Links
OPEN AND FLEXIBLE LEARNING FOR WHOM? Rethinking distance educationUSP News Release
Monday 18 August, 2003
Cultural gap is causing Pacific students to fail
A large proportion of Pacific Island students fail in formal education because the gap between the expectations of their education and those of their home cultures are too wide and difficult to bridge, according to USP's Professor of Pacific Education and UNESCO Chair in Teacher and Culture, Professor Konai Helu Thaman.
"For too long, Pacific Island students have endured culturally undemocratic learning environments whose underlying values, aims, contents and assessment methods fail to consider Pacific indigenous knowledge systems," Professor Thaman said in a keynote address at a combined conference of the International Council of Education in Teaching (ICET) and the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA), held recently in Melbourne, Australia.
Indigenous Pacific knowledge systems have existed for thousands of years and continue to influence the home cultures of many Pacific students, she said.
An important role of teachers, Professor Thaman said, was to bridge these ‘cultural gaps' and create learning environments that are culturally inclusive.
"One way of encouraging culturally inclusive teaching in Pacific Island Countries is to ensure that teacher education programmes consider the home cultures of learners and incorporate elements of these in their programmes whether at universities or teachers' colleges," she said.
Some Pacific educators have increased their efforts to research Pacific cultures and publish curriculum materials targeting teachers and teacher educators, to assist them incorporate elements of local Pacific cultures in their teaching.
This has resulted in the publication of a series of Teachers Education Modules by the University's Institute of Education (IOE) and the UNESCO Chair. Six have been published so far. A collection of readings for tertiary students, edited by Professor Thaman and titled, ‘Educational Ideas from Oceania' has also been published and is available at the IOE and the USP Book Centre.
Professor Thaman also presented a paper on, 'Vaa: A Foundation for Intercultural Education in Oceania', at a UNESCO Conference on Intercultural Education held at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland in June. She also spoke at a symposium of UNESCO Chairs and at a workshop on 'Education for Peace', hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Helsinki.
ENDS__ Media Release issued by the USP Marketing & Public Relations Office. Further Information: Mosmi Bhim, tel: 3212355.