Skip to main content

Children voice concerns about Fiji's education system


On 8 December 2009, the Australian National University's Crawford School of the College of Asia and the Pacific held a Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Region update conference in conjunction with AusAID (the Australian government's overseas aid program).

Sharon Bessell, Senior Lecture in the Crawford School at the ANU presented a session entitled "Strengthening Fiji's education system: a view from key stakeholders." She was part of a qualititative study with children and youth in Fiji to determine their views and experiences of education. Two areas were highlighted: (1) corporal punishment; and (2) teachers' professionalism.

The study aimed in June 2009 aimed to capture young people's views on education through a Children's Forum on Education in Suva. A recurrent theme was of corporal punishment being used as a routine strategy for classroom management. Children maintained that teachers used corporal punishment because they were not trained in other methods of discipline. Participants described hitting, caning, and being humiliated in front of others as "bad" forms of discipline. Children and youth suggested that teachers should be told not to use corporal punishment (corporal punishment was declared unconstitutional by the High Court of Fiji in 2002), and that inspectors should visit schools to ensure that it doesn't happen.

At the Children's Forum on Education, the issue of teacher professionalism was discussed. Children said that some teachers come to school late, don't attend at all, arrive intoxicated or hungover, taught by reading the textbook, and occassionally made sexual comments to children, especially girls. They recommended a Code of Ethics for teachers, teacher training in alternative methods of discipline, and that there is a "safe" school environment in which students can raise their concerns.

The conclusion of Bessell's session was that currently most schools in Fiji were not safe environments for conducive teaching and learning, and that teacher training should be strengthened to support best practices in classroom management.

The weaknesses of the study was that only 29 children were interviewed and there was little contextual information regarding current practices, teacher training and government policies in education. Nevertheless, it did provide educators in Fiji with some views that school is still a negative experience for some children in Fiji.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more