Can anyone explain why the director of finance at MoE would be attending an early childhood education meeting in Fiji focussing on strengthening the provision of pre- and in-service professional development for early childhood educators recently?

We have numerous experienced and qualified ECE teachers, and /or principals, who could have attended this meeting, rather than someone who a) is not a teacher, has no teacher development experience, and most importantly, c no ECE training, background or understanding, let alone experience related to teacher competency.

This could have been a really useful meeting for an ECE expert from the Cook Islands context to attend. There are at least three ECE teachers who could have represented us extremely well. 

I guess sadly, we shouldn't be surprised. As we all have witnessed too many times recently, the MoE is threatened by people with extensive educational expertise and knowledge... such a wasted opportunity for a Cook Islands ECE teacher or principal to attend and contribute to the ECE teacher competency framework in meaningful ways. 

Constantly disappointed

(Name and address supplied)