Education policy in practice, global lessons from PNG

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has introduced a suite of policies to improve learning outcomes over the past decade. However, there has been little research to ascertain whether these policies are known, understood or implemented at the school level. Component three of the Pacific Benchmarking for Education Results (PaBER) pilot program is supporting policy makers in PNG, Samoa and Solomon Islands to answer a simple question: specifically, are centrally developed education policies being implemented at the school level?

The PNG design of PaBER Component three was ambitious. It involved 132 schools across all 22 districts in PNG. The quantitative component involved a questionnaire and observation guide that was designed by all three pilot countries through consensus. Close to 1884 participants completed the questionnaires. The population included head teachers, teachers, parents and school board members. Questionnaires were designed, piloted and refined for each cohort and observations were completed at each school. The qualitative component included interviews at eight schools which represented urban, rural, remote and extreme remote schools that had either performed highly or poorly in Year eight national exams. A total of 72 interviews were conducted with head teachers, teachers, parents and school board members at the selected schools.

This presentation will provide an overview of Component three of PaBER in PNG. It will reflect on the practical challenges involved in planning and conducting field research across PNG. It will then summarise the results from the quantitative and qualitative data collection tools. The presentation will conclude by discussing what lessons governments and donors can learn from the research design and results and how the findings can be incorporated into future policy formulation within PNG and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

This presentation will be of interest to researchers and research funders who are working on aid and international development policy in the Pacific and Asia.