LAIE, HAWAII
In the vast South Pacific where islands can be very remote, education is a prized value to the Church and its members. Evidence of this are the Church's 15 primary, middle and high schools in Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati and New Zealand.
Some 400 teachers make up the faculty of these schools, teaching about 6,000 students. Yet qualified local teachers can be difficult to find, not to mention that the curriculum must often be modified to accommodate local needs if students are to be prepared for college, and good teaching techniques be used. When these don't come together, education spirals downward at the expense of the students.
So, like an outrigger that steadies a canoe through choppy waters, BYU-Hawaii offers strong but quiet support to the Church Educational System in this realm. For the past decade, the Hawaii campus' School of Education and the Church Educational System have been partners in what is called the International Teacher Education Program, or ITEP.
ITEP's mission is to help teachers be more effective. About half the 400 teachers have degrees, and about half are certified, so some 250 are involved with further learning through ITEP.
Further learning consists of college-level classes taught at their high school campuses by retired college professors or school administrators serving as CES missionaries and adjunct professors of BYU-Hawaii, said Keith J. Roberts, vice president for academics at BYU-Hawaii. ITEP helps in several other ways as well.
"These teachers are a great blessing to the students," he said.
The program is under the supervision of John Bailey, a New Zealander who is dean of the program.
"The strength of the program is that the dean understands the islands. I credit the current success to his sensitivity," said Brother Roberts.
Brother Bailey explained that eight missionary couples live on Church school campuses on the islands.
The couples not only teach, but also prepare curriculum and help students prepare to attend college. In the past decade since the program began, some 2,500 teacher-students have earned some 10,000 credits and many students have graduated.
One prong of the program sees teachers gaining three years' credit hours. Then the teacher and family are sponsored to attend BYU-Hawaii for a year, during which time the teacher certifies, graduates and returns to his or her employment on one of the islands. Another part of the program takes young students with three years' credits obtained on campus back to their island to student teach. Another provides educational enrichment for other countries, such as a teachers conference in China several years ago.
But the joy of learning is at the heart of the program, said Richard and Virginia Ratliff of Logan, Utah. Elder Ratliff is a retired professor at Utah State University, an expert in accounting and operational auditing. Sister Ratliff holds a doctorate in education.
They explained that traditional South Pacific teaching is based on the ways of colonial Europeans who instilled their systems a century ago: lecture, memorization and then reciting back.
"We see teachers who originally had a direct lecture delivery (changed) to work kids in groups, use peer helps, multiple deliveries of information — even PowerPoint — stuff that was unusual a few years ago," said Elder Ratliff.
"The teaching emphasis is now on search, analyze, apply, explain, share and demonstrate," said Sister Ratliff. "We want them to be able to think and solve problems."
She said before the Europeans came, tribal learning included mentoring and problem solving, "whether basket weaving or figuring out the tides from temperatures and wind readings. Their creativity and understanding of nature, their ability to work with their hands — those kinds of things — are unbelievable."
"When teachers learn they have the freedom to do (this kind of teaching) in schools, the kids love it. It is beautiful to watch it happen."
They said when the spiritual attributes of intuition and personal revelation are added to the typical basis for learning — reason and experience — the educational dimensions for students are enlarged.
One of the teachers on BYU-Hawaii's campus who is finishing her degree is Etevise Leafa, 52, of Samoa. She said she will miss the LDS environment of the campus, and her adopted toddler will miss playgrounds and paved sidewalks. But she is excited to return teach at Pesega, at the Church College of Samoa.
"I have been wanting a degree for so long," she said. "This made a big difference in the way I will teach."
Another who finished his degree this year is Barenavera Sautu, 28, of Fiji, a choral and instrumental music teacher.
"I consider myself very blessed to be here," he said. Before coming, he taught general music classes, but now that he understands music theory better, it has opened the way for much broader teaching.
"I can mentor (these new) methods back home," he said. "I can also help prepare students for university life here."
E-mail to: jhart@desnews.com