Quality education is an often-heard term that has no single meaning. In this paper, we use the metaphor of mat weaving to structure an exploration of various elements that inform quality education. To form the mat, a warp of literature-derived threads is woven with the weft of practitioners' ideas of quality education. These local perspectives…

Constructive alignment as a way of framing curriculum has wide appeal in many tertiary education contexts. At one Pacific regional tertiary institution, it has recently been embraced as a means toward greater program quality. Its unquestioned acceptance, however, raises the need for critical reflection. This reflection critiques constructive…

This research examined the impact of school location on teaching and learning through a case study of two urban, two rural and two remote Fijian secondary schools. A total of 48 semi-structured interviews were conducted: 16 from each category of urban, rural and remote. Each school was represented by three teachers, three heads of department and…

Fourteen member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum have adopted The Pacific Education Development Framework as a means of improving quality of education across the region. Within this framework, special education and inclusive education are seen as priority areas that endorse a rights-based approach to education. Aligned with other Pacific…

This article reports on the findings of original field research carried out in the small island developing state of Fiji, in the South Pacific. A North-South research partnership was built upon previous collaboration between team members and, in so doing, pioneered the blending of Pacific and Western research approaches sensitive to a postcolonial…

Enormous distances across the vast South Pacific hinder student access to the main Fiji campus of the regional tertiary education provider, the University of the South Pacific (USP). Fortunately, USP has been a pioneer in distance education (DE) and promotes multi-modal delivery of programmes. Geography has embraced DE, but doubts remain about…

Discusses the relationship between funding, management, and quality assurance in engineering education in developing countries. Presents a few case studies on problems of accreditation and quality assessment in larger developing countries such as India and the Philippines, and also in very small developing countries such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji,…