Effects of Facilitating Papuan Teachers’ Professional Development Programs on Australian Facilitators: Implications for Universities

Abstract

The focus of this study is how Australian facilitators viewed their experience of delivering professional development programs for in-service teachers from the Province of Papua, Indonesia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 program facilitators from the university and schools on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. Thematic analysis identified that the initial knowledge of the Papuan context was not equally distributed between the program designers and other facilitators. Nevertheless, the programs were seen positively, contributing to facilitators’ increased teaching enthusiasm. It was reported that examples derived from the Papuan context were used in the facilitators’ classrooms, and a sense of reconfirmation that the facilitators’ teaching practices were in line with the Papuan teachers’ needs. For the university and school facilitators, the Papuan teachers’ professional development programs contributed to increased understanding of cultural differences and similarities and opened opportunities for wider engagement with the Asian region. While the findings are mainly applicable to the Sunshine Coast context, other universities planning to host similar programs may need to prepare facilitators with greater understanding of the teachers’ contexts, encourage critical reflection on the lessons learned from delivering the programs, and communicate the positive lessons to the wider university community.