Narsamma 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.