The island nations in the Pacific Ocean share similar challenges to ensuring equitable access to quality education, including hard-to-reach populations in remote locations and vulnerability to climate disasters that disrupt education.

There is a long history of collaboration among these countries through regional approaches and shared regional frameworks, with a view to enabling countries to effectively respond to education challenges.

In 2018, Pacific Islands Forum Education Ministers adopted the Pacific Regional Education Framework 2018-2030 (PacREF).

It provides a platform for countries to come together to find Pacific-led solutions, achieve economies of scale, and embed Pacific culture, values and knowledge into the development of their education systems.

Achieving the outcomes of the PacREF policy is a collective effort by Pacific Island countries and their partners.

A separate regional support program is also contributing to this through the joint development of Regional Goods (RGs), which are providing an integrated set of tools, standards and mechanisms that address shared priorities across the region.

GPE’s support to Pacific-led programs

A GPE regional grant of US$14.9 million for 2021–2025 covers 85% of the costs of the PacREF support program, which supports all 15 Pacific Island countries, including GPE partner countries Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The program, co-funded by New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is managed by the Asian Development Bank.

The PacREF implementing agencies—namely the University of the South Pacific (USP), UNESCO, UNICEF, Pacific Community’s Educational Quality and Assessment Programme (EQAP) and the Australia’s Pacific Training Coalition (APTC 2017-2025)—work together to support and facilitate the development of the regional goods under the program, as endorsed by the Pacific Heads of Education System (Permanent Secretary-level officials from each of the 15 countries).

Additional support to PacREF policy implementation is provided by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through long-standing strategic partnerships with USP and EQAP.

The Implementation of the PacREF support program has benefited countries in different ways. The development of regional goods allows countries to adapt evidence-based regional tools in support of in-country solutions, saving resources and funding and supporting Pacific-led solutions.

The approach also allows for cross-country learning for officers at different levels, with opportunities to come together with their peers to learn from and problem-solve together. Regular meetings between all partners working on PacREF have fostered more effective coordination and collaboration.

As Pacific Island countries plan to transition PacREF from a first to a second phase, here’s a look at some of the progress so far through the support program.

Enhancing the role of culture and language in education

A key priority for Pacific Education Ministers is incorporating culture and identity in curriculum development, teacher training programs and delivery.

The Institute of Education of the University of the South Pacific (IoE-USP) has led work to embed cultural and traditional knowledge in curricula across the Pacific.

A regional workshop brought together participants from across the region to explore traditional knowledge systems and the opportunities to weave Pacific culture into mainstream education, empowering future generations with a curriculum deeply rooted in their identity.

IoE-USP is now working with seven countries to develop science and math resources that use indigenous concepts and knowledge to enrich students’ education experiences and nurture their connections to their heritage.

The Pacific Employability Transferable All-Life Skills (PETALS) framework represents a collective effort across countries to identify the values, competencies and skills, grounded in their cultures and values, that Pacific children and youth need to succeed in the 21^st century.

The framework is complemented with guidance on how to embed these attributes into curriculum, teacher training and assessment.

Addressing learning needs based on regional assessment results

All 15 countries in the region completed the Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (PILNA) 2021 at the primary education level. This was the fourth administration of this regional assessment, which is providing longitudinal data on literacy and numeracy rates across the region.

The results highlight specific areas where students struggle in reading and math. EQAP has produced PILNA country reports, helping all member countries identify challenges and tailor national interventions to address them.

Papua New Guinea used PILNA results to inform the development of literacy and numeracy interventions, including teacher training, to improve student learning in math, which was funded by a GPE grant of $8 million.

In Samoa, PILNA results informed the design of a phonics program to improve literacy among early primary school students. The program was designed through a collaboration between EQAP, Samoa’s Ministry of Education, and literacy experts from the region organized through the Australian Council for Educational Research and Educators International.

Strengthening data for evidence-based policies and plans

Under PacREF, an integrated set of tools to strengthen education data production and use have been produced, enabling countries to develop and implement evidence-based educational policies and plans.

In 2024, the Pacific Community (SPC) and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics convened a regional capacity-building workshop to equip Pacific Island countries with the tools and knowledge to enhance their national education statistical systems and use the data to shape policy.

Additionally, six countries have completed self-assessments of their education management systems and produced a Data Action Plan. In Fiji and Kiribati, the assessment has informed programs funded by GPE and bilateral development partners to further strengthen data systems.

IoE-USP has established sub-regional Education Policy and Planners’ Fono (dialogues based on Pacific values and cultural processes) as communities of practice to collectively reflect on education policy and planning in the Pacific region and connect on policy and data.

These fono bring together participants in the Professional Certification in Policy and Planning to support ongoing connections and peer learning across the region.

Regional leadership for inclusion

A complementary regional policy focused on inclusive education—the Pacific Regional Inclusive Education Framework (PRIEF)—is being implemented through the support program.

Along with supporting national policy development, the program has supported a regional review of inclusive education and a regional convening across 15 countries.

This gathering led to the 2025-2030 Joint Statement of Priorities for Inclusive Education, which guides the operationalization of the commitment to meet the learning needs of all young people of the Pacific, and especially the most vulnerable.

The review is supporting Heads of Education Systems and Ministers of Education to have the information they need to mandate their officials and partners to collaborate on an agreed set of regional priorities for inclusion.

A ministerial-level regional taskforce on inclusive education also emerged from this work, and now formally oversees efforts to advance evidence-based and Pacific-grounded strategies to support inclusive education, including guidance to initiatives under PacREF as well as others.

Giving children the best beginning

Early childhood education has been an emerging area of work for many national education systems in the Pacific over the period of PacREF.

Traditionally sitting within community and church-run and sponsored centers, governments are increasingly providing financial, governance and pedagogical support to the youngest learners in the Pacific while still working with communities.

The PacREF program has supported multiple components of the ECE system at national levels, which have contributed to the development of regional resources for ECE, such as an ECE planning toolkit, and a Status Update of ECE Systems from 15 countries – which in turn have been resources for new national-level developments.

Leveraging technology to make education more accessible

In 2023, the support program, with additional financing from other development partners, launched the Waka Moana Learning Hub, available to all countries in the region.

The platform is hosted by IoE-USP with support from other funders, including UNESCO.

The hub is a repository of digital learning materials, which gives teachers and students easy access to nationally contextualized resources. It provides research findings and professional development materials, which are used for in-service teacher training on reading and math instruction.

PacREF and other GPE investments

GPE-supported initiatives across the Pacific are increasingly complementing PacREF priorities.

A GPE regional system capacity grant of $1 million supports work under PacREF that is strengthening countries’ education data, policy and planning and embedding culture and traditional knowledge in national education systems.

In addition to regional funding, 10 Pacific Island nations have received individual GPE grants totaling $136 million. These grants support national priorities for both education systems capacity and transformation with activities often building on PacREF regional goods.

For example, regional goods on ECE are informing actions in the Fiji system transformation grant focused on pre-primary and early grade learning, including ECE policy, curriculum and quality standards, while regional work on school leadership is part of the GPE-funded training program for School Leaders in Tuvalu.

Working together to mitigate the impact of climate change

The Pacific’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change has put resilience management high on the agenda of education ministries throughout the region.

As more frequent natural disasters disrupt learning, government officials and school leaders alike must be able to adapt to ever-changing conditions and to ensure learning continuity.

In response, 2024 saw the endorsement of a new and emerging priority on climate resilience by the Pacific Heads of Education System under PacREF. This built on the work many countries and partners were already doing on climate resilience in the education sector, and is seeking more coordinated multi-country efforts.

Initiatives such as the Climate Smart Education Systems Initiative, which was launched by GPE, Save the Children, UNESCO and UNESCO International Institute for Education Planning, and the GPE KIX Observatory on Education System Resilience initiative are exploring how education systems across the Pacific can prepare and respond effectively to anticipated disruptions, from climate change impacts to pandemics.

Along with multiple programs within countries, the lessons and evidence from these programs will shape the future of climate resiliency for the education sector in Pacific Countries in the next phase of a PacREF support program.

Looking ahead

The Pacific Heads of Education Systems and Pacific education ministers met to review PacREF progress and shape its future direction.

Both groups acknowledged PacREF as a unifying mechanism for policy alignment, efficiencies created through development of regional goods that can be adapted by Pacific countries without starting from scratch, peer learning and sustainable change, and emphasized the importance of better coordination and communication among partners to aid implementation efforts.

They called for a continuation of regional collaboration under PacREF, and are designing a next phase.

GPE thanks the following partners for their input into this blog:

• The Institute of Education of the University of the South Pacific (IoE-USP)
• Pacific Community – Education Quality and Assessment Program (SPC-EQAP)
• UNICEF Pacific
• UNESCO Regional Office for Pacific States

Learn more about GPE's work in the Pacific region.