School Blong Yumi:A Grassroots Approach to

Community-Based Cultural Education

Carren Bough, Community Development

Facilitator

Astrid Kersten, Professor of Management &

Change Consultancy

Presented at the 2015 Conference…

Overview

The educational context in the South Pacific Global education development goals Prevalent thinking and critique

Need for alternatives & learning from practice

One small initiative: Sulelulu kindyDevelopment, structure, approachWhat is different here?What can we learn?

Education Development Goals

Dakar 2000:

Education for All By 2015: Goal # 1: Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and

disadvantaged children. Incheon 2015: Equitable & inclusive quality education By 2030:

SDG 4.7 Education for sustainable development/lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, peace & non-violence, global citizenship, appreciation of cultural diversity & culture’s contribution to SD

What is the key issue here?

Access?Universal access?Funded access?Who has access?What do they have

access to?

ECU: Issues and Questions in Majority Countries (Nsamenang)

(Post-)Colonial history: Western institutionalization, formalized & economized education, western ideology

Institutional universalism insufficient dialogue re: identity rights & ownershipnon-Western ECEs is problematized/undermined EFA has emancipatory potential but limits development

ECU: Issues and Questions in Majority Countries (Pene, Taufe’ulugaki, Benson)

Failure of educational reform in the Pacific:- Insufficient quality of human resources- Lingering vagueness of Pacific education vision- Fixation ..”on improving various (quantifiable)

aspects of education, but … little questioning of the values and assumptions underpinning formal education or development.”

ECU: Issues and Questions in Majority Countries (Burton)

Global education discourse focused on outcomes failed to recognized ECU as cultural process failed to examine cultural beliefs re: childhood & child

development, resulting in: Uncritical transfer of Western ECE programs & practices

Western ECU: child-centered, individualistic versusPacific ECU children’s active involvement in

meaningful daily practices in community Pacific gap between education & lived experience

ECU: Alternatives

Rethink education in context of colonial legacy Acknowledge cultural & social context of developmentRecognize & support efforts to reinvent more

culturally relevant, locally sustainable programs Create space to reflect on goals and approaches:

Conceptualization and grassroots experimentation must remain in active dialogue, each informing and shaping the other

Learn from culturally grounded practice

Sulelulu Kindy

Small, innovative ECU projectSulelulu, remote village in

South Santo, Vanuatu

Example of community-owned, community driven project based in culture, tradition & faith, bridging to the future

Sulelulu Community

Small, traditional, old inlands roots

Moved towards coast for opportunities Changed from migratory to

settled subsistence farming Kastom traditions/practices become forgotten

Members of the Baha'i Faith

Baha'i Faith

World religionOneness of God, religions, humanityEquality, justice, diversity, new world civilization In SP & Vanuatu - early 1950s, Santo Bush – mid 1980s

Baha'i Faith approach to community buildingHistorical effect of missionization in SP

Leave old, adopt new (name, identity, practice, community)Destroy kastom, ritual images/performances, unity

Baha'i approach: Unity in diversity

Baha'i Faith and Kastom

Unity in diversity (Were, Momen) Slow, respectful, integrative change process:

Merge old & new Each community develops its own image

of the Baha'i Faith Honor and validate kastom traditions/ images

Baha'is as arbiters of kastomReinvigorated kastom identity

Focus on unity Strong image in traditional cultures Stay in community, administer own affairs

Sulelulu Community Development

≥ 10 years of “Ruhi Institute process”developed in rural Columbia, used

worldwide capacity building process, many

components includes teaching literacy, taught

here in Bislama/vernacular participatory, inclusive, community

driven, empowerment

Sulelulu Community Development

Ruhi process changed community perspective on education:

Came to value own knowledge & insight Integrate Western and traditional knowledge

Need to prepare children for larger worldNeed to honor and preserve own cultureBlend together old and newBuild and use their own available resources

Education in Sulelulu

To Receive Schooling:Children had to leave the village – half day walk School disconnected kids from culture Did not allow sharing of kastom knowledge

Community Initiative:Sulelulu kindySchool blo yumi

Sulelulu Kindy - Development

Began in 2014 - kindy for 5 children

2015 - added 11 more children

1 teacher w/ some govt training, 2 aides

Now preparing for 1st grade class

School for ALL High quality

Official Opening for the Sulelulu Kindy House June 2015

How is Sulelulu kindy different?

1. Community ownership √

2. Became a place of learning

3. Connects kindy learning to daily life

4. Connects children & adults to Kastom

5. Promotes gender equality

6. Based on consultation, and much more!

2. Sulelulu Kindy: Place of Learning

Regular visits by external facilitators Group study, based on

Ruhi curriculumWorking with local

facilitator – also kindy teacher

Kindy teachers from various communities participate

2. Sulelulu Kindy: Place of Learning

Study structure: Morning: Teachers

observe/participate in kindy

Afternoon: Study curriculum – facilitators

Evening: Teachers plan for next morning

Basic curriculum: Wholistic Math, science,

reading & writing, moral education, arts

Teachers incorporate local culture, kastom, language

3. Kindy connects learning to daily life:Example: Oneness of Humanity

Math: Lesson on “sets” & oneness of humanity

Visit from facilitatorsKids were worried about

accommodationShared accommodationsPractical lesson in being “one

family”“Sista” relationship with facilitators

3. Kindy connects learning to daily life:Example: Cooking

Women & men prepare student food Moral education story “Unity Soup”

Learn about food and cookingLearn about unity in diversity

3. Kindy connects learning to daily life Example: Environment

Science lesson on the water cycle:

Importance of trees in cleaning water & air Protect the trees Protect water

source

3. Kindy connects learning to daily life Example: Environment

Kindy worked to clean existing creek & washing area

Dug hole for plastics, batteries, etc.

4. Kindy connects all to Kastom: Example: Roof

Olfella weeklong bush fieldtrip, up into to Santo bush mountains

Teaches children how to see: Plants, fruits, food, kastom stones, etc – related

to stories, traditional life & relations One forgotten tradition: special rop blong fasem

roof harvestingTraditional roof was built for kindy

4. Kindy connects all to Kastom: Example: Roof

5. Kindy and gender equalityExample: Kastom Danis

Olfalas were invited to teach kastom danis and singsing

Typical one – only men at center Another one was brought, traditional but

largely forgotten – involving women at center

“…we are now starting to see that the equality of men and women is part of our tradition and we need to celebrate it..”

5. Kindy and gender equalityExample: Kastom Danis

5. Kindy and gender equality: Example: Gardens

Santo:Gardening duties shared by men and womenPlot ownership belongs to menHere: Community garden equally divided Model for children

Every Wednesday: Go to garden, work together in the kindy plotConsult, plan, cooperate

6. Consultation, community & kindy

Consultation: Baha'i way of decision-making Seeks to find the truth Seeks input from women & men,

young & oldEveryone shares openly & honestlyClash of opinion is favoredOnce decision is made, all live by

decision with unity

6. Consultation, community & kindy

Role of consultation in kindy children practice consultation teachers, committee, community consult

together

Summary

The educational context in the South PacificNeed for alternatives & learning from practice

One small initiative: Sulelulu kindyWhat is different here?

Lessons learned from Sulelulu kindy

Small but important initiative - models key factors identified in the need for alternatives:

1. Community ownership

2. Became a place of learning

3. Connects learning to daily life

4. Connects all to Kastom

5. Gender equality

6. Based on Consultation

Conclusion

“…(W)e are not dealing with a simple loss of tradition in indigenous societies.

We are instead witnessing emerging forms that enable societies to deal in highly localized, specific, and efficacious ways with the impact of colonialism, missionization, and global market forces…” James Clifford (1988):

Conclusion

Amazing worldwide diversity in ECU (Nsamenang)

Rights-based approach: Multiculturalism

“To empower most of the world’s children (..), we simply need to accept and respect differentness”

References

Burton, L. (2012). Building on living traditions: Early childhood education and culture in Solomon Islands. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 15, 1, pp. 157-175.

Clifford, J. (1988). The predicament of culture: twentieth-century ethnography, literature, and art. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press

Dakar Declaration. Education for All. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/efa-goals/

Incheon Declaration. Education 2030:Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002338/233813M.pdf

References

Consultative Group on Early Childhood Development Care and Development. Early Childhood Development on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. http://www.ecdgroup.com/pdfs/Response-to-HLP-Report-2013_final.pdf

Momen, M. (1987) The Baha'i Faith and Traditional Societies: Exploring Universes of Discourse. Dialogue, 1987, 1, 4, pp. 9-13 http://www.momen.org/bahai2/tradsoc.htm

Nsamenang, A. (2007)Cultures in early childhood care and education. Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007 UNESCO. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001474/147442e.pdf

Pene, F. Taufe’ulungaki, A. & Benson, C. (eds.) (2002). Tree of Opportunity: Re-Thinking Pacific Education. Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific.

.

References

Puamau, P. (2005). Rethinking educational reform: A Pacific perspective. Paper presented at the international conference “Redesigning pedagogy: Research, Policy and Practice.” National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

Republic of Vanuatu. EFA National Plan of Action 2001-2015.

http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/upload/Vanuatu/Vanuatu%20EFA-NAP%202001-2015.pdf

Ruhi Institute. http://www.ruhi.org/

Were, Graeme (2005) . Thinking through images: Kastom and the coming of the Baha’is to Northern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 11, 4, pp. 659-676