Help my head is full now!!!

PNGEI Elementary

Does this college have the capacity to lead this change? Right now methinks not but with a little help from the international community maybe.

Massive changes to the elementary education system are afoot and as the solo provider of pre-service elementary teacher training, PNGEI is at the centre of reform.

PNG desperately needs teachers. Strategic planning to get a greater proportion of children into school has been more or less successful and there is now a significant shortfall in teachers especially at elementary level (equivalent to UK KS1 not foundation stage).

At present there are 3 options if you would like to become an elementary teacher:

CET: A one-year residential teacher-training course taught at PNGEI.

CETT Mixed Mode: A 3-year course with 6 weeks face-to-face training at PNGEI each year. The remainder of the year is spent teaching in schools.

CETT Distance Mode: A 3-year course taught by PNGEI teacher trainers in the field. Students are based in provincial schools and attend workshops lead by the regional teacher trainers.

Challenges that have been identified appear to be:

1.     The capacity of the elementary trainers

The trainers operating in the provinces can have up to 50 students each in schools across their province. They are often underpaid and have little resources. Workshops don’t happen because there is no funding for travel or a venue. Teaching materials are often not received on time, if at all.

2.     Monitoring and evaluation

Senior lecturers from PNGEI should go out to monitor the workshops every year but the same lecturers teaching on the residential program are responsible for monitoring and evaluating the distance program. There is insufficient staff to lead all three programs. There is insufficient money to fund the monitoring visits.

3.     Course materials

Delays in printing mean resources are not dispatched in time. Not all students follow the correct enrolment procedure with PNGEI and therefore are not listed and will not be counted in printing figures. Boxes of course materials sit ready to be transported at PNGEI but they are not sent due to lack of finances.

4.     Back log of unqualified students

There is a backlog of 4000 students who have started the distance-learning course but have not completed. Some are awaiting certification whilst need to repeat courses. The course has only been running 4 years so this is a very high proportion of students.

The problems appear to be well known and well documented. What is not so widely agreed upon are solutions. It certainly does seem to be the time for change. The Prime Minister has made elementary education his number one priority and donor money appears to be there for the taking if the project is right.

This is what I find after one week of working half days due to either power or water cuts and as always I would like to stress that this is me trying to make sense of a complex situation, it’s always possible I’m making 2+2=5!