Home Volume 11 No2 2021 Fagogo: A Samoan Pedagogical Tool

Fagogo: A Samoan Pedagogical Tool

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Sueala Collins, National University of Samoa

Abstract

Children of every Culture learn in their own unique ways. Samoan children in particular assimilate Western ideas and models of acquiring knowledge believed to be lacking within their own Cultural traditions. ‘Fāgogo’ – the Samoan stories of the night– draws upon knowledge of good pedagogical ideas that are useful to inform practices that could transform and improve the teaching and learning of Samoan children. The wisdom required in the teaching and learning by Samoan children is the heart of fāgogo. Hence, fāgogo offers a useful Samoan source of pedagogical ideas. Educating Samoan children without the analysis of Samoan wisdom merely serves, ultimately, to deaden the souls and dim the minds of the people, weaken, and devalue, the foundation of Fa’a-Samoa.

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