Using indicators as a catalyst for inclusive education in the Pacific Islands

ABSTRACT

The Pacific Island countries are committed to promoting disability-inclusive education through enactment of the Pacific Education Development Framework. To support this move, key stakeholders have identified the need for developing local and contextually appropriate indicators for measuring progress of disability-inclusive education. This paper reports on the usefulness of a newly developed tool (Pacific Indicators for Disability-Inclusive Education – Pacific-INDIE) as a catalyst in implementing inclusive education in the Pacific. Data were collected from a range of stakeholders who have used the Pacific-INDIE in three countries (Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands). Thematic analysis was used to identify the key themes relating to the usefulness of the tool. The key themes that emerged from the data included, positive outcomes, challenges, planned future directions, and process issues. The findings discussed are related to how the indicators can best support future policy development and implementation of disability-inclusive education across the region.

KEYWORDS:

• Pacific-INDIE
• disability-inclusive education
• Pacific Islands
• disability
• inclusion

Acknowledgement

The developing and testing indicators for the education of children with disability in the Pacific research project have been undertaken in partnership by Monash University, the CBM – Nossal Institute Partnership for Disability Inclusive Development, Pacific Disability Forum, and Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Umesh Sharma is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. His primary research interests are inclusive teacher education and attitude and efficacy measurement. He has led international projects across 14 Pacific countries and works closely with professionals in special and inclusive education from developed and developing countries.

Chris Forlin is an international inclusive education consultant, working in education for over 45 years. Professor Forlin spent the past 10 years at the Education University of Hong Kong and has provided leadership throughout Asia and the Pacific in inclusive education. She is a highly published author and international keynote speaker.

Manjula Marella is a Research Fellow in the Disability Inclusion for Health and Development Unit at the Nossal Institute for Global Health, The University of Melbourne. She works primarily within the CBM-Nossal Partnership for Disability Inclusive Development. Her research interests are measurement of disability and its impact, evaluation of disability inclusive development programs and development and validation of questionnaires using qualitative and quantitative techniques.

Filipe Jitoko is the Social Policy Adviser with the Pacific Islands Forum Islands Secretariat (PIFS), Fiji. He is a teacher by background and rose up the ranks to become a Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education in Fiji before joining PIFS.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Australian Development Research Awards Scheme [66440] under an award titled ‘Developing and testing indicators for the education of children with disability in the Pacific’.