Education and Development Minister Paula Cox told the House of Assembly yesterday that she had six broad goals to improve schools and learning across the Island.

First and foremost, she said, Bermuda must create a culture of achievement in its public schools.

She said Bermuda's public education system must not only produce intelligence, but also character, in young people, and she said, together, with parental support, she hoped to instil in students that they had a responsibility to develop their talents.

And she said with the implementation of performance standards, she hoped a framework within which students could grow was established.

"We know that we did not all learn to tie our laces at the same time," she said, "We should not expect that all children will learn to read at the same time. However, the performance standards allow us to understand what we can expect of a child by a certain time in their life."

The Minister said the second goal was to actually improve students' achievements, and she said a range of initiatives were to be introduced, or had been introduced, to tackle the issue from many different perspectives.

"We must focus on core skills, such as literacy, numeracy and information technology. We must ensure that educators have the skills that they need to obtain the very best from their students - licensing of teachers will be an important step in this direction. This will operate in tandem with the teacher evaluation processes. Further, we work closely with the Ministry of Works and Engineering so that subject to budgetary constraints, we can provide the physical plant so that students and teachers can give off their best."

But Ms Cox said the education of children was a community issue, involving not only teachers, but parents, churches, businesses and community groups.

The third goal, she said, was to develop safe schools and strong characters. Ms Cox said every student, teacher, principal and school worker deserved the benefit of working in a safe and secure environment.

She added: "Incidents of students who bring weapons and drugs to school must be eradicated. Schools are institutions designed for learning, not for instilling fear in others. We will not stand idly by and watch this happen. There has been dialogue between the Bermuda Police Service and the Ministry at the most senior level."

She said meetings had been held, including principals, to ensure everything was done to foster a sense of security in schools, and she said the Police community beat officers would play a pivotal role in this regard.

And talking of the Police in schools, she said there was also a plan to have each officer in the Traffic Unit adopt a school in a bid to teach and advise on road and vehicle safety.

And to make schools safer, she said some schools had been fitted with security alarm systems and panic buttons. And she said the Ministry had also undertaken to upgrade the fire safety provisions at schools.

Ms Cox added: "Our fourth goal reminds us that education policy making should be based on data and evidence of what works in the classrooms.

"Our new Research, Measurement and Evaluation Team (RMET) will be focussed on providing strong evaluative tools which will be outcomes based, assisting our schools in using data and researched best practice to reach the stated goals and objectives. The RMET is an integral part of our commitment to data-driven decision making."

As a result, she said system-wide data on student outcomes will become increasingly available as the technological infrastructure was strengthened. "In short, we expect to develop greater consistency in using research to improve classroom practice, revise policies and in order to make informed decisions about resources."

However, despite the progress made so far, Ms Cox said she accepted there was still a way to go. And she cited the TerraNova test results for older students as an example. She said older students who sat the test had fallen below the US average.

"We do not want out students achieving below the US average scores. We do not even want our students to achieve the US average scores. We want our students to exceed the US average scores. We want Bermuda's children to be among the best-educated children in the world."

The fifth goal, she said was to enhance the quality of and access to post-secondary education. She said students must be prepared for entering higher education, even if they chose not to do so. And she said the Ministry had collaborated closely with Bermuda College to ensure that senior school curriculum was suited to the needs of both the student and the college.

The Minister said the Ministry was still examining the question of external certification and seeking some means of accreditation at the senior level. She said every school system needed to have a means of measurement and of review to ensure the quality of the education product. No decision had been made yet, she said, however, a decision would be made in the near future.

"Last but not least, the sixth goal is to establish management excellence," she added.

"This means creating a culture of accountability throughout the Ministry of Education and, indeed, throughout the whole system. The principles of accountability, including increased parental involvement, are embedded through our strategic plan and this will be the touchstone in years to come."

Ms Cox said teachers will be regularly reviewed and every year all principals must submit their School Improvement Plans.

She added: "We hold ourselves accountable to the students and their families. Education reform is empty if it does not take account of the needs of educators. Teachers are not the objects of education reform, they are the engines of education reform.

"The same principles will be embedded in future legislative proposals in areas, including special education, vocational education and higher education. The plan is a promise to our students, their parents and to our young people seeking higher education. We promise to improve the quality of education, to raise our expectations and to leave no student behind.

"In return, we ask our young people to use their skills and knowledge to contribute to our economy, to rebuild our education system and make it the first choice."

Ms Cox said she was proud that the Education Ministry was one of the first Ministries to pilot Zero Based Budgeting, where it started with the assumption that nothing was funded and every activity had to be justified.

She added: "This has helped us to make decisions about the most effective and efficient ways to use available resources to achieve our priority goals. We have also been able to make savings by identifying mismatches between the way we have spent our funding in the past and our current priority areas.

"We have therefore been able to fund new projects and pursue priority areas within existing budgets."