Challenges

The Pacific is a vast region with countries and territories spread out across its length and breadth. The ministries of education of the small island developing states (SIDS) in the region work in isolation. Some have better access to technical resources, a few have better access to logistics and infrastructure to connect with others, and some have neither. Often international, regional, civil society and private sector organizations implement regional actions without having a mechanism to get the views, approval or concurrence of the heads of the education systems in the SIDS.

In such a context, exchange of experiences, learning from one another, collective decision-making, and professional development of the heads of the education system was not possible. Incoherences in development assistance models also hampered these processes.

Toward a Solution

The Pacific Heads of Education System (PHES) has its genesis in the Education Directors’ Meeting and Pacific Consultative Meeting on Education since 1977. This major education platform has evolved to become a network for the 15 SIDS from among the UNESCO Member States in the Pacific and has created an interface between the Education Directors’ Meeting / PHES, development partners and non-governmental organizations. The Member States take turns to Chair the PHES and co-host the meeting with funds from the Participation Programme and the facilitation of the UNESCO Office for the Pacific States as the host and the Secretariat of the Member States who comprise PHES.

The main purpose identified by PHES members is to support coordination among the national education systems by identifying common solutions,facilitate SIDS-SIDS or South-South and triangular cooperation, support one another’s professional development, and promote standards for education and education outcomes for the realization of the global and regional goals and targets for education. The tasks and responsibilities of PHES during its meetings also include advising one another, civil society organizations, private sector institutions and development partners on establishing the strategic priorities for education at regional level.

Mechanisms like the Pacific Heads of Education System improve coordination and overcome challenges by giving the national education leaders a strong voice and influence in decision-making on regional actions. At present, the Pacific Heads of Education System brings leaders together to ensure that their individual roles in improving quality and access to education is recognized, valued and supported while ensuring that the national governments drive the policy and planning at regional level.

For example, the twenty-fourth Consultation Meeting of PHES, entitled Building Resilience in Education Systems and Harnessing the Pacific Regional Collaboration, was co-hosted by UNESCO and the Ministry of Education of Papua New Guinea, and held online from 27 to 30 July 2021. This meeting was an opportunity to structure the event around plenaries and presentations, allowing participants to discuss common challenges and opportunities.

The Pacific Heads of Education System has resulted in collaboration between government, voluntary, community-, faith-, theme- and youth/ gender-based organizations, social enterprises, private sector and regional organizations, to network with each other in order to find out what is being done, what educational developments are taking place, how they can support one another, and how the development partners can support them. It has helped harmonize development assistance for education and created opportunities for intergovernmental decision-making and improved ownership and relevance of regional education initiatives.

Today, continued cooperation among the Pacific Member States and Associated Members and their mutual support are essential for ensuring the continued advancement of education systems in the Pacific region. In addition, since education systems in the Pacific continue to grow and change, emerging needs must be promptly identified and addressed in a coordinated manner, to ensure that developments in all areas are based on a common understanding in the Pacific. Education, training and professional development services must be responsive to cultural and linguistic diversities and should be a cooperative undertaking involving national, regional, and international organizations.

This long-standing SIDS-SIDS / South-South cooperation mechanism of the Pacific SIDS is now preparing for its twenty fifth Consultation Meeting, to be co-hosted alongside UNESCO by Tuvalu’s Ministry of Education in 2023.