Challenges

The following common obstacles, trends and recommendations were noted during the research on ICT in education in the Pacific nations.

 
Common obstacles:

• High Costs: Equipment, Telecom rates
• Inadequate human resources
• Emigration of trained personnel
• Outdated curricula
• Hardware, infrastructure: sourcing & development
• Lack of incentives for schools and teachers, lack of job security
• Lack of awareness, uncertainty about role of ICT in curriculum
• Lack of software, collaborative platforms
• Lack of government vision, excessive beaurocracy
• Speed of change – pressure to upgrade, maintain and sustain initiatives
• Geographical isolation, wide dispersal of populations
• Evolution model: ICT in admin -> ICT in curriculum -> ICT in learning culture

 

Trends:

• Increase in delivery and demand for distance/flexible learning services
• Growing role of lifelong learning, multi-purpose online community centers
• Marrying old & new technology (eg. radio browsing, eco-friendly, low cost tech)

 

Recommendations:

• Offer incentives and Training Opportunities for teachers, personnel
• Encourage Champion teachers with rewards and incentives
• Save costs through collective planning, management
• National policies should align eLearning pedagogy & ICT practise
• Explore approaches to circumvent Telcos/monopolies
• Encourage local, district, regional coordination and experience sharing
• Develop national and regional SchoolNets to support, encourage online schools
• Support new teachers entering the system to gain ICT schools
• Encourage more Pilot Projects with clear medium and long-term goals
• Bring national senior, middle management in MoEs together to share experience
• Identify appropriate tools, software, common interoperable platforms
• Encourage and educate on FOSS
• Form broad public-private partnerships with specific ICT4D goals
• Education system data: Monitor, measure, evaluate -> chart progress
• Conduct detailed needs analysis and research on impact of ICT
• Design benchmarks for progress
• Improve community involvement in ICT in schools
• Provide scholarships for rural teacher trainees to receive high quality ICT training
• Develop local content: build on authentic values and local culture