Public school teachers have taken out a full-page advert citing "grave concerns" about educational reform in today's edition of The Royal Gazette.

The Bermuda Union of Teachers (BUT) notice repeats claims that the Ministry of Education has "largely ignored teachers' voices" as it implements the recommendations outlined in the Hopkins report a year ago.

"Despite our best efforts we have largely been excluded from the process," says the union. "To date, the Ministry of Education has released only vague and incomplete descriptions of upcoming changes. Requests for information have resulted in more questions than answers."

Professor Hopkins and his team delivered their damning verdict on the state of the Island's public schools more than a year ago and recommended a raft of changes.

Education Minister Randy Horton has since created an interim education board to push through change, announced that the school leaving age is to be raised to 18 and proposed that schools be grouped into clusters.

He held meetings last month with parents, students, principals, teachers and Ministry of Education officials to update them on the reform.

Today's advert says: "The BUT holds many grave concerns about the current reform process; too many to discuss fully here. To summarise, we are dismayed that the focus of reform initiatives is primarily on restructuring the bureaucracy of the school system.

"Teaching and learning takes place in the classroom. Yet current reform initiatives ignore this most important aspect of our education system."

The BUT advert — on page 27 — lists nine recommendations from the Hopkins report, details the Ministry's response to each and gives the concerns of teachers and parents.

It claims that rather than "radically reform" the Ministry of Education, as recommended by the experts, it has been expanded and more layers of bureaucracy added.

The union questions how the creation of 15 new administrative posts — three directors and 12 assistant directors — will contribute to the success of schools and asks for details of their duties. "Where is the mandate for the directors to remain intimately involved with school activities so that they do not begin to make decisions in isolation from the reality of the schools' needs (as is so often done now)."

The union asks how creating clusters will help enhance school autonomy and queries why preschools are not included in the groupings.

No one from the union could be contacted for comment last night. The Ministry of Education said it would issue a response today.