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West Papua Teachers' Program
31 May 2008
During the first week of May the University welcomed a group of senior secondary teachers, including a Principal and Deputy Principal, from the Indonesian Province of West Papua. The ten teachers of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths and English have begun a specially designed seven-week professional development program facilitated by Dr Bill Allen from the Faculty of Science, Health and Education.
The teachers, selected by the Indonesian Government to participate in the program, come from a cross-section of remote and urban areas in West Papua. They come from schools with far fewer resources than those in Australia and all teach in classes with a minimum of forty students. Their enthusiasm to embrace all opportunities in this program is already clearly evident. Likewise, USC staff involved in the project are enjoying the opportunity to share their knowledge and contribute to a significant educational development program in Indonesia, Australia’s closest neighbour.
Over the duration of their time at USC the teachers will be provided with the opportunity to develop their knowledge in pedagogies, curriculum development and senior school leadership. A major focus is on the teaching of sciences and maths. They will be introduced to recent initiatives for our own teacher education students, such as DNA extraction, bio-informatics activities (computer based science experimentation) and laboratory centred sessions for physiology. Additional workshops will explore current theory and practice guiding the Australian education system, including assessment in Australian schools.
While the project is hosted by the Faculty of Science, Health and Education, the Papuan teachers are also being actively supported by language and politics lecturers and tutors from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Having an Indonesian language program at USC has greatly facilitated engagement with the Indonesian Government on this project and a practical outcome of this has been the appointment of a recent graduate and fluent Bahasa Indonesia speaker (Suzie Burford) as the project coordinator.
The program includes structured observation time in Sunshine Coast primary schools and high schools. The teachers have already visited Mathew Flinders Anglican College, Mountain Creek State High School, Siena Catholic College and the primary and secondary campuses of Chancellor State College. The staff and students at all of the schools welcomed the teachers warmly and the Papuan teachers expressed their gratitude for the generous sharing of knowledge. Such activities reinforce the educational partnerships that exist on the Sunshine Coast and our region’s potential to make a real contribution to assisting Australia’s neighbours build their education systems. In this context, it is interesting to note the leading role of Sunshine Coast Institute of TAFE in the establishment of a new vocational college for the Southwest Pacific nations, the Australia Pacific Technical College.
The group will enjoy social activities with the Sunshine Coast Indonesian community and a weekend trip to Fraser Island, where the teachers will have the opportunity to observe the establishment of the University’s environmental education centre at Dilli Village.
This program represents the first stage of a relationship between the University and the West Papuan Education Office. Last month a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to develop linkages, enable further research and training projects and create sister-school relationships between the Sunshine Coast and West Papua. Such activity is in line with the University’s mission to be a catalyst for the innovative and sustainable economic, cultural and educational advancement of the region – including neighbouring countries that can benefit from the knowledge and expertise being created on the Sunshine Coast.
Professor Greg Hill is Acting Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Sunshine Coast.