Notes on Contributors
Eve Coxon
is Associate Professor at the University of Auckland and until recently was Director of the Research Unit in Pacific & International Education. During her 30+ years at the University she has also held senior academic positions in Pacific Studies and Development Studies. She has undertaken numerous research and consultancy assignments reflecting this inter-disciplinary approach in the Pacific Islands region and other parts of the ‘developing’ world. A central focus of her work is the role of educational aid in enhancing equitable and sustainable education development. She is currently Vice President of World Council for Comparative Education Societies (WCCES).
Robert Early
was the Director of the Centre for Pacific Languages and Associate Professor of Pacific Languages at the Emalus Campus of The University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu. He has carried out teaching, research and postgraduate supervision over a wide range of linguistic and Pacific language areas. His particular interests in language policy and planning, multilingual education, vernacular resource development, lexicography and translation have led to many involvements in project and consultancy work for Pacific governments and international donor and development agencies.
Rebecca Jesson
is the Associate Director of the Woolf Fisher Research Centre at the University of Auckland. Rebecca’s research interests include dialogic approaches to teaching, and responsive teaching of literacy. Rebecca engages in Research Practice Partnerships with groups of schools to further contextualised understandings of literacy learning, as well as strive for excellence in literacy teaching. Rebecca lectures in literacy in the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the Faculty of Education and Social Work, and is academic leader of the Post Graduate Diploma of Education, Literacy Specialisation for teachers.
Seu’ula Johansson-Fua
is the Director of the Institute of Education at the University of the South Pacific. Her area of research covers educational planning, policy, and leadership with a particular focus on improving educational systems in small island states. She has 15 years of work experience in the Pacific region working at multiple levels of education systems and with a wide range of stakeholders in education for development. She is a researcher-practitioner with a particular concern for strengthening regionalism in Oceania. She lives in Tonga with her family.
Konai Helu Thaman
was born, raised and schooled in Tonga. She is now Professor of Pacific Education and Culture at the University of the South Pacific, where she was UNESCO Chair in Teacher Education and Culture, 1998–2016. She has researched and published in curriculum, teacher education, indigenous education, women and management, Pacific research frameworks and education for sustainable development. Currently a member of the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee on the Recommendation on the Status of Teachers and Fellow of the Asia Pacific Center for Educational Innovations in Development, Konai is also a widely published poet whose works have been translated into several languages.
Jack Maebuta
is the Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic) at the Solomon Islands National University, and an Adjunct Lecturer in Peace Studies at the School of Humanities, University of New England, NSW, Australia. Jack was a senior Fellow in Educational Administration and Lecturer in education at the Institute of Education, University of the South Pacific (USP), and a Pacific Islands Research Fellow at the State Society and Governance in Melanesia Program of the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of New England. Jack has published peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in education and peacebuilding.
Stuart McNaughton
is a Professor of Education at the University of Auckland, and Director of the Woolf Fisher Research Centre/Te Pūtahi Whakatairanga Hapori Ako Angitu. He is also New Zealand’s Chief Education Scientific Advisor. He has published extensively on children’s development, the design of effective educational programs for culturally and linguistically diverse populations, and cultural processes in development. He is a recipient of national and international research prizes, consults on curricula and educational interventions nationally and internationally, is a member of a number of academic bodies, and has an honorary position at East China Normal University (Shanghai).
Jacinta Oldehaver
is a Professional Teaching Fellow in the school of Curriculum and Pedagogy, in the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland. She has also been a researcher on several projects. Most recently she engaged in a multi-year regional project aimed at literacy and leadership development in the Pacific, and a two-year long pilot project that explored patterns of ‘talk about text’ across subject areas in low decile secondary schools. She is also part of the Developing in Digital Words team, researching 21st century skill development with students in digital contexts. Jacinta’s doctoral study seeks to investigate patterns of dialogic talk in primary classrooms with high numbers of Pacific students.
Irene Paulsen
works for Auckland Uniservices Limited, University of Auckland as Programme Manager of the Leaders and Education Authority Programme (LEAP). LEAP is an initiative of the Solomon Islands Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development (MEHRD) with funding from the New Zealand Government, designed to support Provincial Education Authorities and school leaders to improve student literacy at the primary school level. Before joining LEAP, Irene was a Lecturer in Youth Work and Education at Victoria University, Melbourne. An academic and mentor, Irene’s research interests are Pacific Islander (PI) educational pathways and transitions, migration and settlement patterns, and indigenous knowledges.
Kabini Sanga, MNZM
is an educator from Solomon Islands where he received his schooling and later filled key educational positions. He completed his undergraduate education at University of the South Pacific and postgraduate degrees in Educational Administration in Canada. Currently living in Aotearoa New Zealand where he is Associate Professor of Education at Victoria University of Wellington, Kabini’s research interests are in leadership, educational policy, international education, development education, governance of higher education and indigenous research. He is a mentor active in growing a new generation of Pacific leaders and is Co-President of the Oceania Comparative and International Education Society (OCIES).
Ritesh Shah
is a Senior Lecturer of Comparative and International Education at the University of Auckland. Most of his research occurs in international settings where changes in political, economic or social regimes driven by crises and/or conflict have led to calls for significant reform to a nation’s education system. In the past decade, Ritesh has conducted research and consultancy work in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.
Rebecca Spratt
is an independent researcher-practitioner with over 15 years of experience in aid policy and programming in the Pacific region, with a particular focus on the education sector. Her research interests are in comparative education, aid effectiveness, Pacific education, and context-sensitive program design and evaluation. She has a particular interest in research-practice collaborations in aid. Rebecca holds a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from the University of Auckland, and Bachelor Degrees in Anthropology and Psychology from Victoria University of Wellington.
‘Ana Heti Veikune
is an Assistant Lecturer at the School of Language, Arts & Media, the University of the South Pacific, Tonga Campus. She taught English in high schools in Tonga for several years where she held various positions including Principal of Tonga High School and THS National Form 7. She joined the University of the South Pacific in 2010. Her research interests are metacognition and literacy, especially reading in Tongan and has just begun PhD studies looking at a cultural framework that is to be used to develop oracy in Tongan.