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School Blong Yumi:A Grassroots Approach to
Community-Based Cultural Education
Carren Bough, Community Development
Facilitator
Astrid Kersten, Professor of Management &
Change Consultancy
Presented at the 2015 Conference…
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Overview
The educational context in the South Pacific Global education development goals Prevalent thinking and critique
Need for alternatives & learning from practice
One small initiative: Sulelulu kindyDevelopment, structure, approachWhat is different here?What can we learn?
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Education Development Goals
Dakar 2000:
Education for All By 2015: Goal # 1: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and
disadvantaged children. Incheon 2015: Equitable & inclusive quality education By 2030:
SDG 4.7 Education for sustainable development/lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, peace & non-violence, global citizenship, appreciation of cultural diversity & culture’s contribution to SD
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What is the key issue here?
Access?Universal access?Funded access?Who has access?What do they have
access to?
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ECU: Issues and Questions in Majority Countries (Nsamenang)
(Post-)Colonial history: Western institutionalization, formalized & economized education, western ideology
Institutional universalism insufficient dialogue re: identity rights & ownershipnon-Western ECEs is problematized/undermined EFA has emancipatory potential but limits development
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ECU: Issues and Questions in Majority Countries (Pene, Taufe’ulugaki, Benson)
Failure of educational reform in the Pacific:- Insufficient quality of human resources- Lingering vagueness of Pacific education vision- Fixation ..”on improving various (quantifiable)
aspects of education, but … little questioning of the values and assumptions underpinning formal education or development.”
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ECU: Issues and Questions in Majority Countries (Burton)
Global education discourse focused on outcomes failed to recognized ECU as cultural process failed to examine cultural beliefs re: childhood & child
development, resulting in: Uncritical transfer of Western ECE programs & practices
Western ECU: child-centered, individualistic versusPacific ECU children’s active involvement in
meaningful daily practices in community Pacific gap between education & lived experience
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ECU: Alternatives
Rethink education in context of colonial legacy Acknowledge cultural & social context of developmentRecognize & support efforts to reinvent more
culturally relevant, locally sustainable programs Create space to reflect on goals and approaches:
Conceptualization and grassroots experimentation must remain in active dialogue, each informing and shaping the other
Learn from culturally grounded practice
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Sulelulu Kindy
Small, innovative ECU projectSulelulu, remote village in
South Santo, Vanuatu
Example of community-owned, community driven project based in culture, tradition & faith, bridging to the future
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Sulelulu Community
Small, traditional, old inlands roots
Moved towards coast for opportunities Changed from migratory to
settled subsistence farming Kastom traditions/practices become forgotten
Members of the Baha'i Faith
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Baha'i Faith
World religionOneness of God, religions, humanityEquality, justice, diversity, new world civilization In SP & Vanuatu - early 1950s, Santo Bush – mid 1980s
Baha'i Faith approach to community buildingHistorical effect of missionization in SP
Leave old, adopt new (name, identity, practice, community)Destroy kastom, ritual images/performances, unity
Baha'i approach: Unity in diversity
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Baha'i Faith and Kastom
Unity in diversity (Were, Momen) Slow, respectful, integrative change process:
Merge old & new Each community develops its own image
of the Baha'i Faith Honor and validate kastom traditions/ images
Baha'is as arbiters of kastomReinvigorated kastom identity
Focus on unity Strong image in traditional cultures Stay in community, administer own affairs
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Sulelulu Community Development
≥ 10 years of “Ruhi Institute process”developed in rural Columbia, used
worldwide capacity building process, many
components includes teaching literacy, taught
here in Bislama/vernacular participatory, inclusive, community
driven, empowerment
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Sulelulu Community Development
Ruhi process changed community perspective on education:
Came to value own knowledge & insight Integrate Western and traditional knowledge
Need to prepare children for larger worldNeed to honor and preserve own cultureBlend together old and newBuild and use their own available resources
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Education in Sulelulu
To Receive Schooling:Children had to leave the village – half day walk School disconnected kids from culture Did not allow sharing of kastom knowledge
Community Initiative:Sulelulu kindySchool blo yumi
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Sulelulu Kindy - Development
Began in 2014 - kindy for 5 children
2015 - added 11 more children
1 teacher w/ some govt training, 2 aides
Now preparing for 1st grade class
School for ALL High quality
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Official Opening for the Sulelulu Kindy House June 2015
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How is Sulelulu kindy different?
1. Community ownership √
2. Became a place of learning
3. Connects kindy learning to daily life
4. Connects children & adults to Kastom
5. Promotes gender equality
6. Based on consultation, and much more!
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2. Sulelulu Kindy: Place of Learning
Regular visits by external facilitators Group study, based on
Ruhi curriculumWorking with local
facilitator – also kindy teacher
Kindy teachers from various communities participate
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2. Sulelulu Kindy: Place of Learning
Study structure: Morning: Teachers
observe/participate in kindy
Afternoon: Study curriculum – facilitators
Evening: Teachers plan for next morning
Basic curriculum: Wholistic Math, science,
reading & writing, moral education, arts
Teachers incorporate local culture, kastom, language
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3. Kindy connects learning to daily life:Example: Oneness of Humanity
Math: Lesson on “sets” & oneness of humanity
Visit from facilitatorsKids were worried about
accommodationShared accommodationsPractical lesson in being “one
family”“Sista” relationship with facilitators
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3. Kindy connects learning to daily life:Example: Cooking
Women & men prepare student food Moral education story “Unity Soup”
Learn about food and cookingLearn about unity in diversity
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3. Kindy connects learning to daily life Example: Environment
Science lesson on the water cycle:
Importance of trees in cleaning water & air Protect the trees Protect water
source
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3. Kindy connects learning to daily life Example: Environment
Kindy worked to clean existing creek & washing area
Dug hole for plastics, batteries, etc.
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4. Kindy connects all to Kastom: Example: Roof
Olfella weeklong bush fieldtrip, up into to Santo bush mountains
Teaches children how to see: Plants, fruits, food, kastom stones, etc – related
to stories, traditional life & relations One forgotten tradition: special rop blong fasem
roof harvestingTraditional roof was built for kindy
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4. Kindy connects all to Kastom: Example: Roof
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5. Kindy and gender equalityExample: Kastom Danis
Olfalas were invited to teach kastom danis and singsing
Typical one – only men at center Another one was brought, traditional but
largely forgotten – involving women at center
“…we are now starting to see that the equality of men and women is part of our tradition and we need to celebrate it..”
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5. Kindy and gender equalityExample: Kastom Danis
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5. Kindy and gender equality: Example: Gardens
Santo:Gardening duties shared by men and womenPlot ownership belongs to menHere: Community garden equally divided Model for children
Every Wednesday: Go to garden, work together in the kindy plotConsult, plan, cooperate
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6. Consultation, community & kindy
Consultation: Baha'i way of decision-making Seeks to find the truth Seeks input from women & men,
young & oldEveryone shares openly & honestlyClash of opinion is favoredOnce decision is made, all live by
decision with unity
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6. Consultation, community & kindy
Role of consultation in kindy children practice consultation teachers, committee, community consult
together
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Summary
The educational context in the South PacificNeed for alternatives & learning from practice
One small initiative: Sulelulu kindyWhat is different here?
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Lessons learned from Sulelulu kindy
Small but important initiative - models key factors identified in the need for alternatives:
1. Community ownership
2. Became a place of learning
3. Connects learning to daily life
4. Connects all to Kastom
5. Gender equality
6. Based on Consultation
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Conclusion
“…(W)e are not dealing with a simple loss of tradition in indigenous societies.
We are instead witnessing emerging forms that enable societies to deal in highly localized, specific, and efficacious ways with the impact of colonialism, missionization, and global market forces…” James Clifford (1988):
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Conclusion
Amazing worldwide diversity in ECU (Nsamenang)
Rights-based approach: Multiculturalism
“To empower most of the world’s children (..), we simply need to accept and respect differentness”
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References
Burton, L. (2012). Building on living traditions: Early childhood education and culture in Solomon Islands. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 15, 1, pp. 157-175.
Clifford, J. (1988). The predicament of culture: twentieth-century ethnography, literature, and art. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press
Dakar Declaration. Education for All. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/efa-goals/
Incheon Declaration. Education 2030:Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002338/233813M.pdf
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References
Consultative Group on Early Childhood Development Care and Development. Early Childhood Development on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. http://www.ecdgroup.com/pdfs/Response-to-HLP-Report-2013_final.pdf
Momen, M. (1987) The Baha'i Faith and Traditional Societies: Exploring Universes of Discourse. Dialogue, 1987, 1, 4, pp. 9-13 http://www.momen.org/bahai2/tradsoc.htm
Nsamenang, A. (2007)Cultures in early childhood care and education. Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007 UNESCO. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001474/147442e.pdf
Pene, F. Taufe’ulungaki, A. & Benson, C. (eds.) (2002). Tree of Opportunity: Re-Thinking Pacific Education. Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific.
.
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References
Puamau, P. (2005). Rethinking educational reform: A Pacific perspective. Paper presented at the international conference “Redesigning pedagogy: Research, Policy and Practice.” National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld
Republic of Vanuatu. EFA National Plan of Action 2001-2015.
http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/upload/Vanuatu/Vanuatu%20EFA-NAP%202001-2015.pdf
Ruhi Institute. http://www.ruhi.org/
Were, Graeme (2005) . Thinking through images: Kastom and the coming of the Baha’is to Northern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 11, 4, pp. 659-676