The arts and cultures of people provide the basis of people’s ways of life and understand their worlds. Any development stands a strong chance of being sustainable if it is properly contextualised and grounded strongly on the culture of that society. Education systems, therefore, need to take into cognizance students' cultures and worldviews if what is taught in education and the pedagogy used are to be both relevant and meaningful to students in that country for perpetuating the uniqueness of their cultures. These are essential in the current climate of globalisation in general and sustainable development in particular. If a society is to develop sustainably and to maintain its uniqueness, this development must be based firmly on its arts and culture.

Much of the current curriculum content and pedagogy in schools in the Pacific is still largely underpinned and informed by exogenous ways and thinking. As countries in the region attempt to modernize, learning about their cultures has often been the first to be marginalised. There is, therefore, a need to incorporate relevant aspects of Pacific cultures in both the curriculum contents and pedagogy. This need was again highlighted in a recent UNESCO-sponsored meeting of Pacific experts in the arts and culture in Nadi, Fiji, in 2002. Initiatives by Pacific Island educators are also very relevant.

Objectives
Projects that are to be funded under this category would focus on the following objectives:

1. to raise awareness among community experts, teachers, policy makers and other stakeholders about the importance of their Pacific cultures;

2. to enable stakeholders to identify aspects of their cultures that could be used to inform pedagogy and curriculum content;

3. to develop the capacities of teachers at the pre- and in-service levels in both the subject contents and pedagogy;

4. to develop appropriate resources for teaching and learning, and

5. to develop appropriate arts and cultures curricula for use in schools.

Project 1: Resources

There is going to be a need for people and teachers who are knowledgeable about their cultures to serve as key resource people. Japanese International cooperation Agency (JICA) can work with and through local teacher training colleges and curriculum development units.

The following publications provide a very sound basis for planning and implementation in the area of sustainable development in arts and culture:

• USP’s Pacific Arts and Cultures Policy document;
• Laws, policy documents and regulations that govern arts and cultures in various PICs;
• Institute of Education (IOE’s) Tree of Opportunity;
• UNESCO Chair’s Educational Ideas from Oceania;
• Courses at USP, in particular ED451 Education and Culture, ED461 Global Educational Instruments, DG418 Pacific Ways of Knowing and Being, and DG423 Contemporary Pacific Arts, and
• Other USP courses that focus on development from a Pacific perspective.

Participants

The project can adopt a "training of trainers" approach to this exercise and work with these groups of people:

1. selected teacher educators from countries that have teacher training colleges like Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Kiribati;
2. selected community experts from all the countries, and
3. curriculum development officers from all the countries.

Due to limited funds, it is suggested that only four such people be selected and their fees and research expenses paid for. These people would be enrolled as postgraduate students in the School of Education and engage in research into areas of Pacific culture and education while linking these to their notions of sustainable development.

Main Activities

The following activities are needed for the proper implementation of the project:

1. An initial meeting/workshop in Suva to:
• collect Pacific peoples’ notions of sustainable development
• share and disseminate ideas about sustainable development, and
• determine how these notions could be successfully and effectively incorporated into existing USP courses, and
• identify key needs areas

2. facilitating research by postgraduate into Pacific knowledge systems and notions of sustainable development;

3 supporting reviews of current curriculum materials and developing new ones on the basis of needs;

4 publication of country-based curriculum materials;

5 publication of Pacific-wide book on key aspects of Pacific cultures and education for use at USP and the region, and

6 workshop to evaluate activities.