Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T04:54:40.769Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tok stori as pedagogy: an approach to school leadership education in Solomon Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2020

Kabini Sanga ,
Martyn Reynolds ,
Stanley Houma  and
Jack Maebuta
Kabini Sanga*
Affiliation:
Education, Victoria University of Wellington, 15 Waiteata Rd Kelburn Wellington, Wellington6140, New Zealand
Martyn Reynolds
Affiliation:
Education, Victoria University of Wellington, 15 Waiteata Rd Kelburn Wellington, Wellington6140, New Zealand
Stanley Houma
Affiliation:
The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Rewa, Fiji
Jack Maebuta
Affiliation:
Solomon Islands National University, Honiara, Honiara Town, Solomon Islands
*
Author for correspondence: Kabini Sanga, E-mail: kabini.sanga@vuw.ac.nz
Get access

Abstract

Tok stori is a Melanesian form of dialogical engagement. Although it has been generally associated with informal activities, this article points to the potential of tok stori as a pedagogical or teaching process. Set in a school leadership programme spread across the Solomon Islands, the discussion illustrates the value of approaching the education of school leaders through their own experiences and in a manner to which they are accustomed. Data are drawn from the stories of programme mentors. Of particular relevance are the relational implications of tok stori as these frame learning, the kinds of learning facilitated by tok stori, gender and the restricted nature of some knowledge, and the openness of tok stori to encourage and promote learning beyond the initial scope of a programme. Although tok stori can be informal, the data suggest that effective professional learning can take place through tok stori as pedagogy. As one amongst a number of traditional oral forms across the region and beyond, the claims made for tok stori in this context provide further support for the inclusion of Indigenous approaches to development work in and beyond Solomon Islands. This is important if development aid is to move to a new level of efficacy.

Keywords

Donor aidleadership educationoralityrelationalitySolomon IslandsTok stori
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , December 2021 , pp. 377 - 384
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, B (2017) Careful words: nursing, language, and emotion in Papua New Guinea. Medical Anthropology 36, 758–771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bessarab, D and Ng'andu, B (2010) Yarning about yarning as a legitimate method in Indigenous research. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 3, 37–50. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/37083CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, V and Clarke, V (2014) Thematic analysis. In Michalos, AC (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, pp. 6626–6628.Google Scholar
Brigg, M, Chadwick, W, Griggers, C, Murdock, J and Vienings, T (2015) Solomon Island National Peace Council: Inter-communal mediation. Available at https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:373816/brigg_et_al_2015_nat_peace_medn.pdf.Google Scholar
Carlson, B and Frazer, R (2018) Yarning circles and social media activism. Media International Australia 169, 43–53.10.1177/1329878X18803762CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coombes, J and Ryder, C (2019) Walking together to create harmony in research. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management 15(1), 58–67. doi:10.1108/QROM-07-2018-1657CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, AJ (2012) Enlarging the field of credible experience: supporting young Solomon Islanders as agents of positive change in their communities. (PhD). Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Evans, T, Guy, R, Honan, E, Paraide, P and Muspratt, S (2010) Reflections on conducting educational research projects in Papua New Guinea. Journal of Research and Reflections in Education 4, 72–89.Google Scholar
Fa‘avae, D, Jones, A and Manu‘atu, L (2016) Talanoa ‘i ‘ae talanoa—talking about talanoa: some dilemmas of a novice researcher. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 12, 138–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fasavalu, TI and Reynolds, M (2019) Relational positionality and a learning disposition: shifting the conversation. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives 18, 11–25.Google Scholar
Fazey, I, Pettorelli, N, Kenter, J, Wagatora, D and Schuett, D (2011) Maladaptive trajectories of change in Makira, Solomon Islands. Global Environmental Change 21, 1275–1289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fredericks, B, Adams, K, Finlay, S, Fletcher, G, Andy, S, Briggs, Lyn, Briggs, Lisa and Hall, R (2011) Engaging the practice of Indigenous yarning in action research. ALAR: Action Learning and Action Research Journal 17, 12–24.Google Scholar
Gainsford, A and Robertson, S (2019) Yarning shares knowledge: Wiradyuri storytelling, cultural immersion and video reflection. The Law Teacher 53, 500–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halapua, S (2008) Talanoa process: the case of Fiji. Available at http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan022610.pdfGoogle Scholar
Honan, E, Evans, T, Muspratt, S, Paraide, P, Reta, M and Baroutsis, A (2012) Implementing a new model for teachers’ professional learning in Papua New Guinea. Professional Development in Education 38, 725–740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johannson-Fua, S (2014) Kakala research framework; a garland in celebration of a decade of rethinking education. In Otunuku, M, Nabobo-Baba, U and Johansson-Fua, S (eds.), Of Waves, Winds and Wonderful Things. Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific Press, pp. 50–72.Google Scholar
Joskin, AM (2013) Investigating the implementation process of a curriculum: a case study from Papua New Guinea. (PhD). Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Kovach, M (2010) Conversational method in Indigenous research. First Peoples Child & Family Review 14, 123–136.Google Scholar
Lin, I, Green, C and Bessarab, D (2016) ‘Yarn with me’: applying clinical yarning to improve clinician–patient communication in Aboriginal health care. Australian Journal of Primary Health 22, 377–382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lingam, GI (2011) Professional preparation for school leaders in developing context: the case of Solomon Islands. International Journal of Education Administration and Policy Studies 3, 142–150.Google Scholar
Lingam, GI and Lingam, N (2014) Changes in teachers’ world of work in a developing context: the case of Solomon Islands. The Journal of Pacific Studies 34, 109–128.Google Scholar
Maezama, S (2015) Shifting leadership out of the backyard: expanding opportunities for women leading in higher education in the Solomon Islands. Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice 30, 51–64.10.21307/jelpp-2015-006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, KA, Sunderland, N and Davis-Warra, J (2013) Yarning circles in the literacy classroom. The Reading Teacher 67, 285–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oldehaver, JL (2018) Developing a ‘culturally validated’ dialogic indicator tool: a reconceptualised analytic framework using Talanoa to code classroom talk. Waikato Journal of Education 23(1), 25–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Otunuku, M (2011) Talanoa: how can it be used effectively as an Indigenous research methodology with Tongan people? Pacific-Asian Education Journal 23, 43–52.Google Scholar
Paea, MK (2015) Tauhi vā māfana: Tongan leadership and culture in the New Zealand Public Service. (PhD). Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Paulsen, I and Spratt, R (2020) When evaluation and learning are the intervention. In Johannson-Fua, S, Jesson, R, Spratt, R and Coxon, E (eds.), Relationality and Learning in Oceania. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Brill | Sense, p. 135.Google Scholar
Prescott, SM (2011) Using Talanoa in pacific business research in New Zealand: experiences with Tongan entrepreneurs. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 4, 127–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roche, C, Sindana, H and Walim, N, & Wafi & Watut Communities (2019) Extractive dispossession: ‘I am not happy our land will go, we will have no better life’. The Extractive Industries and Society, 6, 977–992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rouikera, C (2013) The impact of a professional development programme on the effectiveness of school leaders in Solomon Islands. (M.Ed Leadership). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Sanga, K (2009) The Pacific public servant: serving three masters?. Paper presented at the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.Google Scholar
Sanga, K (2016) What if ‘form’ was the aid? Possible opportunities for renewed neighbourliness in aid relationships. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives 15, 7–15.Google Scholar
Sanga, K (2017) Leadership development through friendship and storytelling. In Vaai, U and Casamira, A (eds.), Relational Hermeneutics: Decolonising the Mindset and the Pacific Itulagi. Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific Press & Pacific Theological College, pp. 101–113.Google Scholar
Sanga, K and Reynolds, M (2019) Melanesian tok stori in leadership development: ontological and relational implications for donor-funded programmes in the Western Pacific. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives 17, 11–26.Google Scholar
Sanga, K and Reynolds, M (2020) Knowledge guardianship, custodianship and ethics: a Melanesian perspective. AlterNative, 1177180120917481. Available at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1177180120917481?casa_token=SjDyqyN8EC0AAAAA:AJ5cBkAT6QRSs7VkL7Eblw9f9CgQJwUr2FjPAOrxMwpU4KWTTKyi_cagrcBfKSHOgKrPY2lONZujgAGoogle Scholar
Sanga, K, Reynolds, M, Paulsen, I, Spratt, R and Maneipuri, J (2018) A tok stori about tok stori: Melanesian relationality in action as research, leadership and scholarship. Global Comparative Education, 2, 3–19. Available at https://www.theworldcouncil.net/uploads/8/6/2/1/86214440/gce_wccesjournal_vol2-no1.pdfGoogle Scholar
Sanga, K, Maebuta, J, Johansson-Fua, S and Reynolds, M (2020) Re-thinking contextualisation in Solomon Islands school leadership professional learning and development. Pacific Dynamics 4, 17–29.Google Scholar
Shay, M (2019) Extending the yarning yarn: collaborative yarning methodology for ethical Indigenist education research. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 1–9. doi:10.1017/jie.2018.25Google Scholar
Sisiolo, JL (2010) ‘Being’ an educational leader in Choiseul Province in the Solomon Islands: a case study of the context of leadership for principals and deputy principals. (M.Ed Leadership). The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Smith, H (2016) Mr Jones: Mi laik askim yu samting. In Bunce, P., Phillipson, R., Rapatahana, V., & Tupas, R. (Eds.), Why English?: Confronting the Hydra. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, Vol. 13, pp. 88–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stead, V (2013) Land, power, change: entanglements of custom and modernity in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. (PhD). RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.Google Scholar
Stewart, SL (2009) One Indigenous academic's evolution: a personal narrative of native health research and competing ways of knowing. First Peoples Child & Family Review 4, 57–65.10.7202/1069350arCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tecun, A, Hafoka, I, ‘Ulu ‘ave, L and ‘Ulu ‘ave-Hafoka, M (2018) Talanoa: Tongan epistemology and Indigenous research method. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 14, 156–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terare, M and Rawsthorne, M (2019) Country is yarning to me: worldview, health and well-being amongst Australian first nations people. The British Journal of Social Work 50, 1–17.Google Scholar
Vaioleti, T (2006) Talanoa research methodology: a developing position on Pacific research. Waikato Journal of Education 12, 21–34.Google Scholar
Vaioleti, T (2013) Talanoa: differentiating the Talanoa research methodology from phenomenology, narrative, Kaupapa Maori and feminist methodologies. Te Reo 56, 191–212.Google Scholar
Van Heekeren, D (2014) Naming, mnemonics, and the poetics of knowing in Vula'a oral traditions. Oceania 84, 169–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vella, L and Maebuta, J (2018) Building national unity, reconciliation and peace in the Solomon Islands: the missing link. In Jenkins, B., Subedi, D. B., & Jenkins, K. (Eds.), Reconciliation in Conflict-Affected Communities. Singapore: Springer, pp. 57–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, M, Fredericks, B, Mills, K and Anderson, D (2014) ‘Yarning’ as a method for community-based health research with Indigenous women: the Indigenous women's wellness research program. Health Care for Women International 35, 1216–1226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, K (2011) Narrative inquiry. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willetts, J, Asker, S, Carrard, N and Winterford, K (2014) The practice of a strengths-based approach to community development in Solomon Islands. Development Studies Research 1, 354–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfgramm-Foliaki, E, Smith, H and Hattori, M (2018) Indigenous methodologies: charting our collective journey. A Talanoa Panel. Paper presented at the (Re) Mapping Indigenous & Settler Geographies in the Pacific, Mānoa, HI.Google Scholar