Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons labelled the Ministry of Education's progress on school reforms "too slow, too little, too late".

Dr. Gibbons spoke in the House of Assembly on Monday during the education Budget debate and said on the reform process: "We have to characterise it as too slow, too little and too late. We have certainly had lots of promises over the last 12 years and eight ministers. While there's been a lot of activity, activity by itself doesn't mean progress or reform. Nor does spending over $123 million annually or $22,000 per student mean that we received value for money or that it's properly directed."

Dr. Gibbons cited leadership as a problem, adding: "Unfortunately, a lot of this comes down to leadership and I think it's fair to say that it's not all pulling together. It's not to say that there haven't been some good decisions. I don't want anyone to misunderstand me to say that it's all bad and worthless because it's not. What we're talking about today is public money and taxpayers' money. We talked about the Cambridge Curriculum in our response last year. We're happy to see that the Minister has made the decision to move forward with this worldclass curriculum. I think at the end of the day, the Cambridge Curriculum is certainly one that we can support."

Dr. Gibbons also spoke on the promise of a five-year strategic plan and said it was "slow coming".

"Hopefully the five-year plan will address the recommendations in the Hopkins Report. You don't start something and drop something like an assessment like the Hopkins review and not explain why you are. I have to acknowledge the Minister on this. I think teamwork is a good thing and I suspect that members of the Government bench would characterise our comments on the pace of the reforms and progress as political.

"I would simply say that while I understand why the Government has to be political, I would say it's their way of deflecting legitimate criticism about a process that has taken far too long and failed to achieve its goals."

A decline in public school students was also a concern for Dr. Gibbons who said the number had decreased by 1,000 since 2006. "I think it would be fair to say that education is at the heart of many issues we're concerned about as a Country. I think it's fair to say education is where empowerment begins."

On teacher training, Dr. Gibbons said: "We agree completely with the two principle Hopkins recommendations to dramatically improve the quality of teaching and move quickly to improve the quality of leadership by principals.

"We all understand that this makes sense because it's in the classroom where real improvement needs to happen. However, experience from more successful countries suggests that to improve the quality of teaching takes careful teacher recruitment and a serious financial commitment to ongoing professional development. Simply because you graduate with a degree in education doesn't mean you can teach. If you cant maintain order in a class, if you can't make students pay attention, you're going to fail. I believe this Budget needs to be double as far as teaching training. That's how I define dramatically improving the teaching in our schools."