Decolonising the Institutionalised Approach to Theological Education in a Pasifika Context

Learning from a ‘Whole of Life’ Participatory Approach

Abstract

In promoting learning from a ‘whole of life’ participatory approach, this essay responds to the controlled classroom pedagogical approaches that have defined Western institutionalised theological education in Pasifika. Western theological education curriculum, theory, and practice have shaped its epistemological approach in various learning contexts, thereby downplaying and suppressing Pasifika indigenous ways of being, knowing, and learning. In contrast, learning from a ‘whole of life’ participatory approach involves our communities and emphasises Pasifika indigenous realities and knowledge systems as central to a decolonial approach to theological education. Focusing on relational ontology is at the core of this participatory approach. This study therefore takes an ontological turn in presenting a participatory approach to learning which allows for Pasifika relational ways of understanding in knowledge production. It surveys a possible empirical ontology of participatory learning embedded in indigenous realities and knowledge systems that provide for learning from a ‘whole of life’ approach. This promotes the ‘whole of life’ vision of Pacific Theological College, adopted from 2019 onwards, in alignment with the new Pasifika Communities
University.