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By
PAUL PASINGAN
Empowering teachers through the OBE curriculum
IN his article published in this
column on May 25, Aaron Hayes said the outcome-based education (OBE)
curriculum is not sustainable in PNG which I find a rather
stimulating assertion worthy of some discussion.
Hayes stated that “CRIP has now packed up and gone home after
spending umpteen million kina on introducing an outcome-based
curriculum that no other developing country in the world has
managed to implement successfully”.
I will come back to this inviting piece of statement after
discussing the two points of the approach to the OBE curriculum
and its implementation in PNG, and also point out some areas for
consideration that Hayes did not (I believe intentionally)
mention.
Let me first state that unlike the writer, I believe the approach
to the OBE curriculum that is being implemented in the PNG
education reform is influenced by a variety of experiences which
span the early years of my primary and high school education,
teacher training at college leading on to my 15 years as a teacher
in the high and reform secondary schools, teaching trainee
teachers at primary teachers colleges and now teaching experienced
teachers.
Some of the latter are currently the implementers of the reformed
OBE curriculum in the schools.
I served on the Language and Mathematics Syllabus Advisory
Committees in the late 1980s and again in the mid-1990s.
I am therefore familiar with the contents of the different syllabi
that followed the traditional objective curriculum.
Although I am new to OBE, I have been following the implementation
activities in the schools as well as discussions on the issue.
Hayes has presented a case that does not reflect the true nature
of the approach to the OBE curriculum that has been designed in
the PNG education reform.
It is obvious that there were claims on the nature of OBE and its
implementation that were contrary to principles and practices of
the approach in PNG.
I would like to share my own knowledge and perspective in order to
encourage my fellow teachers to be positive in carrying the
curriculum reform and moving forward with OBE.
During the first 20 years after independence, there have been as
many as four curriculum changes in our education system.
With mathematics syllabi, for example, teachers were not happy
with the constant changes, adaptations and adjustments without
having a complete set of curriculum materials to use in their
teaching.
Most of our teachers still relive their past experiences when they
are asked to implement the current reform curriculum.
Therefore, the last thing we would like to happen is for anyone to
come along again and dampen the enthusiasm of committed education
leaders and teachers with a whole lot of negativity on the subject
of OBE and worse, not offer any ideas.
Hayes related the negative experiences in the practice of OBE
curriculum in Australia and overseas, but failed to state clearly
the significant areas of difference in the conceptualisation and
implementation when compared to PNG.
First, unlike in Western Australia, curriculum development in PNG
is centralised and this ensured that the various syllabi were in
place for implementation.
Each had syllabus outcomes or objectives.
It is totally misleading to tell parents that because of the OBE,
our teachers are now expecting their students to “create their own
knowledge” although this could be an alternative learning approach
PNG might want to explore in the future.
Nevertheless, because of the OBE curriculum, some teachers are
assisting their students to construct and create their own
meanings while exploring other interpretations so that they are
not just accepting generally-accepted rules and positions.
Teachers in PNG are capable of doing this and will improve with
more support.
It is an exaggeration to say that OBE teachers are letting
“students themselves decide what they will learn and how much they
will learn”.
That is an approach that countries such as the US, Japan or
Britain can adopt but PNG is still a long way off.
However, in PNG the OBE curriculum has enabled our teachers to
change their teacher-centred, chalk-and-talk style so that they
can make significant and appropriate changes in order to provide
opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking.
I must stress that teachers use prescribed syllabi to guide the
learners towards achieving identified learning outcomes.
Second, Hayes had implied that our students are no longer assessed
through examinations which may be abandoned under the reform.
On the contrary, I trust that examinations, guided by the
outcome-based assessment principles in the 2003 National
Assessment and Reporting Policy, will be more focused, more
credible, reliable and fair for students of different and various
learning styles; an aspect of learning that was not fully
understood under the objective approach.
Third, I believe the writer and others know that it is still too
early to fairly assess and make informed judgments on the success
of the OBE, and the way it has been implemented in the PNG
context.
It would also be expected that the benchmark would not entirely be
based on expectations and curriculum standards of Australia, the
US, Britain or any other country and do not reflect the philosophy
and objectives of education in PNG.
In the same vein, it is rather inappropriate to insinuate about
lowering of academic standards without having a clear definition
of the standards referred to.
Whose standards and for whom? And, how have these standards been
decided?
It cannot be denied that in the initial stages, a lot of work is
involved in the OBE curriculum and that teachers have to do a lot
of preparation. Over time, the amount of work will be reduced.
I agree that the OBE curriculum needs a lot of materials and
learning resources and the Education Department is attending to
this with the help of donor agencies.
I also agree that the present classes are too large for the OBE
curriculum to be effective.
Hayes also listed a number of other areas that can weaken the
effectiveness of the OBE in PNG such as poor or no electricity
supply, staff shortage, and the absence of libraries.
However, these problems do not justify abandoning OBE for a return
to the traditional objectives curriculum.
A lot of work has already been put into implementing the reform
curriculum and we have to give OBE a chance to work in PNG.
In my view, the major features of OBE are quite comparable to our
PNG traditional way of education; learning by doing and in
different developmental levels of competencies, and mastery
learning.
Unlike in the past, teachers now participate actively in
determining the needs of, and creating the learning experiences
for the students.
Students, as mentioned, are now more active learners than during
my time.
They have been given the skills and the power to know how to
learn; and not to sit passively and receive it all from the
teacher like most of us did during our school days.
As for the communities, they have a better sense and appreciation
of their role in helping and working with their schools,
particularly when participating in the assessment process.
Education leaders in the provinces and districts are challenged to
take more responsibility and ownership of the schools.
They are challenged more than ever before to plan and develop
curriculum that would meet the needs of the local students.
On the statement that CRIP has packed up and gone, does Hayes mean
to say that we have no brains in PNG to make OBE work?
All we need, apart from the continued aid of donor agencies, is
support from politicians and local communities.
Politicians should stop preaching “free education” to the parents
and pour more funds to subsidise education in their provinces
Parents should continue their responsibility of paying fees for
their children.
For OBE to be implemented successfully, the schools need a lot of
money to operate which should come from the fees paid by parents
and any extra funds (“free education” handouts) available.
The national government needs to seriously consider doubling the
previous education budgets in order to support OBE and the
education reform in the country.
Give OBE in PNG a fair chance.
Note: The writer is a lecturer at the
Divine Word University
 
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