Who are these students? The cultural background of some past and future AusAID students from Papua New Guinea and elsewhere

Academics frequently make assumptions about the educational backgrounds of newly arrived overseas students based on the curricula taught in their home countries. However, vastly different world views can exist - especially where the students come from countries with predominantly non-Western economies. This paper uses data provided by Papua New Guinean trainee teachers and ex-Ausaid students to assess whether students obtaining above average marks in a Western style curriculum that is taught in English can be assumed to share the educational experiences of Australian students. The results suggest that their needs are likely to be ongoing and cannot be served by short orientation courses.

Introduction

This is quite different to the background of most full fee paying overseas students. By definition, self-sponsoring students have access to sufficient funding to pay for university fees and living costs while they are in Australia. While this may not necessarily make them wealthy, it does imply a familiarity with a Western-style economy which cannot be assumed for many of the AusAID students.

Unfortunately, with the increasing numbers of full fee paying overseas students in Australian universities, the needs of the two groups are sometimes conflated to the detriment of the minority AusAID students.

It also sometimes appears that Australian universities have forgotten that the Australian university experience is a brief interlude in the lives of these students, perhaps only five percent of their lives. Despite the brevity of their stay, the aim of bringing these students to an Australian university is to make a real difference in their lives, and the lives of others in their home country. Their experience will be wasted if they return to their home country at the end of their degree without skills that can be put practical use. Yet there are disturbing reports that this has been the case for some students from non-Western backgrounds (Hogan, 1996).

Basic pedagogical theory would dictate that two factors are of particular importance in making any educational experience effective. Firstly, it is necessary to consider what the learner brings with them to the learning situation and work from that point. For AusAID students, this would mean Australian universities taking account of their cultural and educational backgrounds. Secondly, it is necessary to provide an educational experience that is relevant to the needs of the students, rather than the needs of the educator. For AusAID students this would mean providing knowledge, skills and attitudes that will be of value in their home country. If issues of familiarity and relevance are ignored when dealing with students from non-Western backgrounds, their stay in Australia will be a brief interlude, unrelated and irrelevant to the reality of life in their home country.

This paper looks at how Australian universities are dealing with the AusAID students' needs for familiarity on arrival, and relevance for departure in the offerings provided. It uses data and case studies, drawn from Papua New Guinean teachers college students (many of whom go on to become AusAID students) and lecturers who are ex-AusAID students, to suggests some alternative approaches.

Familiarity

Assumption 1: Australian and Papua New Guinean syllabi are virtually indistinguishable in content, pedagogy and values.

Reality: Lack of confidence by Papua New Guinean teachers means that many lessons never get taught. Less than 60% of science lessons are taught in urban areas (Wilson, 1979) and probably half that in rural areas (Lake, 1994). While subsequent education may deal with more advanced knowledge, basic knowledge gaps can remain.
Strategy: Supervisors should not assume that familiarity with more advanced concepts is associated with comprehension of simpler concepts. Ongoing independent support is needed to provide opportunities to discuss basic knowledge in a non-threatening environment.

Assumption 2: Activities in the curriculum can be done.

Reality: Most Papua New Guinean schools do not have lenses, springs or magnets, much less the microscopes, chemicals or balances that are essential for most science experiments. Few students would have more than a fraction of the science experiences of Australian children.
Strategy: Supervisors should not assume familiarity with equipment because it is common in Australian schools and universities. Often the more basic pieces of equipment cause the most difficulty. Ongoing independent support is needed to provide basic expertise in a non-threatening environment.

Assumption 3: Treating all students in the same way avoids prejudice.

Reality: Australia is amongst the most individualistic societies on earth, yet many AusAID students come from collectivist cultures (Hofstede, 1980). Collectivist schooling avoids questioning authority or highlighting individual performance; university tutorials and presentations given do both. While studies at UPNG (Wilson & Wilson, 1981) suggest formal thought may be as prevalent in Papua New Guinean students as in the West, the threatening conditions of the tutorial will not allow its display.
Strategy: AusAID students need opportunities to work in cooperative groups during their first year of candidature, and should not be required to give individual presentations during that time. Ongoing training in appropriate cultural expression is required throughout the student's candidature.

Assumption 4: All students need the same conditions to learn.

Reality: Collectivist cultures take an holistic view, relying more on team work to complete practical, concrete tasks. Yet many Australian universities introduce students to isolated theoretical aspects of content and methodology in the isolation of the library before allowing them to participate in practical laboratory work where they can build relationships with co-workers.
Strategy: New students should be encouraged to participate in 'leg work', while building relationships and gaining an overview, before tackling theoretical aspects. Students should work in cooperative groups wherever possible.

Assumption 5: Since many AusAID students hold government jobs they possess the skills to succeed in Western education.

Reality: Over half the Papua New Guinea trainee teachers' parents are subsistence farmers (Table 1). Two-thirds had less than seven years schooling (Table 2). We cannot assume that these students have the necessary study skills to develop their potential in a foreign system.
Strategy: Ongoing independent learning skills support in a non-threatening environment is required throughout candidature.

Assumption 6: AusAID students working in the cash economy, they share common Western experiences.

Reality: Sixty percent of trainee teachers in Papua New Guinea lived more than three quarters of their lives in rural villages, most leaving only to further their education, often in other rural locations. Even this figure reflects the elite nature of this group compared with the general population where only 15% of the population rely on the cash economy (Tetaga, 1993) . About one third of students had used a television once or never (Table 3). One ex-AusAID student spent her first allowance in Australia on dry-cleaning because she did not understand the laundromat, and was so shamed that she could not concentrate for several months.
Strategy: Ongoing peer and administrative support is required throughout candidature.

Assumption 7: Since it is the language of instruction, students are fluent in English.

Reality: 5% of trainee teachers speak English at home (Table 4): Two-thirds use one of a wide range of vernacular languages (Table 5). Some vernaculars do not readily support concepts required in many disciplines (Kelly & Philp, 1975)). One AusAID education student failed to distinguish between concepts and clusters in his thesis.
Strategy: Ongoing independent specialist linguistic assistance is needed throughout candidature.

Relevance

Irrelevant content knowledge

Reality: Students can see overseas study as a break from reality. One Papua New Guinean ex-AusAID agriculture student studied dairy, wheat and sheep farming. Five years later he could not think of one way in which his (most enjoyable) stay in Australia had helped him.
Strategy: Supervisors need to be aware of the conditions their trainees will return to.

Inappropriate technological skills

Reality: Dependence on sophisticated, interdependent technologies is usually unsustainable. This has previously been noted in relation to Papua New Guinean needs (O'Donoghue, 1994). One ex-AusAID student returned to Papua New Guinea enthusiastic about implementing a computer education into local schools without electricity and unable to afford calculators.
Strategy: The students' need skills in technologies that can sustained in their home countries. Supervisors need awareness of the conditions under which their trainees will work.

Cultural clashes in values

Reality: Students cannot present themselves in a manner acceptable in a collectivist culture (Hogan, 1996). Only by retaining shared values with the home culture can the students (and their ideas) be accepted as a member of the ingroup (Triandis, 1995). Yet much of the training received in Australian universities stresses an adversarial approach to the falsification of knowledge claims (for example, Trusted, 1979). For example, while the Matane report (1986) recognises the need for individualistic approaches it stresses communalistic values.

Traditional education was based on obligation to the clan. In replacing social emphasis with concern for the individual child, has education lost sight of the importance of responsibility, justice and respect for others? (p4)

Strategy: Non-confrontational approaches to critical thinking (eg D'Agostino (1989)) need investigation. Ongoing negotiation is required to ensure that the students' skills remain acceptable at home.

Summary

References

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