O I Matou e Faia: Dreaming of Better Ways to Prepare Teachers in the Pacific

• In Event: Roundtable Session 95
  In Roundtable Session: Indigenous Cultures and Knowledge—and Teacher Education

Abstract

The U.S. territory of American Samoa has a low rate of teachers meeting highly qualified standards, with many holding only an Associate’s degree. The University of Hawaii has sought to address this issue through an Interdisciplinary Studies degree combining coursework in American Samoa with summer study at the University of Hawaii. The dynamics of negotiating such a cross cultural exchange is documented through a mixed method process of qualitative interviews with the first cohort of teachers in the Interdisciplinary Studies program and a program evaluation survey. The presenters will use Banks’ (2001) topology of cross-cultural teaching to discuss the construction of “highly qualified” teacher against the socio- political intersections of Pacific Islander “ways of knowing” thus deconstructing westernized education policy.

Authors

• Holly M. Manaseri, University of Hawaii - Manoa

• Kelly Drew Roberts, University of Hawaii - Manoa