Title: The Pacific challenge : an overview of human resources development

Abstract: This article is adapted from the author’s presentation at the Second Conference of the Pacific Community held in New Caledonia in November, 2001. The theme of the conference was ‘The PacificIslands Challenge: Human Resource Development’. In this paper, the author takes a fresh look at HRD, emphasising the Pacific context and seeing it as a lifelong process, just as education and training are lifelong processes.

Title: Children, computers and the internet : a guide for parents and teachers in the Pacific region

Abstract: With the recent upsurge of interest and use of electronic interactive media, there has come concern about the effects of these on young people. In this paper, the author critically surveys the research that has been done, discusses the educational benefits and offers some advice for parents and teachers.

Title: The role of ethnomathematics in mathematics education in Papua New Guinea : implications for mathematics curriculum

Abstract: [ Abstract not available ]

Title: Heart and mind : the liminality of the learner in relation to education in the new millennium

Abstract: Classrooms in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have supported the view that since all human beings have a head (intelligence) each person should be able, with precision, (logically) to acquire knowledge. Logic has been equated with intelligence. Areas of knowledge that were built on logic have been given significance in the curriculum, while those that seemingly have little to do with logic have been pushed aside. The enterprise of education – processes of knowledge acquisition and creation – needs to move beyond the confines of logic as being equivalent to intelligence. To claim that all logic is intelligence is at best illogical and at worst irrational. There is a need to recognise that the human condition does not learn and live on logic alone. Emotions, or matters of the heart, have long been seen as the enemy of logic, or effective thinking. The two – logic and emotions – have been separated as entities. In my paper I propose that there is a need for a major shift away and beyond this mind set. If education in PNG and around the world is about integral human development and is based on knowledge from within our own cultures as much as from without, then the need to go beyond logic and sensibilities as separate entities or domains of knowledge is paramount.

Title: Practicum component : preparation of teachers for the real world of work

Abstract: In an attempt to investigate the impact of practice teaching, this study identified factors that contribute positively and negatively to the professional preparation of beginning teachers. Data by means of a questionnaire survey were collected from 106 beginning teachers who were asked to reflect on the field-based experiences completed whilst on teacher training at Lautoka Teachers’ College in Fiji. The analysis of the data shows that there are a number of factors having a negative impact on the professional preparation of teachers. The results of the study indicated the lacunae in the field-based experiences.