A self-confessed "pond dog" will be retiring this term after more than 40 years in education - a career spanning from the Berkeley Institute classrooms to the football fields of Robert Crawford.

Thousands of students have been taught by Earl (Gabby) Hart, deputy principal of Spice Valley Middle school, since he took up the ruler at Berkeley.

And waving a final farewell to the industry which has dominated his life, and allowed him to touch so many others, Mr. Hart told The Royal Gazette: "I've been in a classroom all my life."

He began his teaching career at Berkeley Institute, before moving to Churchill & Robert Crawford and finishing at Warwick Secondary School.

But retirement will not chase 60-year-old Mr. Hart into the shadows, he insisted.

After taking some time off to travel in Europe, he said he would keep an eye on education in Bermuda.

"This is my country," he said.

And with half-a-dozen memberships to educational and athletic associations, he said he was looking forward to keeping up-to-date.

"I will not just lie dormant," he joked, "Once a teacher always a teacher."

Mr. Hart was educated at the University of Indiana and the Culhom Teachers' College. And although fully immersed in his career, Mr. Hart achieved a master's degree in counselling education in 1984.

As a physical education teacher at Robert Crawford, Mr. Hart fell into company with former sports icons such Randy Horton, whom he jokingly calls "brother", as well as joined several athletic organisations including the Bermuda Football Association, of which he is now the honorary vice-president.

With retirement in view, Mr. Hart sat down with The Royal Gazette and spoke about several aspects of Bermudian society in relation to education, including trade programmes, parental support, community co-operation, teachers' roles, constants in education and changes in education.

When asked what things in the education system have not changed in his forty years, Mr. Hart spoke at length about the complicated subject of parent involvement, teachers' roles and change:

"Parents still want the best for their children. Even though in some ways, they don't really show it but deep down every parent wants their child to be successful. And that's been a constant. But a teacher can't do it by himself.

"What are you prepared to do to see that your child gets the best education? How can you assist the school, the educators, in seeing that your child is getting the best education?

"General involvement in the PTA is a must, but I think sitting around a table at home, discussing with their child what went on at school today, what homework they have and see that the homework is being done. "Seeing their child comes to school alert and prepared to learn. They should always be letting their child know that we send you to school to learn.

"Forty years ago, the parents, the community, the school and the churches were all on the same page. The values were being engendered in the home, in the schools, in the community and in the churches and teachers at that stage were up on a pedestal.

"What the teachers said was gospel and basically if a child was disciplined, you knew that that's not going to go unnoticed because parents didn't want to be embarrassed.

"But today, times have changed so drastically. Teachers are like dart boards. Every element of society is blamed on the teachers.

"Go from this elevated position to one where we're the target. And education was too important to be left solely in the hands of educators.

"The future of education rests with people working together. It depends solely on people working together. In addition, I think the breakdown of respect for authority has led to, basically, a decline in our standards.

He said students need fundamental "development assets" in order to succeed in such an environment.

"I believe self-esteem, self-worth, parents support and hope. Why hope? Because far too often we go and try to give our kids financial and material assets.

"Being rewarded for things they probably haven't been successful at. For example, right now we had a student on leave, on a vacation.

"Before, students would have never gone away during the middle of the term. This was a no-no before the values of the parents changed tremendously.

"We have a child on leave of absence because the parents are on holiday and they want to take the child with them. Where do the parents value education?

"That has definitely been changed. Even from the point of view of tardiness. Now it's a laissez-faire event, being late. I feel a lot of time the tail is wagging the dog," he said.

Mr. Hart emphasised teachers and parents must take a stand in cases of discipline and must not let the child control them.

In addition to taking a stance on discipline, Mr. Hart said he wanted teachers to remember some critical reasons about their role as "nation-builders".

"I want teachers to never forget what Henry Adams said, 'A teacher affects an eternity'. I want them to remember teachers need to be in control of their classrooms at all times.

"Be prepared to stand up and know when to say 'enough is enough'. Be prepared to constantly remind students that the reason they're there is to learn.

"And I always say let the students' needs come first. I would like to see education continue to be at the fore front, turning out productive citizens.

"Far too often people put a lot of emphasis on academics and I would like use see us put emphasis, not only on academics, but on citizenship to go hand-in-hand with it. Schools should be about not only education from the academics to time in the solely of citizenship in our curriculum. That would go a long way to overcoming our ailing society," he said. Lastly, he called for more technical institutions or trade programmes, to expose students to those careers as soon as possible.

Mr. Hart said he was "disappointed" that the disintegration of tradesmen workforces is only now being noticed.

The closure of the Technical College, Robert Crawford and trade programmes in the schools led to the deficiency in the industries, he said.

He said a new series of programmes would go a long way to demonstrating the benefits of working in the trades to younger Bermudians.

But improvements to the education system should go hand-in-hand with revising lessons, he told The Royal Gazette.

Mr. Hart emphasised that any new programme or curriculum should be constantly revised, weekly if necessary, to assess success and ascertain different ways of accomplishing the same goal.