An independent analysis of Government's five-year strategic plan for education has been prepared by two professors in Boston.

The study was commissioned by the Coalition for Community Activism in Bermuda (CCAB) last month.

According to Boston College researchers Dennis Shirley and Andy Hargreaves the Blueprint for Reform in Education lacks a Bermudian focus as to how testing, accountability and standards systems lead to improved student learning.

However the professors commended the Education Ministry for establishing a vision for Bermuda education, a mission consisting of seven strategic priorities, including four target outcomes for academic achievement and selecting the Cambridge Curriculum for the public school system.

Their analysis included four ways of change outlined in a 2009 publication by Dr. Hargreaves and Dr. Shirley, 'The fourth way: The inspiring future of educational change'.

The book provides an overview of global education policy and practice over the past five decades and identifies the most effective and sustainable reform efforts.

"Bermudian education suffers from major deficiencies that were glaringly revealed in the Hopkins Report 2007," Dr. Hargreaves and Dr. Shirley wrote in their study. "The blueprint represents a serious response to address those deficiencies and reflects many long hours of work by policymakers, teachers, parents, community members, and students.

"The stakeholders who wrote the blueprint are owed a debt of gratitude by the Bermudian community."

They continued: "Testing, accountability, and standards figure prominently in the blueprint's theory of action. The adaptation of the Cambridge Curriculum, while promising as a point of departure, appears to take precedence over the necessary attention required to improve teaching and learning.

"Proposed reforms call for more efficiency in the leadership of the Department of Education and sidestep the cultural changes called for in the Hopkins Report. A call for distributed leadership does not appear to be accompanied by the enormous cultural changes required for distributed leadership to work and the challenge it presents to more autocratic styles of leadership."

Among their recommendations, the professors suggested the Ministry:

— develop an inspiring, urgent participatory process to develop and agree on a vision for the future of Bermuda and the place of public education within it;

— secure extensive public and parental engagement in the development and renewal of this vision and in the educational process at every school;

— expect and encourage schools and teachers to develop ambitious shared targets for improvement and provide the technical support that helps them to do so.

"In these ways Bermuda can build the teaching profession, improve student learning, and benefit from changes that will endure long after the five year plan outlined in the Blueprint has expired," the report stated.

The reviewers also recommend addressing the managerial culture that exists within the education system and building an active trust based on respect, personal regard for others, competence and integrity.

It also suggests emphasis be placed on teachers as professionals with collective responsibility for curriculum planning, shared leadership and collaborative development and that the entire community be involved in educational reform efforts.