Re-thinking Pacific Teacher Standards: Reflections on a value-theory approach to conceptualizing the ‘ideal’ Pacific teacher

Koya, Cresantia F. (2012) Re-thinking Pacific Teacher Standards: Reflections on a value-theory approach to conceptualizing the ‘ideal’ Pacific teacher. UNSPECIFIED. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This presentation examines the notion of Teacher standards using a value-theory approach. It questions the widely held assumption that Teacher standards are Universal and argues for scholarly debate on the conceptualization of who a Pacific teacher ought to be and what standard descriptors may be used to measure professionalism in the region. The discussion includes an examination of the Proposed Regional Standards for Teachers and Principals in the Pacific. It presents an analysis of the teacher standards survey circulated to fifteen Pacific island countries in 2008. Reflective analysis indicates that there is a critical need for an in-depth survey to be purposefully administered in the islands, ensuring research rigor, validity and reliability of data collated. It is also significant that knowledge appears to rank higher on the priority scale than does professional skills and attributes. If these views represent widely held beliefs about Teachers in the region, their implementation could mean a shift in Teacher Education and Training to the ‘old-school’ approach of technical teachers. This technocratic approach is juxtaposed against the evolving notion of the teacher as professional curriculum practitioners in their own right driven by an educational worldview that is premised on a foundation of beliefs, values and attitudes that expand into contextual teaching practice. A technocratic approach to Teacher education could ultimately herald in an era of technical experts with little if any value for ‘quality education’ and of ‘learning to be’ future Pacific Island citizens capable of critical and creative problem solving and with the potential to contribute to wider development discourse to bring about critical mass and conscientization.

Item Type:	Other
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2361 Curriculum
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) > School of Education
Depositing User:	Cresantia Koya-Vaka'uta
Date Deposited:	01 May 2013 22:37
Last Modified:	02 Aug 2016 00:16
URI:	http://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/5767

UNSPECIFIED

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