Papua New Guinea In 1873, the London Missionary Society established the first school to teach islanders to read scripture. After 1884, German and English missionaries established primary schools to teach Western concepts of morality, the German and English languages, arithmetic, and the Christian doctrine. During the early 1900s, the British government encouraged missionaries to develop vocational education programs in Papua New Guinea to produce better farmers, crafts people, and skilled laborers. As stated earlier, in 1914, Australia took control of the German colony in north-eastern New Guinea. With Papua and New Guinea under its reign, Australia established English as the official language of instruction and laid the foundation for modern education in Papua New Guinea. The Papua New Guinea government actively involved in ‘tok ples’ education 1989. However, after the independent Papua new Guineans begin to participate in the education system. Today teachers in Papua New Guinea consist of native and some are from other countries, these teachers are trained and qualified to become a professional teachers. As a developing country the practice of teacher’s professionalization and professionalism is the key area that needs to be understood as an educator.
Professionalism comes from a family of related words such as: profess and it is define as means to describe the quality of practice, that is, the manner of conduct within the teaching occupation, how members integrate their obligations with their knowledge and skills in both a context of collegiality and their contextual and ethical relations with clients, professionalization, professional development, extended professionally and restricted professionalism. In this work piece it briefly discusses the teacher’s professionalization and professionalism of PNG in comparison between japan. The education system in PNG is structured as the elementary or kindergarten at the early stage of childhood. After that we continue to 6 years of primary education from grade 3-8, than to the high school and Secondary which is from age fourteen to seventeen which we have the lower secondary or sometimes refer to High Schools and the upper secondary which is grade 11 – 12 . Later when completing the secondary we are given three choices to apply to universities and colleges. There are four state universities in PNG and many colleges in certain provinces. People who choose to become a teacher apply to teachers college to qualify in primary education teaching after three years and universities to study professional education for the teachers of upper and lower secondary in four year study. The first year is the foundation year, second year content training, and third year professional studies. Final year, practical and training. The accreditation and the content knowledge gained after the four year studies are to graduate with the bachelor of education. This teachers are qualified to teach in the lower and upper secondary.
For the primary teachers the accreditation gain from the three years of study is the Diploma in Primary teaching. Teachers in the university consist of PhD holder, masters, and even first degree. In the process of teaching there are different method used in the teaching, particularly the method used in teaching in Papua New Guinea are demonstration method, explanation method, guided discovery method and the child centered education which bases the teaching from known to unknown. As we move into the 21st century-principles and practices of classroom teachers are changing with adaptation into the current trends and development in education- the teaching approaches have now facing major shifts from outcome-based to subject based, curriculum is also aligned with this change.
Structural changes are also part and parcel of the change, as well as inclusive education, Different approach and strategies, Curriculum approach (curriculum leader, professed course adviser), Structural approach, Inclusive education (regardless of disability, regardless of culture barriers) In the field of teaching teachers professionalization is monitor in order to maintain professionalism and this is done using different system. The personal promotional report is carried out by inspectors to teachers who wish to have a formal assessment of his or her work assessed and promoted to the next level, while an appraisal is a report carried out by a head teacher to determine whether a teacher is still able to perform without problem and is also innovative. Supervision on the other hand, is a strategy used by a supervisor to prepare teachers against their primary roles and responsibilities using checklists with brief comments. In-services are on the jobs trainings to enhance content knowledge. The inspectorial system was introduced as a mean of quality assurance which is still being emphasized in Papua New Guinea, the analysis reveal that supervision and professional development strategies to pursue better education standard and quality education.
These strategies supposedly ensure teachers professionalism is sustained and improve in order to impact on the quality of education provided by the school. Japan After World War II, Japan’s Fundamental Law of Education and the School Education Law were enacted in 1947 under the direction of the occupation forces. The latter law defined the school system that is still in effect today: six years of elementary school, three years of junior high school, three years of high school, two or four years of university. In Japan, education system played a central part in Japan’s recovery and rapid economic growth in the decades following the end of the War. Thus Japan considers education as compulsory allowing the children to attend the elementary up to lower secondary level. Virtually all students progression to the upper secondary level is voluntary and without much difficulties.
Most students attend public schools through the lower secondary level, but private education is also popular at the upper secondary and universities. However, both the private and the public sector of education are following the same procedure. The procedures are as follows: Dialect names English names Period of study shou-gakkouelementary school 6 years ch?-gakkoumiddle school: 3 years (not compulsory) koutou-gakkou; abbr. koukouhigh school 3 years Daigakucollege or university 4 years senmon-gakkoucareer college 2 years Daigauingrad school 2 years (magister’s course) + 3 years(doctor’s course) The education structure of Japan have consist of elementary, middle schools, high schools and colleges or Universities in which all level of schooling are open to everyone whilst from Kindergarten to Middle high schools there is no examinations like PNG where there is always an exam to move on in the bridging grades. Kindergarten is optional However; some children start kindergarten as young as 3 years old depending on the parent and the school.
Elementary school is for children 6 to 12 years old, Junior High is for kids 12 to 15 years old. In Japan High School is not free so children can drop out after middle school. Also they have to take entrance exams to get into high school. Students who get low scores will not get into a good school, and if they fail their exams they will have to repeat middle school, so it is very serious business. There are some schools called ‘elevator schools’ where kids attend from kindergarten up through high school or even college. These schools are almost always private schools (and are very expensive) and while they don’t have entrance exams they do test between middle school and high school.
The standards are not as high but you can still fail. For those students who needs more attention usually have half a day weekend classes. All current Japanese teachers must, under the Educational Personnel Certification Law of 1949, hold relevant teaching certificates and in high schools these certificates apply to specific subject areas. There are three classes of teaching certificate: advanced, first and second. There are two routes into teaching: the first is by a 2-year course at a junior college, and the second is by a 4-year course at a university. An English teacher in a senior high school must hold at least a first class certificate for which she needs a Bachelor’s degree. This is only obtainable from a university. In addition, trainee teachers must have at least 2 weeks of teaching practice in a local school. To fulfill this requirement students often go back to the school in which they were themselves educated. A master’s degree is the basic qualification for an advanced certificate. To earn such a certificate, a person needs to obtain more than a certain number of credits for teaching subjects and professional subjects at a graduate school, in addition to the requirements for a Type I certificate.
A bachelor’s degree is the basic qualification for the Type I certificate, and in general, a person needs to obtain more than a certain number of credits for teaching subjects and professional subjects at a university to earn it. An associate degree from a junior college is the basic qualification for a Type II certificate. Teachers with Type II certificates are requested to try to acquire Type I certificates in a suitable or related field, to the best of their abilities. Japanese teachers today, like any teachers, are the product of their own education and training. The education and training those Japanese teachers have received in the past and which they still receive is not at all like those received by teachers in the Papua New Guinea. The focus in initial teacher training is firmly on the theory (the majority of which is traditional), with limited practical experience. A survey of 100 Japanese high school teachers of English (Lamie, 1998) showed that a significant number of teacher trainees received no training in communicative language teaching methodology (77%), classroom management (93%) or general educational practice (58%). ”Japanese Education Today,” praised the high level of overall academic achievement that characterizes Japanese primary and secondary schools. It attributed this in large part to high expectations, hard work, well-rewarded teachers, and the heavy involvement of Japanese mothers in the education of their children.
After going through the points, the comparison is made using teachers’ accreditation in PNG and japan. The teaching qualification in Papua New Guinea is categorized as follows; certificate in elementary and a program recently introduced that is called the bachelor of early childhood teaching that is requirement to teach in kindergarten or elementary in comparison with japan elementary students are being taught by teachers with Master’s Degree (ISCED 5A second degree), Bachelor’s Degree (ISCED 5A first degree) and Junior College Associate’s Degree (ISCED 5B first degree). The primary schools in PNG consist of teachers with diploma in primary teaching were as the Japanese school had teachers that was qualified with the Master’s Degree (5A second degree), Bachelor’s Degree (5A first degree) and Junior College Associate’s Degree (5B first degree). For the teachers that teach in secondary schools in PNG are teachers that graduate in the universities with bachelor of education and some primary schools teachers who had undergoes in-service program in the universities to qualified in secondary. In contrast with upper and lower secondary teachers in japan, the upper class consist of teachers with Master’s Degree (5A second degree) and Bachelor’s Degree (5A first degree).
As we can in Japan A Bachelor’s degree is essential for any kind of formal teaching job in Japan. Some public schools and private recruiters prefer candidates with a CELTA/TEFL qualification and/or previous teaching experience. Japanese language proficiency is not required but can be helpful in securing better paid jobs. However in PNG, teachers with degree choose to teach at secondary level simply because of the higher salary package. My suggestion is, a teaching certificate guarantees the qualifications and abilities the holder is required to have as a teacher, and these must be continuously maintained. Teachers in PNG must always strive to keep up-to-date on their knowledge and skills. However, especially in recent years, the curriculum guidelines and the standards of education content in schools have been so often revised that teachers must now inevitably have qualifications and abilities that constantly correspond to new curriculum guidelines. Also, conditions surrounding school education has changed dramatically.
Considering the drastic changes in society and their impact on teachers, the qualifications and abilities required of them should be updated according to the times. The system for renewing teaching certificate is a good system that PNG can adapt to maintain teachers professionalization. With that the Pedagogy of hope is expected to transform the learner into a problem-solving agent, a creator rather than a creature. To this end, educators in PNG must go beyond mere transmission of factual knowledge. Instead, educators must present knowledge, skills, and values that are liberating; in as far as they create new horizons and new opportunities that are vital for societal growth. The learners too must become critically aware of their potential as humans, of their “power to use circumstances rather than being used by them” (Nyerere). Last but not least, education is a central component of any nation’s developmental process, and for it to facilitate this function, the process should be clearly defined, legislatively protected, owned by relevant stakeholders, adequately financed, and constantly subjected to periodic reviews to ensure better quality that it is in harmony with societal needs.
