Laurel Burns:
Thank you, Minister, for the opportunity to provide some supporting remarks.
Through Learning First, the Ministry of Education has begun to work with teams of teachers and principals, and engage with students and parents, businesses and community organisations, to begin to develop the curriculum and the model of teaching and learning that will enable each and every learner to have an education that meets their unique needs, talents and passions.
Our country’s vision for learning can not be fulfilled without high quality teaching; teachers are critical to supporting students to achieve ambitious goals and world class learning outcomes.
The work to develop the education workforce, one of six national and core priorities currently being addressed by the Learning First design team, is currently focused in three areas:
1.Professional learning for educators to support the implementation of school redesign
Ideas under development in this category include:
- Creating a teaching task force of skilled mentors and coaches able to demonstrate, support and quality assure new teaching practices as they are introduced into schools
- An approach to practice development, based on the proven lesson study model, in which educators work together using peer observation and coaching to test and improve new lessons, resources and assessments and embed these in their practice
2.Introducing consistent teaching standards and shared accountability for excellence
Ideas being explored in this category include:
- The development, with the profession, of Bermudian professional standards for educators that describe key aspects of effective practice at every career stage from novice to master teacher and into leadership roles, including school principal and administrator
- Support for schools’ professional learning communities, to be rich in evidence based models for professional learning where collaboration is the norm
- A professional growth planning team, educators working together each summer term to plan, design and commission professional learning for the coming year, based on national and school priorities and educators’ needs and interests
3.Raising the profile of the profession and making a career in education a natural choice for Bermuda’s brightest graduates
Ideas for meeting this challenge include:
- An annual Bermudian education conference showcasing the best of education in Bermuda
- Partnerships between schools, businesses and community organisations to provide work placements, enrichment and resources for students and career development opportunities for educators including exchanges and externships
Keren Caple
Thank you, Minister, for the opportunity to also provide supporting remarks.
The concepts and ideas referenced by Ms Burns are consistent with and informed by the global evidence base on high quality professional learning that contributes to improved learning outcomes for children and young people.
In an increasingly global professional community there are myriad opportunities and challenges in: how we design and engage teachers in meaningful professional development; who delivers professional learning; how educators participate in learning that makes a difference to outcomes; and when and where these development opportunities take place.
It has been essential to continue to deepen our understanding about what contributes to effective teacher performance and improvement and find out what fresh approaches to professional growth are being trialled within the education sector, both here and globally.
Through Learning First, we have identified and interrogated what the innovators are doing in this space and explored new ways of driving positive changes in practice. We have been, of course, also interested in approaches to professional growth that have already gained traction and demonstrated some level of impact here in Bermuda.
The Ministry of Education commits to providing impactful professional learning for all our teachers and enables them to collaborate to continuously develop and grow their practice. This will begin with the formation of Design Teams from the first two signature schools which will be supported and enabled across the 2021-22 academic year to engage in professional learning focused on building both teacher confidence and competence in new models of teaching and learning, curricula and signature learning programmes.
It is envisioned that through this investment, Bermuda’s teachers will become even more empowered and skilled educators who are valued in the community and able to support Bermuda’s children to achieve world class learning outcomes.