As part of its ongoing commitment to strengthening regional collaboration and aligning with national education priorities of the Commonwealth Member Countries in the region, the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) convened a Focal Points Meeting in Nadi, Fiji, on 27 February 2026.
Focal Points are senior officials nominated by Ministries of Education or related agencies and play a key role in ensuring alignment between COL’s programmes and their country’s national priorities. They serve as an important linkage between COL and Commonwealth Member Countries, supporting coordination and keeping Ministries informed of their ongoing work.
The Pacific region presents unique opportunities and challenges. Central to COL’s work is maintaining a deep understanding of the education needs of small island developing states, including the impacts of natural disasters and climate change, rapid technological change, and the realities of the digital divide. In common with many areas of the Commonwealth, there is great demand for skills development, and extending access to non-formal skills development opportunities, as well as technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is reshaping the educational landscape for learners across the region.
Ahead of the Focal Points Meeting, COL, in partnership with our PACFOLD centre based in the University of the South Pacific (USP) , launched the Regional Design Consultations for Phase 2 of the Pacific Partnership for Open, Distance and Flexible Learning (ODFL). The consultations brought together over 40 senior officials, academics and technical experts from 11 Commonwealth countries, including Australia and New Zealand, as well as a delegate from the Marshall Islands. COL thanked the Fiji Ministry of Education for hosting the event and acknowledged the continued support of its funding partner, New Zealand’s MFAT, represented by Ms Vena-Liz Upton.
Opening the Phase 2 consultations, COL President Professor Peter Scott outlined a forward-looking vision for education in the Pacific. He highlighted priorities such as strengthening STEM teaching capacity, expanding TVET pathways, addressing the needs of youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET), examining gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI), and advancing climate resilience.
Building on the momentum of the 2025 Pacific Focal Point Meeting in Solomon Islands, the Pacific Focal Points Meeting was attended by representatives from Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, including two Focal Point representatives joining for the first time from Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands. Where the preceding workshops provided deep engagement with national representatives from across education organisations, the Focal Points meeting provided an opportunity to reconnect, exchange perspectives, and strengthen regional ties among Focal Point representatives.
Focal Points shared briefings on national experiences and education priorities, along with progress updates, building on discussions from the previous year’s meeting, where issues such as teacher professional development, open educational resources (OER), micro-credentials, skills education, inclusion, and the growing influence of AI in education were raised. Discussions were stimulated by a presentation on COL’s “Teacher in the Loop” approach to artificial intelligence in education, and work on Frugal AI.
The meeting also reaffirmed the value of the Focal Points network in COL as a platform for collaboration and co-creation in open learning initiatives. It enables COL and its Member States to help shape programmes that respond to national needs while contributing to Commonwealth education priorities in the region. As COL begins to formulate the next strategic plan beyond 2027, these meetings provide a critically important mechanism for ensuring that strategy remains firmly grounded in Member States needs.
In closing, Professor Scott thanked participants for their active engagement and highlighted that their insights would inform both COL’s immediate work and the development of its next strategic plan.
