Workshop to develop a curriculum for an Adult Basic Education Programme in Papua New Guinea

© UIL

17 participants representing the governmental National Literacy and Awareness Secretariat (NLAS), the Curriculum and Basic Education Units of the Department of Education, the UNESCO National Commission (NatCom), different universities and non-governmental organisations met from 4 to 8 June 2012 in a workshop in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG), to design elements of a curriculum for a national adult basic education programme. This workshop, which was facilitated and technically assisted by UIL, took place within UNESCO’s Capacity Development for Education for All (CapEFA) Programme. It is following up on workshop processes started in August 2010 and continued in November 2011 to map existing experiences with curricula, materials and pedagogical approaches to literacy in multicultural and multilingual contexts.

This third workshop was able to build on the preparatory work of defining the overall orientation and principles of a national literacy and non-formal education curriculum framework. First, participants analysed the findings of a study which the UNESCO office in Apia had commissioned the Head of Language Department of the University of PNG to carry out under the technical supervision of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL). Then they looked at examples of literacy curriculum frameworks as well as equivalency programmes from other countries and decided to develop a curriculum for a national adult basic education programme which is aligned with the national vision and development strategy and provides possibilities of accreditation within the National Qualifications Framework. After five days of intensive work, and particularly with valuable inputs from NLAS partners working in the field of literacy, mainly church-based organisations, the following outcomes were generated: a draft curriculum of an Adult Basic Education Programme (ABEP), a draft technical and financial proposal to develop such a programme, and strengthened capacities of the participants, who greatly benefited from the workshop programme. It is hoped that the PNG NatCom will provide support to mobilise funds to make ABEP a reality in PNG.