Govinda I. Lingam

Educational Reforms and Implications on Teachers’ World of Work: Perspectives of Fijian Primary Teachers

This preliminary study reports on educational changes and its impact on primary teachers’ world of work in Fiji. Data were gathered from 38 primary teachers, using a questionnaire of Likert scale items and open-ended questions aiming to identify the intensity of the changes that have occurred in their work. The data analysis reveals the educational reforms as having intensified the work of teachers. In this regard, the principal stakeholder needs to be mindful of cumulative ongoing changes, to avoid any serious ramifications for teachers’ workload and in turn children’s learning outcomes. Teachers themselves highlighted the need for future changes to include more opportunities for continuous professional development to enable them to cope well with new demands of work. Implications of the study’s findings are also pertinent to other developing contexts such as those in the Pacific region and beyond because of ongoing transformations occurring in education systems worldwide

Capacity Building of Educational Leaders in An Era of Change: The Role of Higher Education Providers

The claim that inculcation of leadership practices and capacity building of educational leaders could constitute an effective response to contemporary and specific exigencies of educational organisations of the twenty-first century is strongly supported in the current literature synthesised here. The well-tested leadership development framework that Kouzes and Posner (The leadership challenge (5th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013) devised has the potential for facilitating leadership capacity building in all contexts, including the Pacific. In this regard, the time may be ripe for higher educational institutions to revisit their leadership programmes with an eye to adequate preparation of a new generation of educators equipped with an armoury of best leadership practices custom-built for their use. This vital input in all educational contexts would enable leaders to engage effectively in all operations and functions and fast-forward their educational organisations in the current environment of rapid change. Acquiring relevant knowledge and skills opens the way for educational leaders to address in constructive ways the ongoing march of challenges in education.

Children's Changing Urban Lives: A Comparative New Zealand–Pacific Perspective

Pacific Island countries are undergoing processes of urbanization and globalization. This paper asks what these processes mean for childrens lived realities and for urban planning in the Pacific. It reports on findings from a study undertaken with children aged 9-13 years in schools in Suva, Fiji, and Dunedin, New Zealand, that looked at childrens travel, safety, neighbourhood relationships and how they use their local urban environment. This research presents information and understandings that can inform the development of urban areas and enable planners to respond more effectively to meeting the needs of children living in a rapidly urbanizing Pacific.

Discussions and Debates in Pacific Education

A collection of papers based on twelve presentations delivered as part of the School of Educations Talanga Seminar Series, at the University of the South Pacific.

Ageing in Fiji: How Older Teachers Perceive Ageing and Their Lives

Worldwide the population is ageing and data concerning how people want to age actively is limited. The paper is a description of an inductive interpretive-descriptive study of how a sample of older retired teachers in Fiji viewed ageing and their lives as older people. The objectives were to determine and describe perceptions of ageing held by a sample of retired teachers. The methodology consisted of responses to an open ended questionnaire similar to a phenomenographic approach and the analysis was interpretive – descriptive. A purposive sample of 30 retired teachers between the ages of 55 and 60 responded to the questionnaire. The results indicate that most of the respondents were positive about lifelong learning and in particular learning new things; that they were involved in a range of post retirement activities for personal and financial reasons; that there were some barriers and facilitators to their activities; that they generally accepted ageing and being older; and that more should be done by Government and other agencies to provide for a better life for older people in Fiji. These results should be considered in future planning for ageing populations in Fiji, the Pacific region and in other developing countries.