For education consultant Henry Johnson, nothing is more important than the ability of teachers when it comes to improving the performance of students.

And Dr. Johnson believes that the new Island-wide scheme to train teachers and principals — one of the key recommendations of the Hopkins Report — will be a foundation stone for reforming education in Bermuda.

Under the new initiative, the Ministry of Education has teamed up with staff from the Centre for Leadership and Learning to organise professional development training, a chance for teachers to get advice on solving the kind of problems they may experience in the classroom.

Until now, teachers have been sent to occasional workshops, but Dr. Johnson said there has not been enough follow-ups on their progress.

The new training has already started under the leadership of acting officer for professional development, Terry Cox.

Dr. Johnson told The Royal Gazette: "The philosophy of training is to build a knowledge base and skill set for teachers and Ministry officials with the goal of improving student learning outcomes.

"Nearly everyone agrees that the core mission of education is teaching and learning.

"Research is extremely clear that, of all the school-related factors that relate to students' success, teaching is the most important thing: the effectiveness of the teacher.

"The next factor is the effectiveness of the principal. As we improve both of these areas, you can expect to see student learning outcomes go up."

Dr. Johnson said there was already a "snapshot of excellence" in teaching in Bermuda but it was now important to stretch that across the board.