The writer set out to evaluate the extent to which the Boards of Governors of six provincial high schools in the Highlands of Papua
New Guinea were conforming with the provisions of the 1970 Education
Act and subsequent Departmental directives.
Interviews were conducted with senior officers of the Department
of Education, members of the Boards of the six schools and Mission
Agency personnel. Board meetings were observed by the writer and
records of past meetings and Departmental files were examined.
The writer has traced the development of community participation
and the sharing of decision making in Papua New Guinea education up to
1970 when school Boards were established by the Education Act, as well
as subsequent developments in the relationship between the Department
of Education and Boards of Governors. Histories of the six schools
used as case studies are given, including accounts of the establishment
and development of their Boards of Governors.
In only one function, student discipline, did the Boards appear
to have a largely executive role. This function was regarded by most
Board members as being the area in which their Boards did their most
important work. In some of the other functions listed in the Act and
in subsequent directives, the Boards' role was found to be only a
partially executive one or an advisory or critical one. With some of
the functions assigned to them, there was little or no involvement by
the Boards.
Although the Boards have continued to be viable and to contribute
to the effective running of their schools, they were not being used to
their full potential and there was a need for their relationship with
emerging Provincial Governments to be defined.
The writer collected suggestions for improvements in the
operations of the Boards from the people interviewed and made further
suggestions based on his own observations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219145 |
| Date | January 1979 |
| Creators | O'Hara, G. T., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Teacher Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright G. T. O'Hara |
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