The E Course: expatriate teachers for pre-independent Papua New Guinea

Abstract

A little known facet of Australia's colonial education delivery in Papua New Guinea (PNG) was theE Course'. Originally termed the Emergency Course, it was a teacher recruitment and training programme that took place prior to PNG's independence in 1975. The programme was speci® cally designed to implement a rapid training and placement of minimally educated, English speaking teachers, into PNG primary schools under the Australian Administration. The scheme took place during a period when post-Second World War conditions were continuing to impact upon teacher availability from Australia, and shortages in personnel were impeding Australia's attempts to create a literate population in PNG. There were evident bene® ts from the course, both for Papua New Guinean primary school students as well as Australia's short-term administrative and political requirements. However, analysis of the pro- gramme and its context also suggests that the Australian Administration at the time evinced a degree of pragmatism, both in the implementation of the course and the means by which teachers were installed in PNG's schools. Much of the material used in this paper comes as a result of interviews and research undertaken during doctoral studies on the changing aspects of the expatriate teachers' place and identity in PNG's transitional society both before and after independence.