Fiji at the crossroad: is the Indigenous community (iTaukei) ready for quality school-community partnership?
Keywords:
School-family-community-partnership, chiefly dispute, community cohesion, Learner-centred education, bottom-up traditional curriculumAbstract
Western models of school community-partnership are widely advocated in developed countries as a catalyst for a cohesive society. Educational authorities in Fiji now view western models of school-community partnership as a means to achieving a learner-centred approach, and as a support for community cohesion. This paper examines contradictions between the western models and the view that schools should uphold traditions in an Indigenous Fijian community divided by internal disputes. The school- community partnership models will be discussed focusing on why they are in conflict with the iTaukei traditional setting in rural villages. Exacerbating this gap is the chiefly conflict in Tawase[1] village. The village of Tawase is used as a case study, highlighting how its chiefly dispute over almost 50 years has fragmented the community and its satellite villages, affecting the local primary school support and children’s learning and eroding the social capital of the villages.
[1] Tawase village is the pseudonym.
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