Educators are hoping Government will set aside a quarter of a million dollars in the coming budget to enable a teacher licensing scheme to finally be set up.

Michael Charles, general secretary of the Bermuda Union of Teachers (BUT), said experts would have to be brought in from overseas to help launch the programme, and it could not happen without cash.

Government announced last year that it wanted all teachers on the Island to be licensed and certified to a high standard before being responsible for lessons in Bermuda.

And Education Minister Sen. Milton Scott said he hoped to have a scheme up and running by September this year -- a timeframe later labelled as "optimistic'' by Mr. Charles.

The union leader has been heavily involved in the progress so far, along with members of Bermuda College, but last night he reiterated the need for somebody to take over the project on a full-time basis.

He said if the scheme was to come to fruition this year or next, it needed financial backing from Government and extra man-hours.

He said: "The plan at the moment is to run the licensing and training at Bermuda College and that will take money.

"If the Government believes this project is a viable thing, then it has to come through with some cash.

"It really needs to be in the coming budget if we are to try and drive this forward any time soon. I would say about a quarter of a million dollars will be needed to cover initial set-up costs.

"We need experts from abroad to come and spend time here, which will cost us, and we have to run the courses in the college -- somebody has to pay for them.'' But he said he did not know whether the monitoring and licensing scheme would be launched in time for the new school year.

All teachers will have to be licensed, with current educators possibly being grandfathered into the scheme on the basis that they cycle through the system to update their licence within an established time period.

And all teachers should be regularly monitored and put through training courses.

Any teaches who fail to make the grade will ultimately be forced out of the profession.

It is hoped the scheme will lead to greater accountability and ensure that checks are in place to maintain high standards. Where extra training and support is needed, it will be given.

A think tank was organised by the licensing committee at the end of last year for issues and concerns to be raised about the best way to set up the teacher certification programme.

The two project leaders of the two-day event were Dr. Lin Goodwin, of Teachers College at Columbia University in New York, and Dr. Robin Mount, of Wheelock College in Boston.

They have each been heavily involved in launching similar projects in their home cities and were able to lend some valuable expertise and insight into how problems should be addressed and how the scheme should get off the ground.

The participants agreed that licensing on the Island should include certification and should be the final point in which a teacher can become a teacher in charge.

And they decided that once approved, it should become a Ministry-approved licensing programme.

However, they said as the Ministry had yet to establish the requirements for teacher licensing, Bermuda College had so far been unable to develop a curriculum or training programme.

But Mr. Charles said he believed a separate body should also be set up to be responsible for licensing as he felt an employer, such as the Ministry, should not be involved in deciding who was certified and who was not.

He added: "It should be an autonomous body -- not the Ministry.

"But at the moment we are at a standstill because we need some more guidance from the experts from overseas who have done this before, thus we need money.

"At the think tank we were able to sit down and talk about what we would like to see and what form we thought it should take, but now we need to move forward.

"A report has been written with the results of the think tank and the Ministry has been sent a copy. We now need them to come back to us, and then we all need to get together again.'' Sen. Scott and Education Permanent Secretary Michelle Khaldun were both off the Island last night and so unavailable for comment.