Dr Gibbons: Appt. Of Dr Glaze ‘Raises Questions’
Shadow Education Minister Dr. Grant Gibbons questioned the recent announcement that Canadian educator Dr. Avis Glaze [pictured] has been engaged, asking “why the Government continues to hire outside talent to implement education reform.”
Dr Gibbons also questioned the Education Minister’s statement that Dr. Glaze’s efforts will be “at no charge to the Government of Bermuda,” asking who exactly is paying for Dr. Glaze’s engagement?”
On Friday [Sept.16] Education Minister Dame Jennifer Smith said that Canadian educator Dr. Avis Glaze [pictured] will come to Bermuda “to assist school leaders with an improvement strategy which highlights instructional leadership.”
Dr Gibbons said, “The appointment of Dr. Avis Glaze, the Education Ministry’s new Canadian consultant, to develop ‘an improvement strategy which highlights instructional leadership’ raises more questions than it answers.”
“While Dr. Glaze may be a respected educator, her appointment begs the question of why the Government continues to hire outside talent to implement education reform. Surely in the 4½ years since the Hopkins Report, the Government must have identified and developed sufficient Bermudian expertise to move reform ahead.”
“The Education Minister’s statement also raises questions about the arrangements under which Dr. Glaze will be working for the Ministry. While it is good to hear that Dr. Glaze’s efforts will be “at no charge to the Government of Bermuda,” most of us have been around long enough to understand that there is no free lunch.”
“So who is paying for Dr. Glaze’s engagement? Is it the Government of Ontario, who the Minister specifically thanked in her statement? If so, what are the terms of this arrangement? Or is it the Board of Education?”
“After all, the Minister said ‘the Board of Education is sponsoring Dr. Glaze’s visit.’ If that is true, why would the Minister need to be secretive about private sponsorship of such an initiative? The public deserves upfront clarity from the Government.”
“Other than the announcement regarding Dr. Glaze, there is very little that is particularly new, or encouraging, in the Minister’s progress report on Bermuda’s public education system.”
“This is not to say that there has been no progress at all. The One Bermuda Alliance believes that the implementation of the Cambridge Curriculum is a good step, and we hope the student results from the first year will be revealed soon and that they are encouraging.”
“Nevertheless, many other issues are still outstanding and, frankly, after 13 years in power and 4½ years after the Hopkins Report, children, parents, teachers and educators and the taxpayers deserve better from this Progressive Labour Party Government.”
“By the Minister’s own admission, many of the 10 Hopkins recommendations, as well as most of the seven strategic priorities of the Ministry’s own Blueprint plan [here/44 page PDF] are still incomplete or “in progress.” How long should it take to enact meaningful education reform?”
“Professor Hopkins himself stated that in order to bring about the ‘re-professionalisation’ of public education his 10 recommendations would need to be “acted on over a short period.”
“In fact, Professor Hopkins noted that his first seven recommendations were ‘the most urgent’ and stated ‘significant progress needs to be made in these areas during the school year 2007/08.”
“It is hard to accept the Minister’s rosy assessment of progress on the Blueprint. For example, the 3rd Blueprint “Strategic Priority” – “To strengthen and distribute leadership” – is listed as “Done” by the Minister in her update. Yet a quick review of the 27 individual items listed under this strategy suggests that many of them have yet to be completed.”
“The public understands that education reform is long overdue and they are running out of patience. Additional reports from yet more consultants will not get the job done. The people of Bermuda demand action before yet another generation is lost,” said Dr Gibbons.
They brought her in because this Canadian middle school system (a system which UBP & PLP have adapted) needs to be reviewed by a Canadian!
Hopefully she tells them that after all these years, this middle school system is not working out and we need to go back to the old school system.
Wishful thinking on my part I guess…….
my response would be filled with “cursives” and not the fancy writing we learned in Primary 4………..this country continues to import old friends and pay them 100+ thousand a year and have yet another failure after another….Dame Jennifer has no expertise…just a particular personality (bullish) that people succumb to and do her will. no real strategy; her strategy could be used ina ny Ministry that has spineless civil servants
OIC, the problem is not necessarily with the system – it’s the people within the system! Too many teachers who do not care enough, are not professional enough, and just want to strike all the time, and do not teach the kids properly. Too much bureaucracy in the Ministry of Education. Get rid of them, and you will see the system improve. And parents need to get more involved with their kids and school. Success for students is highly unlikely with apathetic parents.
And I should also ask: why do we need to go abroad to seek help with the education system, when we already have excellent schools here? Look at Warwick Academy, BHS and Saltus, and the results they consistently turn out each year. Dame Jennifer and the Ministry of Education should swallow their pride, go to these teachers and administrators and sit at their feet, to learn what they are doing right in their schools. If they do this, you will see dramatic improvement in our public education system.
I totally agree with you on the fact that the other schools have great results, the irony being that the same teachers that the ministry is telling need to do this and that to stay professional are moving into the private school system and doing very well. The issue is not the ‘quality’ of teaching, the issue is parenting and entitlement. school is free, parents don’t stress its importance, or want to invest in their child, instead they buy them a new phone/bike/300$ belt, but the idea of paying a tutor 25$ an hour is just absurd…
Warwick Academy, BHS and Saltus are able to have consistent results because the are able to select the children they want to attend their school. They are not obligated in accepting every child; choosing them based on ethnicity and religion and the assets of their parents. Conducting interviews and testing and such. They also weed out the ones they do not want to remain. Public schools must accept all children. They end up with the students whom are more difficult to teach. Parents make educational decisions for their children. Our public schools are pretty good as they offer more-developed specialty programs in athletics or science and real life experiences
Those schools simply weed out students who cannot cope due to behavior issues, i Guarantee you that students with learning disabilities are in fact accommodated and do quite well, sometimes better than the remaining student population. The testing process simply disallows students who are not up to ‘minimums standard’ it does not select only those destined to do well.
Your most valid point is selection based on parenting, remember they teach primary school as well, i don’t think a five year old reflects anything other than competent parenting. I think you may be misguided on the schools selecting based on ethnicity, religion and assets, you would be surprised to know the ethnicity ratio at Warwick as well as income diversity, not every student is well off. (i can only speak on WA)
If public schools are obligated to keep ALL students then it is time to have a school that is a tougher separate school, away from those who make positive academic choices.
Dr. Gibbons stop and think before you and Mrs. Gibbons speaks and sends our these releases. The system you and tin smith gave us is not working! Perhaps a Canadian can offer some suggestions and it’s not costing the tax payer a dime.
After 13 years of failure the PLP are still looking around for ideas.
You really think this is going to be free at the end of the day?
Free evaluation but if you want to buy the report and proposed solutions then you gots to pay!
You’ve summed it up perfectly.
Which brings us back to the question of who’s picking up Dr Glaze’s expenses while she and her team are here.
I listened to the radio this morning, a grand pronouncment that Dr Glaze was in high demand around the world and that by implication we were lucky to have her……….fast forward to these comments and you bloggers say these services are for free.
so will this sophisticated professional who is in high demand sleep at the offuice? will she swim here from Canada or come to Bermuda via the Oleander, beside next week’s delivery of cheese perhaps? also will she eat coffee rolls and tuna like me and you or will she spend her evenings at Ascots?
I understand from my fellow Bermudians with post graduate level education that these programs, you do not pay for the initial Consultation (apart from food and board) , However if you choose to implement Dr Glaze’s findings and use her world class tools, then my friend you better borrow at least another $1.2 Billion for FREE
I love free koolaid, soda, KFC, champagne and rides in a blue govt GP car………..Bermuda is sweet, and we all love it, especially those who come here for FREE
I find it just a bit bizarre that an education adviser to the Premier of Ontario is not Ontario at this critical juncture and has time to come to Bermuda.
Ontario is in a campaign right now – it’s general election is on Oct 6. Dalton McGuinty has consistently prided himself on being the ‘Education Premier’ and is further making education a key priority. One would think that his education adviser would be right by his side?
The middle school system is not the problem, middle schools do work. The problem is that the people in charge allow the middle schools to fail so that they can blame those who implemented the system whenever election time comes around. It is the equivalent of buying a car from someone, putting diesel in the tank and blaming the previous owners for the malfunction.
The middle school system does work and is ideal for Bermuda, it allows the older adult aged children to be separated from the developing younger children.
Secondly it allows specialized educators time to focus on specific educational and social defects in students BEFORE they enter the senior school where these deficits can have a life long effect. (high school grades get you into colleges or universities)
The combination of government allowing the middle schools to utilize social promotion, placing students in senior schools when they have not mastered the middle school curriculum, plus blaming the teachers for ‘low quality teaching’ when the actual issue is ‘low quality parenting’ you now have a tumultuous mix of students unable to cope in secondary and post secondary education. If the middle school system was utilized the way it was intended instead of being a 3 year vacation, only students eligible to enter the senior school would and as a result standards would rise. Those who don’t make the cut receive focused assistance from people who specialize in those areas. It is irresponsible to expect the senior school staff to prepare students for colleges and university when students are entering unable to read or write.
In no way am i downplaying this consultant’s ability but it is important to realize that the Canadian education system is quite successful on a worldwide standard, but they have a lot of private/catholic schools as well as high school dropouts. In Bermuda we have no intermediate between school and jail, and it is almost an either or situation. Where as a result there are many students who should not be in regular school, (or the general population) staying in regular school impeding progress. I truly wish that the powers that be would stop blaming the teachers for so much, it is somewhat of a thankless job and anyone who has interacted with some of the youth today know how punishing these children can be. To constantly hear that it is your fault when you have no power to change people’s home life and influence is in and of itself..demoralizing.
Can I get a FREE new Guvernmint, for FREE perhaps?
another sad decision. bring in the expert cuz ours are not good enough. more wasted money without results. we already have several reports that sit on a shelf in the archives, going way back to the Pitt report. The problem is social engineering.