Deconstructing the World of the School: Indigenous Notions of Place, Space and Environment, Implications for Education - A Fiji Study

Unaisi  Nabobo,

Deconstructing the World of the School: Indigenous Notions of Place, Space and Environment, Implications for Education - A Fiji Study

Discipline: Education

Abstract:

The research used interviews and documentary study to document what 30 indigenous people of Vugalei in Fiji perceived to be their notions of place, space and environment. The social science texts of forms J to 4 in Fiji were also analyzed to draw similarities and differences. What the results show is a truly antithetical relationship between the two: the way school knowledge defined the three concepts of place, space and environment and the way this indigenous group of people perceived them to be. The study affirms the concern by some educators and thinkers that perhaps school knowledge ought to take into cognizance the fact that it is worlds apart from the child s home or community knowledge background, especially if the schools are to assist children to excel. School failure may then have nothing to do with incompetence or lack of intelligence of indigenous students but have to do with the differences and apparent conflict between their home knowledge and school knowledge.