New Cabinet Minister Randy Horton took to his feet in the House of Assembly yesterday to reveal that a new senior education officer is to be brought in to set targets in schools and evaluate performance.

The Minister without portfolio was responding to allegations made by Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith that Government had failed to tell people what its expectations were.

Mr. Smith said it was regularly said that the Education Ministry was raising standards, but he said unless it stipulated what the targets were, children and teachers would never meet them.

But Mr. Horton said: "Government will have a senior officer in place who will be responsible for measuring and evaluating (education). This is a new post and another example for you to recognise, and let the people know, how important we think setting standards is.

"He will be responsible for seeing that targets are set and targets are met.

It will be teachers and pupils.

"This Government definitely sets targets and will have someone to measure those targets.'' He said the officer will work with a team of people who will provide data on student learning, evaluate programmes and set standards.

And he said that in itself would enable Government to see where improvements and progress needed to be made.

Further coverage of the Education Ministry debate on Page 4 Govt. to set new standards However, Mr. Horton did not say when the senior officer would be in place.

Premier Jennifer Smith said the officer would provide effective independent assessment of the education system, to enable programmes to be designed and delivered properly.

She said: "A reorganised and effective Measurement and Evaluation section is the foundation of Government's pledge to set national standards, with schools responsible for meeting these standards with a curriculum and assessment system, to meet all students' needs.

"This section will be charged with developing and implementing a comprehensive, multidimensional assessment programme to provide data for decision-making in student-learning, programme evaluation and the improvement of teaching.'' And she said extra training support will be given to teachers in the areas of literacy and maths, physical education, the arts, information technology and counselling, as well as $163,000 being made available for teacher sabbaticals.

And the Premier also revealed that a project had been introduced entitled Developing 21st Century Leaders, which will help to develop the skills of teachers to make them into leaders and principals, of the future.

Mr. Smith said he wanted Government to make clear to everyone in Bermuda exactly what its aims were, and also to make public all results and findings.

He said it was time the public was made aware of how schools were performing and what was actually being achieved by students.

He said: "It is absolutely pointless to talk about improvements unless you talk about targets.

"Targets should be established. You have to reveal what those standards are and what we are aiming for. We don't know what we are being measured against.'' And he urged Government to invest in its teachers by providing additional training, and he accused the budget for teacher training as being "woefully inadequate''.

Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said a new staff development officer in the Education Ministry would be in place in April to ensure that teachers were assessed and given the training they required.

He said the new development officer was a former principal and teacher, and also had experience of working in teacher training.

The Royal Gazette reported last month how the post had been vacant for some months, making it difficult for the ministry to organise regular training sessions.

Randy Horton