Indigenous Fijian Notions of Child Development: Understanding children's ways of learning, knowing, and doing, and implications for policy and practice in the early years of school

Abstract

This thesis is the first of its kind in the area of Indigenous Fijian child development cultural knowledge, its nature, its creation, organisation, maintenance, modification and transmission. The study chooses to privilege Indigenous Fijian child development cultural knowledge and has made space for Indigenous Fijian voices to express and register what they perceived as important knowledges to be preserved and maintained, though there were disagreements in some areas of cultural knowledges. This making of spaces is important so as to affirm Indigenous knowledge and epistemology as well as to enable and empower it to take its place within the larger body of knowledge. The employment of the Indigenous Fijian 'veitalanoa-yaga' method provides leeway for the participants to participate freely and voice their knowledge towards the focus of the study. This was due to the familiarity of the method employed apart from the focus group and the individual interviews. Data was analysed using the constant comparative method and within this, themes were presented, coded and discussed along the research questions. The findings of this study highlighted the need for a framework to revitalise the Indigenous Fijian child development cultural knowledges. Thus, the Fiji Indigenous 'Vuli Ni Lalai' Hybrid Model emerged out of the study, paving the way for both the Indigenous Fijian and Western bodies of knowledges to grow together in Early Childhood settings. In the process, teachers and elders work together, and this is made possible through the enabling of policies at the macro level. The study gives a fresh dimension to the ongoing debate on Indigenous Fijian education and development. It has the potential to inform educational policy and practice for Indigenous Fijian education in Fiji and the Pacific, and perhaps other Indigenous Fijian development.