2011, Maebuta, Jack

Technical and vocational education and training programs as a form of peace education are examined in this paper. It explores the notion of educating for a culture of peace through refocusing technical and vocational education and training programs on sustainable community development in the Solomon Islands. It further highlights the policy and practice mechanisms that contribute to advancing technical and vocational education and training as a peace education initiative. As a model of the applicability of the program as a form of peace education, the discussion describes a technical and vocational education and training centre in the Solomon Islands that has engaged in post-conflict livelihood projects – bringing about healing and restoration and creating the culture of peace. This is a practical and comprehensive model to peace education that extends beyond the centre and embraces the culture of peace in the community as a whole. The implications point to technical and vocational education and training as a means to achieve co-existence. Technical and vocational education and training as a form of peace education is capable of training people for a productive livelihood, creating a sense of national identity and unity, rehabilitating former militants and moving training programs outside the walls of the institutions. As a result, the pedagogy of technical and vocational education and training as a form of peace education is largely based on learning by doing which incorporates a number of peace activities.

2010, Maebuta, Jack

Over the last decade, secondary schools have increasingly been built or implanted in existing primary schools around Solomon Islands. The rural nature of the country presents unique challenges to education for sustainable rural development provisions. Ninety one percent of the 173 secondary schools are located in the outer islands and provinces which are classified as rural secondary schools. Some of these rural secondary schools have fewer than 100 students and only few schools have a student population of more than 300 (Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, 2007). It is against this context that this chapter is written. This chapter contributes to the literature on education for sustainable rural development by examining the issues surrounding rural secondary schools. as an agent for sustainable development in one of the most remote and isolated provinces in Solomon Islands. The paper offers a detailed picture of what is happening in one such rural province, where the tensions associated with isolation seems to be affecting the performance of the schools as agents for education for sustainable rural development. Because the analysis of data clearly point to the issues related to quality of education for sustainable rural development, this chapter presents the discussion as a contribution to the literature on rural education in the context of sustainable development. Relying solely on qualitative methodology and focusing solely on one province, the chapter does not provide grounds for strong claims about generalised causal relationships. Nevertheless, the example of what is happening in one rural province IS Instructive, showing the types of development challenges with which other rural provinces might also be confronted with. This chapter is based on a research undertaken in 2007, which was a case study of rural secondary school in a remote island of Santa Cruz in the Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. I thank the Principal, teachers and students and Ministry of Education officials who assisted with the research.

2012, Maebuta, Jack

The notion of conflict, peace, education and development that characterise discussions about the Solomon Islands immediate past, present and future prospects are complex and interrelated. These terms are interrelated as conflict, peace and education affect development. Likewise, poor development can be one of the causes of conflict. Development as a multidimensional reality consists of interrelated issues such as the economy, health, education, social relations and governance. To this end, a macro-perspective of the relationship between conflict, peace, education and development is important, particularly in post-conflict reconstruction. In the Solomon Islands, conflict has not occurred in a vacuum. It has been strongly influenced by the turbulent socio-cultural variables of the country. Long-term peacebuilding efforts in the Solomon Islands ultimately depend on effectively reconnecting thinking and practice to conflict, peace, education and development.

2011, Maebuta, Jack, Dorovolomo, Jeremy

The paper begins with an overview of the state of the natural and socio-economic environment in the country. This is followed by an account and examples of educational responses to the challenges of sustainable development. The main argument developed here is that the Government of Solomon Islands has responded in terms of policies promoting and dealing with the challenges of sustainable development. However, the analysis of how these policies are translated into action indicates that these policies may represent a case of "policies without change" as there is little evidence of meaningful change in people's lives and/or in the broad reorientation of environmental practices, systems and structures of education that are necessary for education to support the processes of sustainable development at national or community levels. The article concludes with implications for policy and practice which are derived from the analysis of the key issues identified.

2010, Dorovolomo, Jeremy, Phan, Huy, Maebuta, Jack

The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a relationship between the quality of lesson planning and its successful implementation. A longitudinal study, it was conducted over semester two 2004 to semester one 2006, involving 309 pre-service students in a physical education class. It is also a correlational study in that it attempts to establish if there is nexus between two variables. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS v.17) was used to analyse data in which the Pearson Correlation and Regression Analysis were conducted. It was found that there is a positive relationship between the quality of lesson planning and the quality of delivery. This substantiates the important place lesson planning should have in teacher education, considering it as a crucial area of prospective teachers' professional development. Quality lesson planning will, however, not necessarily mean automatic translation into successful implementation, making it imperative that teacher education provides support to student teachers to make informed transition from a lesson plan to its delivery.

2010, Maebuta, Jack, Maebuta, Helen Esther

This study investigates household livelihood in Solomon Islands urban squatter settlements. A total of 208 households participated in this empirical study. Most of the squatter households fall into the category of 3 to 7 members (59.1%) with average household size of 6.3. Seventy percent of the settlers live in temporary buildings or shelter and are lacking proper water and sanitation. Majority of the households, (96.6%) do not have electricity in their homes. The average fortnightly income of the households is SI$316. The implications derived from the findings include national policy makers need to consider financing for low cost housing for the poor urban residents, improve and adequately resource the rural schools to lure squatter settlers back to the rural areas, the government should consider giving an education subsidy to low income parents who have more than two children attending schools and civil society organisations and government departments need to conduct life-skills courses that could encourage low settlers to diversify their livelihood activities. The discussion concludes with the concept of education as a form of secure livelihood.

2010-10-13, Phan, Huy, Maebuta, Jack, Dorovolomo, Jeremy

This theoretical article attempts to examine the interrelation between individuals' epistemological beliefs and their approaches to learning in sociocultural settings. The seminal work published by Marton and Säljo in the 1970s, and the research studies conducted subsequently by others (Biggs, 1987; Phan & Deo, 2007; Simons, Dewitte, & Lens, 2004; Watkins & Regmi, 1990) establish a theoretical understanding into the approaches to learning that individuals may adopt in their studying. More recently, however, a number of theorists (Mugler & Landbeck, 1997; Phan, 2008) have attempted to situate individuals' approach to learning in sociocultural contexts. In the area of personal epistemology, research studies (Hofer, 2004; Hofer & Pintrich, 1997; Phan, 2008) have similarly provided evidence to indicate the importance of epistemology in learning and academic achievement. Amalgamating these two lines of inquiry within one theoretical framework, the focus then is concerned with the quest to relate individuals' learning approaches dialectically to the constituents of knowledge and the notion of knowing. For example, it is warranted to suggest that personal philosophical beliefs concerning the concepts of knowledge and learning dictate how one approaches his/her learning. In this theoretical examination, we discuss this intricate relationship and provide suggestions for continuing research in this area of inquiry. One fundamental aspect, which we argue in this discussion, is the notion that both personal epistemology and learning approaches are embedded culturally and historically.

2014, Phan, Huy, Maebuta, Jack

Quality learning in higher education is an impetus and major objective for educators and researchers. The student approaches to learning (SAL) framework, arising from the seminal work of Marton and Säljö (1976), has been researched extensively and used to predict and explain students' positive (e.g., critical reflection) and maladaptive behaviors (e.g., work avoidance). It is prudent for educators to cultivate and encourage students to actively construct and make sense of their own learning, rather than to simply memorize and reproduce contents for assessment purposes. In this review, we revisit and examine the SAL theorization within the contexts of higher education. We scope the importance of quality learning and propose three major elements in our discussion, which may foster deep, meaningful learning inclination: assessment strategies, the classroom milieu, and alignment of learning objectives. We conclude this theoretical article with an offering of issues for continuing research development. This focus, in our view, is significant as we believe the SAL framework is not robust in its explanation of students' learning behaviors in different sociocultural settings.

2011, Maebuta, Jack, Phan, Huy

Solomon Islands has been implementing various education reforms to improve its delivery of quality learning in schools. Among the reforms is the introduction of the Community High Schools mostly in rural areas as a way to increase educational access in rural Solomon Islands. Using a case study approach, this study examines the nature of this reform in rural education with particular reference to how well rural Solomon Islands is faring in terms of quality education ideals. Based on in-depth interviews with the case study school principals and teachers and site visits, the study identifies lack of financial resources, inadequate teaching and learning resources, lack of qualified teachers, low teacher-student ratios, frequent teacher absenteeism and lack of community support as the key issues that are hindering the provision of quality learning. There are number of implications derive from the findings. The study identified that there is a pressing need for the rural day-community high schools to be upgraded to boarding school status to accommodate students recruited from distant villages. The scarcity of land and financial resources are preventing the schools to improve the quality of learning. If education is to be a tool for rural development, policies must be implemented to assess educational inputs and outcomes. The low teacher-student ratio and the on-going problem of lack of resources could be addressed by amalgamating the existing small rural community high schools into regional boarding schools. Finally, in order to regain community support schools need to embrace the concept of a community learning centre as a means of providing community education and skills training to entire the community thus contributing to rural development.

2006, Maebuta, Jack

In most of the small Pacific Island states formal education is given more emphasis in human resources development. However, due to the increasing number of school leavers, the available employment opportunities were saturated. This had given rise to urban drift which creates social problems. Therefore, the formal system was inadequate in terms of preparing people for nation building. The inadequacy was further evident in the widespread shortage of skills needed to generate self-employment opportunities in Solomon Islands, a small Pacific Island state. This has placed Vocational Education and Training as one of the priority areas in human resources development in countries like Solomon Islands. The purpose of the book is to examine the effectiveness of Vocational Education and Training in Solomon Islands Rural Training Centres.