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It seems the more talk we get on education reform the less appears to be done.

The Hopkins Report declares, for example, that a central theme for successful reform is to have all stakeholders on board. That's not happening.

From my vantage point there are four significant constituencies that will need to be thoroughly on board if public school education reform is to succeed. They are teachers, principals, administrators, and parents/students. While the reform team may have tapped some individuals from each group, it cannot ignore the collective expertise, experience and force of the Unions.

Cold shouldered

Teachers, however, through their Bermuda Union of Teachers (BUT) have not only been cold-shouldered, their chosen representative for the Interim Education Board (IEB) was rejected. This is unheard of and outrageous. The Education Minister can freely choose his own selections for the Board but he should not presume to dictate who the Unions wish to have represent them, and certainly not without giving some cogent explanation. The selection process should itself be transparent. However, the selection of the government's implementation consultant and members of the Interim Executive Board seem to be based on criteria that have less to do the urgent needs of the education system and more to do with, well, cronyism. It is just this kind of old-style, patronage-like behaviour that will thwart the hoped-for reforms.

The Association of School Principals (ASP) has likewise been stiff-armed. Some of the most seasoned and most successful educators on the Island are among its ranks. Yet, like the BUT, it was not invited to appoint a representative to the IEB before last December, if then.

The Bermuda Public Services Union (BPSU), to which education civil servants belong and which is already in pre-strike mode over a dispute with the government, is also belatedly being asked to select a rep to the IEB.

Parents don't have an organised assembly although, for a time, a national parents and students body attempted to fill that role. It is parents however, who are the lynchpin in any successful reform effort. Parents are the ones who must prepare students for being educated through providing suitable housing, adequate nutrition and rest, good behaviour practices and homework support.

Unfortunately, the parents who have the most education-supportive habits are the same ones who are looking to place their children in an alternative to the public middle and senior schools. The corollary is that an increasing proportion of the children remaining in the public school system have less supportive parents.

It only takes one child with disruptive behaviour to ruin the learning experience for an entire class. Each child who doesn't complete homework assignments drags a teacher's attention away from making progress with other students. And parents who defend, or worse, champion their children's unruly behaviour or anti-scholastic attitudes bring down and perpetuate the standing and reputations of entire schools.

A government unwilling or unable to bring transparency and an attitude of collaboration in its dealings with education professionals is going to be severely handicapped in getting parents on board with its reforms. Yet, without the enthusiastic support of parents, public education reform has little chance of success.

It is worth remembering that the shifting of standards, questionable decision-making and an arrogant attitude on the part of the leadership is what led to the meltdown of the public education system. It is this self-serving conduct that underpinned the denials about problems in education, e.g. the mould problem in a school building, the setting of lowered standards, falling graduation rates, or problems of discipline and violence.

We can't wait any longer. Every year, month, day that passes without a transformed public education system is another nail in the educational coffins of our most vulnerable citizens. Let's get public education on track, and fast.[[In-content Ad]]

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