Comments

Tamoi, I think you may have misinterpreted my comments. I was not proposing any kind of 'objective assessment'. In fact, I am a language teacher, teacher-trainer and trainer-trainer working in Kiribati and Vanuatu. I work within a very different paradigm from the economics paradigm which informs the proposed study by Drs Chand and Edwards. I don't think random sampling is appropriate here because no two schools are equivalent and the differences are especially pronounced when we are comparing, for example, central and outer islands or urban and rural schools in Pacific Island states. In my opinion, there are also very significant issues with the validity of the summative testing tools which are currently in use in the Pacific and with how we can measure the broad range of impacts which effective teaching can have, not only on skills and knowledge but on attitudes. Yes, we are dealing with human beings and that is why I would use quantitative analysis very carefully indeed and combine it with some in-depth and nuanced qualitative investigation into the effects and impacts of any program. I think these programs and their evaluations need to be designed by a range of experts collaboratively, including educators.

That, if we are to assume that all schools across Australia fall under one category, to apply the qualitative and quantitative method you are proposing to achieve a proposed objective assessment Angela. It should not be the primary issue. We are dealing with human beings here. You can not achieve a 100 percent outcome if that plus higher academic is to define social policy between neighboring islands. This is the 21st century, thought we’d buried the white policy. An institutionalized tool applied to restrict shared learning across the board to both recipients. Unfortunately we will never bridge the gap nor give a fair go to all.

Design of the evaluation program is critical for an objective assessment - and yes, it will require careful thought. This isn’t the place to spell out the details of the evaluation method, but three necessary conditions for the above would include: (i) integration of the goals of the program at a higher level (e.g. deepened educational links with Australia through education of children funded with Australian aid); (ii) benchmarks created on measures of success for on-going monitoring before the rollout of the policy interventions; and, (iii) random assignment of treatment and control schools. Happy to invest in the design of such a program as ‘proof of concept’ if there is willingness for a trial.

Thanks for the reply, Satish. I wonder how you would measure and compare the impacts of the two programs given their very different designs and purposes. PSSSP would be likely to have a very strong impact on participating student learning outcomes and should also build ongoing relationships, the impacts of which are hard to measure in the short term, but would not affect teacher quality, whereas (trainee) teacher exchange and/or in-service teacher mentoring - if done well - should affect teacher quality and may also improve aspects of school management and institutional culture, but it may be hard to measure direct and immediate impacts on student learning outcomes, especially given the complexity of school contexts and all of the variables involved, and given issues around the validity of testing tools. I think some nuanced qualitative research combined with a quantitative analysis would be valuable.

Hello Helen, Thank you for the update. Kiribati has certainly come a long way since 2013 in terms of inclusive education. I am pleased that the small part I played in the seeding of inclusive education initiatives has taken fruit.

Rodney, you will be pleased to know that since your last visit in 2016, Australia's long term and consistent investments in inclusive education have paid off. This year, 55 students with a disability are studying in Ministry of Education's (MoE) mainstream schools. They have successfully transitioned from the Special School into regular classrooms. All primary schools in South Tarawa have disability access, complete with covered walkways and accessible toilets and teachers have been trained in inclusive strategies. In the beginning of 2020, the MoE designated Bikenibeu West to be the seventh model inclusion school in Tarawa. The Ministry of Education, through the Teacher Training College, has delivered two one-year, full-time Certificate III courses for Teacher Assistants. The 36 graduates have been deployed to the seven model inclusion schools as permanent teaching staff of the Ministry. They are bona fide public servants of the government to support inclusive education. 'Domestic ownership' is also evidenced by the MoE's current focus on 'mainstreaming procedures' to sustainably and sensibly continue to implement its inclusive education policy. Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are developed for students with a disability to study in regular classrooms and the IEPs inform the adjustments required for students to sit the national exams. The Government's annual census includes data on students with a disability and the MoE's Teacher Service Standards explicitly recognises the importance of inclusive classrooms. In fact, school leader's and teacher's annual performance criteria specifically identifies their use of inclusive measures. The MoE's permanent Inclusive Education Officer has assisted the Government to lead on these initiatives. You can feel confident that the inclusive education initiatives have 'taken root' with tacit and real examples of Kiribati Government prioritising their budget and efforts into sustaining and growing what has shown to be working. Here is a short video of one student's story - in fact, this year, two of the students in this video received a Government of Kiribati scholarship to further their studies in Fiji - the first time any Kiribati student with a disability has received such an opportunity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrJ8iI8UyVc (copy and paste the link)

Good points Angela - thanks! On difficulty in picking good teachers from some countries, an option is to pick fresh graduates with teacher training (from USP or Australia) for work experience & mentoring in Australia before being posted to schools at home (i.e. in the islands). And, similarly partnering an Australian teacher with a local counterpart in-situ has merit as both will learn from each other - we do canvass this option in the blog. Finally, let us put our prejudices aside and assess objectively what works, the concluding point of the blog. Ryan and I are proposing a race between PSSSP and 'Teach for the Pacific' for the aid dollar: the winner will be the children of the islands and the Australian taxpayer!

The PSSSP may have some negative impacts in terms of removing high-performing students from local schools and from their families, and it may be difficult to ensure that scholarships are indeed awarded on merit. However, the suggestion to replace this with a 'Teach for the Pacific' program is highly problematic. Firstly, it would be enormously difficult to identify Pacific teachers with the relevant qualifications and experience to teach in Australian schools, particularly from Pacific countries with 'least developed' status. Secondly, if those teachers could be identified, removing them from their home positions means removing the people who are best placed not only to teach students effectively, but to cooperate with and mentor other local teachers. Putting an Australian teacher in their place means inserting someone with no familiarity with the local curriculum, school culture, community language (and usually second language of the school), or students into a school and expecting them to work miracles. Meanwhile, Pacific teachers would be expected to return home and apply everything they've been doing in a completely different teaching context to their home context, with all its specific challenges and constraints. It's well-documented in the literature that in-service teacher education works best in-situ. Better solutions would be 1. to place Australian teachers alongside local Pacific teachers to co-teach and mentor them within their own contexts and 2. to provide scholarships for pre-service teachers to study Education in Australia before returning home to begin their service, most likely with a supplementary teacher-education program at home to familiarise them with local policies, curricula and approaches.

I like it, it's good to educate there and come and teach.

Thank you for your incredibly helpful comment, Michael. A lot to think about indeed.

Much food for thought Michael. Thanks for these comments.

This seems a very worthwhile suggestion. For so long as there is no more money in the aid program we need to concentrate on maximising the benefit of what we spend.