Good day Bermuda,
I would like to echo the Premier’s comments by also acknowledging the incredible achievement of McKenzie-Kohl Tuckett, a 2021 Ministry of Education Scholarship Recipient who spoke in the House of Commons in London on Friday. Ms. Tuckett is a role model for all young Bermudians, and I look forward to actively watching her achieve all that she is destined to.
Recently, I had the honor of representing Bermuda at the Global Education Leaders Partnership (GELP), a gathering of Ministers, system leaders and change agents in education from every continent around the world where I was invited to address participants and present on what we are doing to reform education here in Bermuda. In preparing for that event, I had the opportunity to reflect on the past 5 years since being elected, and specifically the last 30 months where we have invested dedicated resources and effort to reform public education. Without a doubt, there is much to celebrate. The most recent being the opening of the Signature Learning Programmes at CedarBridge Academy and The Berkeley Institute, recognizing the magnificent work undertaken by the many involved to get us to that point.
But it goes back much further than that. During the last five years, we have seen our pre, primary and Middle Schools be outfitted with fibre-optic internet connections to increase bandwidth and install Wi-Fi throughout. Creating educational opportunities for Bermudians to attend Bermuda College or overseas institutions can be seen in programmes like the annual $300k grant for financial aid in partnership with Bermuda College introduced in 2017 and the College Promise Programme introduced in 2019. Our Scholarships and Awards budget has grown from under $1 million to over $1.4 million to support overseas schooling. Programmes within the BPSS like the introduction of ASD Classes at the preschool level have expanded opportunities for Bermudian Students. The Brightstart Programme has reduced the financial burden on parents from having to pay for child care for their 3-year-old while giving our students an even earlier start in their academic journey. Competitions like the now Annual Father’s Day Essay competition and the Fathers Speak series have given our male parents a spotlight that simply wasn’t there before. The introduction of STEAM programmes and the Math Intervention program in our Primary schools are showing positive results.
In 2020, despite the onset of COVID-19 and the challenges it brought to our education system, we continued to move forward with our Education Reform agenda, albeit slightly changed due to COVID. The hiring of Innovation Unit as our change partner has helped guide our forward movement in a methodical and purposeful way. The establishment of Governance, Learning First and System Redesign teams introduced our Educators, Education Leaders, Parents, Students Community and Industry Partners to the concept of Co-Design. This was a means for all of our stakeholders to have a say in how the system would be redesigned for the future. 1000s of hours have been spent among the 100s of persons on the various teams to get us to the point of introducing the first Signature Senior Schools at The Berkeley Institute and Cambridge Academy.
Redesign models of learning, teaching and schooling
The introduction of Financial and Insurance Services along with Health and Social Care Signatures at The Berkeley Institute and the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) along with Trades and Professions Signatures at Cedarbridge Academy marked the start of a new era of education in Bermuda.
We passed legislation in March 2021 to allow for the phasing out of Middle Schools in favour of Signature Senior Schools and completed the Parish Primary School consultation in June 2021. All of this work that had come before laid the foundation for Signature Schools to open in September 2022, but there is still much work left to do.
In fact, it was in March 2022, some 6 months before the opening of our Signature Schools, we announced that we were beginning the work necessary to have our first Parish Primary Schools open in September 2023. The schools chosen are Francis Patton Primary and Purvis Primary. In this upcoming legislative session, we will bring the necessary legislation forward that will allow for a P7 and P8 class to be added to these schools. Over the last 6 months we have:
- Selected, inducted and onboarded the School Transformation Teams for the new Parish Primary Schools which will be on the sites of Francis Patton and Purvis Primaries and the new Signature School which will introduce the Hospitality and Tourism and Education Services Signature Learning Programmes for S1 students in September 2023.
- In addition to continuing to support the implementation of the current Signature Learning Programmes at CedarBridge Academy and The Berkeley Institute, we have also expanded the transformative work being undertaken at our existing senior schools to include developing the S2 curriculum and learning experiences for both Signatures, spreading the new Advisory curriculum to S2 to S4 students and begun work on some of the core curriculum, specifically Math and Science.
- All School transformation Teams have been out and about in the community since school returned, socialising the blueprints for learning they have developed and the vision they have for the transformation of their schools. I was able to visit almost all of these sessions, and one thing is clear, this is the change Bermuda has been asking for.
- In order to achieve this, the 5 School Transformation Teams (Francis Patton and Purvis Primaries, the new Signature School, CedarBridge Academy and The Berkeley Institute) have been supported to build their capabilities. Not only in change processes like co-design but also in the new models of teaching, learning and assessment that we are beginning to introduce across our schools.
Many further opportunities will exist in the coming months to get involved in this exciting and ambitious work, and I encourage everyone to get involved. You may not realise the difference even 5 minutes of your time could make.
Reorienting the system
This brings me to our work which is less focused on the day to day relationships between our most precious resource, our children and young people, and their educators and school leaders, to another critical relationship; the one our system has with schools. As we have been clear on from the beginning, a goal of the Education Reform is to reorient the Department of Education to be even more nurturing, and empowering in order to sustain the transformation of our schools. To achieve this, a number of legislative changes have already been made, but that is just the beginning. Just as we want our educators to empower and nurture our children, so we need our system to empower and nurture our educators, our Principals and our schools. We need a system that moves from being hierarchical and directive, models that have worked for us previously, to new models of public management, models that cradles and enables, that puts children first and at the centre of everything we do.
Work has been underway to develop the policies, procedures and practices in areas like educator professional learning, graduation and partnerships with business, industry and the community to name a few. In this school year work has been initiated on inclusivity and cultural responsiveness and school leadership development and work will accelerate on school choice and admissions and learning environments including how we use time, technology and space/facilities across the island. It is only when these policies, procedures and practices are consistently embedded across all schools in the island that we will be confident that we have the conditions in place to not only make the changes now, but to make them stick, to learn as we are continuing and to continue to evolve as a school system.
Revised Governance and the Education Reform Unit
Equally as important to celebrate what we have achieved has been the opportunity to identify what we have learned and what we can do better. The work of transforming outcomes for children and young people is not only unprecedented in education circles in Bermuda, this level of whole system change is also unprecedented in the public service in Bermuda. Like our work to reform the health system, we know that the work is critical to the success and prosperity of our nation. So now is the time to strengthen our resolve.
We will always look at what we are doing to improve our processes, how we can increase our efforts, and, where possible, where we can accelerate the work. In short, this Government is increasing our commitment and investment to ensure we have the right people in place to govern, lead and deliver Education Reform for Bermuda. As a result of our own self-examination of our operations, there are changes that key stakeholders and the community can expect to see in place in order to progress our Education Reform agenda.
The first of these is a new Governance Committee. As we prepare to introduce an Education Authority, we are increasing the independence and decision-making authority of the committee governing Education Reform. I am delighted to announce that the refreshed Governance Committee will be co-chaired by myself and Mr Phillip Butterfield, Chair Bermuda First. Other members of the reformed Governance Committee will be:
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, to which I welcome Ms Jasmin Smith to the role as part of the changes announced by the Head of Public Services last week;
- The Commissioner of Education;
- The lead of the Education Reform Unit;
- A representative of the Education Authority Working Group; and
- Representatives of the Innovation Unit
The second change you can expect to see as of next week is the newly formed Education Reform Unit to replace what was formerly known as the Learning First
Team. The Education Reform Unit will reside in the Ministry of Education’s Office, reporting to the Office of the Minister of Education. A group of experienced Bermudian Education professionals will be released from all other duties to focus solely on our ambitious, but critical agenda. This team will continue to be supported by our global education partners, Innovation Unit, with the Government recently extending a contract with them for an additional 12 months.
While the Education Reform Unit members are transitioning into the team, I am delighted to announce that Ms. Lisa DeSilva, a well-respected education veteran with over 25 years of experience in education in Bermuda, is taking up the helm to lead the Education Reform Unit. We look forward to her guidance and leadership as she works to ensure the team works collaboratively toward the same goal.
Our previous governance structure was successful in getting us to where we are today. However, after reviewing our work during the last 30 months and talking to all involved, we agreed to revise the governance and that the people working on Education Reform on a day-to-day basis needed to be able to focus solely on that job.
I am delighted with the progress made over the past few weeks. With Innovation Unit back on the island to work alongside the Education Reform Unit, we are poised to continue the exciting and highly collaborative work that has been underway since March 2020.
Education Authority
The formation of an Education Authority has always been part of the Government’s Education reform. A key element of any successful education reform is establishing system governance arrangements that are fit for purpose and fit for the future. Plan 2022 recognised this in calling for a review of current arrangements and Bermuda First called for the introduction of an Education Authority in their 2019 Future State Report. There needs to be good governance to sustain and support reform. Governance that is not subject to day‐to‐day political interference. Governance that has the independence to be flexible and agile in ensuring that the needs of Bermuda’s children, economy and community are best and efficiently served.
We need to move away from our current (seemingly subconscious) philosophy of ‘system of schools’ to a collaborative school system. A system that supports each young person to be the best they can be, follow their passions and interests, build on their talents and capabilities, and achieve their aspirations. An equitable system is a system in which all schools achieve excellence while having their own ethos and culture.
A system whose governance reflects the philosophy, the approach and the pedagogy of the system as a whole. Governance which is based on and learns from the governance of successful 21st-century learning systems. Governance arrangements that hold the schools to account but are supportive and enabling, not directive and controlling.
Since establishing the Education Authority Working Group in 2021, steady progress has been made in collecting data and meeting with relevant stakeholders to start to formulate what the eventual Education Authority could look like. In the coming months, more meetings between the relevant stakeholders and the working group will be held to progress the formation of the Authority. As stated in the Throne Speech, we are looking to advance a bill to start the creation of the Education Authority in this legislative session.
Historical Legacy Committee
As an African Proverb says, "…If we stand tall, it is because we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors…"
As we move forward with Education Reform, we recognise that we are walking on paths that have been tread for us by those that came before us - our parents, grandparents, educators, and political and community leaders. Their efforts to develop the Bermuda that we live in today have created opportunities for us to continue to improve Bermuda so that we can make our nation better, so that we can all thrive within our community.
From lived experiences, discussions with our family members, concerns of our constituents, and prior debates in this House, we know that our country's history is a difficult and painful one, especially for those of our parents' and grandparents' generations.
It is rich with examples of our great history of building and trades, seafaring and shipbuilding, and developing and shaping young minds and leaders. However, it is also a painful and difficult history of racial segregation, separate and unequal schools, and class stratification.
Along with my predecessors, I recognise that decisions have been made in decades past that continue to have profound implications on current and former students of the Bermuda Public School System and Bermudian society. Many members know about the vital history of schools such as the Bermuda Technical Institute, Howard Academy, Warwick Secondary School, Prospect School for Girls, the Robert Crawford School and others that have closed or been repurposed.
During the recent consultation on parish primary schools, I was reminded and reminded and reminded again about these critical issues – of the need to teach, learn, know, understand and appreciate our educational history and legacy. In addition to listening and reading the numerous submissions from community members, I also received many messages of support and met directly with community members passionate about protecting and preserving the history and legacy of schools.
As a result, the History and Legacy Working Group was formed with the remit to provide a report on how we can record and preserve the rich and powerful history of Education in Bermuda. Having received this report, the key recommendation to establish a History and Legacy Committee with statutory responsibilities will be in acted this legislative session.
I look forward to the critically important work this committee will be charged with and encourage the community to be prepared to assist them when called upon.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Government’s commitment to Bermuda’s children and young people hasn't changed. Our dual-purpose agenda remains the same. Many would have heard of the 3Rs of education – Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. These important pillars do not go away, and the Department of Education will continue to support each and every teacher and leader in schools across the nation to focus on the children we have in classrooms right now.
In addition to this, the talented team of professionals from within and beyond the education sector taking up roles in the Education Reform Unit will be focused on the future and our 6Rs of Education Reform:
- Reconceptualising how the system and schools are governed through the introduction of the Education Authority.
- Reorienting the Department of Education to be more nurturing and empowering to sustain our schools' transformation;
- Redesigning models of learning, teaching and schooling including introducing Parish Primary and Signature Senior Schools by phasing out middle schools over the next 5-7 years
- Refreshing and rebuilding where necessary, the physical infrastructure of our schools;
- Re-engaging stakeholders and the community in what we know is everyone’s business; and, importantly;
- Remembering the history and legacy of education in Bermuda.
I began my statement today discussing the opportunity to be at the Global Education Leaders Partnership (GELP) recently. It was both an affirming and challenging experience.
It was affirming to know that we are not on this journey alone. Many countries across the world are engaging in similar transformation efforts. Big countries and small countries, high performing countries and those that have room for improvement. Everyone agreed that the models of schooling that may have worked in the past are insufficient should we genuinely want to help our young people develop the skills, knowledge, values and relationships that will enable them to access – and be creators of – the jobs of the future, to be active citizens and to tackle increasingly complex challenges.
And challenging in that we cannot shy away from the reality that reform does not happen overnight. It will take several years, a decade even, for us to have established and developed all 10 Parish Primary Schools, to have put in place all 10 Signature Learning Programmes and our Signature Schools for Exceptionalities and for Alternative Education, and to realize our vision for learning.
This work is not optional or something that is a “nice to have”. As remarked in the Speech from the Throne, education remains the most significant priority of this Government. We will proceed incrementally and in a measured way. We will continue to act with intent, every step of the way. Not everything will be right the first time and we will need to learn from our mistakes and ride the discomforts that major change inevitably brings. Why? Because our children, our future, deserve nothing less.
Thank You