreciate how much help we get from Bermuda,'' Mrs. Basdeo stressed.

"Your Ministry of Education treats us like a little sister and they are extremely helpful to us. We have found Bermuda helpful in many ways.'' Education Minister Jerome Dill said: "This is one of those situations where the more Bermudians can get a feel for how we are viewed overseas, the more they will appreciate what is being done here.''