Proceedings of the 7th International Academic Conference on Teaching, Learning and Education, 2024
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Supporting National Education Reform for Junior Secondary Schools: Some Lessons Learned
John Gougoulis
ABSTRACT:
This paper references a post hoc study of a junior secondary reform initiative (2021-2023) in the Vanuatu education system to examine the approach taken, the outcomes and the lessons learned both for further in-country development and for the broader education reform context. Initially a one-year project, it evolved into a three-year initiative with government outsourcing to an international team of curriculum experts including a senior project manager, subject writers, and reviewers. It involved the design and co-development of curriculum, syllabuses, assessments, appropriate teacher support materials and professional learning opportunities deployed digitally and online. It entailed collaboration with culturally diverse teams, clients, and stakeholders, remotely and in-country, aiming to implement high quality practices and build local capacity. The learnings from this process have implications for successful implementation of educational reform and practice across contexts and include well-managed and staged implementation, sufficient teacher resourcing, comprehensive stakeholder engagement and consultation, capacity building, teacher support, and strategies for codevelopment and localisation.
keywords: Curriculum; Assessment; Teaching; Support; Implementation