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 | | Educational planning -- Cook Islands
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|  | Optimising human resource development in the Cook Islands : an exploration in education planning
Author: Kapuvai, Charlie.
Institution: University of the South Pacific.
Award: M.A.
Subject: Educational planning -- Cook Islands, Manpower policy -- Cook Islands , Education and state -- Cook Islands
Date: 2006.
Call No.: Pac LC 96 .97 .C6 K26 2006
BRN: 1024254
Copyright:This thesis may NOT be copied without the authors written permission.
Abstract: It is apparent from educational developments in the last decade in the Cook Islands that education will continue to be an important tool for human resource development for the 21st century. But the issue that really needs to be addressed is the agenda for education and training. In working out such an agenda, the Cook Islands community, the policy makers and the professionals, need to look to the past, the present and the future for directions. In education, especially optimising human resource, in particular, we also need to look closely at the nature of the communities; their socio-economic status, their resources, their social and cultural traditions, and their aspirations. In this study I have followed the suggestions made above to firstly examine the Cook Islands’ historical background in education as well as its physical, economic and political context. Secondly, I have also examined the current educational approaches adopted, and then analysed some needs and demands for better human resource development. In the final chapter I have proposed some suggestions and ideas that might contribute to building an education system with a human resource development focus that the Cook Islands policy makers may like to consider. Indeed, many questions were asked and still being asked by the Cook Islands community about the relevancy of its education system to its developmental needs. And after many years of self-government, with so many proposals for educational changes, the Cook Islands community is yet to seriously question what they want out of its education system. The critical point for attention here is the need for a clarified vision of education for Cook Islanders. The Cook Islands Government need to ask a number of fundamental questions such as; what societal goals and objectives should education serve? What values and skills should their young people possess? How should the responsibilities for education be shared? At the core of these questions and issues lies the ideal of human resource development for the Cook Islands, with a renewed focus on the fulfillment of the young people’s potential and on improving the well-being and quality of their lives. Human resource development, through education, is also concerned with enlarging the range of choices available to young people for this generation as well as for the next generation. The focus on human resource development, ‘putting people first’, necessarily involves developing good educational practices for the progress of the nation. In order to monitor progress in the development process and to plan for improvement in the future, it is essential to have a sound policy innovation such as this. In this way social and economic planners could mobilize the nations’ resources in order to construct the necessary education system to meet the human resource development and requirement of the nation, hence the purpose of the study.
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