Implementing a new model for teachers' professional learning in Papua New Guinea

This article reports on a study that investigates the possibilities of developing a professional learning model based on action research that could lead to sustained improvements in teaching and learning in schools in remote areas of Papua New Guinea. The issues related to the implementation of this model are discussed using a critical lens that questions the use of ‘western’ constructs about ‘successful’ professional learning and ‘quality’ education in Papua New Guinea. In the article, we discuss the notion of ‘professional learning’ and how action research can be conceived as a model for professional learning. Then, we discuss some of the issues and difficulties that are arising during the implementation of our study. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for future developments of professional learning for teachers in countries such as Papua New Guinea.

Australia, Papua New Guinea, and a communal blindness in our history education

The teaching of history to Australians has been under the spotlight in recent years as experts, commentators, and politicians vie for command of the uses to be made of the past. This was very evident in the — one hopes — now concluded ‘history wars’ of the last decade or so. But the old warriors are oiling their rusty swords in preparation for what may be yet another battle, perhaps one that will be particularly bloody in this election year. The field for this battle will be broadly centred on the new national history curriculum, being developed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Agency (ACARA).

Defining citizenship for a new nation: Papua New Guinea, 1972–1974

A key part of any process of decolonisation is the need for the emerging nation to determine the rules for citizenship. In Papua New Guinea, what it meant to be a citizen was the first topic that the Constitutional Planning Committee considered when it set about its task to develop a ‘home grown’ constitution in late 1972. The process by which it first comprehended this matter and then involved thousands of Papua New Guineans in their villages, missions and schools in a territory-wide exercise in consultation forms the subject of this paper. The records of the discussions that took place between February and April of 1973 reveal much of how the criteria for membership of the national enterprise came to be established. This case study of defining citizenship in PNG demonstrates the intensive consultation of the local peoples on key issues in nation-building and reveals the high degree of Indigenous agency in the decolonisation process.

How much should Australians know about Papua New Guinea?

In the last week Papua New Guinea (PNG) has received more exposure in the Australian media than it has for a very long time indeed. Ever since news of the ‘Regional Resettlement Arrangement Between Australia and Papua New Guinea’ agreement between Prime Ministers Rudd and O’Neill appeared on 19 July, discussion and criticism of the so-called ‘PNG Solution’ has been widespread on the internet, on television, radio, and even in the few newspapers still being published. Media outlets which negligently had let their regional coverage slip away – preferring to invest their remaining funds into reportage of last night’s Masterchef – are now scrambling to find copy from anyone with either opinions on the subject, but little knowledge, or some direct knowledge of PNG, alas in short supply.

The avalanche of reporting and commentary has masked the complexity of the issues involved here. On the one hand, we have Australia’s response to boat-borne visa-less immigrants: there is a whole universe of pain tied up in this, as any quick glance at the commentary will demonstrate. On the other, there is Australia and its place in the world and in the region: are we embarrassed to be Australians, or proud to be Aussies who ‘grew here’? And within the region, there is Papua New Guinea.

What can one learn from the reporting of PNG so far in 2013?

List of colonial era Papua New Guinea legislation

This dataset is a list of all Papua New Guinean legislation (Acts and Regulations) during Australia's colonial administration of the country. It includes data on legislation from 1925 through to 1974 and identifies the act/regulation title, the act number, the act commencement date and chapter number.

Pigs, hogs and Aussie blokes: the emergence of the term 'six o'clock swill'

‘Six o’clock swill’ is one of the best known terms in Australian history, popularly associated with the drinking practices of a fifty-year period when pubs closed at six o’clock in most Australian states. Historians have tended to link the emergence of the’six o’clock swill’ to the introduction of early or six o’clock closing during the Great War. A closer analysis suggests it was not licensing law alone which impelled its emergence but historically specific conditions during World War II. Moreover, the term ‘six o’clock swill’ was no mere description of drinking practices; importantly it generated cultural politics particular to time and place.

Archaeobotany in Australia and New Guinea : Practice, potential and prospects

Archaeobotany is the study of plant remains from archaeological contexts. Despite Australasian research being at the forefront of several methodological innovations over the last three decades, archaeobotany is now a relatively peripheral concern to most archaeological projects in Australia and New Guinea. In this paper, many practicing archaeobotanists working in these regions argue for a more central role for archaeobotany in standard archaeological practice. An overview of archaeobotanical techniques and applications is presented, the potential for archaeobotany to address key historical research questions is indicated, and initiatives designed to promote archaeobotany and improve current practices are outlined.

Notes on the distribution and breeding of the Manus Friarbird Philemon albitorques and other birds of small islands of the Admiralties Group, Papua New Guinea

Despite being a relatively common and well-known species locally, the ecology of the Manus Friarbird Philemon albitorques is not well documented in the literature. Here I present information on breeding and range extensions for this species, and for other bird species on small islands in the Admiralties Group, Papua New Guinea.