Policy

Our current initiatives provide education ministries with a systematic analysis of their systems based on reliable evidence benchmarked against high performing systems around the world.

This provides policy-makers and stakeholders with the opportunity to judge the strengths and weaknesses of current policies and systems, see how it may influence learning then formulate appropriate reforms and action.

How we do this

The Pacific Benchmarking for Education Results (PaBER) Project is an example of this support.

PaBER in its pilot phase involved education ministries in three countries – Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Solomon Islands.

Its main aim was to provide Pacific Islands’ education ministries with a systematic and reliable means of learning from their own systems, and from systems in other countries, about the policies, processes and activities that can have a positive impact on the quality of education, and specifically on learning outcomes.

The initiative involved developing and using tools to inform and identify policy and interventions that will improve learning outcomes.

We were responsible for coordinating the PaBER pilot in conjunction with the respective education ministries for
Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Solomon Islands, and in providing assistance, and for ensuring the planned activities are implemented accordingly, monitored and reported. PaBER activities included implementing:

Pacific Island Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (PILNA) instruments after six years of schooling;
Institutional Capacity Analysis across the three assessment units of the participating countries;
Skills audit of the assessment personnel and sample of primary school teachers;
System Assessment of the four identified policy domains (Teacher Quality, Curriculum and Materials, School Governance and Management, and Assessment Systems);
Institutional Policy Capacity Analysis across the four policy domains; and
Fieldwork research exploring the extent to which policy is put into practice on the ground, and how policy is transformed by practice.

Results

In June 2016, EQAP handed over the PaBER results for Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Solomon Islands.

Handover Media Release

Background

The PaBER initiative was endorsed by the Pacific Forum Education Ministers Meeting (FEdMM) in October 2010.The three-year
pilot, which ended in 2016, was funded by the Australian Government.The ultimate goal of PaBER is to improve education
quality through increasing the literacy and numeracy levels of students in the Pacific region. If the pilot is successful, other
Pacific countries may have the opportunity to participate.

The PaBER approach is to develop and use tools to inform and identify policy and interventions that will improve learning outcomes.
The key desired outcome is that the pilot countries will be better positioned to plan and implement interventions that will
improve learning through:

Using and analysing the results from a field tested regional tool for measuring primary level literacy and numeracy for use in the wider Pacific;
Systematic, benchmarked and comparable analysis of education policies and systems for replication in the wider Pacific; and
Sharing Information on education policies, practices and systems and the ways in which they are implemented on the ground.

In seeking to achieve these outcomes, the pilot is strengthening country systems and building technical capacity at both regional
and country levels. Useful links

Want to know more you can email our Educational Assessment Officer, Mr Adrian Alamu on: [email protected]

Level 5 Vanua House, Victoria Parade, SUVA | Postal: EQAP, Pacific Community (SPC),Private Mail Bag, SUVA, Fiji Islands | Phone: (679) 331 5600 | Fax:(679) 337 8598 / 3378 599 | Email:[email protected]