Towards A Role For Social Science Teachers As Community Leaders In Developing The Law In Papua New Guinea

This paper presents a study that was undertaken as the first phase of an action research project associated with the introduction of a Legal Studies module in the first year of secondary Social Science teacher education at the University of Goroka. The ultimate objective of the module is to prepare teachers to take an active role in the development of the law in Papua New Guinea. The paper provides a thorough institutional and legal background to establish the potential for that role as well as to explain the unique legal and cultural context of the study. The purpose of the study is to gauge the knowledge and attitudes of teacher trainees with a view to ascertaining the relative need for the module as well as to identify potential obstacles to achieving the module’s objective. Teacher trainees exhibited a generally poor level of legal knowledge that was not associated with any measured variables except age. Attitudes to the law were observed to be markedly ambivalent with regard to the ‘traditional/customary vs modern’ spectrum that was gauged. Attitudes to legal education were found to be associated with Christian religious denominational identity. The paper concludes with recommendations for further research.