The Island’s next Education Commissioner will be chosen from overseas as well as local candidates, in time for the coming school year.The decision was made to ensure a credible pool of qualified applicants, Board of Education chairman Curtis Dickinson said.“While it is not our intent to deny any qualified Bermudian this post, we must ensure that we create the opportunity to select the best suitable candidate.”The Public Service Commission approved advertising the post abroad as well as in Bermuda back in January, he added.The deadline for applicants passed a few weeks ago.A recruitment panel has been set up to shortlist and interview candidates, the chairman said.They will then be judged by “a professional centre”, and interviewed by a stakeholder group including “principals, teachers and parents”.Mr Dickinson said the recruitment procedure was announced in a bid to make the process as transparent as possible.It comes as the present Commissioner, Wendy McDonell, prepares to retire this summer.The office, created in 2008, is relatively new for the Island.It was initially held by US consultant Henry Johnson before Ms McDonell was appointed in July 2009.Mr Dickinson described the post as that of “senior education leader in the Country”.“They are responsible for ensuring that our educators and schools provide the framework that will allow our young people to become productive and positive citizens,” he said.As head of the Department of Education, the Commissioner is responsible for “the assessment of the performance of the education system, and implementation of plans to improve the system”, Mr Dickinson added.The Commissioner is further charged with spearheading reforms that have been underway in the Island’s education system, leaving “day-to-day matters” to the Permanent Secretary.Yesterday, Permanent Secretary Warren Jones indicated that the arrangement would continue for whoever succeeds Ms McDonell.The Blueprint for Reform in education, which supplanted the recommendations made in the Hopkins Report, was begun in 2010 and is benchmarked for evaluation in 2015.Useful website: www.moed.bm