Hiring practices under the Ministry of Education are to be reviewed amid recruitment challenges that have left some signature learning programmes short of qualified teachers.

The Royal Gazette reported this month that the engineering strand of the Stem programme at CedarBridge Academy has been without a dedicated qualified teacher since it was introduced in September 2022.

That article said that the cosmetology strand of the Trades and Profession Learning SLP at the school was also understaffed.

One public school teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, said that pupils could fall short on their credits, while the parent of a child on the engineering course, who also wished to remain unnamed, said their child was missing out on several hours of SLP tuition every week.

Diallo Rabain, the Minister of Education, said last week that there were also challenges in hiring a physics teacher to deliver part of an SLP.

Staff staged a sit-out at the start of October in response to the issues, and it was claimed that teachers of non-signature programmes were stepping in to teach components of the SLPs.

It was rumoured that a vote of no confidence was planned against Kenneth Caesar, the principal of the school, for not submitting staffing requirements to the Government in a timely manner.

However, Mr Rabain and Mr Caesar, who spoke to the Gazette at CedarBridge Academy last week, said that recruitment fell under the combined responsibility of the principal, the school’s board of governors, the Department of Education and the Department of Employee Development, which carries out human resources duties.

They explained that the school must identify the number of staff required and inform the DoE and DOED, which recruits for staff.

Details of the selected recruits are then sent back to the school, where the principal and board conduct interviews and make final selections.

The Berkeley Institute, the island’s other signature school, is aided and therefore has the autonomy to hire its own staff.

Mr Rabain said: “It has come to the ministry’s attention the difficulty with the recruitment process and that is something that has been discussed with the DoE and the DOED of how we should look at different ways to recruit, especially these difficult-to-find teachers.

“These are conversations that are taking place now, how it can be more efficient. That is something we promise to work out.”

He said there had been recruitment efforts for CedarBridge but they were unsuccessful.

However, both he and Mr Caesar said they were confident that the affected students, about 40 in total, will still be able to attain at least the minimum required 24 credits to graduate with a Bermuda Signature School Diploma.

Mr Rabain added: “I will not say that there have not been challenges of recruiting teachers in certain areas but I do stand by the school, the principal and staff at the school in that our students are still gaining the knowledge with having these programmes in place.

“I am confident that they will all reach the credits that are needed.

“We won’t see the first SLP graduates for another two years and so there is time to catch up.”

Mr Caesar added: “In engineering, we have had some persons come in to assist and work in other aspects of the curriculum.

“It is really difficult to get someone to come in and do the entire curriculum, that has been our challenge.”

A public school teacher told the Gazette: “The regular teachers are subbing for all the placeholders that exist. They are tired.

“They are doing their full-time job and have to cover during their breaks.

“The issue will become, when the students go through S4, they won’t have enough credits because they have not had the teachers in the classes.”

The parent of the CedarBridge student said: “Every day my child is missing classes.

“They could have told us before the school year started. My child is bright, if we had been informed, we could have made a decision to go elsewhere.”

Mr Caesar said there was a qualified cosmetology teacher at the school but an additional part-time teacher was needed for the course, on which about 60 students are enrolled.

The extra cosmetology teacher has been recruited and will begin after the fall holiday, he said, and a temporary engineering teacher was also expected to be in place after the break while a permanent candidate is sought.

However, he confirmed: “We have not had a fully qualified teacher in engineering over the time that it has started.

“That is one area that the minister made mention is a challenge to recruit but we are in the process of having them recruited.

“We are in heavy evaluation of the course. What my remit will be immediately is to work between myself, the DoE and the DOED to revisit, look at those applications, do our interviews and see if those persons are the best fit.

“Then it will be our intention to bring someone on board. Over the next few years we will re-evaluate our programmes, look at our curriculum, our pacing, etc, to ensure that whatever programme is set out for them, they will receive the credits that they need.”

Of the 24 credits required for graduation, 7.5, or about 30 per cent, come from signature programmes for those enrolled in SLPs.

Mr Rabain said “virtually” all of the other SLPs and their strands were staffed.

Speaking to the meetings held by CedarBridge staff earlier this month, the minister said progress was being made.

He explained: “We have met with the Bermuda Union of Teachers and worked out a pathway forward where union reps of the school, myself, leadership and board meet on a biweekly basis to review the issues that have been mentioned.”

He said the BUT had not communicated to the ministry that there was a vote of no confidence in Mr Caesar.

Mr Caesar said a system was in place and, guided by the collective bargaining agreement, teachers were not expected to use their breaks or preparation time to cover for lessons.

Both he and Mr Rabain said that there had been many positive developments in the signature learning programmes, making reference to strands such as creative technologies, for which pupils had art displayed at the annual public schools competition that could be viewed on a cell phone in 3D, and automotive trades, where a student built a car that was displayed at the Bermuda Day Parade.

Mr Caesar added: “I had the opportunity to work in Washington DC during education reform.

“It was difficult but 20 years later you see how it has turned around and changed.”