The rise of Open Distance Learning (ODL) has created new learning opportunities for teacher education students, particularly in geographically remote small island states. Alongside increasing access to education, ODL is designed to promote independent and self-directed learning. Despite this highly individualised pedagogical orientation, little is…

The global pandemic led to an expansion of research pertaining to education in the new normal. Lived experiences of students were mostly documented through surveys or in-depth online interviews due to movement restrictions. One issue with such approaches is that students are guided by set questions and have limited opportunities to cathartically…

Equity policies in higher education are focused on dismantling barriers and redressing inequalities that restrict the participation and success of students from historically excluded groups. In some Universities across Oceania, "underrepresented" includes students of Pacific heritage alongside students from low socioeconomic backgrounds,…

COVID-19 has severely impacted the higher education sector. Early institutional responses have been diverse, ranging from minimal changes to complete digitalisation of curriculum. This paper develops a preliminary higher education pandemic response model based on a comparative analysis of responses to the current coronavirus pandemic and those…

This research study explored how teachers differ in their views of cultural and linguistic diversity and the role of language learning in diverse classrooms. Beliefs about cultural diversity impact the strategies used to tackle language learning and how teachers from specific language-teaching classrooms understand language as a tool for…

The current study investigated the experiences of in-service teachers' at Fiji National University (FNU) during the second phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research aimed to contribute to the evidence base of factors affecting the effectiveness of online learning for in-service teacher education in Fiji and identify strategies for improving…

Articulating one's positionality as a researcher is crucial to social research. This is particularly important in comparative and international education research where context, culture and notions of power underpin much of the work. However, researcher positionality has multiple meanings, making it challenging for emerging researchers to navigate…

This study investigated how university students in Pacific Island contexts coped with the shift to remote learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers aimed to investigate the social capital of a group of Pasifika university students in Fiji, New Zealand and Solomon Islands universities during COVID-19 and how they coped with the…

This study investigates strategies employed by East Asian international students to cope with comprehension barriers caused by different types of English accents. While these students face a range of comprehension barriers caused by unfamiliar accented English (from both native speakers and speakers of other languages), little is known about how…

The current study adopted a case study design with mixed methods to examine the multiple features in child development course syllabi in early childhood teacher education programs in two countries, China and the US. This study provided insights into the twenty syllabi through document review and questionnaires. Twenty-six participants, viewed as…

The longitudinal study was designed to investigate the impacts of the International Training Program in Pedagogy (ITPP) at a midwestern institution in the US on the visiting scholars in seven cohorts from China in 2012-18. The study used the cohort survey research design method. The first part of the data was collected from 48 visiting scholars…

These three works are first framed with a poem collated by Mere Taito. The cover art, "Ka Po Ho'iho'i - Black as the Spectrum in Unity" (2020), builds upon a conversation ignited by Dr Sarah Jane Moore's "Lunar Mother," and her invitation to collaborate. The dialogue began via zoom connecting Dr. Moore with three other Pacific…

This article focuses on the perceptions of institutional practices and practices to nurture greater cross-cultural learning and inclusion by highlighting findings from an in-depth qualitative case study conducted at a prominent Canadian research university with a stellar reputation for recruiting and providing an inclusive environment for…

This paper sheds light on the higher education system of the Maldives from the perspective of gender equality between men and women. The findings presented in the paper are based on the results of a survey conducted among students enrolled in higher education institutions and on desk-research of relevant policy documents. The study explores the…

This paper examines the factors that impact Japanese students' decisions to study abroad from the perspectives of Japanese study abroad administrators. In-depth interviews of five study abroad administrators at Japanese universities were qualitatively analysed. Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory was used to identify various immediate and…