Education and

Development in Timor-
Leste, the Need for
Pathways
Dr Helen M. Hill
Honorary Fellow, College of Arts, Victoria University
And visiting Fellow, Universidade Nacional Timor Loro Sae
Mini-Conference Tuesday 13th October 2015
The Argument
Timor-Leste has not had a good debate about Educations
contribution to development due to
Fights about language which are often irrelevant
The impact of the Indonesian occupation and the subsequent
destruction (which targeted health and education) causing the
UN to come in with a return to normal strategy for education.
A sometimes rosy view of the Portuguese education system by
those who were successful in it.
A debate is raging over language of instruction in the early years
of primary school, following the introduction of a new curriculum
by Vice-Minister Dulce Soares who hired a group of Timorese and
internationals to devise a curriculum more closely designed to
address Timor-Lestes needs than the ones in use. This is still a
somewhat confused debate and more time is needed to let it run
its course.
The problematique
Timor Leste has a small population, only 1.2
million, it cannot afford to have students
failing and dropping out of school, it also
needs to improve productivity of agriculture,
improve financial inclusion, and install
knowledge infrastructure and national systems
to extend opportunity for education to all
sucos and aldeas. Pathways are needed as a
way to bring back into education those whose
formal schooling was cut short for various
reasons and to enable change of career.
Education as part of the
Colonialist project
Portuguese, Spanish and French
assimilationist insisted on colonial
language in education, monolingualism
British, NZ, Australian in their colonies
indirect rule tolerated local languages but
English for the elite.
Japanese transformed the economy and
insisted on Japanese
Indonesians imposed the Indonesian
language by force also monolingual
 Education in Portuguese Timor

Assimilationist philosophy of
Education emphasis on
European culture, philosophy
and literacy: a good system for
the elite and a poor one for
everyone else but local
knowledge ignored.
Quarta Classe (fourth class)
could lead to a job in the public
service
Under a Concordat between the
State and the Catholic Church,
the Church played a major role in
policy-making
Education under the Indonesian
occupation 1976-99
Schooling opened up to new
classes
Related to jobs available in
Indonesia, not just Timor
Assessed by regular
examinations only testing
cognitive skills
Ideological content of Panca
Sila
Indigenous know how still
ignored
Belittling Initiation Rituals
Local culture and language
downplayed.
Failure of Planning for Education for
Development in the UNTAET era
In the 1970s, when most Pacific Islands came to independence, a Manpower
Plan would be produced, itemizing how many of each profession and
occupation would be needed to run the country after independence..
While these were often less than satisfactory they drew the attention of
government and educational institutions to the occupations and skills needed in
the new country.
Neo-liberal economic philosophies in the 1980s promoted the idea that this was
best left to the market so governments dont need to do this. .
Timors Economies Not two but three economies
Subsistence
Formal
Informal

Skills Development required for

formal economy

Education for livelihood is very

much needed

A degree has been regarded as

a passport to a job in the formal
sector no longer the case
Philip Fosters vocational school
fallacy in Development Planning
Foster argues that donors often
think that there is a heightened
need for more vocational and less
general education in countries at an
early stage in their nation-building.

On the contrary, he claims, general

education and vocational education
serve different purposes and are
hardly substitutable, i.e. students
need both. For many jobs, the best
vocational education is in fact
general education (i.e. literacy,
languages, history, science,
mathematics, communications
skills etc.)(Foster 1965, 2002).
 Timor Lestes Binary System (from JC Freitas 2009) Doutoramento

Mestrado

Framework that ensures participation

in 1 program improves their chance
of participation in another program
that appear more attractive in terms
of benefits offered
Post-Graduacao Licensiatura

Provide second-chance learning

opportunities for out-of-school youth Bacharelato
who lack basic skills for work and life
(never went to school or dropped out
before completing primary school)
Ensino Politecnico
2 ano
Ensino Politecnico
1 ano

Certficado 4
Ensino Tecnico
Professional
Ensino Secundario
Certficado 3
Out of
School
Accredited
Certficado 2 Pre-Secundario
Training

Certficado 1 Ensino Primario

A Later Version of the Qualifications Framework (with some mistakes)

LEVEL
Levell SCHOOL VOCATIONAL UNIVERSITY/
TRAINING CENTER POLYTECHNIC/ACA
DEMY/INSTITUTE

1 DOCTORATES
10

9 MASTERS DEGREES

POST GRADUATE
8 DIPLOMA AND CERT.

7 BACHELOR DEGREES

6 DIPLOMA II

5 DIPLOMA I

4 Ensino Secondario CERTIFICATE IV CERTIFICATE IV

3 CERTIFICATE III

2 CERTIFICATE II

1 CERTIFICATE I

F Ensino Basico CERTIFICATE

UNESCOs International Commission
on Education for the 21st Century
1994 (The Delors Report) identified
four aspects of education
Learning to Know (general and specific
knowledge);
Learning to Do (occupational skills, life skills);
Learning to Live Together (intercultural
understanding);
Learning to Be (autonomy, judgement and
personal responsibility)
Four Social Functions carried out
by formal education according
to Ivan Illich & Everett Reimer

Custodial or Babysitting function

Screening or sorting young people
into a hierarchy
Indoctrination through the hidden
curriculum encouraging conformity
Teaches skills and knowledge only
fourthly (accounting for high cost)
Everett Reimer, School is Dead: An Essay on Alternatives in
Education, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1971, pp. 23-33.
The Hidden Curriculum in Timor-
Leste
Portuguese Education
was superior to
Indonesian
Western European
knowledge is more worth
having than local
knowledge
Agriculture is only for
uneducated people, it is
not a way of getting rich
People who complete
primary school shouldnt
have to do farming
Vocational Education is
for those who cannot
succeed in general
education
Problems are caused by confusing:-

Quality of Education
Level of Education
Subject matter
Mode of delivery

So that vocational education

becomes looked on as poor
quality and second rate
Skills for Timorese Livelihoods are largely
learnt through informal education which is
not regarded as education by most
Good education is regarded as
taking place in classrooms,
separate from daily life
Children who succeed in school are told by
their parents to have nothing to do with
farming but concentrate on their
schoolwork.

Examinations on cognitive skills only are

regarded as a good predictor of success.

Those who fail can prolong their schooling

at a vocational school if they wish. Here
courses such as business and commerce
are studied but graduates from these
schools are not attractive to employers and
two AusAID consultants in 2002, (Geoff
Saunderson and Leo Maglen)
recommended they be disbanded.
Howard Gardeners 8 Intelligences
Howard Gardener
asserts there are at
least eight separate
and independent
types of intelligence
which need to be
developed for
success in life, not
just the cognitive
intelligence
measured in most
academic tests.
These need to be
applied in Timor.
What is knowledge?
Don Clarks presentation of the relationship how we
all create knowledge in out heads
The Timorese Constitution and Work
Section 50, clause 1 says:
Every citizen, regardless of gender, has the right
and the duty to work and to choose freely his or
her profession

This might seem a surprising provision in a country where the

majority are subsistence farmers and most educated citizens aspire
to follow in the footsteps of their parents professions. It is also a
right which the majority of Timorese have difficulty exercising until
there is considerable improvement in information about occupations,
professions and careers, more visibility of courses, pathways
between different types of education, and consolidation of
professional associations and trade unions.

Education in the Timorese

Constitution

The Timorese Constitution affirms the

principle of the Right to Education in
Section 59 the first clause of which says
The State shall recognise and guarantee
that every citizen has the right to
education and culture, and it is incumbent
upon it to promote the establishment of a
public system of universal and compulsory
basic education that is free of charge in
accordance with its ability and in
conformity with the law (Democratic
Republic of East Timor, 2002: 22).
Para-professional skills
Mr Richard Carter, head of
Victoria University Division of
Technical and Further
Education (TAFE) in 2002
identified several para-
professional courses as
urgently needed at this stage
of Timors development.
Office Administration,
Business, including
bookkeeping, accounting
Information Technology
Hospitality and Tourism
Electronics
Information management
(librarianship)
Unfortunately it is still hard for
a school leaver to find these
courses and successfully gain
employment.
Rwandas typology of Skills - 2003
Basic Skills
Functional literacy and numeracy, basic health knowledge and skills (including hygiene and HIV/AIDS prevention), child rearing skills, domestic skills, simple
psychomotor skills, basic education.

Generic and Transferable Skills

Problem solving, reasoning, creative thinking, analysis of information, attitudes (such as a respect for time and a spirit of inquisitiveness) communication and
language skills, (particularly bi and tri-lingualism), basic computer skills, social skills of interaction with others.

Private Sector/Business Skills

. Entrepreneurial skills (and attitudes), management, marketing and trading, packaging, dealing with banks, book-keeping and accountancy, micro-enterprise
management

Public Sector Skills

Policy-making skills, project design and management, including specific technical skills such as planning and management uses of ICTs.

Vocational Skills
Building and construction, electrical installation and maintenance, electronic equipment repair, handicrafts and pottery, baking, car mechanics, painting, tailoring,
carpentry, ICT skills for secretarial work.

Agricultural Skills
Improved agricultural techniques and technologies, improving soil fertility, food preservation and storage, weaving and making products from hides and skins,
diversification of crops.

High Skills
Science and technology skills, advanced technical skills (computing, laboratory technicians, etc.), engineering, research, agronomy, botany and biochemistry,
teaching and education.

Service Sector Skills

Accountancy, the servicing of contracts, banking, tourism-related skills, hotel management, skills for guides, cooks, waiters etc.

Political and Citizenship Skills

Moral and values education, Rwandan culture and history, participatory citizenship education, political awareness and political thinking, attitudes to authority,
human rights, unity and reconciliation.
From L.Tikkly, J. Lowe, M.Crossley, H. Dachi, R. Garrett and Mukabaranga (2003), Globalization and Skills for Development in Rwanda and Tanzania, DFID
(Department for International Development), London
Is private tertiary education
undermining agriculture?
Investment by parents in private universities, where
large numbers of students study political science is
diverting investment away from Timors agriculture
(and thus food security) and seems to be leading to
a net transfer of wealth from the poor to the middle
class
Transmissive model vs Constructivist model
from Teaching College by Anthony D Fredericks, Alpha, New York.

Knowledge is constructed by
Information is transferred from
instructor and students
instructor to students
Co-operative
Competitive
Student-centered
Instructor directed
Focus on developing conceptual
Focus on memorization
relationships
Evaluation is standardized
Student self-assessment
Instructor talk predominates
Inter and intra-class discussions
Focus on the products of thinking
Focus on the processes of thinking
Students answer questions with pre-
Students generate (and seek
determined answers
answers to) self-generated questions.
Course completion
Lifelong learning
Prior knowledge is disregarded
Prior knowledge is respected and
built upon
Levels of intellectual behaviour in the
cognitive domain (Benjamin Bloom et al).

evaluate

synthesise
(create/build)
analyse
(structure/elements)
apply (use)
understand
recall data
Updated version of Blooms Taxonomy

Old
FORMAL
EDUCATION

Formal education is
the hierarchically
structured,
chronologically
graded,
educational system
running from
primary through to
tertiary institutions.
NON-FORMAL
EDUCATION

Non formal education is

organized educational
activity outside the
established formal
system that is intended
to serve an identifiable
learning clientele with
identifiable learning
objectives.
INFORMAL
EDUCATION

Informal education is
the process whereby
every individual
acquires attitudes,
values, skills and
knowledge from daily
experience, such as
from family, friends,
peer groups, the media
and other influences
and factors in the
persons environment.
Who was Paulo Freire?
Paulo Freire was a Brazilian Educator born in
1921 in the Northeast of Brazil.

He worked closely with the Brazilian poor and

illiterate, completing his PhD on Education in
Brazil in 1959.

After the 1964 coup he went into exile to Chile,

Harvard and then Geneva, from where he advised
many countries on literacy and development.

When the workers party was elected in 1988 he

returned to Brazil in 1980he and became
Secretary of Education in Sao Paulo.
No Education in Neutral all education
is for domination or for liberation
In the Banking concept of education, the
scope of action allowed the students
extends as far as receiving, filing and
storing the deposits (p. 53).

Liberating education consists in acts of

cognition, not transferals of information.
Problem-posing education rejects
communiqus and embodies
communication. It tales place through
dialogue (p.60).

Liberation is praxis the action and

reflection of men and women upon their
world in order to transform it (p. 60)
Freires Three types of consciousness
MAGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS apprehends
facts and attributes them to a superior power
to which it must submit. It is characterized by
fatalism which leads men to fold their arms,
resigned to the impossibility of change.

NAIVE CONSCIOUSNESS considers itself to

be superior to facts, in control of facts and
thus free to understand them as it pleases. It
sees causality as a static established fact and
is often deceived (fanaticized consciousness
is a pathological version of nave
consciousness).

CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS represents

things and facts as they exist empirically and
always submits causality to analysis.
(p. 44 1973 edition)
The Experiential The Stages of
learning cycle Experiential
learning,
according to this
model are
1. Concrete
Experience,
followed by
2. Reflective
Observation, then
the formation of
3. Abstract
Conceptualizations
before finally
conducting
4. Active
Experimentation
to test out out the
newly developed
principles.
Sustainable Development Goals
September 2015