Quality education and the role of the teacher in Fiji: mobilising global and local values

Abstract

This article reports on the findings of original field research carried out in the small island developing state of Fiji, in the South Pacific. A North-South research partnership was built upon previous collaboration between team members and, in so doing, pioneered the blending of Pacific and Western research approaches sensitive to a postcolonial positioning. The study interrogates practitioner perspectives on: the nature and quality of teachers and teaching in Fiji; the challenges of teachers’ work and lives; priorities for successful qualitative reform; and theoretical implications for the processes of education policy transfer and qualitative improvement. The analysis draws upon work on the politics of aid and international development, revealing tensions between existing learner-centred policy frameworks and emergent neoliberal and performativity oriented initiatives influenced by international surveys of student achievement, related league tables and the experience of the regional reference societies of Australia, New Zealand and India.     

开放灵活教育的对象——对远程教育的再思考

文章以远程教育历史较早（成立于1968年），主要应用卫星电视，面向南太平洋群岛广大地区开展远程教育的南太平洋大学的实践和研究为例，冷静地思考了远程教育面临的挑战、机遇、问题和对策，文章提出，由于信息技术的发展引起的“全球化”、“一体化”现象有可能忽视文化的地域性、民族性特点，迎接挑战的对策应是通过包括更多本土化的学习，提高灵活性以及文化上的包容和广泛性等。     

Nurturing Relationships And Honouring Responsibilities: A Pacific Perspective

This essay contributes a Pacific Islands perspective to the global discussion of “Living Together: Education and Intercultural Dialogue”. Through poetry and prose, this essay traces the impact of the Tongan concept of vaa (values/valued relationships) on learning and language. By invoking UNESCO’s mandate to build peace through education, the concept of vaa is shown to be a key to promoting peace. The challenges and prospects of nurturing peace through international cooperation in education are discussed with examples drawn from the Pacific. Specifically, Tonga’s social and linguistic histories provide avenues for interpreting Pacific educational ideals in relation to Western concepts of knowing and learning. Reflection on cultural literacy in the Pacific context raises deeper questions about the role of educators when working interculturally. Lessons to be learned include the oft-quoted maxim that educators must first learn about their own culture before learning about others’, and before imposing their own pedagogies and curricula on others’ education systems.