Bridging the gap between education policy, planning and practice: establishing and effecting national minimum quality service standards for effective schools in Pacific Island Countries

Low student literacy outcomes are of great concern to Governments in the Pacific region and especially the least developed Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) of Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. To further enhance student learning outcomes, the author argues that schools need to become more effective. This paper examines how key elements of school effectiveness have been integrated into national minimum quality service standards (NMQSS) aimed at improving school effectiveness in Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. To encourage sustainability, these standards were incorporated into national school-based management and/or school grants systems in the three countries. The authors suggest that introducing the characteristics of effective schools with systems for school-based management and school grants allow schools to initiate local solutions to improve school effectiveness and achieve desired targets for school outcomes.