Who is to retrain the teacher trainers?: A Papua New Guinea case study

The single most important factor to improve the quality of education in a developing country appears to be increased general and professional education of teachers. Initially, it seems that this may be appropriately addressed in the teachers' colleges. However, the teacher educators themselves, often have received their own education either from the universities of developed countries or from “expert” expatriates at home. Often the result has been an adapted western curriculum being offered in the teachers' colleges, which is inappropriate to the student teachers. As a means of obtaining increased insight into a developing country's context, this study sought to gain some understanding of how Papua New Guinea teacher educators and inservice teachers negotiate their western higher education at the University of Papua New Guinea. This may provide assistance to expatriate educators to provide an educational experience that addresses student learning needs with appropriate process and content.     

The changing agenda in teacher education in Papua New Guinea

This paper presents a critical analysis of, and a practical response to, teacher education imperatives shaping the politics, policy, structure and operation of Community Teachers Colleges in Papua New Guinea today. Present Papua New Guinea educational realities call for a rethinking of the political socialisation that has characterised Community Teachers Colleges in the past. The evidence suggests that the predominantly unreflective (basic skills/behavioural objectives), centralised approach which has come to characterise the administration of Teachers Colleges, inhibits the capacity of teacher educators for the now essential task of developing ‘critical and analytical thinking’ in relation to college governance and program development and delivery. The approach taken to professional development is that of the Papua New Guinea (Primary) Teachers College Lecturers Professional Development Project (1990-94), in which critical understandings are developed in relation to the current and emerging needs and demands on Teachers College graduates. The Project approach has been developed so that Project experiences can be transformed into a self-sustaining professional development cycle.     

Community School Leadership Development in Papua New Guinea: perspectives for change

Community school personnel in Papua New Guinea are expected to undertake an increasingly complex leadership role in making education more relevant to the needs of the community, yet current administrative training does not acknowledge this leadership perspective. In the light of this changing role, the current model for the in‐service development of community school leaders in Papua New Guinea appears limited theoretically. This is because existing programmes are inadequate epistemologically and do not fully equip community school leaders with the knowledge required to cope with educational change. Existing programmes are based on a technical rationality which serves bureaucratic purposes rather than contributing to teacher empowerment and organisational reward. A new approach is required which recognises the increasing complexities of community school leadership and which links leadership training with the process of professional development.     

Addressing Factors Affecting Ongoing Professional Development in Community Teachers’ Colleges in Papua New Guinea

The concept of sustainable professional development in the context of community teachers’ colleges in Papua New Guinea is reviewed, with particular reference to the Papua New Guinea Community Teachers’ College Lecturers’ Professional Development Project. Seven obstacles to sustaining professional development are described, and strategies are suggested for building on the achievements of the Project in relation to personal professional development of lecturers and the review of institutional programmes and procedures.     

Australian and South Pacific External Studies Association: ODLAA’s regional predecessor

The Australian and South Pacific External Studies Association (ASPESA) – the predecessor of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia, Inc. (ODLAA) – was founded in 1973. From the outset, ASPESA adopted a broader‐than‐Australia focus for open and distance learning that included New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the member countries of the University of the South Pacific. Its interest was firstly on ‘professional’ matters (i.e., an identity for distance education, distance educators, and their professional development). ASPESA forums and workshops spread through various Australian ‘external studies’ institutes and developed the practical and intellectual infrastructure for ASPESA’s aims and objectives.

ASPESA acknowledged its regional and international focus in various ways. The 1981 ASPESA forum was organised jointly by the University of the South Pacific and Massey University, New Zealand, and held in Fiji. Thereafter its regional members played a larger role in ASPESA activities and regional issues appeared on forum agenda. ODLAA and its companion associations around the South Pacific received from their predecessor, ASPESA, a heritage of professionalism and participation in regional and international open and distance learning. In due course, however, differences in distance education environments led New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and then the Pacific island countries to form separate distance education associations, while maintaining links with ASPESA.     

‘Education for equality’ and ‘education for life’: examining reading literacy and reading interest in Papua New Guinea primary schools1

Reading literacy and reading interest was examined in four primary schools in Papua New Guinea: in an international, suburban, settlement and village school. In this paper we present a summary of findings located within a local context and examine the implications as viewed through two lenses. From an ‘educational for equality’ perspective, the findings suggest a critical need to re‐evaluate the use of national testing to select children for further education and address the serious shortage of reading books in school libraries. From an ‘education for life’ perspective, the findings indicate a continuing need for community‐based actions together with innovative teacher education programs aimed at developing ways of strengthening the connections between home and school.     

Science education research in Papua New Guinea 1978–1990

This paper presents a science/science education bibliography, to assist science educationalists interested in Papua New Guinea. 392 articles were reviewed. The bibliography was then categorised in a number of ways to indicate patterns of research productivity in various areas of science education, and at different levels of education. A questionnaire was devised to obtain information from former and current researchers in the field about their own contributions. This exercise produced some surprising information about science education research in Papua New Guinea. Specializations: science teacher education, chemical education, science education in developing countries, educational issues.     

Beyond Dependency Theory: A postcolonial analysis of educating Papua New Guinean high school students in Australian schools

This paper explores the social and educational implications of the Secondary Schools Scholarship Project (SSSP) in which Australia gave over 1,000 adolescents from Papua New Guinea three-year scholarships to study in Australian high schools. Drawing from postcolonial theory, the paper uses concepts of ambivalence, hybridity, hegemony, contradiction, and national discourse to analyse an array of issues which would not be in the purview of dependency theory. These issues include not only the cultural “border-crossings” and tensions experienced by the Papua New Guinean scholarship winners during their Australian sojourn and return to Papua New Guinea, but also the complex ambiguities in the outcomes and implications of a foreign aid project for a decolonising country. The scholarship programme illustrates the politics of foreign aid in education, including the contradictions of receiving aid from a donor country which is garnering substantial benefits from the recipient country, and the complexity of the postcolonial challenge of utilising this aid in a way that meets national educational goals in a globalising world.     

Community development and the primary school teacher in the developing world: An analysis of recent trends in Papua New Guinea

Since Independence in 1975, one of the main roles of the primary school teacher in Papua New Guinea has been to promote community development. Recent policy, however, is aimed at making community development the central focus of primary teaching. This paper argues that such an orientation is likely to result in community discontent, the creation of restrictions on the extent to which worthwhile lifelong learning can take place, and failure to lay the groundwork for a technically orientated economy. Recent policy aimed at giving primary school teachers a major role in out-of-school community development is also inappropriate given the limited nature of teacher training candidates, the nature of the teaching environment, and the nature of Papua New Guinea society.     

Colonial legacies and neo‐colonial practices in Papua New Guinean higher education

This paper explores the Westernization of academic quality within the Papua New Guinea higher education system and the hybridity of the university sector where different actors force knowledge to be created for the needs of a small, formal economy, rather than for the development needs of the country. The country has yet to find a system that best responds to its educational needs; several models have been put into practice but without significant results. The approach that the PNG higher education institutes have taken, continuing the colonial tradition, builds on and is reinforced by the new international trends in higher education that follow the market needs, giving a false guarantee that HE is contributing to the economic growth of the country. Colonial legacies and neo‐colonial practices provide the conceptual framework.     

Action research in initial teacher education: an explorative study

The aim of the study was to describe students’ and teacher educators’ practical experience with action research and to identify a number of special points for consideration (opportunities and limitations) which could play a role in putting research into practice in concrete terms in the courses. Students and teacher educators on three Dutch initial teacher education programmes which treat action research as both a means of professional development and a necessary professional qualification were involved. These were programmes for specific teaching levels and subjects in Dutch schools. Four special points for consideration are identified: action research and the educational core qualifications of the profession; difference between action research by student teachers during their initial education and experienced teachers in their own workplace; students’ mixed experiences and perceptions of research; and embedded research‐based activities in the programme. The authors conclude that action research should be considered from different perspectives: as a professional approach, a body of skills that is needed to make the connection between knowing that and knowing why; and as a way of improving practice by systematically building up practice‐based knowledge.     

COST ANALYSIS AND ITS USE IN SIMULATION OF POLICY OPTIONS: THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA EDUCATION FINANCE MODEL

The article describes the structure and operations of a computer simulation programme used in Papua New Guinea that was developed with technical assistance from UNESCO. By establishing baseline data on student enrolments, teacher posts and costs of education at different levels, the model can be used to simulate various policies under consideration and provides output on the likely effects on student flows, teacher requirements and total costs over a ten-year period. The article describes the operations of the primary school model and highlights some of the policy options that can be simulated. It is country-specific but the purpose is to inform readers of how such a programme is helping planners to improve planning and policy-making in a developing country. The author, from Papua New Guinea, worked closely with the UNESCO expert in building the model.     

What and how teacher educators prefer to learn

In which areas and domains do individual teacher educators prefer to work on their professional development? What kind of learning activities do they want to take on and with whom? Are there significant differences in these preferences between teacher educators? This article reports on a recent survey (N = 268) about the professional development of teacher educators and differences in learning preferences between less and more experienced teacher educators and between university-based and school-based teacher educators. Findings show, for example, that while most university-based teacher educators were mainly interested in improving their teaching, less experienced school-based teacher educators were more focussed on aspects such as coaching skills. In this study, ‘learning profiles’ have been developed for four categories of teacher educators. These profiles may help to create more meaningful arrangements for teacher educators’ initial education and further professional development in a context where teacher education is required to have a more school-based as well as a more research-based orientation.     

In‐school Experience Designed to Meet Individual Needs

Current policies at both the state and national levels emphasise the need for increased attention to teaching children with special needs and more extensive school‐based experience in teacher education courses. This paper reports an in‐school experience which was an integral part of an on‐campus subject that focused upon teaching children with special needs. It also addressed a range of issues currently of concern in pre‐service teacher education, including the nature of the in‐school experience, managing the needs of children with learning difficulties in an integrated classroom, overcoming the socialising effect of block practice teaching, reinforcing the relevance of campus‐based subjects, maintaining a balance between the formal teaching expectations and the nurturing roles of teachers, providing teacher educators with recent and relevant in‐school experience, and producing reflective teachers with an understanding and appreciation of the ‘art’ and the ‘science’ of teaching.     

Evolution Education in Papua New Guinea: trainee teachers’ views

Educated Papua New Guineans’ conceptual ecologies need to accommodate competing and conflicting traditional ethnoscientific, Western religious and modern scientific paradigms. Papua New Guinea is a constitutionally self-declared ‘Christian country’ and evolution is a controversial issue. The upper secondary school biology syllabus contains a terminating unit on evolution but the curriculum is of expatriate design and the rapid localisation of senior educational positions makes the views of indigenous teaching personnel a high research priority, particularly in the light of the current upgrading of secondary teacher training to degree level. This paper presents data arising from a study of trainee primary and secondary science teachers’ views towards evolution education. Primary science trainees were found to exhibit a poor awareness of the centrality of evolution to modern biology. For secondary science trainees, it was found that exposure to upper secondary school biology, in spite of adding little to students’ knowledge about evolution, was associated with their increasingly positive attitudes towards evolution education, as was the dual acceptance of evolution and religious belief.     

Responding Creatively to Challenges in Teacher Education: four women teacher educators tell their stories

This paper reports on a study that has mapped the stories of a group of women teacher educators. While the focus is on the period of change during the last 10 years from primarily teachers’ colleges to university‐based teacher education, the broader context of the individual women's lives is explored as well. The stories are mapped against each other and against relevant literature. In this way the study considers the challenge of change on the experiences of these women teacher educators. This study has been informed by feminist theory and has been constructed within a framework which is both narrative and collaborative. As Acker notes ‘one advantage of narrative is that history makes itself evident in the world of its actors’. In this way the intersections of the personal histories and biographies of the teacher educators within the social context in which they work are examined. These women teacher educators’ stories demonstrate similarities and differences in actions and reactions to the challenges they have faced in the last decade in teacher education. The similarities and differences are due to individual histories, career experiences and the character of the institutions in which they live their professional lives. In presenting this paper, the key focus is on reporting how the forces inherent in the changing nature of the educational environment have impacted on these teacher educators in such a way as to present challenges for each in the way they have developed in their profession as teacher educators.     

English community school teacher education and English as a second language in Papua New Guinea: a study of a practicum

This article explores community (primary) school teacher education in the subject, English, at a Papua New Guinea (PNG) teachers' college as manifested in end‐of‐year English lessons in practicum rounds of pre‐service community school teachers. English is the official language overlaid on 700 indigenous languages in this country where reconstructionism informs policy decisions. Given this, the importance of success in English in schools is not to be underestimated. The research focuses on the implementation the knowledge, skills, strategies and materials acquired by pre‐service English teachers in a coastal province in PNG in the context of a number of public statements on educational policy and practice. It examines the impact of these as indicated in lesson plans and supervisors' reports.     

INSET: prospects and practice in developing countries

Recent years have witnessed considerable growth of emphasis in the inservice education and training of educational personnel. It has come to be generally accepted that the pace of social and educational change makes preservice training an inadequate basis for long‐term professional competence, and that inservice training is an essential instrument for updating and upgrading staff. In contrast to preservice training, inservice courses can often be more easily related to the practicalities of the education profession, and several models of inservice training avoid removing staff from the workforce. Inservice practices are not usually without problems, however, many of which may be logistical and financial constraints arising from the decision to cater for trainees in their workplaces rather than in one central location.

This paper highlights some of these issues by reference to the experience of several less developed countries, and in particular by reference to practices in Papua New Guinea. For over a decade, university inservice courses have been organized in Papua New Guinea for school teachers and a variety of educational administrators. These programmes were developed independently of ‘main stream’ thinking on INSET, but analysis of their operation within a more general and contemporary theoretical context sheds useful light on issues of international interest.     

Fostering Teacher Educators’ Professional Development on Practice-Based Research Through Communities of Inquiry

Practice-based research and supervising students’ research has become an important task for higher vocational institutes, including the teacher education departments. However, conducting practice-based research is not always common practice for a great number of teacher educators. Therefore, professional development activities are undertaken to support teacher educators in their new role as a researcher. This paper reports on one of those activities: a community of inquiry in which teacher educators conducted a collaborative research on a shared topic derived from their practices, in order to examine teacher educators’ professional development and to identify key characteristics for setting up such a community. All participants reported developments in practice-based research skills and knowledge, and developments regarding supervising students’ research. In addition, they reported on developments in their beliefs regarding research and on the topic under research. They also reported the impact of the community on other parts of their profession. Commitment, time, teacher educators as experienced researchers and completing the research stages are identified as key characteristics.     

Uncovering a hidden professional agenda for teacher educators: A mixed method study on Flemish teacher educators and their professional development

Taking into account the pressing need to understand more about what teacher educators’ professional development characterises, this article adopts a mixed method approach to explore Flemish (Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) teacher educators’ professional development needs and opportunities. Analysis results of a large-scale survey study with 611 teacher educators and analysis of five qualitative focus groups (with 24 teacher educators) are presented. The results confirm the lack of attention for teacher educators’ professional development in the Flemish teacher education system. Moreover, the findings indicate a structural need for participation in professional development activities that are linked to teacher educators’ own practices, organised as long-term sustainable professional development trajectories, and formally recognised. To conclude, a professional development agenda for research, policy and practices related to teacher educators’ professional development is discussed.