Thousands of teachers in Papua New Guinea will be upskilled through a new QUT diploma course.
The Brisbane university is helping the country transition to a new school system which needs more than 15,000 teachers to receive additional qualifications.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) children currently start their school journey with three years of elementary school, followed by six years of primary school and four years of secondary school.
The PNG Government’s new National Education Plan will change that structure to one year of kindergarten, six years of primary school and six years of secondary school.
Currently, only 14 percent of the country’s 18,000 elementary teachers have the minimum diploma or degree needed to be a primary school teacher under the new system.
QUT will co-design a new diploma course to upskill early grade teachers (formerly elementary teachers) to teach all primary school years.
Executive Dean of the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice Professor Lori Lockyer said QUT was selected through a competitive process to oversee the development of a new diploma course that would be delivered by PNG higher education institutions.
“We are aiming for 4000 teachers to study the diploma in this first phase, with it then being implemented across other institutions in PNG as time goes on.”
