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Reflective teachers and teacher educators in the Pacific region: conversations with us not about us

Burnett, Gregory and Lingam, Govinda I. (2007) Reflective teachers and teacher educators in the Pacific region: conversations with us not about us. International Review of Education, 53 (3). pp. 303-321. ISSN 0020-8566

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Abstract

This article reports on a study of Pacific primary school teachers' and university lecturers' reflections on their involvement in the in-service Bachelor of Education degree programme offered at the regional University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji. Two rich sets of data have emerged from this study. Firstly, there are a number of critical reflections by ourselves as teacher educators concerning levels of equitable student access and participation in our degree as it is reconceptualised for distance and flexible delivery to increase levels of teacher professionalism across the Pacific region. Secondly, there has emerged a set of statements from teachers themselves about: teaching and learning; professional development opportunities; and what it means to be a professional educator in the Pacific region. This later data suggests an alternative set of voices in what has largely been a ‘‘conversation between us about them’’ conducted by Ministries of Education, Curriculum Development Units, USP, other educational bodies and the media in the Pacific, but particularly Fiji, about teachers and teachers' work. Critical reflection upon our own practice as teacher educators and the voices of experienced teachers are particularly pertinent not only as we seek to reshape a degree programme to suit the needs of the region's primary school teachers but also as ‘‘rethinking’’ debates about the purposes of education in the Pacific region are on-going yet exclusive.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: L Education > LB Theory and practice of education
Divisions: Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) > School of Education
Depositing User: Ms Mereoni Camailakeba
Date Deposited: 12 Jan 2007 01:05
Last Modified: 19 Apr 2013 03:28
URI: http://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/16
UNSPECIFIED

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