All of Vanuatu’s Year 11 students, irrespective of whether they are enrolled in an English-speaking or French-speaking school, will learn the same curriculum.
This follows more than eight years of perseverance by the Ministry of Education to harmonise the two school systems.
The two systems, which differed in many ways – from the language of instruction to the curriculum’s design and content – have been an immense challenge for the island nation since its independence.
There are 71 Anglophone (English-speaking) and 33 Francophone (French-speaking) schools in Vanuatu.
The ministry, which embarked on curriculum reforms to make learning more competency-based for students, wants the revised curriculum to be used by all schools. The Pacific Community’s Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP) has been working closely with the ministry on the reforms.
Director of Education Services Samuel Katipa says the reform work with the Year 11 and Year 12 curriculum is on track and they are very thankful for the assistance received from EQAP.
“The work with Year 11 and Year 12 curriculum has set the pathway towards the Vanuatu National Secondary School Certificate (VNSSC),” he explained. “This is very good for us because, not only is there just one system, the new curriculum is more contextualised to Vanuatu.”
Mr Katipa also acknowledged the assistance of EQAP’s development partners, the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the New Zealand Government Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).