The new school year starts today for Government schools with a brand new curriculum.

Teachers have been preparing all year to teach the Cambridge Curriculum, but are they ready?

Does the curriculum have what it takes to dramatically improve the quality of teaching and learning in the Island's schools? Reporter Mikaela Ian Pearman takes a look.

Teachers have spent countless hours preparing for the official launch of the Cambridge Curriculum today.

The Ministry of Education is introducing the internationally-recognised curriculum in public schools in a bid to raise standards.

It had a soft implementation in schools last May and will now be applied in public schools across the Island in three core subjects maths, English and science.

"From a curriculum point of view, I think teachers are well-versed and ready," said Bermuda Union of Teachers president Keisha Douglas.

"A major concern is school-readiness; just having the class ready and functionable so that teachers can work in [them] and do their bulletin boards and get ready for the students, rather than coming in to construction sites.

"Other than that, I think the teachers have a willingness and openness to make sure that this Cambridge implementation goes well. We will be supporting them along the way."

The Bermuda Educators Council (BEC) announced last month that teachers complete 40 professional development hours if they want their licence renewed.

The issue became a sticking point with the BUT who described the requirement as "exorbitant".

Yesterday, Ms Douglas said she felt teachers were ready.

"I think most teachers have [met the requirement]. We've had a year. We haven't had any overarching complains that teachers don't feel they are ready.

"I'm a mathematician. Math is math. If you change the curriculum, I can still teach it. It's just a matter of being familiar with the new layout."

She continued: "Because they're already teachers, it's a matter of being familiarised with the new content and the assessment. Everything is new. I don't think it's anything our teachers can't handle.

"This will be the first year so there will be trial and error. I think we have the best intentions moving forward. No teacher wakes up and says they're not going to do their best. It's in their conscience to make this work."

If it is to be successful there must be a greater effort from all stakeholders, Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons believes.

"The Cambridge Curriculum is no silver bullet but if effectively implemented it has the potential to raise education standards and do a better job of equipping our students with the skills they need to continue their education beyond high school or compete for good jobs in the workforce.

"However, the Cambridge Curriculum is expected to be more rigorous than the current curriculum and will require more focus and effort by students and teachers to be successful. This will be a major test for the school system at all levels."

Schools around the world rely on getting the best teachers and the best results out of them, Dr. Gibbons added.

"I'm concerned that we are not providing sufficient professional development for our teachers, particularly in light of the recent [BEC] statement that almost a quarter of the public system teachers had not fulfilled their annual professional development requirements for licensing.

"Countries like Singapore, with highly rated public education systems, invest roughly four times the number of hours per teacher in professional development than we do in Bermuda."

A more rigorous curriculum will require clear criteria across the system to identify and address the needs of students at risk to prevent them from "falling behind and potentially dropping out", Dr. Gibbons added.

"It's clear that the Cambridge Curriculum, by itself, is not going to solve all of the challenges faced by the public system so that it effectively serves the needs of our students.

"The Hopkins Review raised many other issues that still need to be addressed and implemented to reform the public system. At the very least, the community deserves regular updates from the [Education] Minister [El James] on the [five-year plan laid out by the Ministry] and more transparency about results in the system."

Mr. James and Bermuda Democratic Alliance education spokesman Myron Piper did not respond to requests for comment by press time.