Vanuatu Cultural Centre

Throughout the 25-year existence of the Republic of Vanuatu, a national history curriculum has not been implemented in the nation’s schools. The National History Curriculum Project was conceived in accordance with the Ministry of Education’s “Re-thinking Vanuatu Education” policy (initiated in 2002) in order to develop a long-overdue national history curriculum aimed at strengthening students’ understanding of their national and cultural heritage. The Project also reflects the Vanuatu Cultural Centre’s commitment to documenting, preserving and promoting our cultural heritage for the present and future generations of ni-Vanuatu.

Housed at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and funded by NZAID, the Project began in January 2003 with Peace Corps volunteer Sara Lightner, who was joined by ni-Vanuatu researcher Anna Naupa in the Project’s second year. Guided by an Advisory Committee comprised of teachers, local historians, university professors and government officials, the overall goal was to produce a National History that allows students to explore their heritage and their identity as ni-Vanuatu. The National History Curriculum Project was completed in January 2005. Histri blong yumi long Vanuatu: An educational resource was published in English in three volumes plus a Teachers Guide in July 2005. This History resource comprises 16 chapters that span the entire spectrum of Vanuatu’s heritage - from volcanic origins, first settlement and early cultures to colonisation, Independence and recent social and political developments – and numerous activities and focus questions to assist in the implementation of the curriculum in schools.

This History resource comprises 16 chapters that span the entire spectrum of Vanuatu’s heritage - from volcanic origins, first settlement and early cultures to colonisation, Independence and recent social and political developments

The goals of the Project :
• To have a National History subject included in Vanuatu’s secondary school curriculum
• To provide our children with a sound knowledge of their identity through the history of our country
• To show our children that they should be proud of their history and the customs that are part of their everyday lives
• To assist our children in using the lessons of the past to solve problems and difficulties in their lives today

Project advisory committee :
• John Niroa, Director of Secondary Education
• Anne Naupa, long-time history teacher at Malapoa College
• Margaret Toukone, Social Science teacher, Malapoa College
• David Luders, local historian
• Charlie Pierce, Vanuatu Institute of Teacher Education (VITE)
• John Lynch, Professor of Linguistics, University of the South Pacific
• Rory Charlie, VITE

Partner organizations involved in the Project :
• New Zealand High Commission (sponsor)
• Ministry of Education
• U.S. Peace Corps (provision of volunteer)

What was done :
• Preliminary literature survey and research
• Survey sent to all Social Science teachers in country on needs for national history teaching
• Endorsement of Project by National Education Commission
• Ongoing consultation with Project Advisory Committee
• In-depth research on a number of topics
• Drafting of units
• Endorsement of units by Advisory Committee
• Drafting of Teachers Guide
• Printing and launching
• Distribution of free copies to all schools and discount copies to teachers

Results of social science teachers’ survey :
• Overwhelming majority of Social Science teachers recognize a need for inclusion of more national history in the curriculum
• Major question: how will this be achieved?
• One concern: not enough available space within the current curriculum- changes need to be made
• Teachers stressed the need for a guidebook (Teacher’s Guide) to accompany the main text

What still needs to be done :
• Produce a French-language version of the text book. According to Vanuatu’s Constitution, the principal languages of education in the country are both English and French
• Revise the text based on feedback received and in accordance with the requirements for a new national curriculum to be decided upon in 2007

Preface to the text, written by the Director of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre :
It is my very great pleasure to be able to write the introduction to Histri Blong Yumi Long Vanuatu, which comes in three volumes and a teacher's guide. This book was produced to provide the Department of Education with a comprehensive history of Vanuatu which can be used as a resource and a basis upon which a core curriculum subject on the history of our country might be developed. As such, it is written in the form of a text book - aimed at secondary school level - and can immediately be used by students in the classroom. The accompanying teacher's guide facilitates its use. However, we hope that the book can be used much more widely as a general resource by anyone interested in learning about our history.

The Cultural Centre took the initiative to have this book written in response to a general concern that our children were not being taught enough about the history of Vanuatu in the nation's schools today. If our education system is to produce citizens able to contribute to the appropriate and sustainable development of this country, it must empower them with self confidence: a belief in themselves and their capacity to deal with whatever life may bring. Perhaps the most important prerequisite for being self confident is to have a good sense of identity, an understanding of who you are, something which only results from a good knowledge of one’s history and culture. Also, by understanding how and why our society is like it is, we become better able to contribute to making positive changes to improve it. That is the reason why a good knowledge of our history is essential for all ni-Vanuatu and why our history should be taught to all children attending school in the country.

The Vanuatu National History Curriculum Project was supported by the Department of Education and funded over two years by the New Zealand High Commission in Port Vila. Sara Lightner, a United States Peace Corps volunteer, managed the project and local researcher Anna Naupa joined the project in its second year. The Cultural Centre extends its gratitude to the New Zealand Government, the United States Peace Corps, the Department of Education and in particular to Sara and Anna for their contributions to the writing of this book.

The production of this book contributes to the Department of Education's "Rethinking Vanuatu education" initiative, now underway. Its publication is timely, as it will be available as a reference and a resource for the Department's review of the national curriculum, which is planned to begin in 2007. The great amount of work undertaken to produce this book demonstrates the high hopes held by the Cultural Centre, and by many others in the country, that the Government will make the history of Vanuatu a core subject in the new national curriculum.

Ralph Regenvanu
Director, Vanuatu National Cultural Council & Vanuatu Cultural Centre.

Summary of the contents, Histri blong yumi long Vanuatu: An educational resource

Chronological units :
• Our Islands’ Beginnings
• The Peopling of Our Islands
• Features of Traditional Society
• European Exploration of Our Islands: 1606 - 1809
• The Sandalwood Trade: 1829 - 1865
• The Labour Trade: Labour Recruiting and Blackbirding
• The Beginnings of Christianity in Our Islands
• Planters and Plantations: A Century of European Settlement in Our Islands - 1860s to 1960s
• Condominium Beginnings and Colonial Rule: 1887 to 1980
• Cargo Cults and Social Movements in the 1930s and 1940s
• World War II in the New Hebrides: 1942 to1945
• The Growth of Port Vila and Santo Town: the late 1800s to the 1970s
• The Road to Independence: the 1970s to 1980
• The Young Nation: 30 July 1980 to the present

Topic-based units :
• An Agricultural History of Our Islands
• A Century of Population Decrease in Our Islands: 1820s to 1920s
• Land Tenure in Vanuatu (contained within the final unit about “The Young Nation”)