Pacific Resources for Education and Learning
Enhancing community well-being through partnerships in education
Pacific Educational Conference
With the theme The Pacific Child: Cultivating and Preserving the Pacific Identity, the 27th Pacific Educational Conference (PEC) took place from July 19–21 in Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).
The PEC, hosted by the Pohnpei Department of Education, the College of Micronesia-FSM, and PREL, yet again, was one of the largest gatherings of experts and professionals in the field of education in the Pacific region.
More than 900 educators and professionals, from the continental U.S., the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands, Asia, and Australia came together for this event to share and network. With more than 160 professional development workshops, educators of the Pacific region and around the world shared instructional strategies for contextual and culturally grounded learning. Assessment and evaluation; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education; teacher training technology; math; and climate change were just a few of the subjects discussed at this year’s PEC. Beautiful cultural presentations of traditional dance and customs were performed every evening of the 3-day event, as well.
On this occasion, the biennial conference was held on the beautiful garden island of Micronesia: Pohnpei. Home of the capital, Pohnpei is the largest of the FSM islands and has a lush mountainous rainforest. It was the perfect backdrop for this conference, with its rich mangrove forests, beautiful ocean vistas, and indigenous villages.
As part of this year’s events, the organizing committee lined up an extraordinary series of keynote speakers following along the lines of the conference’s theme, The Pacific Child: Cultivating and Preserving the Pacific Identity. Among the keynote speakers was internationally renowned Māori educationalist and advocate, Professor Graham Smith; Professor Smith is an influential contributor to the development of what he has described in his writings as the “25-year Māori educational revolution, 1982–2007.” Highly esteemed Pacific-island scholar, educator, and leader, Dr. John Haglelgam, also spoke; Dr. Haglelgam has served as a representative, congressman, Vice President, and President of the FSM. Among his honors, he has earned recognition as an East-West Center Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, and a Distinguished Senior Pacific Fellow at the Australian National University. Also invited to speak was His Excellency U.S. Ambassador to the FSM, Mr. Peter A. Prahar, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. His Excellency Mr. Prahar has served on assignments that include tours in China, Japan, Albania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and Rwanda. Some of the keynote speakers’ speeches are available here—look in the right side column of this webpage.
As with the 26 previous conferences, the 27th PEC has proven to be an event of collaboration and sharing among educators, not separated, but united by the Pacific and the common interest for the Pacific children.
The next conference will be held in 2013 in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), please check back for information and updates.