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Thesis Title : A study of a rural secondary school and its community
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July 2004
EF A STUDY
OF A RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOL
AND ITS COMMUNITY
By
Kalara Elisabeta Likuseniuwa
A thesis
submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC
SUVA, FIJI.
APRIL 1999 CERTIFICATION
I certify that this thesis is my own work except those sections which have been explicitly acknowledged. I also certify that this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree at any other university or institution.
Kalara E. Likuseniua
Endorsed by the Supervisor
Professor Tupeni L. Baba. 11
DEDICATION
This study is dedicated to my late father, Kasiano Antonio Drau who, even on the last few moments of his life, gasped these words:
Raluvequ, na nomu vuli (My daughter, remember to
complete your study!) ill
ABSTRACT
This is an ethnographic study of a rural secondary school and its community, and the relations between them. Features of the school and the community that were studied included: the teachers and their qualifications, the school curriculum, relations between the teachers and the students and also among teachers themselves, the community's social structure, beliefs, food, language, learning strategies, daily activities and epistemology, relations between the school and the community and perceptions of the teachers and the parents towards education.
The study found the distance of the school from the urban centres to be the main reason for the students' lack of exposure to the world outside of the village environment. The students complained about the lack of school excursions which they said are always an eye opener for them.
The spatial distance that students walk to and from school daily was
found to affect their learning in the classroom. The teachers reported that
students who walk long distances to school every day are seen to be IV generally tired and not concentrating on their work before the end of the school day.
It was found that the long established and existing ethos of the school gives directions for the Principal and her staff for any future development.
The School is a Catholic institution, so it acts as a guide for the staff members.
Relations between and among the teachers were found to be good and convivial. There was a feeling of comradeship throughout the school, and the teachers attributed this to their kind and hardworking Principal.
The present school curriculum was found to be irrelevant for the majority of the school population. The Principal said that she would like to see
Vocational studies introduced into the school in the not too distant future
She maintained that Vocational studies would better equip the students to
fit in their community after leaving school.
The teachers at the school were found to be mainly unqualified or
under-qualified for their teaching positions. About one third of the
teaching staff were under-qualified and untrained, whilst another third
were teaching outside their area of expertise. The latter was mainly due to the relatively small population of the distant and isolated rural school.
A feature that was found to be either impeding or enhancing students' learning was the teacher-student relationship. The teacher, as a professional determines to a great extent the tone in the classroom.
With regard to teachers' absenteeism from the workplace, the study found that it was only after a drastic action being taken against one of them by the Ministry of Education, that it became much improved.
A number of mismatches and incongruencies were evident in the study.
Perceptions of parents and teachers towards formal education were dissimilar. For example, whereas teachers wanted parents to be constantly enquiring after the education progress of their children, parents tended to think that it would disturb their children's learning if they frequented the school. They felt that anything pertaining to classroom learning is entirely the prerogative of the teacher, for he or she is the professional in the case.
The study also identified some mismatches between the nature of learning at home and that which occurred in the classroom. Whereas, at home, the child learns, generally, by observing and imitating passively, in the VI classroom, inquiry and active learning is mostly encouraged. The principal reported that generally, 'learning at the school is like seventy five per cent the teacher and twenty five the student.'
At home the child is learning in the context familiar to him, and this learning environment consists of the parents, other elders and peers. In the classroom, the context for learning is different. For example, some students did not cooperate well in their group because they were being placed together with those they did not know well and could not easily work with.
Perceptions with regard to epistemology were incongruent. The School
Community tends to objectify knowledge and hence the phrase, gone ulu lala or gone tawayaga (meaning empty-headed child or useless child) is used on the student who is unsuccessful in public examinations. In the formal classroom situation the emphasis is on both, the process of learning and the assimilation of knowledge. The students were labeled by the teachers as being passive learners, when they were not contributing in class.
The language of learning at home is also incongruent to that in the VII classroom. Different languages have their different corresponding behaviour, according to the culture of the people. The child is somewhat coerced into using a foreign language, which he or she finds hard to relate in. The teachers explained the difficulties faced by the students in expressing themselves in English during class. The students also complained of their dilemma in not understanding what the teachers were saying. VIII
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank the following people who have greatly assisted me in the production of this thesis.
My Supervisor, Professor Tupeni L. Baba for his professional advice and inspiration. His critical and constructive comments have had the greatest impact on the thesis.
My gratitude also goes to Mrs. L Sandell and Miss Christine Arjun, especially the latter, for the long hours taken in correcting my early drafts.
I am also grateful to Dr. A. Nand Sharma for his valuable advice in the preparation of this thesis for its final presentation.
I wish to also thank Miss Bessy Kingdom, Lecturer at the Corpus Christi
Teachers' College (CCTC) for her great support in reading and correcting
the final draft of this thesis.
I am also grateful to the Fijian Affairs Board, my kind Sponsor, for being
generous during the course of this study. My thanks also goes to the IX
Ministry of Education and the Fiji Public Service Commission for granting me in-service to do my study. The financial assistance of the
Fijian Teachers Association is also acknowledged.
My most sincere gratitude is extended to Mr. Clive Amputch, Insurance and Management Consultant and Director, FAI Insurances (FIJI) Ltd.
His generous assistance in the use of his office and resources, and untiring patience, have been a great source of inspiration and courage to me during the compilation of this thesis. He and my sister Biau sat through long hours into the night and greatly assisted me immeasurably in typing the project, I am very grateful to them.
I cannot forget my family who have given me extraordinary support during the course of this study. My parents, and especially my daughter,
Rosemary, who silently acknowledged the pains I sometimes underwent in the different processes of this study. My sister Filo and only brother,
Sefo, I am thankful to you all for your support.
My grateful thanks also goes to the Principal and Head of School of
Education, Fiji College of Advanced Education, for their support for me all throughout this study. Not forgetting Ro Adi Teimumu Kepa (Marama
Lailai mai Burebasaga) for her constant words of wisdom and encouragement. I also acknowledge the support of my colleagues in the
School of Education throughout my years at the USP.
My sincere gratitude is extended to the staff and students of the Namosi
Secondary School for their unfailing support and generosity during my fieldwork. The School Community too, your kind assistance is also
acknowledged. NAKO SARA VAKALEVU KEMUDOU KO TAKO KO
LA VO NA VIVUKEI (Thank you, school community, for your
assistance.)
However, despite the professional advice and support rendered to me, I take full responsibility for any errors and shortcomings of the thesis. XI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ITEM PAGE
CERTIFICATION i
DEDICATION ii
ABSTRACT III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS xi
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES xvi
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS xvii
LIST OF ABREVIATIONS xix
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
INTRODUCTION 1
BACKGROUND 1
OBJECTIVES 14
NATURE OF INVESTIGATION 15 XII
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 27
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 29
ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS 30 CHAPTER 2: THE SETTING 31
INTRODUCTION 31
PART A 31
SETTING 31
GEOGRAPHY 33
LOCATION 33
PHYSICAL FEATURES 34
LAND USE 36
THE PEOPLE AND ORIGINS 40
SOCIAL STRUCTURE 42
RELATIONSHIPS ' 47
LANGUAGE 57
FORMAL EDUCATION 59
NAMOSl SECONDARY SCHOOL 63
PART B
AUTOBIOGRAPHY 65
INTRODUCTION 65
FAMILY 67
NAMING 74 XIII
VILLAGE LIFE 78
CHRISTIANITY 81
PRIMARY SCHOOL 85 CHAPTER 3: REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE 94
INTRODUCTION 94
ISOLATION, DISTANCE AND
SMALLNESS 96
TEACHER AND TEACHER QUALITY 100
TEACHER TURNOVER 102
TEACHER ABSENTEEISM 103 COMMUNITY ATTITUDES 104
TEACHERS' ATTITUDES 108
SCHOOL / CLASSROOM RELATIONS- TEACHER'S ROLES 109
SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS 111
SCHOOL- COMMUNITY RELATIONS- THE PARENTS' PARTICIPATORY ROLE 111
SCHOOL COMMUNITY RELATIONS-THE TEACHER'S PARTICIPATORY ROLE 112
SCHOOL COMMUNITY RELATIIONS- THE PRINCIPAL'S ROLE 115
CHAPTER 4: THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 117
INTRODUCTION 117
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NAMOSI XIV
SECONDARY SCHOOL 117
NAMOSI SECONDARY SCHOOL NOW 126
THE TEACHERS 127
TEACHER ABSENTEEISM 134
TEACHER TURNOVER 138
THE STUDENTS 144
THE DAY STUDENTS 145
THE BOARDERS 148
HOSTEL MANAGEMENT 150
RELATIONS AMONGST STAFF MEMBERS 153
RELATIONS BETWEEN TEACHERS
AND STUDENTS 156
SCHOOL CURRICULUM 161
SCHOOLING AND EMPLOYMENT 172 « CHAPTER 5 : THE COMMUNITY 177
INTRODUCTION 177
HISTORY 178
WAIVAKA VILLAGE NOW 179
SOCIAL ORGANISATION 179
DAILY ACTIVITIES 185
LANGUAGE 190
FOOD 192
SCHOOLING 193 XV
EMPLOYMENT 201
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES 205
RELATIONS BETWEEN PARENTS AND THEIR CHILDREN 210 CHAPTER 6 : THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 213
INTRODUCTION 213
LEARNING STRATEGIES 213
SCHOOL ETHOS VERSUS COMMUNITY ETHOS 225
LANGUAGE OF LEARNING 228
PARENTS', STUDENTS' AND TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS SCHOOLING 231
KNOWLEDGE AND VALUES 238
EPISTEMOLOGY 243
CHAPTER 7 : CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 248
CONCLUSIONS 248
IMPLICATIONS 252
RECOMMENDATIONS 254
GLOSSARY OF FIJIAN WORDS 257 XVI
BIBLIOGRAPHY 262
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Item Page
Fig 1.1 : Map of Fiji 2
Fig 1.2: The Activities of the Ethnographic Research Process 20
Fig 2.1: A Topography map showing the locations of Namosi District and Namosi Secondary School 32
Fig 2.2 : Nabukebuke Social Structure 43
Table 4.1 : Namosi Secondary School's, Teachers' Qualifications and Responsibilities, 1997 128
Table 4.2 : Namosi Secondary School F.TC Examination Results from 1988-1996 165
Table 4.3 : FJC Marks and Equivalent Grades 167
Table 4.4 : Namosi Secondary School FSLC Results And the Year of Examination 168
Table 4.5 : Namosi Secondary School FSLC Examination- No, of Students sat, % Passed and Year of the Examination 169
Table 4.6 : Namosi Secondary School FSLC Results and the Successful Candidates' Employment. 174 XVII
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS
Photograph Page
Photo 2.1: Mount Voma at the background of the main school block. 35
Photo 2.2: A good view of Mount Voma at the back of the school. 35
Photo 2.3: An aerial view of Namosi Secondary School. 37
Photo 2.4: Form four students with their science teacher. 37
Photo 2.5: The Home Economic and Woodwork Block. 61
Photo 2.6: The Old Convent currently used as the School Library. 61
Photo 2.7: The Researcher's parents in front of their home in Waivaka. 66 Photo 2.8: The Researcher in front of her home in Suva. 66
Photo 5.1: An aerial view of Waivaka Village. 180
Photo 5.2: A typical young Waivaka family. 180
Photo 5.3: Waivaka children travelling to school on a rainy day. 187
Photo 5.4: Waivaka children arriving at school on a rainy day. 187
Photo 5.5: Waivaka men socialising round a bowl of grog. 189 xviii
Photo 5.6: Mr. Clive Amputch, Director ofFAI Insurances (Fiji) Ltd, donating Materials to Waivaka Kindergaten. 198
Photo 5.7: Mr. Ray McCarthy, Director PDI, meets with
Waivaka Community on further developments. 198
Photo 5.8: Children who attend Waivaka Kindergarten. 200
Photo 5.9: Peers enjoy an evening together. 200
Photo 5.10: The Researcher and her cousin on the 1994 USP Graduation. 204 Photo 5.11: The Graduates and their families on the 1994 USP Graduation. 204
Photo 6.1: Children learn by observing the elders. 216
Photo 6.2: Children accompanying the elders to the plantation. 216
Photo 6.3: Waivaka children in their peers. 218
Photo 6.4: Toddlers in their peers. 218
Photo 6.5: A family doing some activity together. 223
Photo 6.6: Minding babies often bring the minders together. 223 XIX
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CCTC Corpus Christi Teachers College
FAB Fijian Affairs Board
FAI FAi Insurances (Fiji) Ltd
FCAE Fiji College of Advanced Education
FIT Fiji Institute of Technology
FJC Fiji Junior CertifIcate Examination
FSLC Fiji School Leaving Certificate Examination
FSN Fiji School of Nursing
FTA Fijian Teachers Association
NSS NaMosi Secondary School
PDi Pacific Development Institute
P&T Post and Telecommunication
USP University of the South Pacific CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
In this introduction, the following topics will be discussed: the background to this study; the objectives of the study; the nature of the investigation; the significance of the study, and the thesis organisation.
This study focuses on a rural secondary school and its community. In
Fiji, the majority of the rural secondary schools are owned by indigenous
Fijian committees and attended, mostly, by Fijian students. For this reason, the term rural education or schooling in the rural areas can be used interchangeably with Fijian education.
Background
Fiji is an archipelago, which comprises more than 320 islands with a total land area of 18,376 square kilometres. The largest island is Viti Levu
(Big Fiji) which covers 10,390 square kilometers, followed by Vanua
Levu (Big Land) with 5538 square kilometers. About 150 of the Fiji islands are inhabited. The Capital of Fiji is Suva, which is located in the southeast of Viti Levu. (Refer to Fig. 1.1, for the map of Fiji).
The people of Fiji are defined in the Fiji's 1997 Constitution as Fiji
Islanders, but the term Fijian is usually reserved for ethnic Fijians, the indigenous inhabitants. Other members of the population are identified
(on certain official documents such as Fiji Bureau of Statistics (1995)) by their own ethnic classification, e.g. Indian, Rotuman, European and
Others. According to the Fiji Bureau of Statistics (1995) Fiji's population is 796,078. Of this, 50.7 per cent are ethnic Fijians, 45.5 per cent are Fiji
Indians and the remaining balance of 5.8 per cent includes ethnic minorities such as Rotumans, Chinese and part-Europeans. Of the ethnic
Fijian population, about 50 per cent are rural dwellers, who populate the many scattered islands and the country region of the two major islands.
In Fiji, formal schooling was introduced by the missionaries about more than one and a half centuries ago. The first were the Methodist
Missionaries who arrived in 1834 and built their schools in most of the
Fijian villages, in the hope of converting the heathens of the Pacific. Ten years later, in 1844, the Catholic Missionaries arrived, and unlike the
Methodist Missionaries who localised their schools, they tended to locate theirs in central areas, catering for a number of villages in the respective district.
In 1898, about more than a half century later, the first schools for the
Indian children were started by the Methodist and the Catholic
Missionaries. Between 1874 (when Fiji became a British Colony) and
1916, the colonial government did not assist Indian education. The prevailing colonial attitude at the time was that it would be self-defeating to educate the Indians who were brought into Fiji mainly to provide skilled labour for the sugar industry.
For the first thirty years of colonial rule, the government did nothing either to encourage or discourage education of the local population. The entire system of native or Fijian education was sustained and discharged by the Missions, without any assistance from public funds that would entitle the Government to interfere with the school system (Colony of
Fiji, 1896). By 1900, due to the efforts by the Christian Missionnaries, there were schools in most of the Fijian villages, offering up to four years of primary education. Provincial schools were established to offer
primary education to Fijian boys with potential. By the 1930s, six such schools were operating, and entry into them was by an examination.
While most of the primary schools offered only five grades, the
Provincial schools had three additional grades. These schools were initiated and financed by the Fijians, although the Colonial Government did offer support later, especially in providing European headteachers.
The provincial schools were amalgamated in 1955 to become Ratu
Kadavulevu School, one of the schools established to cater for the needs of the indigenous Fijians.
In 1916 a major event in the history of formal education took place, which altered education provision in the then Colony. Under the 1916
Education Ordinance, the Colonial Government established the Grants- in-aid scheme which provided government financial support to schools that met prescribed standards. The system was prevalent in British colonies at the time (Whitehead 1986), and allowed expansion to take place with the minimum of supervision and cost to government. The regulations governing the allocation of the grants were so stringent that by 1929, of the 700 Fijian schools that existed, only 32 received Grants- in-aid. The Indians, on the other hand, took advantage of the scheme and established many schools, marking the beginning of substantial Indian involvement in education (Tavola, 1991). Between 1931 and 1941, expenditure on education for the different races increased by 19 per cent for Europeans, seven per cent for Fijians and ninety seven per cent for
Indians (1944 Annual Report for Department of Education). By the mid
1940s, formal education for the majority of students in Fiji was limited to primary schooling. By 1946, Indians had overtaken Fijians in the quality of education they provided for their children (Tavola, 1991).
Although there was a great increase in the number of schools in the country, the quality of education they provided was a matter of concern for the government. In 1948, the government Nasinu Teachers College was opened and most of the teachers became civil servants, thus relieving the responsibility of payment of teachers by some of the schools. The fact that many of the teachers had become civil servants gave the teachers the feeling of security and had an impact on the education system as a whole.
However, there was still concern by the Colonial Government about the quality of education. A Board was set up to inquire into post-primary education for Fijian boys. The Board's report lamented the poor quality of primary schooling in rural areas, and strongly recommended for qualitative improvement at primary level before expanding secondary education (Legislative Council, 1953). However, there was considerable social pressure to expand secondary education. The government had no option but to make secondary schooling accessible to the people. In 1956, the Grants-in-aid scheme was extended to secondary schools.
In the years leading up to Independence, the relatively few secondary schools in Fiji were found in the main urban centres or close to them. So the rural children, who were mainly indigenous Fijians and lived on widely scattered islands and interior of the two larger islands, had very restricted access to secondary education. Indians too, resided in rural areas, but these were found to be living in clusters around the 'cane-belts' and had relatively easier access to infrastructure than their rural Fijian counterparts. And since such was the nature of the distribution of rural population, the negative factors that applied to rural schools, especially those suffering from geographical isolation, thus applied to Fijians.
Poor academic achievement of students in rural schools has been the subject of debate and discussion at all levels of society, the home, the school and at the national level. The 1969 Fiji Education Commission summarised its explanations for the poor performance of Fijians in the public examinations:
The geographical scatter of Fijian schools made effective staffing and teaching difficult; the remoteness of many rural and island schools made supervision and administration sporadic; the rural teacher suffered from intellectual isolation; many Fijian secondary school students were boarders, which often added to financial and emotional pressure; there was a severe shortage of qualified Fijian teachers; rural poverty made standards and materials difficult to maintain, and physical conditions in the village were not supportive to good study habits (Fiji Education Commission, 1969: pp.67-73 inTierny, 1980,p.82).
A number of affirmative actions were taken by the government to address the problem of education in rural schools, which in fact is the Fijian education problem. One being the establishment of junior secondary
schools in the rural area to cater for the rural students. In the late 1970s
and 1980s these junior schools were upgraded to full secondary schools
which had forms one to six. The government has also encouraged school
attendance by rural and poor children alike through support services such
as the free tuition fee scheme from class one to form five in secondary
school. In addition, the Government has increased funds for the purchase
of books to rural schools.
Despite these various affirmative actions by the Government, Fijian
students who reside mainly in the rural area and attend rural schools were, according to Baba (1985) and Tierney (1980) not yet taking a place alongside the other races in Fiji in terms of academic success.
The problem of rural and/ or Fijian education continues to today. This is evident according to the Ninth Development Plan (1986 - 1990) which states that:
Special efforts will be made to ensure that rural schools are adequately staffed with qualified and experienced teachers (p. 139).
The same Development Plan, states that:
Particular emphasis will be given to Fijian Education and to students in rural areas. As part of this policy, Government will consolidate existing junior secondary schools and ensure that these schools are well equipped and fully staffed with trained teachers (ibid.)
Even now, it is widely acknowledged that there is still a wide gap between the academic successes of students in the rural areas and their urban counterparts. This is obvious from the results of the two public examinations, the Fiji Junior Certificate (FJC) taken at the end of Form
Four, and the Fiji School Leaving Certificate (FSLC), taken at the end of
Form Six. The results of these two public examinations of rural students in 1996, for example, received widespread criticism from a cross section of the community. In a meeting of the Fijian Teachers Association (FTA) in January , 1998, its President, Mrs. Susana Tuisawau highlighted the 10 problem and stated that the FTA's main concern was the education gap between the Fijian schools and other multi - ethnic ones:
The FTA's main concern in 1996 was the glaring achievement gap between the predominantly Fijian schools, most of which are located in the rural areas and the multi - ethnic schools (Fiji Times, Jan. 6th, 1998).
It has been ascertained that research in certain areas, like general ability
(or intelligence) do not account for the differences in educational performances between the Fijians and the Indians (Chandra, 1975 and
Bennett, 1971). The two found no difference in the scores of Fijians and
Indians on the Queensland Test - a non-verbal test of intelligence, and in the General Ability Test (GAT) respectively. With respect to English
Language Competence, Elley and Mangubhai (1979) found no difference between ethnic groups on a national survey at class 6 level. In other surveys at USP, Eltey and Thomson (1978, 1979) found no significant differences between the two ethnic groups on a series of English
Language tests at the Foundation level.
However, studies by Elley (1982) and Nabuka (1982) which focussed on a Fijian Education Project at USP found some rural related factors which, among other things, could account for the poor performances of Fijian students. These two scholars found that the Fijian schools were smaller, 11 more remote, directed by less experienced principals, and poorly equipped in terms of science laboratories, furniture and office equipment.
A study by Tierney (1971) of factors affecting the academic performance of the rural Fijian student provided some interesting accounts. The study showed that one of the factors was the lack or absence of privacy in the home of a Fijian child compared to that of an Indian student. The different perceptions on the concept of competition between the Indians and the Fijians was another. A Fijian student would find it rather embarrassing to outsmart his Fijian fellow colleagues, whereas the Indian student would not think in the same line as he tends to be more individualistic in outlook. The lack of mobility in the rural Fijian, together with the Fijian value of conformity (a traditional rural Fijian is one who abides by the norms of the society and is scarcely mobile) also account for the poor performance of the Fijian child.
Suggestions concerning the under-achievement of students or rather
Fijian students in rural areas were brought up too. For example, Baba
(1983) proposed 3 socio-economic factors to explain the low success rate of Fijians and they are as follows: 12
(i) community support : lack of community support in Fijian rural schools, especially where the community is unable to pay for necessary school facilities. (ii) the rural factor : the majority of Fijian students are in rural areas and are not given the professional support warranted. (iii) the boarding school : a large number of Fijian students live away from their parents in boarding schools which are mainly substandard in the rural areas.
When speaking on the topic: " Some Researchable Problems in Fijian
Education" Baba (1985) stated that:
It seems that some bases for long- term policies need to be identified, and research could provide some data, which could be used to formulate such policies. It would be reasonable to argue that the aim of Fijian education research is to provide data, which could be used as basis for policies and decisions in improving Fijian education (p. 126).
Presently in Fiji, the number of registered/recognised schools totalled
1,307 in 1997. Of this number, there were 399 pre-schools, 16 special schools, 698 primary schools, 152 secondary schools, 4 post secondary schools and 38 vocational centres (Ministry of Education Annual Report,
1997). In 1992 there were 118 secondary and 24 junior secondary schools. However, from the initial thirty plus junior secondary schools in the rural area, about ten were upgraded to full secondary by 1992. In
1998, the number of junior secondary schools was even reduced to only twenty. This is beneficial to rural students in a number of ways. One would be that with the extension of the school, there would be additional 13 staff members and therefore more subject options for students. This means that students would not be forced to take up subjects they are not good at.
Despite the various actions by the government and other concerned bodies, students in the rural area are not performing as well as their urban counterparts.
This study was initially started as a result of a concern for the problems faced by Fijian students in the rural schools in Fiji. Specifically it was born out of the researcher's concern for Namosi Secondary School, where she had taught for several years. The school, as will be obvious from the examination results statistics in the chapter on the school (See
Chapter 4), has been one of those that has not quite produced quality passes in the public examinations over the years. The researcher chose to look at the problem from a different approach. She studied the school and the community by looking at the relations between them and their characteristics. 14
Objectives
This study attempts to provide a holistic picture of Namosi Secondary
School and its immediate community, including the factors that affect their relations, in addition to children's learning in school and their achievements.
The following questions guided the research observations:
(a) What are the characteristics of the school to which the teachers and the students belong? What are the school organisation and structure? What are the teachers' qualifications? (b) What do teachers think about the role of the students, parents and others with regard to schooling and school activities, both inside and outside the classroom? (c) What are the characteristics of the community to which the children belong? What are the social organisations and structures at home? (d) What are the beliefs and values of parents and others in the community regarding education? (e) How do teachers relate to students, parents and others in the community and vice versa? (f) What is the nature of the relationship between the school and its community in the areas of: curriculum, learning strategies, language of learning, knowledge and values, perceptions towards education, and epistemology.
These were the initial questions that guided the observations. Since an ethnographic approach was taken, much of the fieldwork involved open ended observations. 15
Nature of the Investigation
This project is an ethnographic case study of a rural school and its community.
Ethnography, according to Wolcott in Jaegar (1988), is a picture of a way of life of some identifiable group of people. Goodenough (1976) describes the culture or a way of life of people as:
The culture of any society is made up of the concepts, beliefs and principles of actions and organisations that an ethnographer has found could be attributed successfully to the members of that society in the context of his dealings with them (p. 5).
In ethnography, a single case is studied in depth, by participant
observation supported by interview, after the manner of cultural or
social anthropology, which concentrates on the understanding of
human societies and cultures, particularly through observation and
interpretation of interpersonal relations, in the context of an emphasis
on customs and institutions.
Case study methods involve the collection and recording of data about a case or cases, and the preparation of a report or a presentation of a case.
The case was Namosi Secondary School and its Community. 16
During her twelve weeks of fleldwork, the researcher was primarily a participant observer. Wolcott (1988) made distinctions among different participant-observer styles: active, privileged and limited. In this case study, the researcher became an active member of the village community, participating in their social gatherings, informal talks and other daily activities. However, although she became a natural part of the community, she always ascertained her role as an educational ethnographer by critically analysing her field notes immediately after she returned to her home. In school, she was also requested to actively participate by standing in for teachers who were late to class. She also took part in the school social functions, thus becoming as a natural part of the community as possible. She was also a privileged observer in the sense that she was allowed access to the school, in addition to entry into classroom, while classes were in progress. However, the researcher maintained that her participation was limited in the sense that she could not fully participate as a teacher, due to the nature of her field assignment.
One of the main strategies for learning is through observation. Obviously, all human beings are participant-observers in virtually everything we do, 17 yet we do not all claim to be ethnographers. An ethnographic case study has been adopted in this study since ethnographers attend to the cultural context of the behaviour they are engaging in or observing, and they are looking for those mutually understood sets of expectations that enable them to interpret what is occurring, and what meanings are probably being attributed by others present (Wolcott, 1988, in Jaeger, 1988: 193)
The researcher has lived, about a quarter of her lifetime in the Namosi community; however, the choice of this methodology, ethnography, was to enable her to attribute meanings in a more explicit manner to those actions and perceptions of which she had been a part, but somehow she had not been quite able to infer some meanings from. So ethnography was an appropriate method for investigation in this respect. Other types of case studies, for example, evaluative and educational, were unsuitable for the purpose of this study. In evaluation, the case to be evaluated is commonly a program or policy expressed in a number of institutions or settings and the evaluator is thus concerned with multiple case studies in a number of sites (Stake and Easley, 1978). Although a researcher in an educational case study may adopt a strategy close to that of the evaluator or an ethnographer, he or she is concerned to enrich the thinking and discourse of educators either by the development of educational theory or 18 by the refinement of prudence through the systematic and reflective documentation of experience (Hamilton, 1977).
Investigations typically use variations of ethnographic methods to obtain accounts of why parents, teachers and students perform certain acts and what social meanings they give to the actions of themselves and others.
The principal method adopted in this study for data collection was through participant observation. This was supplemented by structured and unstructured interviews, informal discussions and story telling, or what is known to Fijians, as talanoa . In the case of Namosi, information is carried from one person to another through informal conversation or talanoa. In actual fact, it is one of the pre-occupations of the women of the village. Information, either positive or negative (in the form of a gossip is transmitted through this informal means. Talanoa has become the way of life of the people. It is a form of a pastime and recreation. For the women of Namosi, to talanoa has almost become a compulsion, for quite often, a woman who decides to be different and does not join in the conversation of the other women is considered to be acting out of the ordinary. Menfolks too, occupy their time with talanoa, but they do not 19 do it as frequently as women do. But, admittedly, in any formal or informal gathering of the people, talanoa is the main pastime.
Consequently, the researcher took advantage of this method of transmitting information, to gain knowledge about the culture of the people in the community. The talanoa method supplemented other methods of gathering data, such as interviews and participant-observation supported by the review of various school documents. School sources included daily attendance registers of both teachers and the students, school organisation records, official correspondences between the
Ministry of Education and the school and vice versa , correspondences between the school and parents, internal school memoranda between the principal and the staff members, examination records, both the school's records and the national's records , the school log book and other relevant school sources. 20
The various activities of ethnography, are illustrated in Figure (1.2)
Figure: 1.2: The Activities of the Ethnographic Research Process
Identification of the Indentification of Phenomenon to be studied Subjects
Formulation of Foreshadowed Problems
Hypothesis Generation
Analysis
Conclusions
Source: Adapted from (Wiersma, 1986, p. 242).
The study began with the identification of the phenomena to be studied - relations between the school and the community. In this case the school is Namosi Secondary and the community is the district of Namosi, which comprises four neighbouring villages. (Refer to the map on Fig. 2.1 showing the district of Namosi and Namosi Secondary School). The subjects of the study, therefore, were the teachers, the students, the 21 parents, and some members of the community. Beliefs and perceptions of these various subjects, and relations among them pertaining to education and which were somehow manifested in their different behaviours, were observed.
In ethnography, hypotheses generation is a continuing activity throughout the study. However, some sort of specific research problems that provided the focus were needed, and these were called foreshadowed problems. These latter guided the research and they are contained in the objectives of the study.
The fieldwork itself took two separate periods of six weeks to suit the nature of researcher's work. The first fieldwork took place between June and August of 1994 when the researcher was on a full time study at the
USP, and the second, occurred between July and August of 1997, during one of her assignments as a lecturer at the FCAE. During these periods, the researcher went and lived as a participant observer in the community and as well as in the school. Taft (1988) suggests that one of the main advantages of the ethnographic approach is that:
In the course of becoming involved in the group, the investigator becomes acculturated to it. This means that he or she develops personal knowledge 22
about the rules of the group and begins to perceive the same meanings in the events as do other members of the group. The investigator learns what behaviour is expected when and where and in response to what situations (p. 60).
The researcher was fortunate in the sense that she did not need much acculturation in the process of the fieldwork. After gaining access to the school, with the approval of both the Ministry of Education and the principal of the school, the entry into the community was facilitated mainly by the fact that not only did she belong to the community, but she had also worked in the same secondary school in its first seven years of existence. But with the question of being unobtrusive while on the field, she was careful that she became as natural a part of both systems as possible. One of the ways of ascertaining this was by being part of their various social activities and joining in the informal talks that characterise the rural community.
During the fieldwork, however, the researcher was mindful of her own subjectivity, and was always making an effort to keep it in check.
Subjectivity, according to the Webster's Third New International
Dictionary is the quality of an investigator that affects the results of observational investigation. 23
Peshkin (1986) asserts that this 'quality' affects the results of all, not just observational, investigation. It is an amalgam of the persuasions that stem from the circumstances of one's class, statuses, and values interacting with the particulars of one's object of investigation . Peshkin holds the view that subjectivity operates during the entire research process. He argues that researchers, notwithstanding their use of quantitative or qualitative methods, their research problem, or their reputation for personal integrity, should systematically identify their subjectivity throughout the course of their research.
During the fieldwork, the researcher was always conscious of her personal qualities and she had to fight hard to always bear in mind the focus of her study, for ultimately what was going to count was her integrity in reporting objectively her various findings.
Throughout the fieldwork and more so during the data analysis stage the researcher attempted to keep her subjectivity in check always. One way of ensuring this was through triangulation of data. For example interviews by different parents, or teachers, or students were triangulated.
Or even the findings from these interviews were cross-validated with written sources from the school records. The main strategy for checking the researcher or even the interviewees was through triangulation. 24
According to Denzin (1978), triangulation is qualitative cross validation.
It can take many forms, but its basic feature will be the combination of two or more different research strategies in the study of the same empirical units.
Triangulation was an integral part not only of the final analysis but of the fieldwork itself. In the collection of data from different sources, there was a need for comparison of information to determine whether or not there was corroboration. Even after having cross-validated her data, the researcher maintained that it was also necessary to ask herself in the process, the question: Are these data the results of certain beliefs and perceptions or are they her own inferences? It was only after asking herself certain questions and feeling quite satisfied that her subjectivity was kept in control that she recorded as authentic her findings.
Data collection and analysis was a simultaneous activity in this research and followed the procedures suggested by Merriam (1988). According to the latter, analysis began with the first interview, the first observation, and the first document read. Emerging insights, hunches, and tentative hypotheses directed the next phase of data collection, which in turn led to refinement or reformulation of the researcher's questions, and so on. 25
Becker et al. (1961) suggests a number of ways, information can be classified. One of the ways being, to classify the 'number of responses to direct queries'. This method was adopted by the researcher, and the analysis itself relied heavily on description. In the analysis of data, the researcher was also mindful of what Wolcott pointed out as one of the critical points in ethnography that:
the ultimate test of ethnography resides in the adequacy of its explanation rather than in the power of its method. (Wolcott, in Jaegar, 1988, p. 188).
However, like all other research methodologies with their inherent weaknesses and disadvantages, critiques have also leveled criticisms at ethnography as a technique for obtaining data. For example, Rist (1980) is extremely critical of qualitative researchers who adopt 'hit and run' forays rather than spending considerable time in schools or families. He proposed that:
Just as educational research has accrued some heavy costs from over-reliance on quantitative methods when they were inappropriate and unable to answer the question at hand, so also qualitative research faces growing costs. The more the reliance on the method as an end in itself, the less it is a meaningful research tool (Rist, 1980, p.9).
Similarly, Hammersley (1985) said that although interpretative approach has provided a sensitive awareness of some previously underestimated 26 problem in educational research, its orientation has been primarily descriptive. He proposed that:
Through its discouragement of explicit theorizing and formal hypothesis- testing, and its dismissal and/or neglect of traditional measurement concerns, it has hampered the development of theory. As a result, interpretative ethnography is condemned to rely upon theoretical issues, which are vague and untested (Hammersley, 1985 cited in Fraser and Walberg, 1991, p.87)
The researcher, mindful, however, of the many criticisms leveled at an interpretative, qualitative study, assumed that the best approach to understanding the life of the school and its community was through an adoption of an ethnographic case study. She also bore in mind what Baba
(1985) stated as the three useful types of research needed to be done on
Fijian or rural education. The first being to analyse the already existing educational situations that are being put together by the Development
Section of the Ministry of Education. The second type, Baba proposed,
'could involve the collection of new information by means of sample surveys, case studies, etc., with a view to testing hypotheses generated in type one'. The third, Baba suggested would 'involve the evaluation and monitoring of formulated policies that decision-makers in education have decided to adopt'. Baba (1985) added that the three types of research are complementary and dependent on one another. They highlight the need for a closer relationship between the decision- maker and the researcher 27 in the formulation and implementation of sound policies for the improvement of Fijian education.
Drawing conclusions was the last activity in this study. In ethnography, this activity is intergrated much more with the other parts of the research process. Tentative hypotheses, theories and conclusions were generated during the research, but the researcher was careful that drawing the final conclusions was not done prematurely.
Significance of the Study
There are a number of reasons why this study is significant. First, this study of school and community relations is the first of its kind by an indigenous Fijian. The fact that the researcher studied her own people is an added factor in the significance of this study in understanding ethnography. 28
Second, the study of the relationship between the community and the school in relation to characteristics such as learning strategies, language of learning, ethos, knowledge and values and epistemology, is going to generate a better understanding of the students by the classroom teacher.
In this way the findings of this study must be made accessible to the teachers of Namosi Secondary School.
Third, in the field of education, many so-called ' innovations' being championed today were born of necessity long ago in the rural schools.
Cooperative learning, intimate links between school and community, peer tutoring, older students teaching younger ones and close relationships between teachers and students - all characterise rural and small school practices. This study provides a link between the school and the community in an effort to foster and improve learning in the classroom, especially in schools in rural areas.
Fourth, a rural secondary school like Namosi Secondary has the potential to be a laboratory for educational innovation and improvement. Hence, a study of a rural school and its community can assist policy makers and education practitioners by providing authentic as well as realistic picture of a large segment of Fiji's population. 29
Limitations of the Study
This study has certain limitations.
Firstly, studying one school has both advantages and disadvantages. It is advantageous in the sense that the single school is studied in depth, an important factor when considering the many elements that make up the field of education. The drawback, however, is that findings from this study may not be generalised to other contexts.
Secondly, ethnographic research, by its very nature, requires extensive observations if they are to be understood. This fieldwork, however, took only twelve weeks due to time and work constraints. But the researcher's years of work in the school plus her very own life experience in the area contributed greatly to the knowledge of the place and people.
Thirdly, since the researcher was from the area herself, objectivity of her findings may be in question, and subsequently, the credibility of her work may be at stake. Again this was being taken care of in the discussion about her own subjectivity (refer to pages 22 and 23). Triangulation was one of the main means of checking the validity of the researcher's work.
Fourthly, a major factor in the production of this thesis was having to find a professional to critique it. It was time consuming having to wait upon the critique, for the latter often had other commitments to attend to.
There were other minor limitations, but these were the major ones. 30
Organisation of the Thesis
The thesis is organised into seven main chapters.
Chapter One is the Introduction. This comprises: the background to the study; the objectives; the nature of the investigation; the significance of the study; limitations of the study and the organisation of the thesis.
Chapter Two has two main parts. The first is the setting of the study and the second, the autobiography of the researcher.
Chapter Three discusses relevant literature on rural education and school and community relations.
Chapter Four and Five contain the study findings in both the school and the community respectively.
Chapter Six discusses the findings in both the school and the community jointly.
Chapter Seven has the conclusions of the study and implications. 31
CHAPTER TWO
THE SETTING
Introduction
This chapter comprises two parts. The first deals mainly with the setting of the study, and the second encompasses the autobiography of the researcher.
PART A
Setting
This project is essentially a case study of Namosi Secondary School, which is a rural school, and its community. The latter is a group of four villages relatively adjacent to the school, and which also constitutes the
District of Namosi. Namosi District is a sub-division of Namosi
Province, one of the fourteen provinces that make up the Fiji Islands. The school catchment area includes other villages in the Province of Namosi and beyond. Selection of the four core villages has been largely due to a number of reasons, namely: that more than half of the school population
come from these villages; their relative proximity to the school, invariably places them in a position for providing immediate and
emergency services to the former (the school) is another, thirdly, since 32 33 Fig. 1.2 : A topography map showing Namosi District, Namosi 44 45 Secondarv School and Waivaka Village 33 the researcher herself was from the area, the choice of the four villages to be studied with the school was one of economic reasons.
Geography
The incorporation of the geography of the area is hoped to enhance a better understanding of the school, its community and the surrounding area. The topic itself will be discussed under the following headings: location, physical features and land use.
Location
Namosi Secondary School is in Namosi District, a sub-division of
Namosi Province, which is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji. (Refer to map on Fig. 2 .1). By road, the school is approximately about fifty six kilometres from Suva, the Capital of Fiji. With the construction of roads in the last two decades, it has become more accessible to the rest of the country. Prior to the building of roads into the area, the school was reached, either by long strenuous walk for sixty or seventy kilometres along the hilly terrain, or long and tiresome boat-ride for about seven hours up the winding Waidina River, a distributary of the Rewa River, the biggest river in Fiji. 34
Physical Features
Namosi District, like the rest of Namosi Province, is generally rugged and mountainous, except towards the coastland, where the country slopes into quite a vast lowland area. Surrounding almost the total land area of
Namosi are mountain ranges which form a natural barrier with the rest of the provinces in Viti Levu.
Namosi Secondary School itself looks as if it is sitting on a mouth of a long extinct volcano; for surrounding it are huge boulders of rocks, some of which lie loosely while some others have become deeply embedded in the soil through years of weathering. Photos 2.2 and 2.3 show Mount
Voma at the background of the Namosi Secondary School. Behind the school and also providing a natural background, is Mount Voma, a formidable looking peak, with a height of about three thousand feet above sea level. Mount Voma is a significant landmark as far as the people of Namosi are concerned. Historically, the peak reminds them of the coming of the Catholic Missionaries to the area. Atop the mountain is planted the first Christian cross that was received by the then paramount chief of Namosi. It signifies his embracing of Catholicism. Mount Voma also indicates to the rest of Fiji the location of Namosi District as well as
36
Land Use
Since Namosi District is generally hilly and mountainous, a relatively small proportion of the land mass, about thirty five percent is suitable for agriculture. The rest, roughly about seventy five percent of the land area is unsuitable for arable farming. Land suitable for agriculture is to be found on the river valleys, and small pockets along the foothills.
There are principally two types of crops that are cultivated in Namosi.
Those mainly for domestic consumption comprise taro, cassava or manioc, yams and bananas. Supplementing these are cabbages, bele or hibiscus manihot, ferns, taro leaves and others, for example, cucumbers, tomatoes and egg - plants. About a decade ago, people of the area have commenced to sell some of these crops at the local markets. There is an associated belief that the sale of crops such as yams would evoke the wrath of the god of the plantation and hence people further believe that they could be plagued with drought or famine on the land. This probably partly explains why the sale of such crops is not extensive. Up to the present time, the people of Namosi still maintain some reservations about selling local crops.
38
Due to the relatively rugged nature of Namosi District, the only crop that could withstand the wet weather, and could also be cultivated on a larger scale for the purpose of cash economy is kava, technically known as piper methysticum. Kava could be cultivated on both the hilly slopes and on the lowland areas, and is normally inter-cropped with taro, cassava and even plantains. All these latter crops mature well before kava, which is ready for harvesting in three to five years depending on each farmer's needs and wants. Since kava thrives well in the area, and has generally become one of the best cash crops in the country, almost all the young men of Namosi own a kava plantation. Although the plantations are not very extensive, they form the main man-made features of most of the hills and slopes of the countryside. However, plantations do not remain static after maturity. The farmers practice shifting cultivation whereby after crop harvesting, they move on to newer area within their tribal land, and perhaps return to the used land after a couple of years in the hope that the latter will have collected sufficient soil nutrient for another cultivation period.
One other form of land use that occupies much of the lowland area is beef farming. Most of the beef farms are owned by the different mataqali 39 or sub-clan. Very rarely are these farms owned by individual families, and this is mainly because there is inadequate lowland area for grazing cows. In Namosi, cows are kept not for the cash economy, but principally for the provision of large quantities of meat for consumption during any traditional or social gathering such as weddings, deaths. If in any instance a family is incapable of providing a sufficient supply of food for the people during their solevu (social or traditional functions), they (the family) are frowned upon by the rest of the community and branded as being unable to meet their responsibilities.
Other features that occupy portions of the landmass, but are fairly well distributed along the river valleys are orange trees and duruka plants or asparagus. These two crops which, in addition to being cultivated, also grow wildly in the area, are harvested during the same season. It is during
such harvesting season that the economic lives of the people of the area
also change. People are seen to be frequenting the urban centres. It is also
a time when most of the classrooms in Namosi Secondary School are
noticeably vacant especially on Fridays. Children find it an opportune
time to visit the towns and cities while their parents have become
relatively richer. Some teachers and even parents have found it difficult 40 to stop children from going to town during this time. The same people have also maintained that it is also good for the children," to see new things".
The People
Under this section, several items will be discussed. These will include the people's origin; the social structure; relationships; beliefs; food and
language.
Origins
Most of what the people of Namosi believe today about their origin has
been passed down through oral tradition. Local sources tell of their last
place of settlement before they found residence in Namosi. Almost all the
different mataqali or sub-clans claim to have descended from Naitasiri, a
neighboring province northwest of the area. (Refer to Map on Fig. 1.1.).
Prior to temporarily settling at Naitasiri, there is some vagueness and
uncertainty about from whence the various sub-clans had originated. This
was evident in the response of some of the elders when they were asked
about their origin. Asked if they knew where the Namosi sub-clans had
come from prior to settling at Naitasiri, most of them responded: 41
The old people said that we all came from Nakauvadra (Field Notes in Waivaka Village, 1997).
A search through written records in the Fiji's National Archives showed barely minimum information about the history of the Namosi people.
According to Capell and Lester (1941), the vu or ancestor of Nabukebuke traveled alone from the Kauvadra Mountains in the west of Viti Levu, and after marrying, founded a village at Nabukebuke which became the yavutu or the place of origin of the Yavusa Nabukebuke or clan. The vu or the first father of the Yavusa Nabukebuke, local sources claim had nine sons. These sons were the origins of the nine naturally inherent mataqali or sub-clans of Nabukebuke. In addition to the nine sub-clans, there are
several other clans as well as sub-clans that have been subsumed into the
umbrella of Yavusa Nabukebuke.
The people who now reside in Namosi District are a product of
intermarriages among the various clans and sub-clans that have originally
descended from the first vu of Nabukebuke. Consequently, the school
population of Namosi Secondary School, save those approximately about
seven percent from outside of Namosi, has generally been homogenous.
The children are therefore closely affiliated by blood. 42
Social Structure
The Province of Namosi embodies nine mataqali or sub-clans plus
several other yavusa (clans) and mataqali which, traditionally, had been
subsumed into the original Nabukebuke clan. All the different yavusa and their respective mataqali or sub-clans are known under one umbrella, the
Yavusa Nabukebuke (refer to Figure 2. 2). The recognised traditional
head of the Yavusa Nabukebuke is titled the Tui Namosi or the Chief of
Namosi. Namosi in this respect can mean, either the Yavusa, the Province
of or the Vanua O Nabukebuke. According to Nayacakalou (1978), the
term vanua is an association or confederation of yavusa or clans under a
Tui or paramount chief. Ravuvu also describes vanua, which literally
means land, as embodying not only land but people and customs.
According to Ravuvu:
Vanua literally means land, but also refers to the social and cultural aspects of the physical environment identified with social group. On the social plane it includes the people and how they are socially structured and related to one another. On the cultural plane it embodies the values, beliefs and the common ways of doing things (Ravuvu, 1983, p. 76). 43
Fig. 2.6: Nabukebuke Social Structure The Tui Namosi
a c f r 1 D F G
In the above social structure, the head of the Yavusa Nabukebuke is the
Tui Namosi. Embodied in the whole vanua are nine naturally inherent sub-clans marked in small letters from 'a' to 'i'. These represent the nine original sons of the Tui Nabukebuke . In addition to the original mataqali are six yavusa or clans from outside the ordinary Nabukebuke Clan.
These are marked with big letters from 'A' to 'F' All these latter in turn encompass their own mataqali or sub-clans. The letter 'G', however, represents individual sub-clans that do not belong to any of those marked with letters A to F but are independent in themselves. It is important to note that all these yavusa and mataqali that have come to reside in
Namosi all owe allegiance to its paramount chief, the Tui Namosi. The 44 people are collectively known to other outside social groups as the Lewe ni Vanua O Nabukebuke (flesh or member of Nabukebuke).
A child growing up in Namosi learns from his parents and other relatives what his or her traditional role is. There are distinctive traditional roles that each mataqali in the Province plays. For instance, there is at the helm the social structure, the chief, with his chiefly roles. The chiefs principal role is to look after the traditional welfare of the people of his
Province. After the chief comes the sauturaga or the chiefs executives.
These support the authority of the chief and carry out his commands. In
Namosi after the sauturaga there are the eight 'natural' sub-clans in the
Nabukebuke clan. Although these eight mataqali bear different names, they all play the role of matanivanua or ambassador to the Vanua O
Nabukebuke. Presently, one of these mataqali matanivanua plays the role of the principal spokesman for the Tui Namosi. In an instance, where the rightful matanivanua is absent another from one of the mataqali matanivanua can temporarily be spokesman for the Tui or the Chief.
In addition to the nine mataqali or sub-clans, there are also those (clans and sub-clans), as earlier explained, that have been assimilated into the 45
Nabukebuke Clan. During big traditional gatherings in the Vanua O
Nabukebuke, these other yavusa and mataqali form themselves into one social group under the umbrella of the qwaqwa as locally known or bati or warrior as nationally acclaimed in the Fijian tradition. Qwaqwa means strength, which implies that the qwaqwa mataqali had the strength to drive away the enemies or even kill them during the warfare. In pre-
Colonial days, it was this tribe that went to war against other warring parties, and if it returned successful, the chief and his executives put up a big traditional ceremony called the iqnsi ni loaloa (the wiping away of the blackness) which mainly consisted of food, for them. This signified the chiefs appreciation for the qwaqwa or warriors' bravery in the warfare.
All the different yavusa and mataqali that are discussed here are not all found in any one village in the Province of Namosi. However, the village social structure is a miniature of the larger vanua except that it may comprise only a few of the clans and sub-clans. Typically a village in
Namosi is headed by a chiefs representative called the liuliu-ni-koro or village headman. This concept of the liuliu-ni-koro may be adopted only in Namosi for it is absent from Ravuvu's outlining of the Fijian 46
Administration, a system of indirect rule by the Government over the
Fijian people, after Fiji was ceded to Britain in 1974 (Ravuvu, 1983). The traditional head is usually the oldest male in the chiefly mataqali or in the absence of the latter, the mataqali that is next in the social hierarchy.
This figure liases directly with the chief on matters specially pertaining to the traditional life of the village. The chief speaks to the people through the liuliu-ni-koro. Assisting the latter in his role of village leadership is the turaga-ni-koro who is appointed from among the villagers as administrative head of the village. Like the liuliu-ni-koro, the turaga-ni- koro also ascertains that the people in his village live harmoniously together.
All the villages in the Namosi Province are headed by the liuliu-ni-koro.
Under him there may be one or two clans, a number of sub-clans which in turn are sub-divided into itokatoka or extended families. Each itokatoka has a traditional head who is usually the oldest in that group of extended families. In communal undertakings such as the construction of houses, the clearing of land and the preparation and division of feasts, the itokatoka provides a convenient unit for the allocation of work and food.
To facilitate their communal gatherings, the extended families normally 47 stay together on some distinctively allotted portion of the village. At the home level, the husband is the recognised and traditional head of the family. He has considerable authority over his wife, who is expected to respect and obey him. The husband is expected to provide for the needs of the family. All the children that are born in the family automatically belong to their father. A Fijian child is normally registered at birth as a member of his father's mataqali, and this entitles him to all the rights and privileges enjoyed by any other member of the mataqali. The wife in any
Namosi household, is expected to look after her husband personally as well as his children that she will bear him. In addition, she is also concerned with the welfare of her husband's mataqali and itokatoka. For a wife to stay away and not get involved in serving the husband's family is the hallmark of a worthless wife, considered good only as a sexual partner for the husband (Ravuvu, 1983, p. 3).
Relationships
Central to any form of relations in Namosi is the value of respect.
Respect is conveyed in various ways. For example, when a child is told by the parents to listen to older people, the parents normally say: 48
Mo dau gone vakarorogo (literally mean to be a listening child).
What the parents are implying here is that the child should be obedient, which in turn would mean that the child should listen to older people and follow their directions, and must not talk back at them even if what they say is disagreeable.
A younger person must be always respectful to an older one. This kind of relation is expected to also exist between the child and his or her parents.
Children are expected to obey what their parents say without question.
However, in spite of the expectations of various people on the part of the children to respect the elders and their parents, both the parents and the elders are complaining about the disrespectful and disobedient attitudes of the children and generally young people of today. For example, during a School Open Day in which the researcher was present, one of the parents made a general comment about the attitudes of the children of
Namosi today:
Teacher, the children of today are very different from the time when we were growing up. Now, most of them do not listen to their parents, and they answer them back.We were different. We never talked back to our parents and elders. (Field Notes, Namosi Secondary, 1997). 49
A very distinctive form of respect exists between the Tui Namosi or to a lesser degree, any member of his family and any person from Namosi.
Unless necessitated by circumstances, a person from any part of Namosi can communicate neither directly nor freely with his high chief or any member of his family. It is the role of the matanivanua or the chiefs spokesman to mediate between the chief and the people.
Children are taught that when they see their paramount chief coming, they should sit or squat on the grass. It is also taboo to use any of the chiefs belongings. The chiefs personal items are believed to have magical powers and their abuse may lead to some evil curse on the offenders. Generally, coming into contact with the chief is avoided as much as possible.
Another form of respect that exists in Namosi and may also be practised in some other parts of Fiji is what Ravuvu (1983) calls the observance of specific rules of avoidance or tabu. According to Ravuvu :
The tabu applies to all who are related to one another as 'brothers' and 'sisters', both paternal and maternal according to the principles of classificatory and extended kinship (p.7). 50
When approaching adulthood, both males and females alike are expected to behave with decorum and respect towards one's siblings of the opposite sex. The once free play and communication of childhood is discouraged. In many cases, in traditional contexts, a brother avoids meeting face to face with his sister as much as possible. This avoidance relationship also exists between two adult brothers, even if they are still single. According to Ravuvu, severity of this tabu increases at marriage and when people have their own children (Ravuvu, 1983). A woman's children are also discouraged from talking freely with their mother's brother especially when approaching adulthood. The researcher once asked her late father about the significance of observing these rules of avoidance or tabu. Her father had explained that this tabu was vital if any purposeful and meaningful relation was to exist between closely related people. He gave as example the tabu relation between a married brother and his married sister. He explained that what usually happens is that if an occasion arises that this sister needs the assistance of her brother, out of respect and in acknowledgement of his sister's proper decorum towards him, the latter will go out of his way to meet his sister's needs, and most often will offer even more than what his sister has requested. In other words, his sister's respect for him is reciprocated for far more than 51 it is required. However, when entering her brother's house to request for assistance, the married sister may communicate with her brother only through an intermediary, which is usually her brother's wife. Eye contact between the siblings is avoided as much as possible. Out of respect the sister will be seated at the far end of the house, away from the portion reserved only for men and other important visitors. Similarly, the sister's children behave with the same decorum and respect towards their mother's brother.
In Namosi, as in perhaps all other parts of Fiji, children bom of the same parents are expected and even told by their parents to work together and contribute to the family. This idea of working together is also extended to children of the father's brothers. The children of one's father's brothers are veitacini (parallel cousins) and they are all regarded as brothers and sisters. These also observe the rules of tabu or avoidance. Brothers belonging to the same parents should regard all their children as one, and should treat them alike, after the fashion of one's own children. For example if a child misbehaves, any of the father's brothers present at the time can inflict punishment on him or her. A child may call his or her father's elder brother as tamaqu levu (my senior father) and younger 52 brother as tamaqu lada (my junior father). It is regarded as disrespect placing the name of the person after the term of address.
Generally, calling a person by his or her actual name is an aspect of life that is perhaps not normally entertained in the area. People often address each other in relative terms. For example a woman's child would call his or her mother's brother's son or daughter, tavalequ (my cross cousin). Or a child would call his or her father's sister, nei (aunt). So terms of relationships become the very essence and foundation by which the people affirm and perpetuate their bond of relationships.
A close observation of the various relations in Namosi indicates that the very thread that is interwoven in the social fabric of the society is the value of respect. This is displayed in various forms, some of which have been explained earlier on this section. Teachers or social workers outside of Namosi perhaps need to be aware of this cultural nature of the people.
For example, whereas the cultural value of tabu or avoidance could derive social gain in the community, in the classroom, it could prove to be an impediment to learning. 53
Beliefs
The Namosi people are generally religious. Traditionally, they had their ancestral gods and other supernatural beings. Now, like the rest of the indigenous Fijians in Fiji they have embraced one form of Christianity or another; the two mainstream ones are Catholicism or Methodism. Namosi
District is predominantly Catholic.
Although the people of Namosi District have been Catholics for almost a century now, their every day lives are in some ways associated with traditional beliefs in other gods or spirits. Ravuvu (1983) talks at length about this aspect of traditional belief in indigenous Fijians. He asserts that although Fijians have been Christian for more than a hundred years, important elements of the traditional system of supernatural belief survive, or still influence their lives. According to Ravuvu:
Any real understanding of the Fijian society, of attitudes to economic development, or of Fijian values and actions, must include an understanding of these supernatural beliefs (Ravuvu,1983 ,p.85).
In the Namosi District, traditional belief recognises the existence of invisible supernatural power in the form of spirit gods, as well as spirits of dead ancestors and other kinsmen. These spirits are believed to be watching over people, guiding and controlling their activities and if 54 offended they must soon be appeased. Traditionally the people believe in life after death. Usually those people that have been feared while they were still alive are those, whose spirits people fear when they pass from this mortal world. The paramount chief of the area is feared. The people believe that he has mana or sau which, according to Ravuvu (1983) is
'the power to effect'. The chiefs house site and his personal belongings are kept at bay from the people. Fear of the paramount chief was even worse in the olden days. A story told by an elder of Namosi to the researcher indicated the degree by which the people fear their chief while at the same time believe in his mana. According to the story-teller, in the early nineteenth century, a woman of a particular village had mistakenly used the chiefs comb. When this same woman woke up in the morning, she discovered to her dismay that she was bald. Whether a sudden illness had caused the baldness, nobody ever found out. But the one conclusion that the people of the time arrived at, was that the woman had broken a taboo and was punished accordingly. (Told by an elder of Namosi
Village).
Although the Namosi people are to some degree still part of the traditional supernatural world, Christianity is of central importance to 55 their lives. The people do not only fear God and sacred people and places, they place great trust in the power of prayer. Generally, a day is commenced and concluded with prayer devotions. An admission by few of the old ladies demonstrated how much faith the people place in prayers:
Teacher, you know, God is something. Never mind we do not have many things (material wealth), but we have peace (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
What the ladies meant was that they may not be rich materially; but what was of more importance was their faith in their God, which they claimed was giving them a peace of mind and soul. According to many of the elders, in order to be right with God they must do the things (be in
Church or school or the community) that are required of them. If people do not follow instructions then it is believed that they would -expect some form of curse from God. For instance in a particular village the people complained about a couple who never attended to communal duties and they maintained that the couple's children could not obtain respectable employment as a punishment from god for their non-participation in different forms of community work required of them. 56
Their children were some of the bright ones according to the school and national examination results, but according to the people:
Where are these children now? They can't get anywhere because their parents always shirked all kinds of village and church work (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997)
What seems apparent is that the people's belief in their Christian God is associated with the faith they place in their daily prayers and also by being righteous. They see their God as someone supreme who demands to be respected and feared through their constant contact with him, through prayers and doing good. The people's fear of God is transferred to their priests whose authority they believe comes directly from God.
Whatever the priest says is obeyed without question. His residence is held with great awe and unnecessary entry into his compound is avoided as much as possible.
Supernaturalism, be it Christianity or other ancestral gods, is obviously manifested in the mortal world of Namosi. There is no denial of the fact that elements of the traditional supernaturalism are to some degree part and parcel of the way of life of the Namosi people now, although it may seem from the outset that Christianity is an overriding principle. For an outsider to actually understand the culture of the people, it may be 57 important to have a reasonable degree of knowledge of their fundamental beliefs.
Language
According to Wolcott (1967), sharing a common language provides the means by which the people of an area identify themselves as a group. The people of Namosi District share a common dialect with some quite distinct variations from the other districts in the province, and they have maintained this uniqueness in the language for as long as the researcher can remember. One probable reason would be perhaps the distance of the area from the other provinces as compared to the other districts in the province.
A child in the area grows up with the barest exposure to the influences of other languages. Hence, until children reach the age of six, when they attend formal schooling, their linguistic mentality is confined to that of their mother tongue.
The Namosi dialect is, generally, not very different in lexis from the
Bauan language, the official and lingua franca of Fiji, and one which is 58 used as medium of instructions where the Fijian language is taught in
Fiji. For example, whereas in the Namosi dialect, 'come' means 'bau mai' in the Bauan or official language, it is 'lako mat'. So it is not difficult for any person from outside Namosi, especially for a teacher of infant classes to communicate with the beginners in school.
The people of Namosi are proud of their dialect and are appreciative of those outside of Namosi who quickly learn how to speak it. A love of the place by a woman who marries into the area is gauged by how quickly and how well she can speak the dialect. The children of such a woman are critically observed to see if they adopt their mother's dialect, and if they do they are labeled as viavia levu (wanting to be important and different). Speaking the dialect of a mother from outside Namosi is treated as a threat and perhaps an intrusion into the oneness of the people.
Women from other provinces quickly realise this indifferent attitude of the people towards the use of another dialect, especially by their very own children, and make an attempt to quickly master the dialect. For the classroom teacher, perhaps one of the strategies for winning students' confidence is to gradually attune oneself to the dialect of the area and its expected behavior. Like the woman that marries into the village and is 59 appreciated by the people for quickly learning the dialect of the area, similarly, the teacher who gains a quick knowledge of the dialect, would perhaps be in an advantageous position to effect learning in his or her classroom. In other words, possessing knowledge of the dialect of the community in which one teaches can be facilitative for the teacher in the classroom.
Formal Education
Formal schooling was introduced in Fiji with the coming of the Christian missionaries, the Wesleyans first, then the Catholics followed. The principal aim was to convert the 'heathens' of the islands to Christianity.
The two religious groups, however, conveyed their message in quite different avenues, the Wesleyans became rather localised in its reaching out to the community, whilst the Catholics preferred to remain centralised for the start.
The first missionaries to arrive at Namosi were the Wesleyans, who began work at the village of Veivatuloa on the Namosi coast. However, difficulties with the Government of the time and the Wesleyans led to the conversion of the Tui Namosi to Catholicism. This embracement of a 60 new religion by the chief was followed by a mass conversion at
Veivatuloa. Soon after this, two Catholic priests, accompanied by a high chief of Namosi, made a tour of the Province. It was during this tour that the whole of Namosi District was reconverted from Wesleyan to
Catholic.
According to Knox (1976), formal schooling in the province of Namosi had already begun at Veivatuloa village. However, due to some unknown reasons, it was closed down again in 1916. Prior to this, in 1912, the paramount chief of Namosi saw it necessary to have a Catholic priest stationed at Namosi village, adjacent to the present site of Namosi
Secondary School. On Monday, 25th October, 1912, Reverend Father
Guinard, a French priest left Veivatuloa for Namosi village. The priest's arrival at Namosi was marked by a hive of activities. He first set himself up in a Fijian bure (house) that initially served as a presbytery, a church, a school and a kitchen. Meanwhile arrangements for a permanent site for the mission station were being made.
Generally the people of Namosi preferred the priest to establish himself
at Naqaraituva, the present site of Namosi Catholic Mission, Namosi
62
Primary School and additionally, much later, Namosi Secondary
School. Construction of the various buildings for the various purposes commenced as soon as the site was chosen and agreed upon by the people. On May 1913, children who would be of school age came to sleep at the Mission for the first time. This marked the beginning of formal schooling in Namosi District and other neighboring villages who wished to bring their children to school. Photograph 2.6 shows the Old
Convent, one of the first permanent buildings erected to house the nuns and part of the classroom.
The school which also catered for boarders, experienced a lot of difficulties from its initial stage. One major problem was having to find good qualified teachers to teach at the school. At the beginning there were local Catholic catechists, but they were soon replaced by a group of
Catholic nuns, known as the Marist Sisters who had come from Europe mainly for the purpose of evangelising the people. The Missionary nuns worked at the school until 1956 when they left for other newly established stations in Fiji. They had laid the foundation for formal schooling in the area. Their place was taken over by a group of relatively better qualified teachers, to be later substituted by the graduates of 63
Corpus Christi Teachers' College, a Catholic Teacher Training Institute, which trains successful candidates in the Fiji School Leaving Certificate
(FSLC) which is sat at the end of form six as a qualifying exam for tertiary institutions.
Namosi Secondary School
A great demand in Fiji in the 1960s for secondary education made the
Government, through the 1969 Fiji Education Commission, recommend that junior secondary schools be built in the rural areas so that secondary education would be more accessible for the rural population. The intention for establishing junior secondary schools was for the provision of a basic ten years continuous education, six years primary education and at least four years secondary schooling. The junior secondary school was to provide secondary education of students from forms one to four.
The number of such secondary schools grew so that by the end of 1981, thirty eight had been established. Thirty four of these were predominantly
Fijian, highlighting the rurality of the Fijian population. One of the thirty four Fijian junior secondary schools was Namosi Junior Secondary
School which was established in 1974. With its establishment, students of the area no longer had the problem of having to leave their homes and to 64 adjust to urban environments where secondary schools were mainly situated at the time. At least for the first four years of their secondary schooling, they were going to be attending it from home for most of them. However, form four was not the end of secondary schooling for those that qualified for higher education. There was again the need for full secondary schools which taught students up to form six level to be established in the rural areas to meet the growing demand of the rural population.
The demand for higher secondary education led the Government into assisting the rural communities in the establishment of fully-fledged secondary schools in the rural areas of Fiji. As planned, the Government was to establish such schools in the fourteen provinces of Fiji, thus catering for the education of the indigenous Fijians who mainly populated the rural areas. Namosi benefited from this move by the
Government and it was agreed that for Namosi Province, the then existing Namosi Junior Secondary School was to be further extended to become a fully-fledged one. So in 1985, there was a new phase in the development of education in Namosi. Namosi Secondary School came into existence. More about the school will be dealt with in Chapter four. 65
PART B Autobiography
Introduction
Namosi Secondary School may resemble other rural areas of Fiji in many aspects of life. Nevertheless, there are some characteristics that make
Namosi a unique rurality. An inclusion of the early life story of the researcher may assist in gaining a better knowledge of the specialty of the
area.
The researcher and author of this project was born and bred in Waivaka
village, a component of Namosi District. For the first thirteen years of her
life she grew up and attended Namosi Catholic Primary School, the first
school ever to be established in the area. This autobiography has been
purposefully incorporated into this study to portray the 'lived' world of
any native of Namosi. Additionally, it is hoped that the inclusion will
assist the reader in a better understanding of the setting of this study.
In any talanoa or ordinary narration, sub-headings do not feature. But
here, due to the rationale behind the inclusion of this autobiography, it is
appropriate that they be incorporated. The various headings that will
67 feature in the narration include the following: family, naming, village life, Christianity and primary school.
Family
A Fijian family is part of a large society of people called a yavusa or clan. At village level it belongs to the mataqali or sub-clan and at the immediate and most interacting level, the itokatoka or extended family.
The latter is a big family of closely related people daily interacting with one another so that life almost becomes like a 'communistic' affair in the sense that they share what they have and care about one another.
It was in such an environment that I was born and bred. I am the eldest in a family of five girls and only one boy, who came fifth. My father belongs to the mataqali matanivanua, and since the society is patri-lineal, we his children, all automatically become the chiefs matanivanua or spokesman. My mother on the other hand, belongs to the chiefly mataqali, so naturally, she claims a higher traditional status in the home and in the village at large. And although she is our mother, we generally acknowledge her traditional status in many family activities. In this respect we have emulated my late father. 68
My father had been educated by the Marist nuns at Namosi Primary
School. As a motivation for his children he used to tell us how his
primary education at Namosi was short-lived due to some liumuri
(intentionally saying the opposite of what one means and not being
honest with oneself, or intrigue) by some of the elders of the District. He
had been chosen from among the boys of his class to attend a
Government school along with some other selected boys from other
provinces in Fiji. Upon hearing this, the parish priest advised my father
and his family against it but recommended that he attended a Catholic
school for boys in Ovalau, an island hundreds of kilometres away from
Namosi.
This was accepted in good faith by my father's family and besides, who
could question the priest's authority. But what was to follow was,
according to my late father, most disappointing and intriguing. On his
arrival at his new school, he was told by the priest in charge, that his
parish priest back home had written ahead of him to inform him to
disallow my father from entry into his school. According to my late
father, this was one of the most depressing and humiliating moments in
his life, when he surmised over how he was going to face the people back 69 home, and especially his parents who had worked so hard to send him across to the island. What had actually happened was that some of the
elders of Namosi village had approached the high chief and the resident parish priest and requested them to use their authority and power to prevent my father from gaining further education. The elders that
colluded with the chief and the priest were the very same people that had
farewelled my father with encouraging words on the day of his departure.
All this was part of liumuri or intrigue which in Namosi is called the vere
vaka-Nabukebuke or the intrigue of Nabukebuke. Vere, according to my
late father was 'the way to be' in traditional times in order to survive. For
example, if the chief had two sons, and the younger of the two was trying
to outsmart the older one the older of the two would naturally be envious
of his younger brother. To get rid of the younger one the older one would
send his younger brother on an errand, but prior to which he would have
surreptitiously notified some of the people to club his brother on his way.
Regrettably, my father's return from his supposedly new school was the
end of his formal education. However, he grew up and proved himself to
be a capable and trustworthy young man. He was selected to be among
the first several Fijian men (known as the Special Party) from the 70 fourteen provinces of Fiji to go to the Solomon's in 1943 and help the
New Zealand and American Armies scout for the Japanese (Ravuvu,
1988). It was my father's army experiences that perhaps offered him different perspectives of life as compared to his contemporaries in the
District, and they also helped to generally boost his morale. My mother had also received some primary schooling from the Marist sisters, and she is quite literate in the Fijian language, although not in English.
Despite their lack of education, both my parents placed great emphasis on education. I can still recall their huge plantation of yaqona or kava, and their main aim was to provide us with good education from the money obtained from the sale of their crop. They worked very hard for us, and they were able to send all of us to secondary schools away from home. I had to attend the only Catholic boarding secondary school for girls in Fiji at the time. Although the school was on an island further away from my home, I did not feel alienated. There were girls from other Catholic parishes in Fiji. In addition, there were girls from Pacific Island nations -
Tonga, Samoa, Raratonga, the Cooks and Niue. All these girls had one thing in common - we were all products of the mission station and we were all quite familiar with the system. This fact, I suppose had a direct 71 or an indirect effect on our secondary education. The environment was not an entirely new one, for we had been more or less transferred from one mission station to another. My sisters and brother, unlike me, attended schools in the city, this was due partly to their choice as well as circumstances. For them, the opportunities that I had were not there and as a result none of them was as successful as I was, in terms of passing all my public examinations.
Although I did complete my secondary education successfully in the sense that I had passed the Overseas Senior Cambridge Examination, the experiences I underwent were quite painful. While I was attending secondary school, my family and I were encountering much opposition from the community at large. There were those that attempted to discourage my parents not to send me to school. They maintained that girls were not good at anything. They could be neither clerks nor teachers. They were weak and unable to do men's work.
With all these negative views about the education of girls, prevalent at the time, every letter that I received either from my father or my mother had a mention about these negative attitudes of the people. They used to 72 remind me to remember what the people were saying about girls' education, and that I should not let it dampen my spirit. One thing that my parents used to mention quite often to me was that I must work hard, pass my examinations and be a source of change to my people. I knew of the community's attitudes and their views and I knew that if I did not work hard at school, I would also return to the rut and be back to the traditional way of viewing girls' education. So I was even more determined to be successful in my high school studies.
The negative attitudes of the people against girls' schooling in those days were quite detrimental to the progress of education for girls. In a place like Namosi where the majority of the people were more or less closely related by either consanguinity (by blood) or affinity (by marriage) one's progress could be adversely affected. But it would require a certain degree of courage by, for example, parents to get out of the rut and pursue their children's education. My parents were resolute in their efforts to educate us, especially me. In my reflection of the past and especially on the part that my parents played in my education, I could only appreciate their hard work and determination to brave the negative 73 perceptions of their contemporaries, and to do what they believed was right for them as parents.
My parents had always wanted me to be a teacher so that 1 could go back and teach the children in my area. Words of discouragement from the people were not going to deter me from doing my best in school. In actual fact the very negative perceptions of the people had spurred me on to even better performance in the classroom. I was also even more determined to try to be the first girl in everything in as far as education was concerned.
With regard to education pursuits, my family always stood together. My parents, did their best to provide us, their children, with good education. I still remember in my secondary school days hundreds of miles away on the other island, my hardworking father used to come down every fortnight to Nausori town, about fifteen kilometres away from the city of
Suva by boat just to talk to me on the telephone to find out how I was and if my study was going on bravely. That was a great motivation for me in my study. I thought of the tremendous efforts my father had made to contact me, and coupled with his assuring words that my mother and him 74 were with me in my studies. One thing that he never forgot to remind me of, was to study hard and think of my younger siblings. He maintained that since I was the eldest I had to set the pace for the rest of my sisters and brother.
Naming
The name of a person is a significant aspect in the culture or total way of life of the Namosi people. A person's name is his or her identity in his or her community as well as outside of it. In addition, it signifies the kinds of relations between and amongst the people in that society. Furthermore, it is an element whereby the value of respect is not only transmitted but also affirmed.
At birth I was given three names - Kalara Elisabeta Likuseniua. The first is the name of the French priest's mother that christened me, and the second is the name of a parallel cousin within my sub-clan. This cousin had approached my parents prior to my birth and requested that I be named after her. The third name, Likuseniua, is my surname or the second name of my yaca or namesake. This name is inherited from the mataqali and it is better known as the yaca vakatevoro or devil's name. 75
The yaca vakatevoro were the names people were traditionally known by. The Christian names came with the advent of Christianity. In addition to the Christian and devil's name, a person is also called either tako or lavo. The two terms almost endearing in connotation, are present only in some parts of Viti Levu. According to Ravuvu (1987), these two terms define two broad categories of social relationship based on generation irrespective of group affiliation. All persons in father's or first ascending generation are addressed as tako while in the first descending order or child's generation are lavo. Tako and lavo, thus define parent and child or father and son relationships within and between kin-groups.
The name one bears is one's identity. It gives one a sense of belonging and strength. For me, having a namesake is something I am proud of. It gives me a good feeling when my namesake calls me 'yaca' meaning my namesake. The bond between my namesake and myself is much more close than that between any of my sisters and me.
Generally, in Namosi, people are not addressed by their real name.
Calling a person by his or her actual name is avoided as much as possible, for culturally, to do so would be disrespectful and perhaps 76 impersonal. A married man or a woman is better known by his or her eldest bom. Suppose a couple's first born was Jone, then both the parents would be called tamai or tinai Jone (meaning father or mother of Jone); the parents' names are dropped as soon as their first child is born. A man would refer to his sister's children as noqu vasu or vasu (my sister's child) and his sister's children would refer to him as momo or uncle. The impaired are also given due respect in this name calling aspect in the tradition of Namosi. For example, a blind person is not addressed by his or her real name but by referring to his or her visual impairment - he or she is referred to as the mataboko or the blind. Similarly, an old lady is referred to as the buinigone or the old lady, but not her actual name.
Funnily enough, some people may not ever know the real name of a person. However, this is one way, the value of respect is perhaps consciously or unconsciously transmitted in the society.
I remember my first day at school, and my teacher was trying to find out what my name was. Besides she was a European nun who could not even pronounce my name well. However, before long she was calling me by
an English name, and that was alright with me because it sounded good
to me. But there were other times when other teachers were referring to 77 us by other names that were quite offensive and derogatory. These were the kinds of things that I greatly detested and used to wish that these teachers had more feelings and compassion. I used to really wonder what kind of upbringing these indifferent teachers had had in their childhood and if these feelings were connected with their childhood experiences.
But one thing that I would like to mention here is that, the indifferent manner in which some of my teachers called us by derogatory names were actually a learning experience for me. I knew it was affecting my learning in the classroom, and if one day I would ever become a teacher, at least I would know how to treat my students with respect. From experiences in the classroom, I had certainly learnt that great things could be achieved in the classroom between the teacher and the student if the teacher were more empathetic towards the student especially by being careful with the name he calls the child by. In Namosi, as evident from this cultural aspect of name calling, one way the classroom teacher could perhaps promote effective classroom learning is by being respectful in calling students' names. 78
Village Life
My parents were married in the village, and although they have visited other places in Fiji, they have always resided in the village. We were all born and brought up in the village. My father was offered a job as a prison warder on his return from the Solomon's, but he declined saying that after the war experiences he would now prefer to be his own boss. So he became a planter and together with my mother they worked hard to bring up a family. I was the eldest in our family, and therefore with this status, traditionally my birth was greeted with much joy and celebrations not only by the family but by the village as a whole. On the birth of a village child, generally, the people say that another child is born to them.
The child does not only belong to the immediate nuclear family, but to the extended families and the mataqali as a whole, which all constitute the village. So I grew up in an environment where village elders would have some sort of traditional claim over me. It would be an acceptable norm for any uncle or aunt in the village to send me on an errand without obtaining prior approval from my parents. This was one of the ways of affirming and strengthening relations among the people in the village. As
I grew up I also learnt that to make one's entry into another uncle's home without being invited in was considered a healthy sign by the child 79 because he or she was gaining knowledge of the relations she had in the village.
Growing up in the village could be likened to staying in a big institution where daily interactions with people became inevitable. For me being acquainted with my relatives and especially my peer group was an avenue through which I had gained a lot about the values of my community. By listening and observing elders, I learnt about the different mataqali, their respective roles, my relations with others, the various relations that existed within the social fabric of the community and so many other valuable things that should equip a villager to be able to survive in the village set up.
My peer groups and other older siblings contributed tremendously to my learning experience. On week-ends, I used to accompany them to some selected area where we would act out what we had seen our parents and other elders do, for example, planting and weeding the plantation. We would sometimes go to the bush to fetch wild yams, and on our return, we would be lauded by our parents. Words of praise from our parents helped boost our morale and motivated us to greater efforts. 80
Accompanying my peers or older siblings to any outing always gave me joy and satisfaction. I felt joyful because I was relating with people of my own age group and satisfied since I felt T was making some achievements in what I was going out to do. My parents were always happy to see me return successfully from my various learning experiences. They only became infuriated when I returned after dusk. However, this was a rare occasion.
Working in groups, was not common only amongst the peers, it was also a usual practice in my village. So I was growing up in an environment where people would do many things together - from praying together in the morning, working in little groups in the plantation during the day and finishing up the day enjoying a bowl of grog together. There was a feeling of togetherness in the village, and people cared about one another.
No one felt alienated. Men assisted each other in the plantation, thus making up for those that may not be so skilled in planting. Similarly, the women attended to the cleaning of the plantations and other various chores, for example, mat weaving. All this gave a villager a sense of belonging and security. 81
Now as I look back over the years I can visualise how this village life could be both an advantage and a disadvantage in school. An unfriendly classroom could be, for a village child, a very alienating and unfacilitative factor for learning. Whilst the child in the village would receive all the cooperation and support from his family and community, in the classroom, he would be confronted with the individualistic and competitive nature of the western education. Now I see myself then as struggling to grab hold of two things, first the way of life of the western teacher, and secondly his commodity, which is formal education.
Christianity
Being a Christian for me then meant a few things. Firstly, there was the traditional morning and evening prayer devotions that every Catholic family is expected to recite daily. Secondly, there was the Sunday's compulsory attendance at Mass, a Catholic ritual administered by a
Catholic priest only. Thirdly and which had the strongest emphasis in
Church every Sunday, obedience to God's Ten Commandments, which all Christians are aware of. 82
If anything that I detested mostly when I was growing up in the village as a little girl, it was having to be awakened by my parents at about a half past five in the morning for prayer devotions. Naturally Namosi, due its altitude, is very cold in the morning. The early morning fog is sometimes impenetrable. Every morning, irrespective of the extreme temperature, my parents, usually my father, used to wake us up for the morning - prayer. I have to be honest in saying that during some mornings, my
father had to actually drag my blanket away from me so that I could participate in prayer. Half of the time I did not understand why I had to
be awakened when I thought my parents alone could do the talking for the whole family. This has been the practice in most of the Catholic families.
For the Namosi people generally, recital of prayers has an added advantage. It is one of the avenues whereby children unconsciously learn the Bauan dialect, the lingua franca of the indigenous Fijian people.
Being a Catholic during my young days did not mean much to me except that we were obligated to attend Mass every Sunday. For the people in my village, attendance at Mass on Sundays involved a six kilometre walk 83 up to the mission in the early hours of the morning and back usually immediately after Mass. On a normal Sunday morning, my father used to be the first one to wake up. Since then, the Church required that food must not be taken three hours before Mass, it was important that breakfast was consumed as early as five to six o'clock. So at home by half past five in the morning, my father had already boiled tea for us which was usually taken with either biscuits or pudding baked from the day before. Breakfast was soon over by six and by quarter to seven almost every one that was obligated by the church law to attend the
Sunday service was already on the track to the mission station. Mass usually started at nine o'clock and lasted for about one and a half-hour.
Although I did not actually understand much about what went on at mass,
I was happy that I had fulfilled my Sunday's obligation. We had been constantly reminded by our teachers, that if we did not attend Mass on
Sunday through our own negligence then our punishment was to burn in hell. The story about hell was horrendous and who would want to be doomed in there for all eternity.
The Sunday Mass was always preceded by the singing of the Ten
Commandments to ensure that every parishioner present would be 84 reminded of their duties towards their god and neighbours. This was followed by the priest's homily later on in the Service. Usually, immediately, after Mass people would come out and start talking about the priest's sermon. On the days when the priest became very infuriated during the sermon, the people would try to find out the reason of the priest's anger. To a Catholic, a priest is God's direct representative on earth; hence he is feared and revered just like the ancestral gods in pre-
Christian times. It is believed that an offence against the priest would evoke the wrath of God upon the offender, if not immediately, it would be upon his children and generation to come. This was obvious in one of the incidents that occurred during the researcher's work in the area. A group of boys were caught drinking in the School compound, which had been disallowed by the parish priest. On receiving the news about the offenders, the priest became very annoyed with them and ordered that they stayed away from the compound indefinitely.
The boys and their families became fearful of the priest's words and what made them even more anxious was that the people were saying:
Yea, you had better be careful. You have done wrong to father, and you had better go and say sorry to him. If you don't, something is going to happen to you (Field Notes, Namosi village, 1994). 85
What the people said is perhaps a manifestation of their inner belief. In fact, hundreds of such comments had been made by people in my childhood days. This was not a new phenomenon altogether as far as the people's nature of belief in Christianity was concerned. They had also feared and respected their ancestral gods, and sacred sites where they were believed to be present were taboo to tread on. I was growing up in such an environment where, although Christianity was very much
embedded in their way of life, what was also important for survival, it
seemed, was the supplementary belief in the powers of other gods.
Primary School
By the mid 1950s, formal schooling was more or less relatively well
established at Namosi Catholic Mission, the present site of both Namosi
Catholic Primary, and Namosi Secondary School.
In the primary school, there were dormitories for both boys and girls
from places near and far. But, although many Catholic schools were
comparatively well equipped with material resources brought in by the
missionaries, the question of well qualified teachers was an issue
prevalent at the time, not only in Catholic schools but in all the schools 86 throughout Fiji. On the commencement of my primary schooling at
Namosi Catholic Primary School, the teaching staff had comprised two
European nuns and two lay teachers (non- religious). Although these nuns had obtained for themselves very good background education, they were not qualified teachers. Nevertheless, as far as I can remember, they were very good teachers. They had a lot of resource materials, which were very motivational. In addition, they were full of patience. Although they did not know much about the Fijian Language, they were quite successful in making us learn in English. We learnt basic Arithmetic and
General Knowledge, and generally, learning under the European nuns was exciting and full of fun. What added more to the enjoyment of school was the uniquely Scottish designed school uniform that the nuns introduced for us. This definitely made us proud to be in school.
At the time of my schooling, there was a ruling by the parish priest that all students attending school at Namosi Primary School came to board at the Mission Station. This suited me very well as I would evade the early morning devotions and the long strenuous walk up to school from my village every morning. But I soon discovered that at the Mission, life was not going to be easy going as I had earlier speculated. At the Mission, a 87 normal school day would commence at five o'clock in the morning with
devotions. By six o'clock, everybody was expected in church for a
church service which lasted for about an hour. The service was followed
soon after by general cleaning of the dormitories and the school
compound.
Classes began at a half past eight every morning from Monday to Friday.
Normally, the latter would commence with another morning devotion
followed by an hour of religious instructions. The school curriculum at
the time was not as intensive as what we have today. It consisted of some
basic lessons like English, Arithmetic, General Knowledge and a few
lesser ones. The nuns used English as the main medium of instruction.
We used to find speaking in English very embarrassing and very
challenging. I remember my parents telling me to make an effort to speak
in English to the teachers at all times, even if what I said was wrong. For
the parents in the area to hear their children speak in English to the nuns
was an achievement, and words would go around the village that a
particular child was heard speaking to the European nuns in English. School came to an end at about three in the afternoon. The boys then toiled in the school gardens whilst the girls were given relatively easier tasks to do. By five o'clock duties were soon over, and after a cool refreshing bathe in a nearby creek, a big gong was soon audible to gather children to their evening meal. An evening meal usually consisted of boiled taro or cassava with freshly boiled taro leaves to supplement. The nuns had also introduced a traditional method of food preservation
(salting) at the Mission. Meat, which sometimes had been given to the
Mission by the villagers, was salted and became an added supplement to our menu. Sunday meals were always prepared in some special ways to mark the specialty of the day. Although most meals were simple, they were always relished by us.
Boarding life at the Mission ended with the departure of the nuns for newly established stations in other parts of Fiji. For me this meant a return to my village and a long and exhausting morning walk to school every morning and back in the afternoon. The journey to school every morning for the Waivaka children was rather difficult, especially during cold weather and in rainy season. There were times when, after a very heavy downpour, the river, which we usually crossed, was flooded and 89 therefore dangerous to cross. No parents would ever want to send their
children to school during the adverse weather. So the children of my village would be absent from school as long as the bad weather prolonged. My parents had foreseen the negative impact this would have
on my education; so they decided to have me board at my maternal
uncle's home which was just about one and a half kilometers away from
the school. I welcomed the idea, and so at class six I was staying with my
uncle's family. My stay with the latter greatly improved my school
attendance, although I still had to sit through the same long early
morning devotions.
Now that the nuns had gone, we were passed into the hands of some
Fijian teachers who had also received some form of education and had
some sort of teacher training to teach in primary schools. I must say that
these were not the best, but they worked very hard under very trying
conditions. A number of the teachers that taught at the school remained
there for several years and found it rather painful to leave. One of the
reasons being that these teachers became very much acquainted with the
people, and the place and perhaps found it hard to start again in another
new area. 90
I can still recall how a certain teacher who had become so familiar with the place and people that some morning he would wake up from the village, and still looking drowsy, he would head straight for his
classroom. One of the teachers was notorious in giving his children work to do while he enjoyed a nap on his table. These were but few of the
characteristics of the teachers of that time. But who could ever question
these poor attitudes of the teachers? In Namosi, no one had the guts to offend the teacher for fear of having the teachers withdrawn from their area. At least that was what the people were led to believe in those days.
Schooling for the Namosi people at the time was generally viewed as mostly up to class eight, and there may be one or two exceptional cases that may obtain secondary education if they were lucky. Fortunately, my parents did not hold the same view. They kept on reminding me to study hard, get to secondary school and pass the Fiji Junior Certificate
Examination as well as the Overseas Cambridge University Examination.
In those days, successful Candidates in the two exams were considered to be very good students and were lucky in the sense that jobs were easily
available to them as compared to the present day. I thought it must be
great to pass the two exams, and to have an employment after that. 91
I was in class seven, when for the first time in the history of the school, the class eight of Namosi Primary School were to sit the Fiji Eighth Year
Examination, a qualifying examination for secondary school. In order to sit the exam the students of the school were required to walk a distance of twenty miles to the examination centre. A group of about eight candidates went with their teacher, a European priest to sit the examination. But before they reached their destination, the teacher, sighting a white heron in the sky, asked the students what it was. One of them smartly responded that it was a white belo (the Fijian word for
heron)
Immensely infuriated by this lack of general knowledge of English by the
candidates, the priest who was notorious for having fiery temper, turned
around and ordered his students to return home to the Mission. So the
eight years of hard work by the students and their parents had all come to
naught. Although the people had felt that something was not going right,
no one was brave enough to discuss the feelings of the people. Who
could ever question the authority of the priest?
The incident about the class eight students was a cause of anxiety for me
for the rest of the year. I began to think about what would happen the 92 following year when I was promoted to class eight. It became a matter of grave concern for the family, for then we began to feel that the future of any Namosi student seemed to rest more or less in the hands of the teacher priest. The following year when a group of us was promoted to class eight, the cause of our anxiety and concern was confirmed. Without any clear explanation to us or our parents, we were told that no student from Namosi Primary school would sit the Fiji Eighth Year Examination that year. What a great disillusionment for the students especially. Yet, again, no one even dared to ask the same teacher priest. As for me, I was determined that there would be no Christmas celebration for me unless my father promised me a new school the following year. So a week before Christmas that year 1 explained to my parents of my intentions. I even promised them that I would do my utmost best to get through my education. I had never been so hard on my parents before.
So, realising the seriousness of my words, my father travelled to a school, which lay about a hundred kilometers from where we lived, and requested the manager and authority concerned that I enrolled at the school the approaching year. The same day my father returned with the most welcomed news of my new school in the new year. Christmas that 93 year was the most celebrated in my life, not because of the festive season itself, but rather with the joyous mood that I was going to go into a new world altogether. I was hopeful that things were going to be better for me there. It was my second school that engineered my success in the class eight examination.
However, although Namosi Catholic School had not directly put me to secondary school it laid the foundation for my future education. There were some good memories as well as depressing ones of my early primary school days. Some of these memories quite often nag at me, and keep on reminding me that I must do something, and do it quickly. I thought to myself that perhaps a more effective way to help wipe off those memories is by putting them down in words. I do not know how successful I will be. At least I have begun the process! 94
CHAPTER THREE
REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE
Introduction
Chapter Two focussed on the setting of the study. This chapter deals with the review of relevant literature. The focus of this study is on a rural secondary school and its relations with its community. Hence, relevant literature will include that on the rural school and relations between the school and its community.
In this study, rural education is defined as formal schooling in the rural area. The Fiji's Ministry of Education has classified rural schools into three categories. Category One includes all island schools where transportation from the main centres is irregular, expensive and hazardous. The Second Category comprises schools that are accessible by public roads and/or water transportation but public transportation (bus service) is non-existent or irregular, and schools are far from public service facilities like hospitals, banks and Post Offices and take half an hour or more travelling time from the nearest centre. Category Three includes all other schools not classified in either Category One or Two 95 and fall twenty kilometres and beyond from the main centres (MOE,
Categories of Remote/Rural Schools). Namosi Secondary School falls under Category Two.
Writers such as Bray (1987); Baker (1988); de Young (1991) and Stern
(1994) have identified some common characteristics of rural schools which seem to affect the academic performance of students in rural schools. Such features include: isolation, distance and smallness, teacher quality, teacher turnover, teacher absenteeism, community and teacher
attitudes. Literature on these aspects of the rural school and its community relations will be reviewed since they are relevant to this study.
Additionally, selected aspects of school and community relations will be examined. In this study, the school community is defined as the four villages forming the district which initially gave birth to the school.
Splinder and Splinder (1966) maintain that rural schools are born out of the community in which they serve. Subsequently, there is a symbiotic relationship between the school and its community. The relations, therefore, form an integral part as well as a significant context for the 96 learning of the rural child. It is then essential to review literature on the relations between the school and its community.
Teacher and student relations at the school will be reviewed. Doyle (1980) maintains that as the teacher and student interact, they influence one another and negotiate the process of learning. Furthermore, according to
Goodlad and Brown (1983), the success with which teachers and students negotiate the process of learning and develop interpersonal relationship, will determine the quality of classroom life.
Isolation and Distance and Smallness
Isolation, remoteness and relative distance were found to be factors that impede schooling in the rural areas of Fiji (Fiji Ed. Commission, 1969;
Naisara, 1974; Whitehead, 1986 and Tavola, 1991). Due to these factors, there is the obvious necessity to establish, according to Naisara (1974), uneconomical schools in the rural areas. Since school population in the respective village or district is relatively small, the number of students will therefore be small too. Furthermore, arising from the fewer number of students attending school, there is again the necessity of having multiple classes in the primary schools, which Bole (1989) called a " 97 necessary evil". Another important factor that was pointed out by Naisara
(1974) was that due to the isolation and the far-flung nature of the Fiji islands and remote schools from each other, supervision and distribution of materials by the Ministry of Education (MOE) become too costly and uneconomical.
The factor of isolation was also highlighted in a Tanzanian study (as cited in Carr-Hill, 1984: 34). This study found that isolation limits many kinds of informal education (e.g. television, newspaper, movies, clubs etc.), which could otherwise supplement the formal schooling. Other studies that have indicated that isolation and remoteness have decided advantages, including the sparsity of inspection by education officers, are
Apelis (1979), Lyons (1981) and Runawery and Weeks (1980).
The importance of inspection visits by officials from the Ministry of
Education was noted by Apelis (1979) and Runawery and Weeks (1980).
In their study of the remote areas of the Egna Province of Papua New
Guinea, Apelis and Runawery and Weeks noted the degree of dedication given by teachers who were visited and those who were not visited. 98
However, researchers have certain caveats on the manner in which some of the school visits have been conducted (Apelis, 1970; Lyons, 1981 and
Rao, 1985). A comprehensive study by Apelis (1979) on the role of community school inspectors in the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea, found that in some schools where inspection had taken place, many inspectors simply walked in and out after only a brief period in the school.
Little or no time was spent in assisting or advising teachers. In another study of remote schools in the Sudan, Lyons (1981) found that the school inspectors tended to play an authoritarian role, and devoted very little time to serious assessment of teacher performance. Rao (1985) who made an intensive qualitative study of one village in southern India also reports that the Deputy Inspector's visits were few and far between, that is, only three to four times a year, instead of the prescribed once a month. These visits, he noted, mainly consisted of two hours of checking the some fourteen registers kept by the headmaster, rather than providing constructive advice (pp 175 - 176).
In Fiji, a study of twelve secondary schools by Tavola (1991) confirmed that Fiji's rural secondary schools' geographical isolation has distinct disadvantages. Small schools often suffer from teacher absenteeism at the 99 beginning of the school term because of the unavailability of boats to transport them, and visits from the Ministry of Education are almost non- xistent. Tavola also pointed out negative consequences arising from physical isolation:
Located mainly in traditional Fijian communities, schools are imparting essentially foreign wisdom largely in a foreign language amidst the cultural hegemony of the Fijian way of life. The values of Western education and the traditional Fijian lifestyle are not always complementary. For example, formal education encourages learning through enquiry and questioning, whereas traditional Fijian parents often discourage excessive curiosity. Schools are required to maintain their externally set routine regardless of such local events as deaths, marriages, and harvest and planting seasons, all of which strongly affect rural communities (Tavola, 1991, p.130).
This is further noted by Saha (1983) who maintains that there is a basic
discontinuity between school knowledge and the local village culture:
The foreign nature of the school in many less developed societies means that its Relevance for and continuity with traditional society is problematic. This discontinuity can virtually obstruct any input that traditional educational agents In developing countries might have on school achievement (p. 86)
Other writers, for example, (Wax et al., 1964, p. 102) as cited in Wolcott,
1967) also found the social aspects of physical isolation of rurally remote
school. Wax et al found this to contribute to the problems faced by
teachers in an American Indian residential school. From the literature
study of three inter-related concepts: isolation, distance and smallness, it 100 is clear that they have an influence on the performance of students in rural schools.
Teacher and Teacher Quality
In many countries, teachers in rural areas (where small schools predominate) have fewer formal qualifications (Bray, 1987; Vulliamy,
1987; Mathes and Carlson, 1986 and Stern, 1994).
Bray (1987) associates the low quality of teachers in rural schools with three reasons:
-ambitious and well qualified staff are able to arrange postings in desirable environments, which usually means suburban or urban ones;
-administrators find themselves under strong pressure to post the good teachers to suburban and urban communities, who usually have more political power and
- remote areas are sometimes used as dumping grounds for - teachers who are incompetent and rebellious (Bray, 1987, p.32).
Studies of secondary schooling in developing countries have found that the impact of school quality on achievement performance explains more variance than does the influence of the home (Heyneman, 1984 and
Guthrie, 1985). For example, with regard to teacher quality, Sana (1983:
76-79) asserts that although First World studies argue that teacher characteristics are not significant variables, a review of Third World
Studies suggests that " better trained teachers do make a difference for 101 more advanced grades and especially for more difficult subjects. Baba
(1983) also found that, in addition to having poor science laboratories, libraries and other support services, rural secondary schools also had less experienced and qualified staff to teach in the areas of mathematics and science.
However, a study by Tavola (1991) asserts that while qualified teachers are certainly necessary, they are not sufficient in themselves to improve the quality of schooling. Tavola maintains that:
In a well-run school, teachers undoubtedly give to the best of their ability in the classroom. When a school is run down, poorly organised and managed, and lacking in essential equipment, morale slides rapidly and the will to perform well diminishes (p. 138).
A Papua New Guinea study findings also pointed to school effects as
more significant in the Third World than in the First (Vulliamy, 1987).
Observations of classrooms and of school life suggested a number of
reasons why such effects are significant. Students did not tend to study
in their spare time or on their own initiative, and they appeared to have
very little motivation to improve their performance if they knew they
were being badly taught. The teacher's unique role in the mastery of
knowledge cannot be overestimated, and the more competent the 102
teacher, the greater the impact on student achievement (Sana,
1983:86).
It appears that teacher quality is a significant variable in the performance of students in rural areas. From this review, it is found that professional incompetence, inexperience and under-qualifications are some of the characteristics that seem to account for poor performance of students in rural areas (Barnes and Definos, 1983; Mathes and Carlson, 1985;
APEID, 1986 and De Young, 1991).
Teacher Turnover
According to Baker (1988), one of the decided disadvantages about schools in rural areas is finding committed and willing teachers to serve in them. Studies have indicated the extreme difficulties in attracting and holding teachers in rural areas (Runawery and Weeks, 1980 and Ronde,
1980). Due to remoteness of some of the rural schools, there is the subsequent high teacher turnover rate, which obviously is detrimental to learning. VuUiamy (1987) found this to be also applicable in Papua New
Guinea where he said that small rural secondary schools tended to suffer more from staff shortages and high teacher turnover than larger schools, 103 and effects of these were relatively more damaging in small schools.
Castetter (1981) in his studies of schools in rural America, noted how some urban teachers, out of necessity, might teach in the rural area only until opportunity opened up in schools close to where they live. De Young
(1991) concluded that some rural systems seemingly have a high teacher turnover rate because of their location and not because of the quality of the system. A high teacher turnover rate usually results in considerable instability of the teaching staff (Brooke and Oxenham, 1980, Lyons, 1981 and De Young, 1991). Brooke and Oxenham (1980:28) in a grass- root study of four Mexican rural primary schools indicate that the high teacher turnover is accompanied by noticeable absenteeism and un-punctuality among the teachers. Lyons (1981) also noted that the teacher turnover was less in schools where the majority of the teachers were drawn from the local community.
Teacher Absenteeism
According to (Baker, 1988 and Tavola, 1991) one of the problems that is often signalled in the literature of schooling in rural areas is the high incidence of teacher or head-teacher absenteeism. Baker noted that in a village school in southern India, it is reported that the headmaster 104 frequently absents himself from school or comes late, leaving the other teacher in charge of his class. On these occasions the other teacher must devote the whole day enforcing discipline with little time left for teaching
(Rao, 1985). For a rural school in the New Guinea Enga Province, Apelis mentions that some junior staff members would just take any time off any time during school hours to attend to their personal business without the headmaster's knowledge (Apelis, 1979).
It appears that there are two main types of teacher absenteeism, both of which adversely affect teaching in rural areas. One is the teacher's absence away from the station and another is leaving the school during school hours to attend to personal matters either at his home or closer to where he works.
Community's Attitudes
In drawing up Fiji's Development Plan VII (1976 - 1980) the planners laid emphasis on qualitative improvements in education on several assumptions. One of these assumptions was to focus on home background by calling for a change in attitudes, especially by Fijian parents to become oriented towards education: 105
It is a well known result of education research in other countries that the achievement of children in school is highly correlated with home background Encouragement of children by parents, taking a tolerant attitude toward natural curiosity, and providing a home atmosphere conducive to concentrated study are important components of educational success. These may sometimes be at variance with traditional attitudes and patterns of behaviour. Thus a continuing public relations campaign coupled with appropriately designed community education programmes, will be an important component of Fijian education during the Plan period (p. 184).
In a recent meeting by the Fijian Teachers' Association, one of the teacher unions in Fiji, whose membership mainly comprises indigenous Fijians and Rotumans, its President, while voicing the Association's concern over the problem of Fijian education, pointed out that one of the strategies of addressing the problem is:
to have reach-out programmes to parents to change their attitudes to education, and motivate their children accordingly (FTA News, Issue No. 1, May, 1997).
A participatory case study of a rural junior secondary school in Fiji by
Veramu (1992) found, amongst other factors, the lack of parental commitment to their children's education. These could be related to traditional attitudes and contributed to low academic performances of
Fijian students in the school. However, Veramu agreed that students could still become achievers despite negative attitudes of parents, if teachers attempt to be caring, patient and innovative in the classroom. 106
An earlier ethnographic case study by Tierny (1970) of Waicoba District
School in Fiji, found a number of culture-related factors which could explain the low academic achievements of rural Fijian students and these
include: lack of privacy in the home; lack of desire for competition due to
societal preference for cooperative individuals; lack of mobility and pressure for conformity.
Negative community attitudes are also noted by Baker (1988)) in his
study of village schools in disadvantaged rural areas in Sri Lanka.
The study found that one of the problems that constrain schooling in rural
communities and may bear similarities in Third World Countries, is
traditional or negative attitudes of the community that serves the school.
Baker pointed out that many problems are rooted in the political,
economic or social structure of the respective countries and as such have
no short-term solution (e.g. corruption, financial shortages and culture-
entrenched attitudes that may inhibit change).
In some instances, however, the community may not be informed or be
aware of the developments that occur in the school system. For example, 107 in a study by Qadir and Balaghatulla (1985: 212-213), in Bangladesh, it was reported that of the 143 heads of households and other adult household members in 4 villages that were interviewed, there was lack of awareness of the educational system. In another study, Hoppers (1980) found the school being stymied in its role as a change agent because of the influence of the home on the pupil's behaviour, values and outlook on life.
Perhaps, some attitudes and perceptions of the community could be seen in the light of the following extract from Wolcott (1967), in his introduction to what villagers expect from a teacher:
Through their own experiences in school and their experiences with teachers at the village, the adults have come to expect certain kinds of behaviour, from a teacher. These expectations have considerable impact on the nature of the teacher-community interaction, for they are the shared expectations of the village community. The teacher, too, holds expectations about how teachers should act and how others should act towards him. The sources of his experiences, however, are rooted in the traditions of the dominant society rather than in the village life. There is potential conflict when expectations from the two sources are not compatible. When such conflicts occur, it is the teacher whose expectations diverge from group consensus within the village. The lack of shared expectations is a crucial factor in producing conflict, both between the teacher and his pupils and between the teacher and villagers in general (P-81).
It appears from this review of literature that community attitudes on education do affect the way children learn in school. The next part deals with the literature on teacher attitudes on education in the rural area. 108
Teachers' Attitudes
Baker (1988) discusses certain negative attitudes that tend to prevail from top administrative level of any country to school level about schooling in rural areas. The attitude, which he points out, is that the poor are unworthy of good quality education and are uninterested in their children's schooling. A number of teachers are convinced that they are on a punishment assignment, a kind of exile in their own land, when they are sent to school in a deprived rural area (Baker, 1988; Bray, 1987; Stern,
1994 and Castetter, 1981).
Baker (1988) further noted the various attitudes of teachers, especially in
remote rural areas:
They may have the attitude of passing the time in one way or another, often by taking excessive leave and putting forth a minimum of effort in the classroom. Many principals who have served for years in remote areas have a downtrodden perspective and may intend to get as much out of the system as they can with the least investment of work; they alienate themselves from the community in a deficient school (p.381).
In rural areas where teachers may be the only educated people in the
community, a lot is expected from them. Their role may range from
being a health worker to a parent. Hence it is vital that their attitudes
be good and friendly so that good relations prevail among them and 109 the rest of the community.
School/ Classroom Relations - Teacher's Roles
According to Turney et al (1986), in any kind of instructional strategy, the inter-action process is central to teaching and learning, and therefore fostering interpersonal relationships is a crucial role. In this role the teacher is concerned with important classroom social processes that vitally affect both the intellectual outcomes and pupils' social development (Levine and Wang, 1983). Doyle (1980) maintains that as teachers and pupils interact they influence one another and negotiate the process of learning. The success with which they do this and develop interpersonal relationships will determine the quality of classroom life.
According to Goodlad and Brown (1983), sound interpersonal relationships are linked to achievement and positive feelings about school tasks and education generally. In particular, the teacher's communication of sincere warmth and enthusiasm enhances pupil cognitive and social development (Turney et al, 1983). In the classroom Hargreaves (1980) maintains that both teacher and pupils have to meet role expectations placed on them from outside, and those demands are confused and conflicting because of rapid social change. The teacher has the difficult 110 task of resolving these inherent conflicts. Hence, skill is needed to empathise with the needs of individual pupils, and at the same time organise the group effectively, so that tasks can be completed. Successful teaching depends to a large extent on the ability to unite the class for a common purpose (Dreikurs et al.,1981). Class groups clearly identified with a common purpose are typically characterised by high morale and cohesiveness among the members (Turney et al, 1986). However, the latter point out that recent empirical research demonstrates that teachers'
communication with pupils often concentrates on negative aspects of pupil behaviour rather than on how to promote positive behaviour. Their
communication is designed to cope with institutional demands rather than
the development needs of pupils (Blumenfeld et al, 1983). The, latter
maintain that teachers frequently react in negative ways to minor
disciplinary violations rather than emphasizing the central task of
developing pupils' learning, attitudes and values. In these circumstances,
Blumenfeld et al (1983) commented that:
the student is essentially a socialisee who absorbs on-the-job experience, geared to passive citizenship in an on-going institution (p. 186).
Turney et al (1986) maintain that if teachers are to become more positive
and work consciously to foster sound interpersonal relationships, they will 1ll need to become more aware of their own personal characteristics, of group processes and approaches to pupils.
School and Community Relations
The school and community relations will be discussed under three headings: the parents' role, the teacher's and the principal's. The symbiotic relationship among the two parties, the parents and teachers, forms an important context whereby children learn.
School Community Relations - The Parents' Participatory Role
There has been a noticeable increase in the demand during the 1970s and
1980s for parents to have greater participation in the activities of their school community (Marsh, 1988). According to (Robinson, 1989 and
Sharma, 1992), participation implies being actively involved in decision making in management processes such as curriculum development, resource management, personnel appointment, school policy formulation and pedagogy. Marsh (1988) further adds that participation reflects a much stronger role for parents as it connotes initiative, sometimes coming from parents and the joint planning, sharing and control of important school decisions. The concept of participation is contrasted with 112 involvement which, according to Marsh (1988), is conceived of in terms of parents taking part in school activities that have been designed and initiated by the school principal and staff. Such activities, like fund- raising, are useful, but essentially peripheral to the educational processes.
There is considerable research indicating that parental involvement in educational processes brings about improvements in children's learning outcomes (Hunt, 1980; Phi Delta Kappa, 1980; Nettles, 1991 and Veramu,
1992).
School Community Relations - Teacher's Participatory Role
Turney et al (1986) outlines four basic roles of the teacher in the promotion of school and community relations, and they are as follows: promoting information exchange; opening the school and class to parents and community; sharing resources with the community and involving parents and community in school and class policy practices. According to
Turney et al (1986) through information exchange teachers learn the concerns of parents about their children's education, and vice versa, parents also learn about the progress and problems of their children at school. In addition, through this exchange, the community learns about 113 school policies and needs, and the teachers learn about human and physical resources in the community.
Basically, information about class routines and practices may be simply communicated to parents through notes and letters. However, Bettington and Groundwater-Smith (1983) contend that all letters and notes need to be written in a friendly tone so that they are not intimidating but are clear and honest means of communication.
Reporting on pupils' progress, either written or oral or even a combination of the two, forms an important element in school home relationship. A combination of the two is advocated by the parents (Satterly, 1982).
However, both the parents and teachers see oral reporting as a preferred means of discussing children's progress, and is frequently cited as a means of fostering improved school relations (Collins et al., 1980).
Detailed information about school policies and educational practices may be disseminated in a variety of ways, and one of them is through parents' attendance at committee meetings (Hunt, 1980). However, Cyster, Cliff and Battle (1979) and Connel et al. (1982) point out that many parents 114 feel insecure and inadequate at these meetings, but the onus will be on the principal and the school staff to encourage parents to participate in schools and should provide them with a genuine welcome (Ochiltree,
1984).
With regard to opening the school to parents and community, Lickona et al. (1972) maintain that the most critical responsibility of the teacher is an
ability to play roles that go beyond the classroom to involve and influence
everyone affecting education for the good of the children.
According to Bond (1973 and Burkin 1975), the teacher, as professional,
is in control of the tone of interaction with parents in the school. The two
also maintain that clear jargon-free communication together with listening
and encouraging behaviour are necessary. Bettington and Groundwater-
Smith (1983) also point out that one of the most important aspects of
parent-teacher gatherings in the school is the atmosphere they provide.
Participants should feel welcomed in a milieu of friendliness, informality
and mutual respect. 115
School Community Relations - Principal's Role
According to Blakers (1980) the school principal has always been the key figure in matters of school policy and organisation. He maintained that the capacity of the principal to cope with and support parents as partners in decision making is of paramount importance if working relations is to be successful between the school and community. Many parents feel insecure and inadequate at some school gatherings (Cyster, Cliff and Battle, 1979 and Connel et al. 1982); but it will be the responsibility of the principal and also the school staff to get parents to participate in schools.
However, the parents must be provided with a genuine welcome if good school and community relations are to be maintained (Ochiltree, 1984).
Tavola (1991) found school principals in Fiji to have much power vested in them. She maintained that:
In Fiji, the role of the principal is perceived as one of high authority; therefore, such position holders have much power vested in them. In both, Fijian and Indian cultures, status and authority hold great sway. Principals are the proverbial captains of the ships - they have the capacity to steer the ship on a course that will weather the storms (p. 82).
Because of such a widely acknowledged high authority, the principal may do a lot to bring about good working relations between the community 116 and the school. The role of principal in Fiji and the status and authority that he possesses set the tone for the school (Tavola, 1991: 84).
From the review of relevant literature it is clear that the selected aspects
in this study of rural education, school and community relations and
teacher and community attitudes, affect the performance of students in
rural schools. 117
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SECONDARY SCHOOL
Introduction
In the previous chapter, a review of relevant literature was discussed. This chapter will focus on the Namosi Secondary School. The various sub- headings that will be discussed in the section include: the establishment of the school and the school as it is now. Discussions in the latter part will focus on the teachers; the students; relations among staff members; relations among teachers and students; the school curriculum and schooling and employment.
The Establishment of Namosi Secondary School
With the increasing demand for secondary education in Fiji in the 1970s
and 1980s, a good number of the existing junior secondary schools in the
rural areas were upgraded to full secondary schools. One such junior
secondary school was the Namosi Junior Secondary School. The school
evolved into a fully- fledged secondary school in January 1985, and
provided secondary education for forms one to six. It was also the policy
of the Government of the time to improve the overall standards of 118 education among the indigenous Fijians that necessitated the upgrading of existing junior secondary schools in rural areas to full secondary schools.
The transition of Namosi Junior Secondary School to a full secondary status did not cost the school community (the owner) very much. Since the upgrading of the school was initiated by the Government, the latter, therefore, bore most of the cost. There were additional classrooms, a senior science laboratory, boarding facilities for both, boys and girls, and six self-contained staff quarters.
Despite the fact that much was done to extend the physical aspects of the school, relatively little was done with regard to obtaining well-qualified teachers to assume teaching positions in the new secondary school. The eight teachers that had been teaching in the junior secondary school were to continue to teach at the secondary school. Among these were three
Diploma holders from the University of the South Pacific, whilst the other five were Graduates of Corpus Christi Teachers' College which produces primary school teachers. In the 1970s, with the great demand in secondary education in Fiji, Corpus Christi College had worked closely with the
Ministry of Education in the provision of junior secondary school teachers 119 mainly in the rural areas. The College which is managed and controlled by the Catholic Church in Fiji, runs a three year primary teacher training program. The training of junior secondary school teachers in the
Institution did not last very long, as in the late 1970s, the USP started to produce graduates who took up places in most of the secondary schools in
Fiji.
On the commencement of the first school term in 1985, there were only two additional members to the teaching staff at Namosi Secondary
School. These included the Principal himself who had a Bachelor of
Science Degree and the researcher who had just graduated from the USP with a Bachelor of Education Degree. The number of students that attended the new school did not increase very much, since they were the same students that had been attending the junior secondary school. The
Form Four students of 1984 were to be admitted into form five. These
Form Five students plus about twenty others, from areas that normally did not send in their children to the school, made up the increase in the school population. So the school roll stood at about 197 with the commencement of the new 1995 School Year. The number of pupils in each class ranged from thirty-five to forty. 120
Since the new secondary school offered boarding facilities for students, the new Principal encouraged parents to send their children to board at the school. So at the beginning of the new school year, about three-quarter of the school population stayed at the school. The Principal spoke to the parents about the need to have students stay close to the school. He pointed out that the subjects in school were going to demand a lot of the students' time. The subjects on the curriculum for Form Five in Namosi
Secondary School in 1985 included: English, Mathematics, Biology,
Chemistry, Physics, Fijian and Food and Nutrition and Woodwork and
Industrial Arts. Of these the Form Five students were to study five, which should encompass English and Mathematics. So from the beginning of the
Secondary School, the Curriculum was very much teacher oriented, and many of the students were forced to take up subjects they were neither interested in, nor capable of doing.
Although the people of the area were elated with the establishment of the full secondary school, they were generally dissatisfied with the quality of its teachers. The majority of the people had expected that the occupants of the six newly constructed staff quarters were going to be new teachers who were Degree holders. However, on the first day of school, when 121 parents did not see any new teachers, except the Principal and the researcher herself, they became quite annoyed. A number of the parents blatantly asked the researcher who was a teacher at the school then, if some more new teachers were going to arrive. From the reaction of many of the parents, it was apparent that they wanted better-qualified teachers for their newly established Secondary School.
The Namosi Secondary School, like other Catholic schools throughout
Fiji and Rotuma, is controlled by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Suva, through its Director of Catholic Education, who administrates from his main office in Suva, the Capital of Fiji. At the school level, the resident Parish Priest manages all school financial matters.
At the beginning of the Secondary School, the Manager maintained all the
School's financial records, although he was not the sole decision-maker in the utilization of funds. To assist the Manager in his role of management, was the School Committee. The Committee's chief role was to advise the
Manager and the Principal of the concern of the villagers with regard to the education of their children, and vice versa, the school was to relate with the people mainly through the School Committee. Any decision 122 pertaining to the welfare of the school, outside the official school curriculum, was made at the School Committee's Meeting at which both the Manager and the School Principal were present. Whatever task the school required of the villages or the parents generally, was communicated through the School Committee. At village level, there was the liuliu ni horo or the village traditional headman with whom the village committee member liased closely. The liuliu ni koro became a key element in the execution of responsibilities which were decided upon at the School Committee's Meeting.
The first few years of the secondary school went on fairly smoothly.
Although the Principal was also a priest, the role of the Manager still remained in the hands of the resident Parish Priest. The School Committee had a good working relation with the Principal. The latter was a former
Principal of one of the few well-established Catholic secondary schools for boys in Fiji, and his many years of experience contributed much to the good management of the new school. Through his leadership, monthly committee meetings were scheduled for different villages. During these meetings, members of the community where the School Committee
Meeting was being held were encouraged to attend. One of the main 123 intentions for taking the meetings close to the people was to make them aware of their necessary active participation in the education of their cmldren. Some of the parents had pointed out that it was good that some of them attended; for in some cases their Committee member (a village representative) did not inform them of some of the relevant and vital points discussed at the Meeting, and which they should know of. Hence these meetings became educational as well as informative for the members of the community, and especially for the parents of the children attending school.
The first Principal of the Secondary School served for three years only,
after which another priest principal assumed the role of principal-ship.
Although the two were both Catholic priests, they belonged to two
different Congregations, the first belonged to the Columban Order and the
second to the Marist Society. The principles guiding their actions were
therefore dissimilar in some respects. For example, whereas the
Columban Priest would cooperate with the School Committee on some
important matters pertaining to the school, the Marist Father would not
involve the community very much. In 1988, a new principal was
appointed and many aspects of life at the secondary school took a new 124 turn. The new Principal did not involve the School Committee in decision
making, especially on some matters regarding the management of the
boarding life of the school, and other important school matters outside
the official school curriculum, which the school committee were normally
involved in during the time of the first Principal. It then seemed that the
Principal was the sole decision-maker in the school. Even in the school
itself, the degree of consultation with his staff was minimal. The Principal
seemed to be consulting just one person, the Vice Principal of the school.
According to the Principal, his Vice Principal was the only person he
could trust. So most of the decisions pertaining to inside and as well as
outside of the classroom were mainly reached between the Principal and
his Vice-Principal. In 1995, a female staff member with a Bachelor of
Science Degree from the USP was appointed as new Vice Principal of the
School.
While changes were taking place in the post holders at the school,
subjects offered in the school curriculum did not alter very much. At the
inception of the Secondary School in 1985, subjects offered at the junior
level, that is from forms one to four, included English, Mathematics,
Basic Science, Social Science, Fijian, Accounting, Home Economics, 125
Woodwork & Technical Drawing, Physical Education, Music and Art and
Craft (PEMAC). The PEMAC subjects that are core requirements are not examinable either at the school or in the external examinations. At forms five to six levels, subjects that were offered by the school, comprised
English, Mathematics, Fijian, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Wood
Technology, Geography and PEMAC. It is obvious from the subjects taken at the senior levels that the students did not have many options to
choose from, and evidently the curriculum was very heavily science
biased. This was inevitable, as there were relatively more teachers there
with Science subjects qualifications than there were for Arts subjects.
Over the years, however, one or two subjects were added to the school
curriculum at senior level, as teachers with some qualifications on other
optional subjects became available. In 1992, Food and Nutrition was
added to the school curriculum for the first time; in 1994 two subjects,
History and Technical Drawing were added, and in 1995, Accounting was
examined in the school for the first time. At the time of this study the
school had twelve examinable subjects for the FSLC Examination on its
curriculum. (A topic on the school curriculum will be discussed later in
the chapter). 126
Namosi Secondary School Now
The second Principal (a Marist Priest) of Namosi Secondary School served in the school from 1989 to December 1994. In the following year,
1995, the post of principal was taken over by the Vice-Principal who did not belong to any Religious Order. The change of principal was important in two main ways. Firstly, the people could then relate with the principal at an ordinary people's level; and secondly the lady Principal was a Fijian, and this was vital for effective communication with the majority of the parents who normally had not been able to have discussions with the
European Principal. During the latter's term there was always an interpreter who mediated between him and the parents. But some of the parents had pointed out that after they had discussed certain issues with the European Principal through his interpreter, they were still unsure if the
Principal had got the right message or not. They said that most of the time they came away dissatisfied with the whole discourse. This points to the necessity of having a leader amongst the people who can communicate in the language that the people are familiar with. It was apparent that the people's lack of knowledge in English was generally a cause of concern and distrust for them with regard to their relations with the European
Principal. 127
The Teachers
At the time of this field study, the teaching staff at Namosi Secondary
School comprised seventeen teachers. Of these four were Degree holders
and the rest of them were either Diplomats from the USP or Forms Five,
Six or Seven school leavers. The following Table (4 .1) illustrates the
teachers' qualifications and their respective responsibilities. As a matter
of confidentiality the teachers' initials only have been used instead of
their full names. 128
Table: 4.1: Namosi Secondary School: The Teachers' Qualifications and Responsibilities, 1997
Teacher's Name Qualifications Responsibilities
1. L. L Bsc.,DipEd(USP) Principal (Acting) (Bio/ Maths)
2. P. T. BA (USP) (Lit/Lang/ Vice Principal (Actg) Geo.)
3. L. R. CCTC, Cert in H.O.D (Pemac )(Actg) Primary Teaching (School Appointment)
4. R. S. Msc Degree (PCV) Assistant Teacher
5. V. G. Cert.in Community Assistant Teacher Nutrition( Form 7)
6. L.R. Cert in Sth.Pacific Assistant teacher Community Nutrition (Form 5)
7. A. C Cert.in Appl.Comput H.O.D. (Maths)(Actg) (Form 7) (School Appointment)
8. A. M (Form 7) Assistant Teacher
9. P. W DipEd(FCAE)Eng/ Assistant Teacher Social Science)
10. C. W Dip Ed (FCAE) Eng/ Assistant Teacher Social Science
11. A.R Dip Ed (FCAE) Eng/ Assistant Teacher Social Science
12. A. A DipEd(FCAE)Eng/ Assistant Teacher Social Science 129
(Contd.)
13. A. T DipEd(FCAE)B/Sc Assistant Teacher Maths
14. M. T DipEd(FCAE)B/Sc H.O.D (Science) Maths School Appointment
15.A. N BA (USP) Economics H.O.D (Social Sc) Actg (Sch Appmt)
16. P. L Cert(Trade) (FIT) Assistant Teacher
17. T. S Cert. (Trade) (FIT) Assistant Teacher
Source : Namosi Secondary School File, 1997.
It is apparent from the table above that all current post holders in the school were acting in their respective posts. The present Principal' could not be confirmed as the post was awaiting agreement between the
Ministry of Education and the Director of Catholic Education. Since the inception of the secondary school, an agreement was reached between the
owners of the school and the Director of Catholic Education that the
principal's post in the school to be held by a priest. So the confirmation of
the post of principalship was dependent on the decision reached by the
authorities concerned. The Head of Language Department, although with
a relevant Degree in English, could not be confirmed since he had not 130 undergone any teacher training. This was in accordance with the policy of the Ministry of Education that only trained teachers with relevant qualifications could be confirmed in their posts. The Head of Social
Science Department could not also be confirmed, as the School did not have an established post for the Department. Besides, the current holder of the post was a Graduate in Economics from the USP. The rest of the
Heads of Departments, as evident from the table, are under qualified for the respective posts. The post holder in any secondary school needs to have a relevant degree qualification and be a trained teacher.
Almost all the current post holders, including the Principal herself, raised concern at the current status of the school with regard to acting positions.
They pointed out that they were not happy with the present arrangements, and it was affecting their overall performances. They could not speak with the fullest authority in their respective Departments. When asked about how they were managing in their individual Departments, one of the under-qualified post holders admitted that he himself felt inadequate and lacked the confidence to head the Department, but he was doing it on the request of the Principal. He added that he was attempting to do his best. 131
Another aspect that is apparent from the table is that only about one quarter of the teachers in the school are qualified to teach in higher forms; the rest, which made up three quarters of the total number, are to teach mainly forms one to four. However, due to the lack of qualified senior teachers, almost all the under-qualified teachers were forced to teach in the senior forms. For example a Form Six School Leaver who had a certificate in Community and Nutrition only, was teaching Food and
Nutrition in Forms Five and Six. Another example was in the Science
Department, where a new Graduate with a Diploma Certificate in Basic
Science and Mathematics was forced to take up the headship in the
Mathematics Department in his first year of teaching.
Due to the shortage of teachers with relevant and adequate qualifications
to teach in higher forms, a number of things became irrevocable. One was
that teachers were asked to teach subjects they did not specialise in. For
example, a teacher who graduated with a degree in Commerce was
teaching Geography at the time of this field study. Another teacher with a
Diploma in English and Social Science was required by the School to
teach History in forms five and six. Even at the junior form level, one of
the untrained teachers who only had a Certificate in Computing was 132 required to teach Basic Science at the Form Four level. Hence about one third of the teachers in the school were teaching outside their area of expertise. Besides those that were teaching outside their area of study, another two fifths of the teachers were teaching higher forms for which they were not professionally qualified. About more than five eighths of the teachers in the school were trained specially for the junior Forms One to Four.
The researcher wanted to know from the teachers about their overall
feeling in teaching subjects outside their area. The teachers were generally
unhappy about the whole situation as one of them who graduated with a
degree in Commerce but was required by the School to teach Geography,
complained:
I'm not happy with Geography! At USP I took Commerce. Here I have to teach Geography. I try to give my best, but I feel it's unfair for the students and for me too. If the students fail I am to blame as well as the school (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
Another teacher who had to teach Basic Science in Form 4, although he
had specially studied Mam's and Computing, had this to say:
I'm happy to teach, except for Basic Science in Form 4.1 find Basic Science difficult to teach especially in preparing laboratory work on some topics I didn't study.(Field Notes, NSS, 1994). 133
Another feature of Namosi Secondary School was the presence of a number of grant-aided teachers. A grant-in-aid teacher is a non-civil servant. Until 1997, eighty per cent of the salary of such a teacher was paid by the school in which he or she served at, and the other twenty per cent was supposed to be paid by the Ministry of Education. In 1998, the
Government policy on grant-aided teachers altered. The Ministry of
Education began to pay the full salary of such teachers but instead, reduced the grants given to schools that employ grant-aided teachers. At the school there were six grant-aided teachers who were not only under- qualified but were untrained. Since salaries of teachers ordinarily rise with their qualifications, it is expected that a poor rural school like
Namosi can only afford to attract the best less qualified school leavers to fill vacancies. Usually, the richer urban secondary schools have better- qualified teachers since they have the money to pay their salaries.
From the study of teachers at Namosi Secondary School, a number of things became apparent. One was that none of the post holders in the school was confirmed in his or her post of responsibilities. Another was that more than three quarter of the teachers in the school were qualified
for junior forms only; however, two fifths of them were required to teach 134 in higher forms due to lack of senior form teachers in the school. It was also obvious from the study of the teachers' responsibilities that about one third of the teachers were teaching outside their area of expertise. From the responses given by the teachers, it was also apparent that they were generally unhappy about their teaching responsibilities at the school although they were doing their best at their respective duties.
Teacher Absenteeism
The frequency of teacher absenteeism at Namosi Secondary School was generally high in the last couple of years as reported by the Principal. The latter pointed out that in the first day of each week, about one quarter of the teachers used to be absent from school. These teachers had gone to spend their week-end usually in Suva and would take Monday as their travelling day back to school. The former Principal had pointed out to the researcher how the Monday absenteeism of teachers was adversely affecting students' overall performances in the classroom. The most worrying factor to the principal was that students too were using the teachers' Monday absenteeism as a reason to stay away from school. He also added that much of the school curriculum was delayed as the teachers would normally start their school week on Tuesday. Most of the parents 135 and students had also raised concern at the rate of absenteeism of some of the teachers. In actual fact a few of the students had admitted to the researcher that it was useless coming to school on Monday because their teachers were not there to give them lessons. In 1994, the frequency of absenteeism of some of the teachers from their work did not improve.
This resulted in the Principal taking drastic action against one of the young teachers who did not seem to obey his repeated warning. With all the evidences of the teacher's absence provided by the Principal, the
Ministry had no option but to terminate the teacher's service from the
Ministry of Education.
What was obvious from the teacher absenteeism from work on Monday was that it was mainly involving very young single teachers, both male and female. These teachers would normally look for available transport into Suva on the Friday afternoon to spend their week-end with their families or friends. Since the Namosi trucks do not normally run on a
Sunday, unless on hire basis, these teachers would offer this as an excuse for not being present at their work place on Monday morning. The
Principal had indicated that with regard to not being at work on Monday, he found no problem with the married teachers. 136
Another form of teacher absenteeism that was pointed out by the Principal
was that of teachers unnecessarily taking unofficial leave during school
hours to visit their homes in the school compound. According to both the
Principal and the Vice-Principal, in many cases the students were left
unattended to. A similar case was reported by Apelis (1979) in a rural
school in the New Guinea Enga Province:
Some junior staff-members would just take off any time during school hours to attend to their personal business without the headmaster's knowledge (p. 45).
An incident that occurred in 1996 during an inter-secondary school
Math's Quiz perhaps could bear some testimony to the teachers' general
absenteeism from classes. At a Math's Quiz which took place at the
FCAE where the researcher worked, four students from Namosi
Secondary school came to represent the school in the forms one and two
category. At this Quiz Competition the Namosi Secondary School
competitors performed poorly. The researcher who was also present at the
scene of the Quiz asked two of the participants from Namosi why they
had not done well. The two said that they had not covered most of the
things that came in the Quiz and the reasons they gave were that their
teacher was either coming late to class or was often sitting in the staff-
room instead of teaching them. 137
During the researcher's first fieldwork, Monday absenteeism was
reportedly very high. It was adversely affecting the overall performance
of students in the classroom. One third of the teachers were usually away
from classes. The termination of one of them from duties in 1994 had
actually improved the situation, and by 1997, according to the current
Principal and the Vice Principal, absenteeism from work on Monday, was
a thing of the past. They said that very rarely did teachers arrive late to
their class on Monday morning. However, they indicated that they were
still witnessing the absence of some teachers from class during school
hours. They were warning respective teachers about their absences.
According to the Vice Principal:
The teachers have been circulated internal memorandum to remind them of their responsibilities. I feel that there is a need for professional development for the teachers at the school (Field Notes, NSS, !997).
What seemed obvious from the study of teachers who were usually absent
on Mondays was that it involved mainly new teacher recruits who had just
graduated from the Teachers' College. Perhaps beginning teachers,
especially those in rural areas, need an opportunity to share their problems
and successes with colleagues; for most often they are far away from their
actual homes. It also seemed apparent that generally there was a genuine
need for professional development at the school level. About more than 138 fifty percent of the staff at the school have remained there for more than
eight years. Furthermore, about a half of the latter had not received proper teacher training.
Teacher Turnover
For a rurally and distantly located school like Namosi Secondary School,
one would expect the teacher turnover to be relatively high. Nevertheless,
this was not so with Namosi Secondary School. Since the commencement
of the secondary school, the percentage of teachers that left the school
after teaching there between one to three years was nil. Generally, about
two fifths of the teachers had left after the term of seven to ten years of
teaching either for marital, family or study purposes. Some of these
teachers preferred to send their children to town schools, so it became
necessary that parents remained with their children in the urban area.
Most of the teachers interviewed strongly supported the idea of in-service
for teachers after not more than five years of teaching, especially for those
who work in rural areas. There was about one third of the teachers that
had been teaching at the School for more than eight years now. These
teachers were all grant-aided, and they comprised the least qualified in the
School 139
In her fieldwork at the school in 1994, the researcher had asked the former
Principal why he was keeping these less qualified teachers, instead of obtaining more qualified ones. His response was that the former had a more-mature outlook to teaching, and they were always there on Mondays in the absence of some teachers. What seemed apparent was that the
School had its own hidden agenda for retaining its teachers.
Namosi Secondary School offers some of the best living quarters in any rural location. With the exception of two of the teachers, who came from one of the adjacent villages, all the rest of the fifteen teachers lived in the school compound. Made of concrete and steel, all the teachers quarters consisted of two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and toilet, separated from the bathroom. It was obvious that all the teachers were happy with their quarters. One of the new teachers to the school in 1997, and who had been teaching in various rural or semi-rural schools in Fiji made the following comments about working at the school and his quarters:
I like this place. Travelling time to town is only two hours, just like the previous place I had worked in. I am very happy with the teachers' quarters - the best in my years of teaching ! (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
Although, the teachers were generally satisfied with teaching at the school and were happy to remain there as long as they would be allowed to, many members of the community (the students' parents especially) were complaining about the number of years some of them had remained in the
School. At a number of the School Annual General Meetings, parents had asked the Principal about the length of time some of the teachers, especially the least qualified and unqualified, were retained at the School as the community felt that they should be going for further academic and professional training. It was evident that students were contributing to the conversations about long serving teachers in the school as demonstrated in the comments by one of the elderly women of the District. The woman intimated:
Teacher, why are some of these teachers still here? You know teacher X (X stands for the name of the teacher). The students call her one suit. Do you know what one suit means? The students say she wears one suit to school most of the time. But not only that, the students say that she says the same thing all the time. We want new teachers who will say new things to our children (Field Notes, NSS, 1997). •
What seemed apparent from the comments by the old woman, as well as discussions and interviews with parents and children, that the parents and the community were aware of what was happening in the school and wanted to have what they perceived not to be right, rectified. Perhaps teachers in the rural schools need to be more aware of the kinds of perceptions they have for the rural population. For example, when one of the Fijian teachers was asked about how he generally felt about teaching in Namosi, this was his response: 141
I didn't expect much from the children, considering the location of Namosi. But my first contact with them surprised me - their standard of education was high. As years went by, I began to understand the children. I related classroom learning to village life for their classroom behaviour is similar to home. The children became pleasant to teach. They were closed up in the classroom because that is cultural. Now I try to break the barrier between me and the students -I bring myself to their level. Found this very successful! Response very good! Learning takes place more now. When I first came, I looked at the children as Namosians. Now, I see them just as any other school children anywhere in Fiji. (Field Notes, NSS, 1994)
What seems apparent from the comments by the teacher is that a great deal would depend on the individual teacher in the rural area, especially with regard to his or her attitudes towards the rural children. Baker (1988) highlighted some aspects of negative attitudes towards schooling in rural areas and according to him, these attitudes are present at national, school and individual level. At individual level, Baker asserts that:
The same negative attitudes tend to prevail among some teacher's and principals on the school level. A number are convinced (and perhaps justly) that they are on a 'punishment transfer' assignment, a kind of exile in their own land, when they are sent to a school in a deprived rural area. They may have the attitude of passing the time in one way or another, often by taking excessive leave and putting forth a minimum of effort in the classroom(Baker, 1988, p.381)
While it may be obvious that teachers may be laden with some
preconceived ideas about the rural population, the rural community, it
seems, also have their share of negative attitudes. For example, most of
the parents did not want teachers to remain too long in the school. This
was especially so with about one quarter of the teachers who were least 142 qualified as well as unqualified for teaching, but were still retained at the school for more than eight years. What usually happened was that many of the concerned parents would be complaining among themselves about such teachers and how they would want them to leave the school and make room for well-qualified teachers. But when it came to the School
Annual General Meeting at the end of the year, only very few strong parents would speak up for the transfer of the long serving teachers, while the rest would opt to remain silent. According to one of the ladies that had over the years raised issues concerning the least qualified and unqualified teachers in the school:
Teacher, you know these people. You know what they are like. They talk, talk and talk. But when it comes to the School Annual General Meeting, who would speak. No. No one. They are liumuri people!(Field Notes, Waivaka 1997).
What normally happened was that some faction of the community had become closely associated with certain teachers in the school. Due to the closely-knit nature of the community, the number of people who had become friends with the teachers and had also benefited from then- favours had also increased. There were also those that had not got the strength of character to speak up in the Meeting. So eventually the number of people who supported the concern that certain teachers be removed from the school turned out to be minimal. The motion to transfer 143 long serving teachers, especially those that were unqualified as well as least qualified was always out-voted as the Principal would also attempt to justify the issue. Most often, after the Principal had outlined the school's or his stance on the issue, the people would instantly respond:
O, io, io! Dina, dina taucoko! (Meaning, Yes, it's true).
However, as soon as these people returned to their home, the same old gossip about the teachers was brought up again, and the vicious circle began all over again. Such attitudes of the people as previously highlighted in the auto-biography of the researcher, and which she has termed liumuri or treachery is quite pervasive in Namosi. This concept of liumuri, or treachery means that one tends to say one thing in the presence of one and another thing in his absence. This is an element in the Namosi society that is negatively affecting the education of their children. It may seem like an aspect of respect, but in actual fact, it is a mixture of insecurity and some degree of dishonesty in a person. Insecure in the sense that the people are not sure of what outcome being honest about teachers' issues would bring on their children; and dishonest in the sense that they are lying about their true feelings. However, whichever way one chooses to view the attitudes of both the teachers and the parents, one thing that seemed apparent was that the parents had not actually 144 understood that their children were becoming the victims of their hypocritical attitudes.
What was obvious from interviews and discussions with teachers was that there were a couple of reasons why teachers chose to remain at the school for a period of time. One was that they were happy with the current headship in the school. Another was that they liked their quarters for it had all the amenities a house in the town is expected to have. As one of them said they were lucky to have free electricity in the night. Also there were some teachers who pointed out that it was economical teaching in
Namosi. They did not have to pay for water or electricity. Even the cost of travelling to town was relatively cheap. According to some of the young, married teachers Namosi was a place they could save money in preparation for their urban service.
The Students
Since its establishment, Namosi Secondary School has encompassed both
boarders and day students. Of the total school population of 293 in 1997,
168 were day students while the remaining 125 were boarders. 145
The Day Students
The day students were those who traveled from home to school and back daily. These resided in the four villages of the Namosi District, and about five percent of them came from scattered settlements between the village of Namosi and a neighbouring district. At the beginning of the secondary school, students from the four villages in the Namosi District were encouraged to come and board at the school. However, due to some preferences by the parents and with the constant increase in the number of students from distant areas within the Province, there is less pressure now by the Principal for students from these villages, to come and board at the school.
The four Namosi District villages were of varying distances from the school. The two nearest were about one and a half kilometres away. A third village, Narukunibua, was located about four kilometres away while the furthest, Waivaka, was about a distance of six kilometres from the school. The students of the furthest village were about the earliest to school every morning. 146
One of the problems faced by day students was in-sufficient time for doing homework; besides, they were too exhausted to do any more work when they reached home after school. The Principal explained that, for the first time in 1997, the School was opening at half past six in the morning to cater for students who wished to do study early in the morning. Some of the teachers had pointed out that they were happy to see students from distant villages coming early and doing some study and preparatory work on their own. Students too indicated that the
arrangement to have study before school in the morning was vital for
them as they could complete their assignment and prepared for the day
before them. In the afternoon a similar arrangement was made for the day
students. An hour after school every day was extended for the purpose of
the day students to do their study. During this hour, teachers were more or
less required to remain back at school to assist their students in whatever
problems they might encounter in doing their assignment.
The principal said that at the beginning of the 1997 school year, she had
written to parents of candidates who were sitting public examinations to
allow their children to remain back at school for another hour to do their
homework. This was one way the school could counter some of the 147 difficulties the child was confronted with at home in doing his homework.
At the time of this fieldwork, the Principal had mentioned that only very few parents had responded to her letter.
The researcher meanwhile met with some of the parents whom the principal had written to and asked them if they had received the
Principal's letter and had gone to see her. A number of those who had not responded said that time was a factor. They had other children to look after at home, and did not know what would be the right time to see the
Principal at the school. A few of the parents said that it was sheer negligence on their part, and were quite apologetic about it. There were several of them that said outrightly that the Principal should do what she thought was right for the children to pass their exam and she was the best person to decide. According to such parents:
The principal is the boss. Me lewa ga o koya (Meaning whatever she decides on, we'll agree (Field Notes, NSS 1997).
The day students were asked about their views on the extra hour at school every afternoon for doing homework. The children of Waivaka said that they found it very useful in the sense that they were having an early night's rest and would be fresh for an early start to school. The teachers 148 also indicated that the extended hour after school every day and the early morning study were of great assistance to the day students.
The Boarders
Boarding for both boys and girls became an established feature of the school since its inception in 1985. One of the basic reasons for having boarding in the school was to cater for the children of distant villages within the Province of Namosi for whom the secondary was initially built, and for the children of two of the neighbouring villages in the Naitasiri
Province. The two villages of Naitasiri were included in the ownership of the school for basically two reasons. One was that Namosi Secondary
School was the closest to them and therefore was quite economical in terms of the rural population, which do not have regular income. Another was that the viability of establishing a secondary school at Namosi would depend to a large extent on some estimated number of school populations yearly. It was then necessary to request the two villages from the neighbouring province to agree in practice to send their children to
Namosi Secondary School. Namosi Province is a home to more than seven thousand indigenous Fijians whose overall education was lagging behind in relation to the other Provinces in Fiji. So when Namosi 149
Secondary School was established in 1985, for the first time secondary schooling became accessible to the great number of children who would not have had the opportunity to obtain secondary education at forms five and six level.
In 1997, the number of student boarders at the school was 125, out of the total school population of 293. Of the total number of student boarders, about fifty percent (50%) came from the Province of Naitasiri. Again about one third of the Naitasiri school population came from other villages in the Province. These were mainly Catholic students who opted to attend Namosi Secondary School other than the non-Catholic secondary schools near their homes. The other two thirds were from the two villages that officially belonged to the school. The fifty-percent of the student boarders from the Namosi Province came from the distant districts within the Province itself.
Boarding facilities at the school were nothing to complain about. There were two hostels for the girls and a relatively large one to accommodate the boys. The hostels had all the necessary amenities including electricity.
Near the main school block was a huge well-lit school hall. This was the 150 venue for daily night study. At least two teachers were rostered every week to supervise study for the boarders. Night study for the boarders began at seven, and continued till eight thirty for the junior forms one to three. For the rest of the forms, study finished at ten o'clock.
Hostel Management
From the inception of the secondary school an agreement was reached between the School Committee and a Society of native Catholic nuns that one or two nuns from the Society would come to look after the affairs of the boarders at the school. Directly responsible to the Principal, the nuns were to manage the food and the girls' hostels whilst someone else was to be in charge of the boys dormitory. The afternoon activities by the
boarders were to be supervised by an elder from the village.
During this field study in 1997, the nun in charge of the overall boarding,
said that she had come at the beginning of that year as there was a need to
replace her predecessor on account of some recurring problem during the
two years she served in the school. The nun pointed out that things were
quite good at the boarding section. However, she admitted that sometimes
there were role clashes between the teachers and her. For example, where 151 in some cases, she was supposed to take charge of the boarders, she would instead, find a teacher already assuming the duty. According to the nun :
When such a thing happened, I tried my best to be accomodating. Also I tried to view the incident positively, and think that the teacher was trying to assist me in my work. (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
However, according to the Principal, the nun had been issued with some job specification on her arrival at the school at the beginning of the year.
The nun still maintained that since her arrival at the school, she was always unclear about her role in the hostel. For example, there were a couple of times, when without her prior knowledge, the Principal had sent some female boarders on an errand or even taken them to some villages for meetings. The nun admitted that some of those incidents were a cause of anxiety for her, for often she did not know what to do.
Another obvious example pointed out by the nun was to do with the male boarders. She said that on her arrival at the school, she was never informed by the School Authority that she was also to look after the boys in their hostel. She said that she came to learn of this role in looking after the boys when later on in Term One, 1997, a group of male boarders turned up to her to gain her permission to go for a swim in a nearby river.
According to the nun: When the boys came, I thanked God that they had done so.I tried my best not to anything that would hurt them. When I learnt that the Principal had directed them to me, I just said to them, "Yes you may go. "(Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
During the field study, the researcher was told of a number of incidents whereby some of the boarders were expelled from the school. There was also an incident that had occurred the previous year whereby a good number of male boarders had threatened some of the male teachers. Not long before this field study, a couple of student boarders were expelled from the school. Their expulsion was due to breaking of rules in the hostel. Following is an extract from the School Log-Book on the students expulsion:
The School has decided, after consultation with the Ministry to expel the following two students for breaking the hostel rules which are generally scandalous to the school (Field Notes, School Log Book, NSS, 1997).
After some quite undesirable experiences in the boys' hostel one of the young single male teachers had volunteered to look after the boys. The
Principal and the Vice principal admitted that there was much improvement in the boy's hostel now and the boys were behaving much better. The boy's attitudes were changing for the better. The nun had alsc reported some improvements in the hostel management, and that she was trying her best to be accommodating. 153
What seemed apparent from the study of boarding life at Namosi was that
there were feelings of uncertainty and vagueness about people's responsibilities. None of the ones, either directly or indirectly involved
with the boarding life at the school now had a good background
knowledge of the history and establishment of the Secondary School. It
also seemed obvious that no one even dared to look into the background
history of boarding at the school. Those feelings of uncertainty and
vagueness were negatively affecting the very lives and education of those
that had to inevitably live under the system - the boarders.
Relations Among Staff Members
Perhaps relations among the school staff members could be understood
from the words of Sister Mary Florence, the nun that was looking after the
boarders during this field-work. In describing the manner in which the
teachers related with each other, the nun said:
Teacher, the way these teachers work together, anyone would think they all belong to one religion (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
Relations among the staff members were generally good, During the six
weeks' field study the researcher attested to the staffs unity as they
gathered at their congested staff-room for morning tea every day. 154
Conversations ranged from current events in the city to school and also from the localities. All the teachers seemed to look forward to their time together at morning tea- time during which there was evidence of much socialising.
Every Friday, a period preceding the morning break was used by the school for their School Church Service. The whole school, including all members of the staff was required to attend. The Service, which was always conducted by the Parish Priest, was attended by all members of the staff irrespective of their religion. It was after one of the Church Services that the researcher saw one of the teachers deeply engrossed in prayer while the Church was becoming empty. However, she found out later that the teacher was a non-Catholic.
The Principal also pointed out that staff members of both the adjacent
Namosi Catholic School and the Secondary School were meeting once a week in different teacher's home to have prayer meetings after which they shared dinner. The prayer sessions were led by a different faith group each time they met. However, since Namosi was a Catholic School it was during such an evening that the Principal would try to share with her staff 155 about the character of a Catholic School. The Principal had noted the change in attitudes of the staff and she posited that it might be the outcome of the familial environment she was trying to promote.
Almost all of the teachers that were interviewed spoke of how happy they were at the school. Even the very young single and married teachers alike said that they would like to spend a couple of years there. One obvious reason the teachers were happy at the school was that they said their
Principal was a good and fair leader. They were also satisfied with the feeling of comradeship they experienced in the school. A teacher who had just spent a year at the school mentioned how happy she was to have a fair
Principal. According to the teacher:
The Principal is very fair and very human. She is trying her best to improve the academic performance in the school (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
Of the relations among the staff, another teacher who had spent only two years at the school said:
Relations among the staff are very good. There's a feeling of comradeship that I did not find in my previous school (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
It was obvious from speaking with the staff that they were generally
happy with their leader. They admitted to having a fair and caring 156
Principal who had a lot of trust for them. Perhaps having a fair leader may somehow or other contribute to staff unity. The lady Principal herself when describing her relations with her staff members said:
To me, my staff members are all the same. They are like one big family (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
From the study of relations among the members of the staff a few things became evident. What seemed to be creating a feeling of unity and comradeship was the weekly getting together as one big family to pray together and share their meals. In addition, there was the Church Service that everybody attended and from the outset, seemed to have been creating some meaningful experience for some members of the staff. It was also apparent that the fair and caring nature of the Principal was generating a conducive work environment for the teachers. According to the members of the staff, their principal was a hardworking person who was always leading by example.
Relations Between Teachers and Students
The classroom is probably the best place to observe how the teacher relates with his or her students. 157
At Namosi Secondary School, relations between the teachers and students were generally good. In the classroom, the teacher maintained a rather formal approach towards the students and the latter as reported by the teachers were respectful towards them. The teachers that tended to be formal in their approach to students in the classroom were, generally,
those that were less qualified. For example, a whole period taken by one
such teacher was used with a very brief introduction of what was to be
covered in the lesson, followed by students copying notes word for word
from the text. Following was the lesson for that particular period:
Form One's Social Science Lesson Topic: Activities of the Bushmen
Teacher: Come on students, take out your exercise books Quickly. Now copy these notes in your book. Students: (They copied from the text book).
The whole period was taken up with note writing. When the bell rang, the
teacher instructed the class to close their book and study their notes for
homework. Class for that period was rigidly focussed on the text, and
there was no effort by the teacher to explain beyond the text. Besides,
children were not allowed any room for either questioning or discussion. 158
Although classroom situations were rather formal, students complained of how they were harangued by some of their teachers and even labeled with derogatory terms. The students asserted that there were teachers that, instead of using the time to teach the lesson, would spend it talking about other things and covering very little time for the actual lesson.
Both the Principal and the Vice-Principal attested to what the students explained with regard to the negative attitudes of some of the teachers.
According to the principal:
When I'm walking past the classroom, I could tell which teachers have much care and concern for the students and which have not (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
The Vice-Principal also agreed that some of the teachers did have some pre-conceived ideas about students. He gave examples of negative comments by the teachers, and one such remark as reported by him was:
No wonder you are like this because you are kai veikau (meaning bush people) (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
The Vice-Principal said that teachers must respect the students for who and what they were and not pointing out their weaknesses all the time. He agreed that if nothing good was said about the students, they would naturally tend to think they were good for nothing and perhaps lose their self-esteem. 159
Students often discussed the negative attitudes of some of the teachers towards them. They knew which of the teachers were good to them and which of them were not. For example, the Vice-Principal mentioned that he heard students talk about teachers among themselves and comments such as this came forth:
Oh that teacher. He has nothing good to say about us (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
Students in higher forms also pointed out that explanations of some of the teachers were vague and unclear, that most of the time they could not comprehend what was being explained. Another aggravating factor mentioned by the students was that some teachers gave piles of notes without explanations. Students of Chemistry in 1994 complained about how their Chemistry teacher had given about 13 pages of notes that they had had to take down, but admitted to having very little understanding of.
The students asserted that when the teacher did explain, her explanations were unclear. When students asked the teacher to explain some points they were unclear about, the teacher would respond:
You read your notes (Field Notes, NSS, 1994). In defending themselves, teachers of History and Biology, for example, argued that their lessons required a lot of note taking, but again complained of the lack of understanding of the subjects by the students. 160
One of the teachers complained of the lack of analytical skills by the students. But this stood to reason for how could they have such skills when at the same time the same teachers commented on how poor the same children were in their English skills. A Peace-Corp teacher at the school had some sympathy for the students whom she remarked should have been taught analytical skills from their young age.
What seemed apparent from the study of relations between the teachers and the students was that the key element in the establishment of a healthy rapport between the student and the teacher was the teacher. For example, the teacher who had had a different perception of the students and the school when he first came into the school. As apparent from what he told the researcher mat it was only after he had changed his attitudes towards the students that his interactions with them became meaningful and he also found his teaching to be more effective when he became empathetic towards the problems the children were facing. It was also obvious that certain teachers' prejudices were coloring their judgement of children and was, to some degree, adversely affecting teaching and learning in the classroom. 161
School Curriculum
The School has a population of 293 students and seventeen teachers including the Principal. There were altogether nine forms. There was one
Form One, one Form Two; Forms three to Five had two streams each and there was only one Form Six. At the commencement of the secondary school, an agreement was made that three primary feeder schools would send their class six students to Namosi Secondary School to begin Form one there. All the three Primary schools had been following the agreement faithfully, until about a few years ago when two schools decided to retain their students and send them to secondary school after class seven. One
factor that contributed to the retention of class seven students in the
primary school was that parents were finding it rather costly especially in
terms of boarding at the secondary school. However, this explained why
there was a fewer number of students at Forms One and Two at the
secondary school. The Form One students of Namosi Secondary School
now are those that come from Namosi Catholic Primary School. So
students from outside Namosi District enter the secondary at Form Three
level. The fact that two feeder schools were sending in their students at
Form Three level was having a negative impact on schooling at Namosi
generally. There are school facilities that are essential components of the 162 curriculum at secondary level but are not present in the primary school.
For example, the form one students in the secondary school do technical drawing, but this is absent from the Class Seven Primary Curriculum.
This is just an example, but there are many more. Many of the teachers said that the students who began form one at the secondary were much better than those who entered the system at Form Three. Most of the time teaching and progress in class was being held back because the form three teacher had to go back to the form one work which the students from the other schools had not covered.
With regard to the official curriculum, the school offered English,
Mathematics, Basic Science, Social Science, Home Economics,
Woodwork, Technical Drawing and Fijian in Forms One and Two. In form three an additional subject, Accounting, was offered. At form three, students, are required to study seven subjects. For boys, there was a choice between Accounting and Technical Drawing. All secondary school students throughout Fiji are required to sit a maximum of seven subjects in the Fiji Junior Examination (FJC), a public examination taken at the end of form four as a qualifying examination for form five. In addition to the seven subjects, there were also some core requirements. These 163 included, Physical Education, Music and Art. Since it is a Mission School it also offered Religion as one of the non-examinable subjects. This was taught by the Catholic teachers and two of the local Catholic Catechists.
The official school curriculum in the senior forms five and six were relatively better than when the secondary started. Over the years the number of subjects offered at the senior forms had steadily increased from eight, to nine and then to eleven. Since 1995 the number of subjects offered at the school had remained at twelve. The subjects included
English; Mathematics; Biology; Chemistry; Physics; History; Geography;
Fijian; Technical Drawing; Wood technology; and Food and Nutrition. In addition to these were the core requirements - Physical Education, Music and Art, Religion and Careers. So in 1997 when this field study was conducted, the senior forms' curriculum looked quite flexible in the sense that students had a number of options to choose from. From a Science- biased curriculum in the early days of the secondary school to a more balanced one now as was obvious from the list of subjects offered at the school.
When the Principal was asked if she considered the present curriculum a relevant one for Namosi Secondary School considering that most of the school leavers would head back to the village on leaving school, she 164 admitted that the curriculum was rather irrelevant for the majority of the students. What she would like to see being introduced in the school was
Agricultural Science. This subject would prepare the students for village life where they would utilize the land for their means of livelihood. In addition, the Principal was very eager to incorporate vocational studies into the school system. She asserted that having vocational studies in the area would be meaningful to a large number of students who would not be able to achieve academically. However, for Agricultural Science, she hoped the subject would be introduced in 1998.
Although Namosi Secondary School is rurally and distantly located, it has done relatively well over the years with regard to public examinations.
The Principal indicated that she was happy with the results of the Fiji
Junior Examination over the last few years. Table 4. 2 shows the results of the Fiji Junior Certificate Examination, a National Examination which is taken at the end of form four. Included in the Table are the following: the
year of the examination; the number of students that sat for the
examination; the percentage that passed; the number of students in three
different grades- A, B and C 165
Table 4.2 : Namosi Secondary School- Fiji Junior Examination Results from 1988 -1996 Year No. No. % A Grade B Grade C Grade Sat Passed Passed
1988 38 32 84 - 4 28
1989 32 31 97 - 7 24
1990 33 32 97 2 12 18
1991 33 30 91 2 13 15
1992 41 40 98 3 15 12
1993 42 39 93 2 25 14
1994 40 40 100 - 22 18
1995 51 51 100 2 23 26
1996 54 54 100 1 19 34
Source : Namosi Secondary School File, 1997
The present Principal assumed the headship from January 1995, when her predecessor went on leave and subsequently passed away. The principal explained to the researcher how much emphasis she was putting on the
Fiji Junior Examination. The researcher had even noted how very little was brought up about the Fiji School Leaving Certificate Examination in her discourse with the Principal. The Principal intimated that the F.J.C.E 166 must be looked into, before the senior exam could be improved upon.
Perhaps the Fiji Junior results of 1995 and 1996 were indicative enough of the objectives of the Principal and the school as a whole.
The emphasis on the Fiji Junior Certificate Examination may not only feature in the Namosi Secondary School curriculum, but may also be present in the rest of the secondary schools in Fiji, rural and urban. For example, results of the Exam over the years have indicated that Namosi
Secondary School is just as good as any rural or urban secondary school
in Fiji. This is mainly with the percentage of students passing the Exam,
although, obviously the number of students sitting at each school would
be vastly different. Namosi is categorised as a small school with the
school roll of 300 to 400 hundred students. There are the large and very
large secondary schools whose population would range from seven
hundred to one thousand students. It is also important to note that for the
seven subjects candidates sit in the Fiji Junior Certificate Examination,
they are required to pass six with a minimum of 300 marks. Therefore
included in the percentage of the number that pass would be those whose
marks range from 300 to 600. Table 4. 3 below shows the Fiji Junior 167 marks and their equivalent grades as regulated by the Fiji's Ministry of
Education.
Table 4.3: Fiji Junior Marks and Equivalent Grades
MARKS GRADES
480 - 600 A
390 - 479 B
300 - 389 C
Although there is a lot of competition among students and schools to
obtain the best grades in the FJC Examination, passing the exam even
with an A grade is not a qualification for entry into any decent field of
work. However, there are schools in Fiji that discriminately use the
examination as a selection criteria for entry into Form Five in their school.
Namosi Secondary School has no option but to promote all the passing
candidates in the Fiji Junior Certificate Examination to Form Five every
year. Usually some of the selective schools do not even retain their C
graders in the exam.Every year since 1986, Namosi Secondary School has
been presenting candidates for the Fiji School Leaving Certificate
Examination (FSLC). The following Table 4. 4, illustrates the year, the
number of candidates that sat and all the marks obtained in descending
order: 168
Table 4.4: Namosi Secondary School FSLC Results and the
Year of the Examination YEAR AND THE MARKS OBTAINED IN DESCENDING ORDER 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
238 297 258 260 263 276
227 273 256 235 227 268
224 265 242 230 226 256
218x2 259 226 229 225 244
217 248 223 226 221x3 238
212 243 221 221 214 236
210X2 232 219 208 209 225
208 227 217 207 208 218
205 223 212 213 •
201 222 208 212 -
200 219X2 206X3 - - -
203 202
202
201 Source Ministry of' Educationn, FSLC 1991-1996996 Candidate Result Reports. 169
Table 4. 5: Namosi Secondary School FSLC Examination - No. of Students Sat, % Passed and Year of the Examination
Year No. Sat No. Passed % Passed
1991 31 13 41
1992 21 15 71
1993 28 16 57
1994 34 08 23.5
1995 36 12 33.3
1996 27 10 37
Source: Ministry of Education FSLC Examination, Candidate Results Report, 1991,1992,1993,1994,1995 and 1996
In the Fiji School Leaving Certificate Examination (FSLC) that is sat at
the end of Form Six, the students are required to sit a maximum of five
subjects. The compulsory subjects are English and Mathematics and three
others. However, they are required to obtain an aggregate of at least 200
marks out of four subjects that must include English and Mathematics.
According to Table 4.5, a good percentage of the candidates that sat the
exam in 1992 passed. In addition, the year also had relatively the greatest
number of candidates that passed with marks of over 250. Three of the 170 teachers that taught those 1992 students said that the majority of the candidates that year were bright and hardworking. Nevertheless, according to Table 4. 5, the percentage of successful students in the FSLC since 1994 seemed to have dropped. This could perhaps point to the emphasis that the school had on the FJC Examination. It is obvious from the percentages of candidates that passed in both examinations, the FJC and the FSLC in the years 1994, 1995 and 1996 as tabulated in Table 4. 2 and Table 4. 5 respectively that the examinations' results were a reflection of the overall objectives of the school or as what some educators term the school's ' hidden curriculum'. What also seems apparent from the results is that the success of any student of Namosi in the examination would depend, to a large extent, on the Principal and his or her leadership role in effecting desired outcome in the school.
In Fiji, in order to gain a place in any academic institution, such as the
University of the South Pacific, the Fiji School of Medicine which trains qualified young men and women of Fiji and from the South Pacific
Region to become doctors, or the Fiji College of Advance Education
(FCAE), which trains successful young people to become teachers in junior secondary schools, a successful candidate must obtain an aggregate 171 mark of more than 250 in the FSLC. But this is inadequate in itself.
Nowadays, the 250 marks and over have become the qualifying mark for
Form Seven, which candidates must pass with marks well over 250 in four subjects to be able to gain entry into one of the academic tertiary institutions. Since 1991, as apparent from Table 4. 5 only about eleven percent of the Namosi Secondary School successful candidates in the
FSLC could qualify for higher academic institutions.
In his Opening Speech at the last Namosi Provincial Meeting of the year
(1977), Fiji's Prime Minister, Hon. Sitiveni Rabuka urged the people of
Namosi to place the education of their children as their priority. He pointed out to the people that the Ministry of Fijian Affairs, which exclusively looks after the welfare of the indigenous Fijians and
Rotumans, has set up a Fijian Education Scheme which seeks to award
scholarships to deserving Fijians. To date, as obvious from statistics, the people of Namosi are not benefiting from this scheme.
The Prime Minister asked:
Why aren't aspirants from Namosi not quite attaining the minimum education standards required to qualify for such scholarships? (Fiji News, Daily Post, Thursday, November 6th, 1997). 172
As the people of Namosi sat at the Meeting, a lot of questions might have stirred through their minds. One perhaps, who is to blame for the poor education of their children. Some of the answers will be surfacing in the chapters on the Community and the School.
Schooling and Employment
For many people in Namosi, schooling (formal schooling in the classroom) is associated with kila ha or gaining knowledge and employment. When children go to school, they are sent with the parents hoping that they will gain knowledge and subsequently have a good job one-day. According to most of the parents:
We want our children to go to school and to gain some knowledge and after do some work (paid employment) (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
On being asked what type of work the parents would like their children to take up after schooling, the majority of them did not specify.
According to one mother:
I want my children to study hard so that they can work and earn money. I tell them it doesn't look nice if after you leave school, you come and stay around the village and do nothing. (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
However, although the parents and the community of Namosi perceived
schooling as a means to an end (children getting some form of 173 employment after leaving school), success rates in the FSLC Examinaion and the quality of marks gained, did not look too promising for such perceptions. Table 4. 6 illustrates the number of students that sat the
FSLC, the number that passed, the year of the exam and the different forms of employment the successful candidates have taken up. The researcher has been starring with the year 1991 since this was the year the school became relatively established with the FSLC. Prior to 1989, the
Form Six students were required to sit the University Entrance
Examination (UE) which used to be prepared in New Zealand, but was quite irrelevant to the needs of the society here in Fiji. 174
Table 4.6: Namosi Secondary School FSLC Results and the Successful Candidates' Employment
Year No. No. USP Teacher F7 Doctor Nurse F6 FTT/PNT Police Home Sat. Psd
1991 31 19 - 4 - - 1 - 2 1 2
1992 20 15 - 1 7 1 1 1 3 - 1
1993 28 16 - 3 1 - 3 3 - - 5
1994 34 08 - 1 2 - - 2 1 1 -
1995 36 12 - 2 3 - 1 3 2 - -
1996 27 11 - 2 3 - 2 1 1 1 -
Source: Namosi Secondary School File, 1997.
From the table above it seems obvious that no candidate from Namosi
Secondary School went to the University of the South Pacific from 1991 to 1996. This was mainly due to the qualifying mark for entry into the
Institution. For a student to obtain entry into USP, the qualifying mark was 250 and over, out of the total of four subjects. However, that was relevant at the time when passing with such marks at Form Six was the qualifier for entry into the USP. Now, to gain entry into the university, a student is required to pass the Form Seven Examinations with over 250 marks in four subjects. The most qualified candidate in 1992 opted to take 175 up medicine. Since 1991, a good number have been taken into the Corpus
Christi Teachers' College, a Catholic Primary Teachers' Training
Institution here in Suva, Fiji. At the Institution, however, obtaining marks in the FSLC is not the only qualifier, there are other factors for consideration before entry is given. Other work places were not very discriminative in their selection of trainees. In fact at the Post and
Telecommunication Department, absorption of those students from
Namosi Secondary School was mainly due on 'whom you know basis'. A person from Namosi holds an executive post in the Company. The post
holder who is also closely related to the researcher once said to the latter:
Well, I see no reason why we should not let our people into the Company too. If other people from other provinces are admitting their own people into work places, I see no reason why we shouldn't, especially when our young people have also got the same or even better qualifications.(Dialogue in Suva, 1993).
Discussions have been mainly on those students who have been successful
over the years, what of those that have failed the FSLC.
According to the Principal:
I want the school to take up Agricultural Science from next year if arrangements go well. But what I really want to see being part of the school is vocational training. Since the majority of our students will go back to the village when they leave school, I think the best alternative here at Namosi is to have vocational training. The students will learn different (1997). 176
From the study of the school a number of things became obvious. Firstly, the majority of its staff members, about three-quarters were teachers trained specially to teach in junior forms one to four. About one third of the teachers were under-qualified - they were either not academically or professionally qualified. Besides there were those that were teaching
subjects they were not trained for. All these were adversely affecting the
quality of schooling in Namosi. Secondly, the school Principal was able to
effect a family atmosphere among the staff members by her good and
exemplary leadership, as testified by the staff. This was also evident in her
emphasis on the Fiji Junior Certificate Examination in which the school
had obtained a hundred percent pass in the last three years. It was an
indication that the rest of the staff were following her direction.
Obviously, from the examinations' results, a lot more still needs to be
done not only by the school, but also by the Ministry of Education,
especially on placement of good teachers in rural secondary schools. 177
CHAPTER FIVE
THE COMMUNITY
Introduction
Chapter four dealt with the secondary school. This chapter will focus on
the community. The community that will be studied in relation to the
secondary school encompasses four neighbouring villages that are the
components of the Namosi District. The villages are: Namosi, the closest
to the school, Navuniyasitu, Narukunibua and Waivaka, which is the
furthest village from the school. Since aspects of life in these four villages
are more or less the same, a study of one of them would be sufficient for
the purpose of this study. Waivaka was therefore selected mainly for
pragmatic reasons. The researcher herself comes from Waivaka and
therefore she understands the situations there. In addition, staying in
Waivaka for several weeks would be relatively unobtrusive for the
purpose of study.
The description of Waivaka village will fall under various headings.
These include: the history of the village and the description of the village
as it is today. 178
History
According to Waivaka village elders, their village had been inhabited by
different migration routes. The three mataqali or sub-clans that have come
to be known as the kwai Waivaka (people of Waivaka) have come to live
there for different traditional reasons. The Nadakuni mataqali had came
from a coastal area near the city of Suva. Traditionally, the Nadakuni sub-
clan acted as qwaqwa or warriors for the Tui Namosi in inter-tribal war-
fares during pre-colonial times. The second mataqali, the Loma,
originated from a man who had come to Waivaka from Naitasiri in search
of employment in what the elders of Waivaka described as a 'local gold
rush' in the early 20th century. According to the elders of Waivaka, gold
was found at an area about three kilometres away from the village of
Waivaka, and which drew a lot of people from other provinces to the
village. The lone male migrant later married a woman of the third
mataqali, which had already settled at Waivaka. The third mataqali is
Nabuacoko. According to oral tradition, the latter originated from the
upper Namosi region, where they had lived in close proximity to the Tui
Namosi. However, a rift had occurred between two Namosi high chiefs,
and the Nabuacoko sub-clan, out of fear of what might befall their chiefs,
fled from the area and found settlement several kilometers from where the 179 village of Waivaka is now located. The tribe later resettled at Waivaka.
Except for the Loma mataqali, the other two, Nadakuni and Nabuacoko had a good knowledge of their yavutu (original place of settlements).
According to the elders of Waivaka, a local person can only say that he is from an area if he can identify with his yavutu. (An aerial view of
Waivaka village is seen on Photo 5.1. On Photo 5.2 is a picture of a young
Waivaka family, typical of the young parents of the village, today).
Waivaka Village Now
The various sub-headings that will be discussed under this section will
comprise: the social organisation; beliefs; language; food; daily activities;
economic activities; education and relations between parents and children.
Social Organisation
Waivaka village is a social unit structured into three different sub-clans,
or mataqali, the Nadakuni, the Nabuacoko and the Loma. Each mataqali
is headed by a turaga ni mataqali (chief of the mataqali) who,
181 is usually, the eldest male in the lineage. All the three mataqali that reside in Waivaka come under the umbrella of Nabukebuke, which is headed by the Tui Namosi. Therefore the traditional head or liuliu of Waivaka village is the Tui Namosi. The latter becomes the traditional liuliu for all
the villages in the Namosi Province. But because the chief can not live in
all these villages at one time there is an appointed representative of the
Tui Namosi at each village. At Waivaka village the chiefs representative
there was an elderly man of the Mataqali Nabuacoko. The latter is one of
the nine sub-clans that are natural components of the Yavusa. Nabukebuke.
The other two were subsumed into the Yavusa. According to local source,
the first Tui Nabukebuke originally had nine sons, and one of them was
the first male ancestor of the Nabuacoko Sub-clan. Information about the
origins of clans and sub-clans is treated by the community, as sacred
knowledge, and only a privileged few are expected to know about it.
However, if it happens that such knowledge is leaked to the public, it is
expected that the people will not discuss it publicly.
The mataqali is a social unit that is subdivided into smaller social groups
called the itokatoka or extended families. In Waivaka as in all other
villages in the Namosi Province, extended families are clustered in some 182 defined area of the village. This is so to facilitate the carrying out of social obligations in the various social units. The leaders of each group of extended families are usually the oldest males. These represent their groups at any village meeting specifically pertaining to the vanua or the
Province. For example, if the chief requires some assistance from the village, the liuliu ni koro would call on all these leaders for a meeting to decide on what is to be done.
A Fijian village normally consists of people who are grouped together according to blood and other kinship ties. Originally, the Waivaka people were related through marriage. But now, save for those that marry into the village, the majority of the inhabitants are related by blood. The maternal great-grandmothers of the present Mataqali Nadakuni, Loma and
Nabuacoko were sisters. In addition, the later descendants have also
intermarried across the three mataqali. In the process, according to the
elders of the village, e sa sokosoko na dra ni veiwekani meaning that
relation through blood is still thick and strong. People in Waivaka are very closely related. Beliefs
Waivaka village, like all the other villages in the District of Namosi are predominantly Catholic; however, aspects of their economic and every
day lives are still to some degree, manifestations of their beliefs in some
forms of ancestral gods.
In the early years of Catholicism in Namosi, there was only one Church
building for the whole Province. Now, however, every village is trying to
erect its own church building. Waivaka had built its present Church in
1961. On the Sunday when the parish priest of the district visits Waivaka,
the villagers would congregate at the church for the morning church
service. This happens about once a month. The rest of the Sundays in the
month, the Waivaka villagers are obligated by their Church law to attend
the church service at the district church that is situated near the secondary
school. This requires a five-kilometre walk up in the early morning of
Sunday, and back after the church service.
In Waivaka, ones commitment to God is usually gauged by his or her
regular attendance at the Sunday's Church Service, recital of daily
prayers, and also by one's active involvement in the church's activities. 184
There was a group of ladies that were neither interested in joining prayer groups nor attending the Sunday's Church Service. These ladies were notorious gossipper's and trouble makers. According to most of the women of Waivaka those trouble makers would not be able to change their old ways unless they prayed and went to church.
Another manifestation of one's faith is one's respect of a Catholic priest.
According to the Waivaka people or any Catholic for that matter, the priest is God's representative here on earth. Hence he must be revered and his belongings respected and not used or abused by the people.
Irreverence of holy people and places and things would evoke God's wrath and a curse on the offenders. Likewise any good deeds were believed to please God and therefore would in turn bestow many graces on the people with good deeds.
Although the Waivaka people are Catholics, aspects of their economic
and every day life are manifestations of their beliefs in their ancestral
gods or other spirits. For example the fact that some of them still hold
reservations about selling their root crops in the town demonstrated their
fear of the god of the plantation, whom they believe become displeased at
the exchange of traditional food with foreign items of trade. Yavutu or 185 ancestral sites are kept sacred by the owners and others, just as the present church locations are respected. The belief is that if the ancestral sites are destroyed or abused, a curse would befall the offender and his generations to come. So holy people and holy sites or places are accorded due respect.
It is apparent from this study that the lives of the people of Waivaka demonstrate that although they are Christians their world is still to some degree a part of the traditional supernaturalism.
Daily Activities
For most of the families in Waivaka, a day normally begins with prayer devotion. For Catholics there is a specially prepared prayer for both, morning and evening. These two sets of prayers are learnt off by heart.
Actually children learn by hearing from young, so it is not difficult to recite these prayers when they grow older.
By six o'clock breakfast is ready for the family. The school children are the first to consume their breakfast. By half past six many of the school children are already on their way to school. On the days when there is no truck to take the school children up to school, the children have to walk a 186 distance of five kilometres to get to school. The morning journey is not always an easy one. During the wet weather, walking could become a health hazard for the small primary school children. The pictures on
Figures: 5.3 and 5.4 respectively, depict an example of a typical rainy school day for the Waivaka school children. For the unlucky children who do not own an umbrella, the two options would be either to obtain a banana leaf to put over their head or put on a substitute instead of their good uniform which they would change into when they reach school. A walk to school would take about one and half hours for the small children and about an hour for the bigger ones. During fine mornings, the walk to school is not as bad as in the wet days, although the distance could be rather tiring and boring.
After the parents have seen their children off to school, the adults then have their share of breakfast and also make an early start to their plantations. The Waivaka villagers are subsistence farmers, whose crops mainly comprise: taro, cassava, yams and vegetables. A normal practice of the people is to work as groups. The village men would divide
188 themselves into several groups and concentrate on each group member's plantation. According to the people:
Working in groups was a sure way of bringing people together and also ensuring that the not so skilled or not so strong were catered for (Field Notes, Waivaka 1997).
The women would normally accompany their husbands to the plantation for there are some parts of the work that specifically belong to the womenfolk. However, by three o' clock the villagers would be seen returning from their toil. They would also ensure that they are there to receive their children back from school.
Returning from the plantation is not the end of the day for most of the men-folk. Afterwards, it is their usual time for socialising, talking around a bowl of grog until ten or eleven o' clock for some. The picture on Photo
5.5 depicts some Waivaka men socialising around a bowl of grog, where important decisions pertaining to the village developments are made.
For the womenfolk, a return from the plantation is immediately followed by preparation for the evening meal. In some instances the family's evening meal is marked by the absence of the man of the house, who,
190
Daily activities are sometimes interrupted by various social obligations from either the vanua (the chief), the Church or the School. Where the men and women are required to attend to social obligations, they have to respond accordingly. According to the people of Waivaka, those that do not usually listen to the call from those various obligations are:
Tamata murimuri lomadra (people who always want to follow their own way) and nothing good will come their way during their lifetime.(Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
A typical village in Namosi is like a ghost town by day when most of the children are at school while the parents tend to their plantations. The children of non-school age are cared for by the grandparents, or by some older women in the absence of their parents.
Language
According to the people of Namosi District, the only 'pure' Namosi dialect is the one spoken by the people of Namosi District themselves.
The dialect, they said was relatively unaffected by outside influences as the District is isolated. Almost all the provinces in Fiji have their own distinctive dialects. But Fiji's lingua franca is the Bauan dialect, which has also become the official language for instruction in the classroom where the Fijian Language is taught. 191
For the Waivaka people, the main medium of communication is the
Namosi dialect. It is the main means of transmitting their cultural values as their dialect has its own corresponding behaviour. According to the elders of Waivaka they would gauge a person's behaviour from the manner of his speech. So the people have to be careful not to offend others through talking. In traditional ceremonies, the choice and tone of the language must be appropriate. Important messages are conveyed in the words of the ceremonies. Therefore the communicator must practise the art of eloquence so that the messages are not misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Children learn the language through listening and imitating. At home they learn from their parents and older siblings. Learning the language is
contextualised. They learn technical terms in their different contexts; for example, they would learn the vocabulary for planting while out in the
plantation with their parents or other members of their peer group. As for the language of different ceremonies, boys would have to grow to a
certain age before they are allowed to join their fathers in any traditional
gathering. Traditional ceremonies, for example, a kava ceremony, are
only for the older men of the village. The young boys of sixteen or 192 seventeen are not normally allowed to participate. This is depending entirely on different traditional occasions.
Food
The Waivaka people are very much a part of their natural environment.
Their surroundings abound in root crops and varieties of leafy vegetables for human consumption. In the bush there are wild pigs, while the river and creeks also abound in fish. According to one of the ladies:
You know teacher, there are so many fish in the river but these young people are lazy to go fishing. They only like to see fish on the plate. (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
The people in the village could be some of the healthiest citizens in the country if they made good use of the food in their environments. The main problem is that, for most villagers, a breakfast comprising boiled taro and some boiled taro leaves to supplement, would be equated with pre-Colonial days. Besides, families that have kakana dina or boiled root crop for breakfast would be frowned upon as not being able to afford breakfast that comprises tea with either biscuits or pancakes or rice or buns. So a typical breakfast for a Waivaka family would consist of pancakes or biscuits or rice with tea and quite often tea with fresh cow's milk. As for lunch, most adults would spend the whole day in the 193 plantation. Some would prefer to take pre-packed lunch while others would opt to grill their lunch in the open fire in the plantation. Whichever way the adults choose, lunch would consist mainly of taro or cassava and some form of vegetable to supplement it. The evening meal is an occasion that most families look forward to. It is during this time that the whole family would be together, although in some cases the men of the families are noticeably absent. An evening meal is comparatively better than the lunch. Each family would work hard to have the kakana dinalike taro or cassava, with a supplement. Usually, the food supplement would consist
of tinned fish with some vegetables or some form of meat with vegetable
if the family have just returned from the city. With the opening of the road
to the area, the people have had quite a variety in their dish, especially in
the evening and also on the week-ends. Generally, the people of Waivaka
and those of Namosi district have never been in short supply of root crops,
except, of course, in times of natural disasters.
Schooling
The term schooling here means formal learning in the classroom, and for
the people of Waivaka education is a top priority in their life. All the work 194 that the adults do is mainly because they want their children to be educated. One of the young couples explained:
We tell our two boys to work hard in school. The work we do now is for you to get through your education. You must work hard and don't waste our efforts (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
Even during the village meetings, parents are often reminded by the elders to work hard for the education of their children. According to the elders and the parents, their children must not follow in their foot- steps. Most of them did not complete even their primary schooling, as they were bored with school. However, they often regretted that they had not received enough education to even enable them to communicate in English.
According to many elders:
It is foolish not to be educated. We can't speak with Europeans that come here. (Field Notes, Waivaka Village, 1997).
Of the 197 people in Waivaka, about 95 are adults. The latter include the
parents, other elders and young school leavers. All the parents of school
age children had received some form of education. Two thirds had been
educated up to class six level while the rest had received secondary
education. The school leavers, that comprised about one eighth of the
adults, had been educated up to form six level. Most of the parents had 195 been at school before Namosi Junior Secondary School came into existence.
All the Waivaka children attend Namosi Primary School and then continue on to Namosi Secondary School. The parents were asked if they were happy with their children schooling at the secondary school. Most of the parents interviewed said that they were happy with what the school was doing, especially with the results of the Fiji Junior Examinations. One of the mothers claimed:
We are happy with the results of the Fiji Junior. But some of these teachers need to be transferred. They have stayed too long here, and it's not good for our children (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
When asked about the results of the FSLC in Form Six some of the
parents pointed out that it was good that some students were passing and
added that perhaps in the future there would be more passes in the
external examination. However, two of the female parents particularly
highlighted what they perceived to be the uselessness of passing the FSLC
Examination:
What is the use of these students passing their FSLC Examination. Some of them, that passed the examination where are they now? They are just in the village doing nothing (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
In Waivaka there were a few Form Six school leavers who had passed
their FSLC but could not proceed to higher education because of the 196 quality of marks that they obtained in the FSLC examination. According to the parents and the elders of the village these students who had passed the examination, but could not obtain employment in the urban area, were useless. Although they were helping in many ways in their respective families and in the community as a whole, the general view as one of the parents voiced was:
These school leavers with FSLC should be in the town doing something instead of wasting their time here in the village (Field Notes, Waivaka Village, 1997).
Usually, results of the FSLC examination come out in late January when parents of Namosi wait anxiously to learn of their children's success.
Usually, at the announcement of their children's success, parents become excited. However, the excitement sooner or later dies down when parents search in vain for higher institutions or employment for their children. It
is usually after these unsuccessful efforts that parents discover that their
children's low marks do not qualify them for higher things. However,
even after the discovery of the low marks, parents still prefer them to be
in the town with some form of employment.
The people of Waivaka often discuss in their village meetings the
education of their children. School reports from both, the primary and 197 secondary schools showed that generally, the Waivaka children were seen to be tired towards the end of the school day. This is mainly due to the long walk from their home in the morning to attend school. For the little children in classes one and two, the walk would be an extra burden for them as they would have to wake up very early. Some of these small children would be arriving late to school and therefore would miss the first part of the morning lesson. To help these young children in their early years of schooling, the parents of Waivaka agreed to have a village community kindergarten for children between three and five years old.
According to some mothers:
This kindy is helping our children. It prepares our children for the primary. Even if they are late to school in class one, at least they know something already (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
Waivaka is the only village in the District that had a kindergarten at the
time of this field-study. Namosi had one, but it came to a stop as it had no
proper facilities. The teachers of Namosi Primary School had clearly
indicated the differences they were seeing in those that had attended
kindergarten education prior to their entry to primary schooling with those
199 that had not. Photo 5.6 shows the inside of the Waivaka Community
Kindergarten with the arrival of some resources donated by two donors, the British High Commission and Mr. Clive Amputch, Insurance and
Management Consultant. Photo 5.7 shows a meeting between the villagers and the Director of PDI in the Pacific concerning the kindergarten building.
A class one teacher in the primary school that the researcher had spoken with had explained how manageable the class one children from Waivaka were on the first few weeks of school compared to those from other villages without the kindergarten:
I can just see the difference between the class one children from Waivaka village and those from other villages. Those from Waivaka are easy to manage from the first day of school, and they already have knowledge of certain things like numbers and things. With the children from the other villages, it takes some time to settle them down. (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
The study of education at Waivaka shows that ninety eight percent (98%) of the villagers are literate, which means that they could either read or write. Since education is always an important item in their village meeting agenda as well as in the different families, it seems that the village as whole is heading towards better education for their children. The village
201 had set up a scholarship fund for its children. This is also indicative of their aspirations for better education. (Photos 5.8 and 5.9 show children that attend Waivaka kindergarten, and children of the same age group enjoy an evening together while parents look on).
Employment
Generally, employment is linked to education. The standard of education one achieves will be reflected in the nature and the kind of employment one has, although in many cases one may earn a different form of employment by years of experience. In addition, there may be instances where employment is gained through a method of 'who you know rather than what you know'. In this respect a non-deserving or under-qualified person may get the available employment ahead of the more qualified
one.
In Waivaka about thirteen percent of the population have paid
employment, but these live away from the village. Approximately fifty
percent of these have secured employment in the Civil Service while the
other half are employed in some partly owned Government businesses.
Four or fifty percent of those in the Civil Service have been promoted to 202 higher posts. However, nearly all of these had had a very good background education. They had sat the Overseas Cambridge
Examination set in London, and they had sat the examination in some well-established secondary schools away from Namosi. The nature of their work also reflects to some extent the kind of education they had also received. The non-Civil Servant employees have found work in places quite suited to their standard of education. Most or all of these are recent
school leavers from Namosi Secondary School who could not obtain
places in some higher institutions, due to the quality of their marks in the
FSLC Examination.
In addition to those in paid employment, there are about six male students
attending some form of higher education in the urban centre. Three of
them are currently doing Form Seven in two secondary schools in Suva
since Form Seven is not available in Namosi, and three are studying at a
the Fiji Technical Institute (FIT), a Government Technical Institute
situated about two kilometres from the city of Suva.
As far as education and gaining access to opportunities for further
development are concerned, the Waivaka people, particularly the educated 203 ones, are quite ambitious. For example, recently, one of the sons of
Waivaka had just received his pilot licence, and he is continuing to undergo training to fly even bigger planes. This particular person had taught for three years after graduating with a teaching certificate from the
Fiji College of Advanced Education (FCAE) a Government Teachers
Institution located about six miles form Suva. But he had always told the researcher who was his aunt that he wanted to be a pilot. After teaching for three years, he left teaching for a Pilot Training School. When the family was requesting the Government for some financial assistance, the boy told the researcher to write to the Minister of a particular Ministry and explain to him of his aspiration. Below is an extract from his letter:
I am fully aware of the number of students from other provinces who have received financial help towards their training to become pilots. I also know that some students have come out unsuccessful. As for me, I am very interested in flying, and I hope to be able to get through the training quickly, and to show the children of my province, Namosi, that nothing is impossible with hard work and determination. (An extract from a letter written by one son of Waivaka to a Government Minister in request for financial assistance towards his pilot training, Suva, 1997).
Out of those that are working in the urban centres, three hold Degrees from the University of the South Pacific. Meanwhile there are others who have enrolled to do part time courses at the university. All these show that the people in Namosi, as demonstrated in the study of Waivaka, hold education or formal schooling in the classroom as their top priority.
205
Photos 5.10 and 5.11 respectively show two daughters of Waivaka on their USP Graduation Day and the family members of the two graduates.
Economic Activities
Economic activities are closely related to the nature of the environment.
Namosi is generally rugged and mountainous with very little lowland area. The lowland areas are mainly by the river valleys that have relatively rich soil.
The lowland areas are mainly cultivated for crops such as taro, yams, bananas and cassava, although the latter could also be cultivated on the hill-sides. All these crops are perennial. Of the four, the one that is commonly sold by the people of the area in the urban market is dalo.
However, sale of the latter is still restricted by the traditional belief that extensive sale would make the land fallow and hence an evocation of the anger of the god of the plantation.
The sale of taro may only be confined to those that have a very large plantation. However, there are two things that thrive very well in
Namosi's wet climate: duruka or asparagus, and oranges. These two 206 provide yearly economic activities for the people of the area. Duruka and oranges are harvested in the same season. This is the season when a lot of people, males and females, travel in and out of their villages to the towns.
Duruka and oranges are in season for almost over three months. It is during this time that the teachers in both Namosi Secondary and Namosi
Primary Schools report the greatest number of student absenteeism. For many families this is an opportune time to bring their children down to town and to show them the different things in the town. Although most of the parents know that it is not right to take their children to town during school days, they also feel that it could be the only time their children would visit the urban centre when money is easily available. One of the parents had casually said to the researcher:
You know teacher, taking my children away from school for one or two days is nothing. They have so many other days to attend school. When they come back, nothing much has changed in school (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
Such a view by this parent clearly demonstrates the lack of knowledge parents have of the overall learning that take place in the classroom. This view by the parents can be minimised or eradicated if the teacher looks
for opportunity to educate the parents of the importance of children's regular attendance at school. 207
There is also another economic activity that involves a lot of people in
Waivaka. This is to do with planting kava and also uprooting it for trade purposes. Kava is one cash crop that brings in quite a substantial amount of money for a relatively poor village community. In Waivaka, suitable land for cultivating the crop could be found in areas about five to seven kilometres away from the village. Therefore to carry kava stalks and other things to those distant sites requires the assistance of many. This is when the owner of the plantation would request a number of his extended family members to help him to his plantation. Likewise during the harvesting of the crop, the same thing is repeated. A group of people, usually the adults are asked to help. Usually those that provide assistance are rewarded with a good meal and a bowl of grog to finish off.
The people of Waivaka rely on kava. From its sale the people said they have been able to build their homes, send their children to school and
improve their standard of life. According to an elder of Waivaka:
It is the lazy and silly people that don't think of planting kava now. To have a kava plantation means to have a secure future( Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
The village has a six-acre kava plantation. This plantation has been running for about seven years now. The villagers were talking about their 208 first sale of kava from their village plantation, which fetched about seven thousand dollars ($7,000). But that was only about one tenth of the plantation. The village men and women spend one day a week on their village plantation. In addition to this kava plantation there is also a village taro plantation, which is also very large. The one day in a week spent on the village cooperative work is alternated between the kava and the taro plantations. Recently, some men from the village were involved in the sale of their village taro in the city. Money obtained from the sale of their village crops was utilized in a number of developments that were occurring in the village, while some of it was being invested in the bank.
The people of the village also explained that their men were also being employed in two activities that were occasionally happening in their area.
One was the work in the Namosi Copper sites which at the time of this field study was inactive, and the second one was the logging activity that was taking place during this field study. Work at the copper site used to be managed by an Overseas Company, which had worked there for about seven years. There were a few men that were still employed to maintain the sites while work was discontinued indefinitely. The logging activities 209 were managed by another logging company, and about one quarter of the men of the village were finding temporary employment at the site.
In all these various economic activities, the two that the children of school age especially from ages ten to sixteen participate in mostly are harvesting of duruka and oranges. They assist both in the harvest as well as in their sales, which usually occur in the holidays. If kava is harvested in the week-end then older children are also asked to help their parents or relatives to bring the green kava from the distant plantations.
The significance of involving the children in some of these activities is
mainly to demonstrate to them how they are being done, and secondly as
one of the elders said:
To make children realise the hardship we parents go through to obtain money for their school fees, so that they study hard and don't come and follow us in the village (A male parent, Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
From the study of the various economic activities what seems obvious is
that they are mainly seasonal. If the people do not collect very much
during the season and there is nothing in between to supplement their
relatively meagre income, it would be difficult to meet the various 210 financial demands made on them, especially those related to their
children's fees.
Relations Between Parents and Their Children
According to the law of the Church and that of the custom, children are to
obey and respect their parents and elders. The authority of the parents and
elders are believed to come from God, and therefore, no child is in a
position to question it. This is the view held by many of the people in
Namosi generally.
In Waivaka, relations between parents and their children and even
children with other elders are generally good. There are no instances
where children are living separately from their parents because of family
feuds. However, almost all of the mothers interviewed complained of the
defiant attitudes of some of their children. They were complaining mainly
of their sons, whom they said only listened in the presence of their fathers.
Three of the mothers pointed out that their sons were so naughty, that they
even went against their fathers' orders. In Waivaka, generally, the mother
dominates in the early years of childhood, but as adolescence approaches,
boys relate more to their father, and girls more to their mothers. 211
The researcher had the opportunity to talk with the children concerned.
One of the boys intimated:
Teacher, my mother talks too much. She doesn't know that I also have my mind. She thinks that I'm stupid. So if she doesn't talk too much, then I'll obey what she says (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
According to another:
Teacher, please tell our mothers not to shout at us and tell us off in front of others. This makes us feel very embarrassed. We are not children any longer. We are big boys and girls. I hate my mother when she does that She also does this to my father, and we feel sorry for him (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
With regard to shouting and telling their children off in front of others,
some mothers said that it was the last thing they would resort to because
of the indifferent attitudes of their children. One mother said:
Teacher, we would call and call and they would be just within hearing, but not even attempting to respond to our call. But when their friends come to call them to go somewhere, they would immediately respond. Who are their friends. They should first listen to us their parents who provide for them (Field Notes, Waivaka, 1997).
Some parents commented on how their children would listen more to their
peers rather than to them. They asserted that some of their children would
rather defy their commands than to go against the wish of their peers.
Peers are significant influence on children. It is where they learn a lot of
skills for survival. 212
Other elders, for example, aunties, uncles and grandparents also have significant influence on the children. The elders and especially grandparents, are the ones that look after the children while the parents tend to their plantations and other chores.
According to the researcher's own observation, interviews and discussions with parents and children, it was apparent that there was generally a cordial relationship between the parents and children, likewise, the children and elders of Waivaka. However, the findings also seem to point to some misconceptions by both the parents and the children
about their relations. At this point in time what could be a vital link between the parents and the children, to pave the way to a more effective
relation that is needed as a background to a more conducive classroom
learning, is the professional advice and consultancy of the teacher. For,
although the parents want their children to gain greatly from the Western
education, their cling to traditional perceptions on education has been to
some degree, rigid. These traditional views can only be modified by
probably two things: more community exposure to the outside world and
secondly, through professional advice. 213
CHAPTER SIX
THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY
Introduction
In the last two chapters, discussions focussed on the School and
Community respectively. The main focus of this chapter, however, is to look at both institutions in relations to learning strategies; school ethos and culture; language and learning; perceptions of parents, teachers and students on education; knowledge and values and epistemology.
Learning Strategies
Knowledge at any time or place is obtained through one or more learning strategies. At home, children in Namosi learn through observation and imitation and participation.
Before the introduction of formal schooling in Fiji by the Missionaries in the 1830s, informal education was taking place in every home and community in Namosi and in Fiji at large. Skills to survive in the community were learnt through observing and imitating parents, other elders and peers. Even to this present day, children in Namosi continue to learn from their parents, other elders and from their peers. 214
From as early as two years old, little children in Namosi observe and imitate what their parents and other members of their family do and say.
In his study of culture and learning in Western Province of the Solomon
Islands, Ninnes (1991) defines observation and imitation as seeing other people and copying their actions. Little children of about two years old and above watch their parents do various activities at home. The mothers normally do the washing, cooking and looking after the home generally while the fathers may do repair and maintenance work in the house.
Between two and five, children start to imitate their parents and their older sisters and brothers. Quite often during this process, the children may ask their parents or older people known to them for assistance. For example, a little boy imitating his father roll his cigar may need assistance when he finds it necessary. In social learning, Bandura (1977) maintains that:
people are neither driven by inner forces nor buffeted by environmental stimuli. Rather psychological functioning is explained in terms of a continuous reciprocal interaction of personal and environmental determinants (pp. 11-12)
In his work on Social Learning Theory, Bandura (1977) analyses observational learning into four phases: attentional; retention; reproduction and motivational. At home, for example, a girl between the ages of six and ten is attending to her mother's directions and positioning 215 while she is cooking. Simultaneously, the girl is retaining in memory her mother's instructions and at the same time may be reproducing the observed behaviour. Motivation, however, comes from the pleasure of the activity and the positive feedback of the mother. In a rural school such as
Namosi Secondary School, where the environment could become uniform and unstimulating for the child to learn in, it is important that the teacher is aware of the importance of providing pleasurable learning activities in order to motivate the learner.
At this very young age the Namosi children often observe and imitate their peers. This is the age when they like to play and communicate with their peers. A good degree of socialisation takes place at this time, when
young children of the same age are freely communicating among
themselves.
From the age of six, girls begin to imitate their mothers and older siblings
in what they do. Activities that they imitate range from washing clothes
and dishes to cooking. Additionally, they imitate their mothers in cleaning
the plantations, as in Namosi, women do a lot of work in the plantation
217 after the men's heavy task of clearing the forest. Similarly, boys of the same age, imitate their fathers and older brothers and close relatives. They may start imitating their father in planting and also in building a house. In addition, boys accompany their fathers and other male relatives to cut firewood in the bush. By the age often and over, both sexes are generally able to participate partially or fully in the activities of the adults. Photos
6.1 and 6.2 respectively show a child observing two adults fishing, and children accompanying adults to the plantation.
At the age of about ten years and above, children of Namosi are quite capable of taking part in the adult activities. They have come to learn of partial or full participation through a gradual process. According to
Ninnes (1991), participation is learning by taking part in community activities.
Children of Namosi enjoy participating in the activities of the adults. They participate by either accompanying their parents and their older siblings or their peer group which usually comprises their older sisters for girls and older brothers for boys and their other friends of more or less the same age. Photo 6.3 shows boys in their peer group and 6.4, little toddlers
219
enjoying each others' company. As boys and girls grow up, they also learn through observation the various activities that men normally do and those that belong to the women. However, nowadays there is no clear distinction between male and female activities as women can also participate in men's work.
Girls from as young as six years old accompany their teenage sisters or cousins to fetch firewood from the bush. Usually the older girls cut down the firewood, and because small girls do insist that they carry some of it on their back, their older siblings have no choice but to put just enough of it on their back to carry home. Boys too, do involve themselves in getting firewood for the home, and like girls, little boys also accompany their
older siblings and other cousins and friends. In Namosi, the manner by which firewood is carried home is different for both sexes. For boys, the
bundle of firewood is carried on their shoulder, most probably as a
symbol of masculinity, while on the other hand, the girls carry the bundle
on their back. A boy who attempts to carry firewood on his back is teased
as wanting to act feminine and therefore should be in the company of
girls. 220
At the age often years and above, boys in Namosi prefer to go off in their peer group and start a plantation of their own. They do not do the same activity all the time. Group work varies from planting to digging wild yams and gathering firewood. Boys in Namosi usually spend the week end catching fish for their Sunday lunch.
Most of the group work that boys and girls carry out is done to gain the experience of participating in the activities of the adults. Group work forms one of the most important learning contexts for the children of
Namosi. The older members of the peer group teach the younger ones new skills. Those that are not so adept at certain skills are not frowned upon or ridiculed. Instead they are assisted in their difficulties. Fpr example, youngsters who do not get enough yams are given some by the rest of the group. Hence, in Namosi, in learning through group participation, success is attributed to all participants irrespective of their ability or capability.
Boys and girls do get together in and outside the village for activities like games. But boys always work separately from girls. Girls are normally found in the river on Saturday morning washing together and carrying on 221 a talanoa or conversation amongst them. Younger siblings are also found along with their older sisters during this time enjoying the coolness of the river. More importantly, they are observing and later imitating their older sisters.
Children's activities are not left unnoticed by the parents and other elders.
Parents in Namosi take pride in the achievements of their children. After an activity, for example, getting wild yams from the bush, parents often laud their children for their achievement. Those who perform to and above their parents' or community's expectations are termed as yalomatua or sensible. Such children are used as models or example to others, and their names are pointed out to those who are not performing to expectation. In some cases, where young people are found to be already shouldering the responsibilities of their parents, they are specially commended for their display of maturity in attitude.
In the classroom, children also learn by observing and imitating the teacher. In addition, a good amount of copying is done among them. In both, Namosi Primary School and Namosi Secondary School the researcher noted students actually allowing others to copy from their 222 books. For the teacher in the classroom, copying is wrong and the children should be punished for it. However, as for the children, it is a way of assisting their friends and relatives. Able children happy to share their right answers with their friends in the class. In the classroom situation, the children are found talking and sharing about their work, and for this, they are reprimanded by the teacher. In a rural area like Namosi where cooperation is still very much a context for learning, it is vital that the teacher establishes a link between the learning that takes place in the home and that that occurs in the formal situation in school. Whereas at home, copying or imitating is very much part of the culture, in school it is associated with cheating in most cases. In addition, in the classroom, successes are attributed only to deserving ones at the end of the day, in the community everyone in the group is given more or less an equal share of what has been achieved. Photo 6.5 shows a family involved in an activity and photo 6.6 illustrates minding babies by some elders of the village.
At Namosi Secondary School, teachers also use group teaching, where children are grouped together to discuss various problems and do activities. In one case where there were group activities, the researcher asked the teacher what criteria he had used for grouping the children. The
224 teacher explained that he picked them at random, but at the same time he was ensuring that there was an equal number of students in each group.
While observing the groups at work, the researcher found that not all the members of each group were being actively involved in the activity. One of the students, who was not participating well told the researcher that he did not like the group he was in. Another student said he could not contribute because he did not understand the instruction. In one of the groups, only one or two were doing all the work, the rest of the four students appeared to be just waiting for the bell to go for the change in periods.
From the study of how children in Namosi learn, it is apparent that the three basic learning strategies that are being employed are observation, imitation and participation. However, although imitating or copying is a norm at home and is done rather freely, in the classroom it may be restricted, for example, to note taking from the blackboard or copying from another child's work (note-taking). A child is not allowed to copy answers from another child, and if he or she does copy, it is regarded as cheating. At home the children are observing and imitating those that they are familiar with and hence, learning is taking place in a natural and 225 conducive environment. It is important that the child's school learning environment is as close to home as possible, especially in the early years of primary and secondary. The child needs to feel secure and comfortable for learning to take place.
School Ethos versus Community Ethos
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines ethos as the characteristic spirit,
or attitudes of a community, person or system. According to this
definition, Namosi Secondary School already has an established character
which becomes the guideline for teachers who come into the school.
Namosi Secondary School is a Catholic institution. Like all Catholic
schools all over Fiji and Rotuma, it has a Religious Syllabus. With the
approval by the Ministry of Education, Religion as a subject becomes part
of the official curriculum. Moral values are not only discussed during the
Religion class which takes place almost every day, they feature in every
aspect of the school life from morning till school is over.
The ethos of a school or any organisation is not something that is a
separate entity from those that belong to it. Pollard (1990) explained the
school culture as created through the continuous inter-action between 226 multiple factors and agencies - history, parents, students, teachers and the education system and agencies. An anthropologist, Goodenough (1976), in describing the work of an ethnographer maintained that culture:
is made up of the concepts, beliefs, and principles of action and organisation that an ethnographer has found could be attributed successfully to the members of that society in the context of his dealing with them (p. 5).
During the field study the researcher had noted the unity among the staff.
Although only about twenty five percent of the staff members were
Catholics, the overriding atmosphere or climate of the school was one of harmony. This was clearly indicated by the nun who looked after the boarders, when she said that when she saw how the teachers were
carrying out their duties and having such convivial relationships, she had thought that they all belonged to one religion. The nun, it is important to
note, grew up at a time when in Catholic schools, obedience to the
Church's authority, was paramount, and no one had the courage to
question it. The teachers had also attested to the unity in the school and
maintained that one of the main causes of it was having a Principal who
was fair and led by example.
The Principal was trying her best to be fair to all her staff, and, generally,
the teachers were happy to be working under her leadership. Tavola 227
(1991) explained that if ethos is interpreted to mean the general atmosphere in the school, then the principal, to a large extent, contributes to the ethos. She asserted that:
Where principals are industrious and energetic and are firm disciplinarians, an atmosphere of general enthusiasm tends to prevail. Where principals are weak, frequently absent, and known to be ineffective in their work, inevitably, a general atmosphere of slackness takes over the school (Tavola, 1991,p. 84).
In this study, the researcher found that the ethos of the school was influenced, largely by the Principal. As soon as the present Principal assumed the headship, she and her staff members, had created a mission statement which read: 'United We Work For The Best.' This, with the religious framework of the school, the Principal was able to bring about some change in the school. Hoyle (1988) also pointed out the role of the principal in creating an identity for the school. According to him, schools seek to forge a distinctive identity and they achieve this largely by principals who create a 'mission' encompassing the goals of the school. 228
From the study of the school ethos, what seems apparent is that, like the community with its existing social structure, the school has an established character which gives directions to the principal and the rest of the staff.
However, as evident from the study of the school, what is of equal or more importance is the quality of leadership. The staff at the school were happy because their Principal was fair and hardworking. This kind of leadership can become effective and essential in a rural school where isolation and distance become critical factors in recruiting and maintaining of good teachers.
Language of Learning
In Namosi District, the language of learning is the Namosi dialect. The local dialect contains some of the words and structures that are identical to the Bauan dialect. For example, where in the Bauan dialect "Come here" is "Lako mai" in the Namosi dialect, it is "Bau mai". The difference is in the lexis, " Lako and Bau". So when children in Namosi enter school for the first time, it is not difficult for them to know the Bauan language, which the indigenous Fijian teacher uses as the language of communication at school.
According to Gage and Berliner (1984) by the time the child reaches the age of six or seven, his cultural and language patterns have been set. In 229
Fiji, at this age, the child is required to attend primary school. For the
Namosi child, he can now speak his or her dialect fluently and is likely to also know the Bauan dialect, although he may not be able to speak it as well as his or her local dialect. Knowledge of the Bauan dialect is gained mainly through the child's association in the church. Children listen to the church people preach and at home, through daily recital of morning and evening prayers, which Catholic families are expected to do in their homes. By hearing and imitating, the children learn the Bauan dialect.
However, at primary school, in addition to the Bauan language, the child is introduced, for the first time, to the English Language.
At secondary school, except for the Fijian Language, all the subjects taken are taught in English. The children of Namosi receive instructions in
English right from primary school; so English is not new to them when they reach secondary schooling. Educational research does not support the belief that bilingualism results in lower competency (Gage and Berliner,
1984). In Namosi Secondary School, the teachers had reported how difficult it was to get students to respond in class. The researcher had also observed that in the classroom, students, even the bright ones, were not 230 responding very much to the teacher. One of the students interviewed later
said:
I always want to answer the teacher's question. But then I feel if I say the wrong thing, the rest of the class will make fun of me (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
The teachers had also pointed out how the class time was used in
explaining the language aspect of the subject rather than in teaching the
main ideas and concepts. This they explained was retarding the progress
of their teaching in the classroom. In subjects, like Social Sciences and
Biology and Chemistry where a lot of note taking is required, children
were finding it hard to understand the basic concepts as they also had to
come to terms with the vocabulary used.
From the study of the language of learning in Namosi a few things
become apparent. One is that informal learning at home is easy and
effective since the children understand the language of instruction. In the
classroom, learning for the Namosi children is relatively difficult. The
children are forced into learning in a language they are not comfortable
with and this is creating a problem for them. There should perhaps be a
link between the language of learning at home and that, which is
employed in the clssroom. 231
Parents', Students' and Teachers' Perceptions towards Schooling
Generally, Namosi parents perceive formal schooling as a means of becoming useful later on in life. When asked what they meant by this, they said they wanted their children to be tamata yaga mai muri or be useful later on in life. Most of the parents said that they wanted their children to get a paid job when they leave school. When asked if they had ever discussed with their children their future career, a few of the parents said that they had and their children had indicated to them what they intended to do if they passed their examination (FSLC). A good number of the parents had said that they keep reminding their children every day when they leave for school the need to study hard and not to follow in their foot-steps.
This view, by the parents of Namosi, about schooling as a means of getting employment after schooling, is incongruent to the perception held by the teachers. For example, the Principal clearly stated that the official secondary school curriculum is irrelevant for the majority of the Namosi children. According to her only about ninety to ninety five per cent of the
Namosi Secondary School population will benefit from the present secondary school curriculum. 232
The children were asked about their views on schooling, and if they thought the school was preparing them for the kind of work they wanted to do. About seventy five per cent of the students interviewed said that they were generally happy with what the school was doing for them. They were studying subjects they thought would assist them with their future career.
The researcher wanted to know if the parents do discuss with their children their choice of subjects in school. A few of them said that their children do mention to them what they do in school but do not elaborate very much on the subjects. Most parents pointed out that their children feel that their parents do not understand what happens in school and therefore it is futile telling them about it. However, the same students do feel that their parents should give them all the support that they need, to do well in school and this is evident from what one of the students said:
I want my parents to be beside me when I do my homework even if they don't
understand what I do. The trouble is that, they either go to sleep or go to drink grog. I
do not like it when I want to do my study, and they bring in people to drink grog with
them( Field Notes,NSS,1997) 233
Most of the parents seemed to be over-reliant on the teachers for the choice of subjects their children make in school, as indicated by the comments of one of them:
This thing about subjects our children take in school and the kind of work they want to do later on is entirely up to the teachers. They know best because they are educated people (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
This kind of attitude by the Namosi parents was highlighted by Lareau
(1987) in his study which involved participant-observation of two first- grade classrooms. Lareau examined family-school relationships in working-class and middle-class communities. Lareau concluded, for example, that although the education values of the two groups were similar, the ways in which they promoted educational success were dissimilar.
The attitude highlighted by Lareau's is analoguous to the majority of the
Namosi parents who maintain that the classroom and its various activities are entirely the responsibility of the teacher. This kind of perception is also demonstrated in the Christmas holidays when the results of the FSLC examinations are published. Whereas, the educated and most urban parents would go out of their way to look for tertiary institutions or employment for their children, the majority of the Namosi parents would rely on the teachers, especially the principal, to find places for them. This 234 comes out strongly in the holidays when parents wait in vain for their successful sons or daughters to obtain places at some higher institutions or find some forms of employment in the urban centres. Even in the interview, one of the parents clearly indicated to the researcher that:
These teachers are not doing their work. They do not go out to find work or higher places for study for our children (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
The teachers do not hold the same view as the parents. The teachers pointed out that generally, the parents are not involving themselves much in the education of their children. They maintained that the parents should come and discuss with them the progress of their children, and this the parents are not doing. The teachers and the students seem to agree with the view that parents have not involved themselves much in the education of their children. However, on the other end, the parents maintained that their role is to attend to the well being of their children at home and to also pay for their school fees. What happens in school is, according to the parents, the prerogative of the teacher.
The parents were asked about their views on how relevant the school curriculum is to their children. Most of them said that it is good; but added that it is not good that many of the school leavers are just staying at home when they should be doing something, for example, working in 235 town or joining a profession like teaching. A couple of the parents remarked on how good some students were at Woodwork. Namosi
Secondary School Woodwork students were producing some very good items from the Workshop. The same parents wanted to know why the skills learnt from the Woodwork lesson are not being put into practice in the community. One parent suggested that they should have a Workshop
in each village so that school leavers could produce things that could
generate income for them. The students also agreed that the technical
skills gained in school should be put to good use when they leave school,
but they maintained that finance is the problem in the village.
With regard to the parents' overall view of the school, most of them felt
that Namosi Secondary School is doing quite well as far as public
examinations are concerned. However, the majority of the parents said
that some of the teachers had stayed too long at the school. They pointed
out that if teachers remain too long at a school, it is not going to be good
for the children. They suggested that teachers should be allowed to remain
in a school for not more than five or six years after which they should go
in to the urban area and get some in-service training. The parents had
pointed out that some teachers had remained in the school for more than 236 ten years. They had raised this concern at the School Annual General
Meeting, but because of the attitudes of some parents in the Meeting, the concern was always brushed aside. One of the parents said that their children were forever complaining about particular teachers whom they explained were saying the same thing over and over every year and without anything new to add on.
Parents were also asked about what they perceived their roles are in the education of their children. Most of the parents spelt out their roles as paying for their children's school fees, getting school uniforms and school stationeries and providing good food for their children. When asked about giving assistance to their children in their homework, most of the parents
said that they would see that their children are not given much manual work after school. However, with regard to providing academic help, one
of the parents shrugged her shoulders and commented:
Oo! Who would know what these children learn of thesedays (Field Notes, Namosi, 1997).
The same parent commented that most of the time, while her children
were still doing their homework, she would already be sleeping. There is a
misconception here between the parents and the children. Although the 237 parents do not understand their children's schoolwork, their children
would still prefer them to be somewhere near and be awake when they are
doing their homework. About one thirty five per cent of the students
interviewed said that their parents were not involved enough in their
schooling. They pointed out that they would like their parents to be
involved in all the school activities that require their full participation.
Some of the students said that:
We feel discouraged when our parents do not turn up during any school activity that requires their participation (Field Notes, NSS, 1997).
Parents of Namosi, generally, perceive the school as a place, not only to
receive academic instruction, but also where their children's misdemenour
would be rectified. If children misbehave at home, and parents feel that
they could not cope with them, they would tell their children that they
would inform the teachers about their misbehaviour. Some of the parents
had even pointed out that they had informed some of the teachers that if
they found their children naughty, they should not hesitate to inflict
corporal punishment on them.
From the study of parents', students' and teachers' perceptions towards
schooling at Namosi Secondary School a few things seem apparent. One
is that while most parents feel that their children should obtain a paid
employment after leaving school, the teachers on the other end are the 238 only people that actually know about the realities in the classroom for the
children. Another is mat while parents maintain that their role with regard to the education of their children is mainly confined to the home and
paying for the school fees, the teachers and their children do not have the
same perspective.
Knowledge and Values
Knowledge can be broadly classified into two categories, secular and
religious. Secular knowledge is that pertaining to knowing about mundane
things, and religious is knowing about God and other spirits.
All the villages in the Namosi District are occupied with people who are
related to each other. Consequently, children grow up in the continual
presence of their relatives, who make up one of the major learning
contexts for the children of Namosi. Knowledge of secular or sacred
things is learnt through the parents, other elders and among the
interactions with those in the village community at large.
In the nuclear family, and in the village generally, maintenance of good
relations is emphasised. This is mainly for two reasons. One is that people
are close knit and the second is the fact that there is a great deal of inter-
dependence among the villages. In order that the villagers live 239 harmoniously together, there are social norms that they need to observe.
Some of these norms are also values that the villagers like to live so as to behave in socially acceptable behaviour. Such values include respect, sharing and caring and cooperation, to name a few.
One cultural value that most parents in the village want to have their children learn and practise is that of vakarokoroko or respect. The children are taught firstly to be respectful towards their parents. In responding to their parents, children ought to speak gently and with hushed voice. They must not answer them back, even if their parents are in the wrong. This same respect towards their parents must also be displayed towards other elder members of the community. To other elders, children are taught by their parents to speak softly and gently.
The manner in which the child speaks to others will also depend upon a
number of factors. For example, if the child is speaking to his or her mother's brother, he or she is taught to carry himself or herself low, either
standing in a bowing position or stooping position. In some instances the
child may not talk at all to his or her mother's brother, and if required to, 240 it may be either through a third person in the presence of the uncle
(mother's brother).
A child outside is taught to use some respectable term to address someone within a house. The term 'saka ', similar to the word sir, is used before the name of the person being called or addressed. And if the child decides to enter a house he or she is required to stoop low and utter some greeting. A girl will say, 'Ka-a' while a boy utter,' Dua OF. The Namosi children are taught to greet their chiefs with these words. Words used in the daytime differ to those used in the nighttime.
A young man who displays the value of vakarokoroko in various forms is said to be tamata vakaturaga which, according to Ravuvu (1983) the term denotes that one's actions and characteristics befit the presence of a chief.
On the same token, the young woman who is full of vakarokoroko or respect is said to be yalewa vakamarama.
This value of respect is mostly passed down to the child through the parents and other elders, and unlike the transmission of other cultural 241 skills (e.g fishing and planting) this value is constantly drilled into the child.
In some instances, the value of respect can also mean obedience. For example, at home the parents gauge their children's respect for them through their obedience to their words. Children who obey their parents are said to be full of respect for them as well.
In Namosi, a child who obeys his or her parents, respects other elders, lives the norms of the community and is seen to be generally responsible is called gone yalomatua (a child who is mature in spirit). According to the community, this child or person who is full of yalomatua will go a long way, which means that he will prosper in life. Baba (1993) spoke at great length about this yalomatua, which he says, entails a spiritual
dimension:
In traditional education in the villages, the whole goal of education was yalomatua. Yalomatua was required and necessary to help people apply the various skills knowledge, attitudes that they had learnt from the elders {matua) through the various activities (Baba, 1993 pp.4 and 5).
Yalomatua is also interpreted in various forms and degrees in Namosi. For example, a child who is seen to be displaying a precocious nature is said to be yalomatua. On the other hand, a person who is hard working and 242 follows the rules and regulations of the community is also perceived by the community to be yalomatua. In most of the village meetings, the elders urge the young men to be full of yalomatua in the use of their time.
At Waivaka, the degree of yalomatua of the young people is gauged by how hardworking they are at their own plantations and their contributions to village work and functions.
What seems obvious is that the values that are being learnt and enforced in the community must embody yalomatua to give them a true sense of cultural identity. However, a child who is known to be 'culturally' hardworking and responsible at home may turn out not to be academically talented at school. Hence there is a mismatch here, which the teacher must be made aware of, perhaps, by the parents. It is important that there should be a link here between being responsible at home and being able to
perform academically at school. The teacher must not allow the cultural value of respect to impede learning in the classroom. Instead the teacher
should try to use it to promote effective learning by making students
aware of the importance of listening carefully in order to know what is being said and done. 243
Epistemology
According to Ninnes (1995) the term, epistemology refers to beliefs about the nature of knowledge and how it is created and controlled.
In Namosi, the people ascribe knowledge to external sources. The latter include some elders, ancestors and some ancestral gods. For example, knowledge of the origins of the different sub-clans that are now residing in Namosi is withheld by certain elders who in turn claim that their great grand father had imparted the knowledge to them. This kind of knowledge is restricted and withheld from people and the bearer may choose to disclose it to anyone whom he feels will not betray his trust. One of the reasons for not disclosing such information is that it may generate all kinds of social problems among the community. This type of knowledge is operational, indicating that it is in operation in the life of the community.
Knowledge is also derived from ancestors with extraordinary powers.
People still talk of how the whole area of Namosi came to embrace
Catholicism. In the early nineteenth century, Namosi had already been a
Methodist community. According to the people, one of their ancestors 244 who had the power to foretell the future, had seen a vision. In his vision he saw a white man in a long black robe walking past his village to go to the mission station. According to the people, the visionary had also heard internally these words: "This is the religion that you are to accept."
According to the people, two weeks after this vision, the first Catholic priest arrived on Namosi soil. And because of the trust the people of the area had for this local visionary, the whole district confirmed that the new religion was the one for them. The people were asked if they believed in the power of the local visionary who had lived in the early nineteenth century. According to the respondents their great grandfathers had told them that they were witnesses to some of the 'wonders' that the man had performed.
The vision by the local visionary was interpreted by the latter himself as from some supernatural source. Why people choose to follow and believe the interpretations of certain individuals is a question Lindstrom (1984), in his work titled: "Doctor, lawyer, wise man, priest: big-men and knowledge in Melanesia", confesses to be unable to answer. 245
Incidents observed in Namosi seem to suggest that the community's perceptions of an individual's past performances, seniority and status in life and compliance with the norms of the society are crucial factors in the acceptance of their interpretations of reality. Interpretations of events are the prerogatives of the accepted few, the recipients accept without question.
The external derivation of knowledge in the Namosi community suggests that knowledge is, to some extent, perceived as an object to be passed on to the person rather than as a personal construct. Ninnes (1995) discovered this to be the same in the Western Province of the Solomon
Island. So in Namosi a child who is unsuccessful in the examination is labeled as tamata ulu lala or a person with an empty head. In many cases the unsuccessful candidate in the examination is looked upon as tamata tawa yaga or a useless person. Sometimes, upon the death of an educated person, the Namosi people would comment: "Sa maumau na ulu nako dinei", meaning " What an awful loss of brain! The reference to only the head indicates the degree to which the community emphasises the importance of knowledge as an object. The object, which is knowledge, is 246 maintained by the community, to remain only in the head, and not being assimilated by the whole being of the learner.
The objectification of knowledge has important implications in the classroom. Whereas in the classroom situations, teachers expect students to be more analytical in their thinking, the Namosi children will find this to be a great difficulty. This is not because they can not think for themselves, but rather they have been accustomed to passively listening to and receiving what they are told. Teachers of Namosi Secondary School, including the Principal, had complained of the passiveness of the students in class, and also of their poor analytical abilities.
The objectification and the externalisation of knowledge are congruent with the predominantly teacher-centred type of classroom learning. But this is in contrast with the student-centred schooling, which predominates in Western countries. In the village, the child learns from the elder the accepted norm, without asking its source or authority.
The child is expected to accept knowledge humbly and passively, and this is incongruent to the classroom where the child is encouraged to be actively involved either in talking or doing activities. In the case of 247
Namosi this has proven very frustrating for the teacher who can not get much response from the students.
Teachers in the classroom also need to be aware of the Western concept of knowledge as a personal construct. This is incongruent to the way
Fijians perceive knowledge, which in Namosi, is contained in such a
statement: Gone lialia, ulu lala (silly child with an empty head). This is
said of a child who may be unsuccessful in the exam or who is lagging
behind in his schoolwork. According to this statement, knowledge is an
object, which can either sink in or be rejected out. In other words, whereas
the Western classroom teacher would emphasise the importance of the
process in learning, the Fijian child would be more interested in the end
product. Perhaps this may explain the reason why some students resort to
copying, or just doing their homework for the sake of just completing it,
but not fully understanding what they are doing. 248
CHAPTER SEVEN
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
This chapter discusses the various conclusions derived from the study of
Namosi Secondary School and its Community. The conclusions are discussed in relation to the objectives of the study, as outlined in Chapter
Three,
Several conclusions have been derived from this study and they are as follows:
A school with an established mission or existing ethos can help foster a sense of direction for new teachers to the school and also for those already in the system. Namosi Secondary School is a Catholic Institution, so it acts as a guide for the principal and the rest of the staff members.
The present secondary school official curriculum is irrelevant for the majority of the Namosi Secondary School students. 249
The majority of the teaching staff at the secondary school were either unqualified or under-qualified for their teaching posts. About three quarters of the teachers had been prepared for teaching in the junior forms
One to Four.
Due to smallness of schools in the distant rural areas, and their subsequent small school population, the teachers in the school were forced to teach subjects not in their teaching field.
The school suffered from lack of senior teachers to teach in higher forms; so teachers who only qualified to teach junior forms were forced to take up classes in higher forms.
The teachers liked to remain in the school for two reasons. Firstly, they liked to work under a fair and hardworking principal and secondly, they were happy and satisfied with their living quarters.
The teachers, especially in the rural areas, where students' respect for teachers is still very much intact, determine to a large extent, the tone in the classroom. 250
Teachers' absenteeism in the school was improved only after some drastic measures being taken against one of the staff members.
A dedicated and hardworking principal with a mission can inspire teachers and students alike, and can imbue them with a sense of industriousness and dedication. The school Principal was hardworking and dedicated and so the staff and students followed her example.
The social organisation of a rural school, especially the extent to which it provides a sense of community spirit, can influence the work climate for teachers as well as the climate for learning and student outcome.
Although the school was born out of the community it served, some mismatches between the school and the community were evident. The various conflicting views that arose in the study may have been the result of the teachers and the community having different cultures and traditions.
Perceptions of the teachers and the parents and community towards education were incongruent. For example, whereas, the teachers felt that 251 parents ought to be more involved in the formal learning of their children, the parents disagreed, maintaining that anything to do with schoolwork is exclusively the responsibility of the professional.
There were some mismatches between what is regarded as knowledge at home and that in the school. For example, whereas at home, wisdom or yalomatua, is associated with responsibility and industriousness, at school it is not; for wisdom or knowledge is related with passing of examinations and perhaps getting some employment later on.
Emphases in the two learning environments, the home and school, were also incongruent. In the home, emphasis is made on respect of authority
(such as not answering back authority), cooperation and personal relations. But in school, the emphasis is on competition, individual success and the inculcation of objective knowledge.
There was a mismatch between the language of instruction in the home and that in the school. The secondary child, whose concept of the mother tongue has been well established over the years, has now to grapple with 252 the foreign language, which also elicits its own alien behaviour. This poses difficulty with the majority of the Namosi students.
The teachers were relating to students and parents mainly by how they
viewed the world in general but not in the context of the community in
which they were working. The parents and the community on the other
hand, related with the teachers and their children based on their
experiences and their lived world generally. This was one of the great
mismatches observed in this study.
The long distance that the students walk to school was found to affect
their learning in school.
Implications
The findings of this case study have implicated a number of things. First,
the study suggests that there is no future planning, for teacher recruitment
in the school Instead of the teacher recruitment being a long-term
process, it is mainly done towards the commencement of the school year,
when all good teachers have already been absorbed in some well-to-do
schools in the urban area. 253
Second, students in small and isolated rural schools become vulnerable to bad teachers.
Third, the study suggests that good headship and provision of good standard staff quarters are essential for the retention of good teachers in rural schools.
Fourth, this study findings imply that very little has been done by the teachers of Namosi Secondary School, to inform and update the parents and the community at large of their respective roles towards the education of their children. Besides, barely anything is done on the part of the teacher to learn about the culture of the community or to understand the child in the context of his or her home background.
Fifth, the study findings suggest that, although the school was the child of the community, there is little sign that a convivial relationship exists between the two. 254
Recommendations
Discussions of the conclusions and implications of the study inevitably lead this study to making some recommendations and which are as follows:
That rural secondary schools like Namosi Secondary School, be officially authorised by the Ministry of Education to use, wherever and whenever
applicable, both the Vernacular and English as languages of instructions.
That due to the vulnerability of students in small schools to 'bad
teachers1, the Ministry must try to ensure that good qualified teachers are
sent to rural areas like Namosi.
That recruitment authority in rural secondary schools and the Ministry of
Education must collaborate well together in the recruitment of teachers for
schools in the rural areas. There is a need for long term planning in
teacher recruitment in the rural schools. There is also a need to have a
system within the Ministry whereby movements of teachers in rural
schools are closely monitored. 255
That rural schools like Namosi Secondary School be made an attractive workplace for teachers in the rural area. This can be achieved by three ways:
- provision of good staff quarters in the rural school
- appointment of a good, inspiring and caring principal in the rural
school and
- provision of an attractive salary for the rural teacher.
That the program for pre-service teachers also incorporate learning
experiences that will prepare teachers to become educators in the
community at large. There is a need to permit teachers, by way of licence,
to be also community workers. People in the community tend to have an
indifferent attitude towards teachers who attempt to involve themselves in
community work.
That parents and community in the rural area be made aware of the
necessity for a change in attitudes and perceptions, and that they are
updated with the current trends in education. 256
The conclusions in this chapter are relative to the study of Namosi
Secondary School and its community. However, due to Fiji's smallness of size and the related consequences, the study's implications and suggestions may also apply to other rural schools throughout the country. 257
GLOSSARY OF FIJIAN WORDS
bau: bati: the traditional warrior bau mar. come here bati: traditional warrior bele: edible vegetable resembling the hibiscus plant belo: heron buinigone: a term used by the Chief to his female spokeswoman bure: thatched house
Burebasaga: traditional term used for the Province of Rewa (one
of the 14 provinces of Fiji. dina: true duao: a traditional form of greeting duruka: a plant resembling the sugar cane which flowers
annually, its flower being edible gone: child gone lialia foolish child
I qusi ni loaloa: traditional ceremony of appreciation after, e.g. a
warfare 258
/ tokatoka. extended family ka-a: a form of traditional greeting by women to a chief or
on entry into a house kakana: food kakana dina: food such as cassava or taro, contrasted with
supplement
such as fish or meat
kemudou: you (meaning three or more)
kila: to know
kila ka: knowledge
kwai: belonging to a place
lada: small or lesser
lailai: small
lako mai come here
lavo: kinship term used in some parts of Viti Levu only
liuliu: head
liuliu-ni-koro: village traditional headman
liumuri: the act of saying the opposite of what one means,
normally used in a negative sense, treachery
Marama: chiefs daughter or lady 259 mataboko: the blind mataqali: sub-clan matanivanua: the chiefs traditional herald or spokesman momo: a term used by a person to address his/her mother's
brother mun the rear or to follow
Nabukebuke: traditional name for the Chiefs Clan or Namosi. nei: aunty, used by a person to address his/her father's
sister nomu: your or yours noqu: my or mine noqu vasu: my niece or nephew, used by a man to address his
sister's children qwaqwa: the warrior sub-clan
Raluvequ. my daughter saka: sir sauturaga: chiefs executives solevu: traditional ceremony tabu: sacred talanoa: narration 260 tamai: father of tamata: person tamaqu. my father tamaqu lada: my father'syounge r brother tamaqu levu: my father'solde r brother tavalequ: my cross cousin
tawayaga: useless
tinai: mother of
tui: chief
turaga ni koro: the Government representative in the village
vaka-Nabukebuke: the manner of Nabukebuke
vakarorogo: obedience or respect
veitacini: children born of the same parents or of parallel
brothers
vere: treachery
viavialevu: conceited
vinaka vakalevu: thank you very much
vivakayaloqaqataki: encouragement
vuli: formal schooling or education
yaca: namesake 261 yaca vakatevoro: devil's name contrasted with Christian name yaga: useful yalewa: woman yalewa vakamarama: a woman who is ladylike in many respect yalomatua: wisdom, responsible and hardworking yavutu: place of origin yavusa: clan 262
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