International Teacher Education Program (ITEP)

The following are excerpts from the book ITEP: Celebrating 20 Years in the Pacific 1997-2017 by Jonathan W. Shute. Read the full book.

ITEP History

Throughout the South Pacific, the coming of missionaries brought great change to the Polynesian people. The London Missionary Society (LMS), Catholic, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were three of the early major churches. Missionaries established schools as a means of educating the island people and teaching Christian doctrine. These three churches are still dominant in the South Pacific today and the schools they started are still some of the best available.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints schools play a major role in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church has had a steady growth in membership, and the need for leadership underscores the importance of schools and education for members of the Church.

Initially, missionary couples from the USA were called to teach the students and to staff these schools. However, strong feelings existed that the students would be best taught by local teachers. The preparation of these local teachers varied immensely. Although some were well-trained, about 50% were teaching without formal training in teacher education. At that time, 19 schools were in operation with about 6,000 students.

From 1991 to 1996, great effort was made to resolve the problem of in-service training of teachers in the Church schools. The moving forces in this effort were Jack Johnson, then Associate Vice President of BYU–Hawaii, and Dan Andersen, then Church Education System (CES) Consultant for the Pacific, along with other leaders at CES and BYU–Hawaii. The result of much inspiration and work is the International Teacher Education Program (ITEP). The goal of ITEP is to meet the needs of teacher training and improvement in the South Pacific Church schools.

ITEP was officially organized in 1997 as a partnership among three entities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: (1) BYU–Hawaii Teacher Education Program, (2) Seminary and Institutes Program (S&I), and (3) Missionary Department. The ITEP Program currently operates under the direction of the BYU–Hawaii Teacher Education Program. 

ITEP began with six missionary couples assigned to six schools – two couples in Tonga, two couples in Samoa, one couple in Fiji, and one couple in Kiribati. These professional education missionaries were called to serve as adjunct faculty for the School of Education at BYU–Hawaii. They offered BYU–Hawaii-approved course work and provided supervision for teacher training certification. Eventually, new positions were created for the Church middle schools in Tonga and Sauniatu Primary School in Samoa. Another couple was called to coordinate the work of ITEP missionaries in the schools and, initially, was housed at BYU–Hawaii. This position is now housed at the Church Schools Office in Auckland.