OBA’s Dwayne Robinson On Education Authority
“Education needs the politics taken out of it, and for it to be placed in the hands of capable professionals in the field of education,” the OBA’s Dwayne Robinson said.
Mr. Robinson said, “I am pleased to see the Minister of Education is considering an Education Authority. This is something the OBA has suggested before and was included in our Reply to the Throne Speech.
“Education should be a bi-partisan effort and I am grateful to the Minister for considering all options equally. Education needs the politics taken out of it, and for it to be placed in the hands of capable professionals in the field of education.
“I believe our Westminster style of Government does not provide the stability needed for an education system to flourish. The changing of Government, or Ministers, causes education policy to change direction based on whichever Government or Minister has a ‘bright idea’.
“An Authority creates continuity in structure and direction, free of political grandstanding. I urge the Minister to vigorously pursue this option, as a shift in our education system is badly needed.
“I wish to go a step further regarding education reform and put forward a few suggestions.
“We need to employ behavioral specialist within our public school system, to properly diagnose behavior issues and learning disabilities.
“They collect data on the behavior patterns of students, create behavior plans for students with behavior issues, and monitor those plans effectively. It would provide much needed support to the counselors and teachers who find themselves dealing with unruly behavior.
“This will also allow proper and logged files for children in learning support and plans to improve their learning experience. I would also recommend that, along with signature schools, we re-introduce trade schools for students who have an affinity for trade work.
“There is always demand for Bermudian tradespeople, lets re-empower our population in this career sector.
“These classes need to be available in all four years of high school, not just in S4. Our curriculum needs to be geared towards the job market available in Bermuda.
“Last, but not least, we need to have suitable education options for those with autism and other learning disabilities within the public education system. Many parents are referred to private education options that can range from $11,000 to $12,000 per child.
“All children are owed a suitable education. Parents should not have to shoulder such a high bill to ensure their child receives suitable education, just because they were born a certain way.
“I eagerly await the direction the Government goes with our education system.”
“Education needs the politics taken out of it, and for it to be placed in the hands of capable professionals in the field of education,” the OBA’s Dwayne Robinson said.”
I agree that “Education needs the politics taken out of it” but it must be placed in the hands of a body that is accountable to the people. The existing Board of Education is a good start. Why not make that Board an elected body, independendent of the government of the day? The Board of Education could then be required to report to the people annually. That will not, of course, prevent the government of the day from using the budget to coerce the Board of Education to do as government wishes, but the Board of Education will then be free to tell the people in its annual report that it could not do this or that because the government of the day would not provide funding for this or that.
It is better to remain silent… at times.
Not this time. Our education sorely needs an overhaul, and any ideas that are brought forward should be considered…
A lesson you desperately need to learn.
Care to expand on your comment?
Then you should not open your mouth.
Please follow your own advise
It’s even better to heed ones own advice
It will be a very long time before there is a BEA. Dismantling the DOE & firing ineffective teachers would cost an awful lot of votes for the PLP. The PLP makes no effort to hide their priorities. Party first. Party always. Anything to retain power.
What is best for the students is not even close to the horizon. All we will get is talk. In 1998 the PLP rode in on a promise to do something about education, which had been in bad shape for many years before then.
Here we are, 2019, 21 years later, who knows how many Ministers later, countless promises later, tens of thousands of hours of talk later, a forest worth of trees sacrificed for useless reports later & nothing has changed.
The public education system is still churning out people who cannot even fill out a job application.