Papua New Guinea (PNG) is rich in natural resources with extensive reserves of  natural gas and oil. Mineral deposits of  gold, copper and cobalt are equally in abundance. The surrounding waters are  rich in marine life and its share of resources.  Equally, forest products are major exports  and vast timber resource remains to be  sustainably tapped. Agricultural commodities have been the country’s backbone to economic development. PNG’s  culture and traditions are diverse and  richly colorful, contributing to its tourism  potential. All these are a perfect recipe for  huge and varied economic developments.  However, despite the availability of these  raw materials and favourable reporting  (Pacific Economic Bulletin, Vol.25 No.1, 2010) for economic development, the  country is still far from rich, in technically skilled human capital. Law and order, unemployment, urban drift, corruption, HIV/AIDS, an unskilled workforce, the economy, unequal distribution of wealth, and so on, are the overarching concerns. The  Government has outlined its main policies for economic recovery and development  including human resource development, and has set new targets to reach under its  Vision 2050 and the National Development Strategy, 2030.

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Arnold Kukari and Eileen Honan


Research on effective schools has shown that the  greatest influences on student achievement are  the teacher and the quality of teaching that takes 
place in the classroom. Quality teaching  requires, among other factors, the engagement of 
teachers in ongoing teacher professional learning  by teachers. 
Teacher professional learning must not only  focus on enabling teachers to implement curriculum reform initiated by the National Department  of Education, but more significantly, must also  enable teachers to engage in a process of critically reflecting on their teaching and using  research evidence to continuously improve their  teaching.  The focus of teacher professional learning  should be on improving teachers’ teaching effectiveness and student academic outcomes.A number of teacher professional development  models have been used in Papua New Guinea  (PNG) with varying success. These include: the expert-novice;  cascade or train the trainer, and school or cluster-based models.  Research has shown that the first two models  were in most cases ineffective in improving  teachers’ teaching effectiveness.  It was found that teacher professional learning  using these models did not have a multiplier  effect, that teachers who are beneficiaries of  these learning programs rarely use the knowledge and skills acquired to improve their teaching practices and that there was no institutionalisation and sustainability of what was learned. 
Conversely, research has shown that site-based  models of teacher learning are the most effective for sustained changes to teachers’ teaching  practices. 

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By  Ron Duncan

There is a need for Papua New Guineans to  thoroughly discuss the management of the 
government’s share of the mineral, oil, and  gas revenues.  Papua New Guinea has experienced two  major mining booms since independence.  As noted in the 2009 Pacific Economic  Bulletin’s economic survey of the PNG  economy, the first of these booms in the 
early 1990s was managed very poorly, with  government expenditure greatly exceeding 
revenues. This resulted in a large increase in  public debt and the devaluation and eventual floating of the kina.  The recent commodity boom has been managed more effectively, with the paying  down of public debt and the setting aside in  trust funds of some of the windfall revenues  for future expenditure on long-overdue refurbishment of important public infrastructure and development of essential services.  Unfortunately, there has been also sharply  increased recurrent expenditure; and currently there is some doubt about how well 
the windfall revenues set aside in trust funds  have subsequently been managed. 
Whether the setting aside of the windfall  revenues in various designated trust funds 
was a good idea or not, it was an ad hoc reaction to the receipt of the commodity 
boom revenues. 

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By Thomas Webster

This article argues that Government  borrowing and spending on the Sovereign Community Infrastructure Treasure Bills which have recently been  discussed widely in the media is 
clearly outside of the purview of  parliament. It is thus contrary to one  of the most basic principles of democracy, is illegal as per the Public Financial Management Act, and creates 
incentives for incumbents to accumulate strategic debt. The bills are therefore undemocratic, illegal, and immoral. 


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By: Arnold Kukari, Patricia Paraide, Kapa KelepMalpo, Sebastian Mugup and Wilson Pes 

The process of appointing teachers to teaching  positions is outlined in the Teaching Service Act, 1995 (Consolidated to No. 20 of 1995), Education Act, 1983 (Consolidated to No. 13 of 1995), and the Teaching Service Commission’s Human  Resource Information and Operations Manual.  However, a recent study on teacher appointments in primary schools found that the appointment of teachers to teaching positions, in most  cases, is done outside of these legal and policy  frameworks. 
This contributes to corruption, lack of accountability and transparency, and failure on the part  of the appointing authorities to effectively and  efficiently manage the process of teacher  appointments. Problems associated with teacher  appointments are exacerbated by a lack of  clarity, duplication and division in the Teaching  Service Commission’s (TSC) and the National  Education Board’s teacher appointment roles  and functions stipulated under the Teaching  Service Act, 1995 and the Education Act, 1995.  This situation does not only create confusion  amongst the teachers, but also contributes  towards the creation and perpetuation of teacher  appointment problems throughout PNG.


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