Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons yesterday urged Government to build trust with all involved in the schools system as Bermuda strives for education reform.

During yesterday's debate on the Education Budget, Minister Elvin James had told the House of Assembly he was striving to improve communication throughout the Ministry of Education (see story on page 6).

Dr. Gibbons responded by saying there was currently a mistrust between the interim board charged with implementing recommendations from the Hopkins Report, school principals and the Ministry.

"Unless you have enough communication and collaboration and, dare I say it, trust to make it work in the classroom, you are dead in the water," said Dr. Gibbons.

"Anything that Honourable Member can do to build that trust is going to be good for all of us."

Dr. Gibbons also questioned how the Ministry's professional development efforts — designed to improve teachers' skills levels — could reach maximum potential when that category saw its budget cut from $1.9 million spent last year to $1.6 million set aside this year.

"The first recommendation from the Hopkins Report dealt with poor teaching," said Dr. Gibbons.

"Student success is more dependent on quality of teaching than any other issue. Learning occurs in the classroom.

"If this is the first priority, and we see an actual decline in the budget book in a year in which we really need to make some significant progress, it is, to say the least, disconcerting.

"If that's the most important issue, why aren't we putting a lot more resources into it?"

More consideration should also be given to recruiting teachers of good ability, said Dr. Gibbons.

He also suggested adopting a curriculum from a country such as Canada, explaining: "Why don't we save ourselves a certain amount of money over time reinventing the wheel and adopt a curriculum that already works?"

North America could also hold the answer to problems with gangs in schools, said Dr. Gibbons. He proposed sending a secondment to charter schools in tough areas of the United States to see how they install discipline in the classroom.