Bermuda Teachers and Teaching Standards
A natural question that comes to the mind of an expat when looking for children's schooling in Bermuda is how good the teaching or the education standard is in the island? How qualified are the teachers? Does the teaching quality meet the standards of US, Canada or UK? Well, there are definitely some great schools in Bermuda with highly qualified teachers.
Are most of them that good? The answer is perhaps not. In general the teaching and overall education quality of the private schools are better than the government schools in Bermuda. So, if you are a non-Bermudian moving to Bermuda on a work permit along with your family, then first look for the private schools. Also, the government schools are gradually getting somewhat restricted only to Bermudian children.
Here is a statement from an expat who has been living in Bermuda: "I have three children and all are at Warwick Academy. The standard here is comparable to a good state primary in the UK. My 11 year old daughter just got a place in a top UK secondary private school. We did get her some extra tuition though".
Now coming to teachers and the teaching quality, all teachers must meet the following criteria as laid out by the Department of Education in Bermuda:
They must be registered with Bermuda Educator's Council (BEC). This is a government body part of the Department of Education.
In order for the teachers to be registered with BEC, they must have a university degree or qualification granted by an academic institution with is recognized by BEC.
The teachers must also successfully complete a prescribed training course on school teaching from an institute endorsed by the BEC.
Well, with all the above measures, the quality of teachers in general should be good in Bermuda. However, an audit revealed that in case of many teachers the copy of the degrees or certificates were not available with the Department of Education. Which may mean that they were never submitted although required for registration and for taking up jobs as teachers.
So, how did that happen? No one really has a clear answer. So this to my mind puts an obvious questions on the general quality of teachers in Bermuda and leaves one with a little lack of confidence. The Department of Education though has asked the teachers to resubmit all their credentials.
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