Often met by loud, unruly teenagers on their first day, many Teach First teachers question why they decided to sign up for the programme. They contemplate quitting and changing careers.

But, they stick it out and many actually end up staying in the programme and teaching for longer than originally anticipated as they begin to enjoy the work.

Teach First launched in the UK in 2002 and takes the brightest university graduates and throws them into an intensive teaching programme in challenging secondary schools. It could soon be introduced to Bermuda to help improve poor results among young black men.

According to Bermuda Union of Teachers general secretary Mike Charles it is not a new idea, but he added: "It's something which I think is a good idea when you have your brightest people coming back and giving you a couple years of teaching. Nothing is wrong with that idea.

"Whether or not these people will be willing to do that is another thing. You can't force them to do it. You have young people who have just finished and are excited about education."

Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons said the real issue was the training and development of the existing teachers in Bermuda.

He said: "We come back to a very basic issue here whether it's the UK or the US, the programme tends to be used in a very select group of schools. Where we need to put the emphasis is it would be nice to get some fresh teachers out of college and then go into other career areas but the real issue is professional development for the other 900 teachers.

"Educating half a dozen college graduates is not going to have the impact in being able to dramatically improve the quality of teaching."

And the Education spokesman for the Bermuda Democratic Alliance Myron Piper said he thought the idea was a waste of money and said he also thought the focus should be on professional development of teaching staff.

He said: "Teach First is another consultancy firm that promotes professional learning communities. We already have that in place in reading recovery in Bermuda and we have the highest success rate worldwide.

"We continue to go out and seek at the expense of millions of dollars new programmes and consultancies. We have not measured any of these outside programmes or consultancies. I think what we need to focus on is continuous professional development instead of trying to buy packages to solve our problems."

Education Minister El James said it would be inappropriate for him to comment.

Dr. Brown announced the possible initiative in the House of Assembly and said it was one of a string of possible measures to address the findings in the Ronald Mincy report on young black males. The report, compiled by Columbia University professor Dr. Mincy found that 50 percent of young black males drop out of high school.

Teach First was born after a group of consultants in the UK, called the McKinsey team, realised that having more great teachers in schools would improve student performance, especially in schools with challenging pupils.

Inspired by the successful Teach For America programme, they recommended a programme targeted at top graduates, using the support of businesses and education leaders to bring additional excellent teachers into schools for two years.

The programme's initiative is to "address educational disadvantages by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields".

According to Teach First's website, the programme recruits, trains, places and supports 500 to 600 "exceptional" teachers a year who can make a real difference at schools throughout London, the North West, Yorkshire, and the East and West Midlands.

In their first year, participants are trainee teachers who work a reduced timetable similar to newly qualified teachers. At the end of their first year, participants gain qualified teacher status and continue to work for a second year with the benefit of having a year of full-time teaching experience in the same school.

They teach maths, science, English, modern foreign languages, information computer technology, music and religious studies. After the two-year programme, the teachers can decide whether to stay in the school or move to a different school, or leave.

According to the organisation's website, 55 percent of teachers stay in schools while 57 percent move into school leadership positions.

The initiative is for university graduates with any degree who may not have gone into teaching but could be drawn in by the benefits, which include 27 vacation days, a pension scheme and life assurance.

In order to be eligible, participants must have a 2.1 degree or above and flexibility to work across the UK they must also be committed to the two-year programme.

Canterbury Christ Church University, in Canterbury, Kent, was selected as Teach First's teacher training partner to train and accredit participants intensively in the summer before starting in schools and throughout their two years on the programme.

Announcing the idea, Dr. Brown said: "I have asked the Central Policy Unit within the Cabinet Office to examine the 'Teach First' initiative in the UK This programme incentivises the brightest university graduates, irrespective of their course of study, to devote two years after their graduation to teaching.

"After a brief conversion course these young men and women with optimum energy, creativity and as eager witnesses of the importance of quality teaching, are in the classroom and instructing."

* What do you think? Are you a student and would you be willing to take part? E-mail news@royalgazette.bm.