The Perceptions of Beginning Secondary Teachers About Their Professional Learning Experiences in the Solomon Islands Context

Abstract

It publishes articles in the broad field of education. For further information visit the WJE website http://edlinked.soe.waikato.ac.nz/research/journal/index.php?id=8 The Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research (WMIER), which is part of the Faculty of Education, The University of Waikato, publishes the journal. There are two major submission deadline dates: December 1 (for publication the following year in May); June 1 (for publication in the same year in November).

Teachers’ perceptions of the impact of a one-year in-service teacher education programme in the Solomon Islands

“…Some also saw that having had the privilege of more training, a higher qualification, and better pay meant that the returning teachers should be expected to do more of the work. Low teacher pay has been identified as a disincentive to change and to the implementation of improved teaching practice in other studies in the Pacific (Lingham, 2010;Rodie, 2011).…”

“…A central assumption about the wider social context is that it contributes to the existing knowledge, values and beliefs that teachers hold and which influence their practice (Bosamata, 2011;Rodie, 2011). Embedded here is the influence that the local context can have on the impact of professional development.…”

“…To address some of the barriers to improving teaching and learning, a new Diploma in Primary Teaching In-service (DPTI) was developed through a partnership formed between the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education and the Faculty of Education, University of Waikato (Maelagi, 2011;Rodie, 2011). This course included aspects of the seven effective features of contexts for promoting professional learning identified by Timperley et al (2007).…”

Empowering Solomon Islands' beginning science teachers through the use of Appreciative Inquiry

“…These beginning science teachers did not bring a well-developed understanding of the essential concepts of chemical reactions with them from secondary school. Similarly, in the Solomon Islands, Giano (2011) and Rodie (2011) found that beginning teachers did not feel fully prepared to teach topics, especially practical aspects of science. Shulman (1986) has argued that knowing a subject for teaching requires more than knowing its facts and concepts.…”

“…For example, Bosamata found that classroom environments were not conducive to learning due to high temperatures in the afternoons, lack of teaching and learning resources and overcrowding. A qualitative case study completed two years later by Rodie (2011) with 11 beginning science teachers in the Solomon Islands experienced challenges in their first nine months including a lack of confidence, guidance and support; nervousness and shyness; heavy workload and a lack of resources. Many Solomon Island's primary teachers are not confident enough to teach science and so omit science from their teaching programme altogether, while at secondary levels many schools have no laboratory classrooms and equipment, meaning that science is taught using only a blackboard and textbooks (Porakari, 2017).…”