‘Parents Advocacy Group For Education’ Forms

A new community working group, Parents Advocacy Group for Education [PAGE], has been established to “become a voice for parents and concerned community members on educational practice in Bermuda.”

A spokesperson said, “The new group is seeking a pause in aspects of primary education reform, while they also work to increase parent engagement with public education reform generally, and advocate for processes that prioritize developing community and public support around reform.

“PAGE is the result of a community meeting held April 27th at the Cathedral Hall, that saw approximately eighty community members attend out of concern for the current condition of primary public education reform.”

“Our goal is to not be opponents of education reform, but to advocate for an ecosystem where the kind of reform we all want can take place,” said a PAGE spokesperson.

“Stakeholders do not feel their voices matter. They have consistently made it known they feel consultation has not been sincere. They’re also increasingly worried about the harmful effects of the disruption of reform. Public trust and support are low. Leaders still have the opportunity to develop the proper level of support and community reform requires, and a strategic pause, with a true openness to amendments, could achieve this. It’s important that stakeholders step-up and advocate for what’s best for their children.”

The spokesperson said, “Feedback from the April 27th public meeting was collected by volunteers who have continued to meet over the past two months. The PAGE team wants to ensure that as many voices as possible are involved in the development of its position and strategy and is inviting further feedback before proposing next steps.

“The concerns recorded have been organized into five thematic categories, which are:

• 1. Concerns about inadequate governance, consultation, authentic shared decision making, and collaboration. Strong lack of public support, and lack of parent participation on school transformation teams.

• 2. No confidence in leadership.

• 3. Lack of confidence in project planning and concerns about lack of details regarding budget and school designs. Reform is “too aggressive”

• 4. Disruption is not sufficiently mitigated and immediately follows the pandemic. Concerns that some students’ individual needs are being sacrificed, and that disruption generally is considered “collateral damage”.

• 5. Insufficient focus on curriculum and how to improve teaching and learning. Concern regarding lack of programs for ASD groups and other special needs.

“Community members can offer their feedback at https://bit.ly/pageforeducation. The form will accept responses until the 7th of July. Stakeholders are invited to contact PAGE at pageforeducation@gmail.com.

“The PAGE team will be working throughout the summer and looks forward to sharing proposed next steps in the near future.”

#Education

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