DepEd: Career assessment exam moved to Sept 28

08/27/2011 | 08:56 AM

The date of the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) has been moved from August 31 to September 28, the Department of Education said over the weekend.

DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro said the NCAE will now be administered for third-year high school students both in public and private secondary schools.

“We deem it better to administer the NCAE to Third Year high school students to give them sufficient time for comprehensive career guidance before they enter the tertiary level," said Luistro in a news release on the government portal.

Also expected to take the NCAE are Fourth Year high school students applying for scholarship programs of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

NCAE is also open to out-of-school youth and Accreditation & Equivalency (A & E) test passers.

Under DepEd Order No. 28, fourth-year students who will take the NCAE for CHED and TESDA scholarship should belong to the top 10 percent of each secondary high school regardless of school size.

They should also have a general weighted average of 80 percent in Third Year and should come from a family whose gross annual income is not more than P300,000.

Parents must sign a letter of intent signifying that they are interested in applying for the CHED/TESDA scholarship.

“The NCAE is an assessment of students’ aptitudes and skills and estimates what field or discipline the student can excel in. It is nondiscriminatory for people who have aptitude for technical-vocational and entrepreneurial courses," the DepEd said.

The NCAE results will provide a guide on the interest and career inclination of the student, whether it is technical-vocational, entrepreneurial, or a full college education course.

“This way, parents and students will be guided on what career track is best to take after high school graduation, and we want to remind people that the result of the NCAE is not mandatory but recommendatory," Luistro said.

Also, the DepEd said the NCAE is an important tool of the government to address the job mismatch, cut unemployment rate, and reverse the local “brain drain" phenomenon.

It said a large number of college graduates fail to find appropriate employment suited for the course they finished.

This has resulted in unemployment and oversupply of college graduates in white-collar jobs while resulting in shortages in skilled manpower. — LBG, GMA News

‘Early love’ needed for science and math

Sunday, 21 August 2011 16:51 Rizal Raoul Reyes / Correspondent

PARENTS need to encourage their children to appreciate math and the sciences to prepare them for a competitive world.  These two subjects are the cornerstones of progress and development in the current and future environment, an executive of a children’s learning institution said.

“Parents must be proactive in addressing if they think their children have a learning gap in math and science before it’s too late,” said Galileo Enrichment Learning Program Chief Executive Officer Rowena Juan Matti in a recent interview with the BusinessMirror.

“Instead of the traditional method of tutoring, parents should enroll their children at a young age in any established learning enrichment center around the country. It would be an advantage for the children if they will start young in learning the rudiments of math and science. This move will eliminate if not minimize their aversion to numbers and scientific concepts,” she said.

At the moment, Matti said Galileo is promoting Singapore Math, a method developed by Singaporean educators to enable children to enjoy learning math.

According to Matti, Singapore Math simplifies the teaching of math to children by translating math concepts into models so they can visualize the operations. For instance, numbers are represented by boxes and brackets, and the positions of these boxes determine which operation to use.

“This method eliminates the memorizing of dozens of formulas and it breaks each problem down to its simplest form and use the basic operations to solve it,” said Matti.

Before the 1980s, Singapore used imported math textbooks. In 1980 the Singaporean government implemented a new approach in mathematics instruction by developing local materials. Led by the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore (CDIS), the city-state produced primary and secondary textbooks. Its Ministry of Education, the centralized education authority in the country, crafted new objectives for math education, emphasizing a focus on problem solving and heuristic-model drawing.

The CDIS led in integrating these goals into the textbooks.  In 1982 the government unveiled the first Singapore math program, and Primary Mathematics 1-6 was published. In 1992 a second edition was made available. The second edition revisions included an even stronger focus on problem solving and using model drawing as a strategy to problem solving.

The Singapore math program yielded positive results. Singapore students showed their math proficiency on international assessments.  In 1984 Singapore’s students were placed 16th out of 26 nations in the Second International Science Study. By 1995 the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study ranked Singapore’s students first among participants.

Recognizing the impact of Singapore Math, Matti said Galileo has included Singapore Math in its math program and offers it all-year round in various Galileo centers.

No chalks, no teaching aids, no boards

By: Cake Evangelista
Philippine Daily Inquirer

11:53 pm | Sunday, August 21st, 2011 

 

Technology is now part of everyday life. So it comes as no surprise to hear that classrooms will soon be retooled to reflect advances in technology.

Recently, Dell came out with what it called “Connected Classrooms,” doing away with blackboards, chalk, charts and other teaching aids traditionally used to mold young minds.

Dell envisions 30 laptops connected wirelessly, each device tuned to a particular lesson shown through an interactive projector managed by a teacher.

Rani Burchmore, head of Dell’s Education Practice for South Asia, said the goal of the “Connected Classroom” is to “transform the learning environment for the Digital Age and align it with the needs of the connected generation.”

By using digital media in lessons and classrooms discussion, students are also encouraged to become more creative and innovative, said Burchmore, who has been developing educational solutions in developing countries in Asia since last year.

Ricky Lopez, country manager of Dell Philippines, also said that the digital divide, or the gap between technology users and nonusers, becomes more apparent in the age of technology.

“Kids are using laptops, PCs (personal computers), tablets and netbooks to do their homework. They are more tech savvy than we are,” Lopez said during a Dell product launch last month.

In “Connected Classroom,” Dell is “placing the needs of students and teachers at the heart of a learning environment by providing the tools schools and teachers need to plan and deliver engaging and effective lessons,” Lopez said.

In moving forward, Dell developed four new products for its “Connected Classroom” program.

At the core of Dell’s new learning devices is the S300wi Interactive Short-Throw Projector—a wireless projector that will replace the traditional blackboard and chalk in the classroom.

Bong Paloma of AMTI, an information and technology solutions provider, said the S300wi is the “heart” of the “Connected Classroom,” giving more mobility and interactivity in the classroom.

The projector’s light-based pen serves as the computer mouse with which a teacher can write or draw on the projected screen or navigate from a distance.

Paloma also introduced the Interwrite Workspace software. With it, a teacher may create animation, make presentations and share other digital content directly to students.

With the classroom management software, Paloma said, teachers can control and manage their students’ work. Distractions, like music, social networking sites and games, can be blocked.

Dell also introduced its Latitude 2120, a new netbook designed with a rubberized casing perfect for students. It also came out with the Latitude XT2, a tablet computer with a multitouch-screen interface.

There is also the Ergotron TeachWell Mobile Digital Platform, a mobile workstation that will hold all the hardware needed in a connected classroom.

Lopez said schools, parents, and the government should consider the “Connected Classroom” as an investment for their children’s future.

In the Philippines, good education is perceived as parents’ greatest “pamana (legacy),” Lopez said. “Education is not just … kids learning how to read, write or do math, I think it’s our ticket to a better life.”

Youth asked to become ‘scientists’

Sunday, 17 July 2011 17:14 Jonathan L. Mayuga / Correspondent

SPEAKERS of a biotechnology leadership camp last week told young Filipino “scientists” to pursue a career in science and help the country become globally competitive, particularly in the field of research and development.

 

They said young Filipino scientists have better career and economic opportunities here and abroad today with science and technology education finally being given the much-needed attention by the government.

Speaking on July 11 before the Novartis Biotechnology Leadership Camp or BioCamp 2011 held at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City, Ernesto Domingo, a National Scientist, said one doesn’t really need to have a brilliant mind to pursue a career in research and development, noting that what it really takes is the intellectual preparedness or intellectual talent and endowment to come up with a successful discovery.

Participants of the leadership training will get the chance to represent the country in the International BioCamp 2011 to be held from August 29 to 31 at the Novartis International Headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.

BioCamp is a pioneering biotechnology seminar organized by the research-based Novartis, a Swiss healthcare company offered to postgraduate students in the natural sciences who are interested in pursuing a career in biotechnology.

According to Domingo, young scientists with published reports have better career opportunities once they succeed in coming up with a brilliant research and development project.

Speaking of his personal experience as then head of the Philippine General Hospital under the University of the Philippines system, he said the average students who are more persistent in completing scientific research are able to come up with better outputs than those with so-called brilliant minds.

Domingo, an academician who has been a professor for 50 years at UP Diliman, said there’s a need for collaboration between and among students, teachers and other stakeholders in conducting research and development.

“Gone are the days when a student or a researcher would have to confine themselves in a room to do research,” he said in Filipino.

According to Domingo, to boost research and development and encourage both students and teachers alike to pursue scientific studies, there’s a need to enhance the incentive that will promote a culture of research and development, particularly in the academe.

For her part, Dr. Cynthia Saloma, deputy director of the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at UP Diliman, said pursuing a career in science offers students both career and economic opportunities.

According to Saloma, science is a culture, a mindset, an orientation, and a way of life.

“Many young scientists embark on a research career because of their natural aptitude toward the science disciplines; fascination with nature and the investigation of natural phenomena; or have been inspired by mentors and role models to pursue a career in science,” she said.

In the Philippines, at age 30, a scientist with a PhD could earn a P20,000 monthly stipend, get a postdoctorate degree abroad, and begin an academic research career.  At age 35, a scientist could land a job as an assistant professor with a monthly stipend of P30,000 to P70,000.  This could go up as the career continues to get better. In the United States, she said the career and economic opportunities are better.

In biotechnology, she said there are opportunities in genomics, bioinformatics, and biotechnology and the law for those with both legal and scientific backgrounds.

“There is a wide variety of career opportunities in pursuing a career in science—a career in biotechnology and personalized medicine, such as in research and development, sales and marketing; manufacturing and quality control; clinical genetics and genetic counseling bioinformatics; and intellectual property protection,” she said.

According to Saloma, those who pursue and succeed a career in science would later reap the benefits, which include better, high-paying jobs and more importantly, recognition for their work.

However, she said budding scientists should not stop pursuing higher level of learning and should gun for a master’s degree, or even a doctorate degree in related fields of education.

“You should go for a PhD,” she said.

According to Saloma, minority of those with doctorate degrees end up with academic research careers in the US.  Most, she said, end up as academicians.

Saloma said the younger they are, Filipino scientists should start a research program with the right projects and advised them to “identify a hole in the field of research.”

Giving quality education starts by listening to the children

Sunday, 07 August 2011 16:22 Bong D. Fabe / Correspondent 

Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental—Giving quality education to Filipino schoolchildren starts by listening to them.

Dr. Milwida Guevarra, president of Synergeia Foundation, said that listening to children is very basic to Synergeia because children’s responses to basic questions on education is the foundation of crafting a program designed to give them quality education.

“What is our dream for our children?” she asked during the launching July 21 of the Tagoloan Reading and English Proficiency Program of the Steag State Power Corp., Synergeia, Xavier University and the Tagoloan local government unit (LGU).

Synergeia Foundation is a coalition of individuals, institutions and organizations working together to improve the quality of basic education in the country. Its chairman is Fr. Bienvenido Nebres SJ, recently retired president of Ateneo de Manila University.

Guevarra said this question should be answered honestly by parents, educators and local government officials because this is fundamental to how education is being administered in the countryside by the Department of Education (DepEd).

“The Synergeia reading program in coordination with the local government unit starts with listening—to the children first, the parents next, and the teachers also,” she said.

Fr. Roberto Yap SJ, president of Xavier University (XU)-Ateneo de Cagayan, said it is very important to cultivate the art and science of listening, which he said is being neglected by adults.

“Sometimes, in our busyness in pursuit of our jobs and livelihood, we neglect to listen to our children. But if we want to really know how to adequately answer the question of Dr. Guevarra, we should start to listen to them,” he told the BusinessMirror after the program launch.

Yap, who replaced Fr. Jose Ramon Villarin at XU after Villarin was transferred to Ateneo to replace Nebres as president, said that giving quality education to children needs the support of all stakeholders.

“It is really difficult if only one sector will work on it. All stakeholders should pool their resources together for the children’s education,” he said.

Guevarra narrated that before the formal launching, she asked several schoolchildren their dreams. And most of them answered that they want to finish at least Grade 6.

“In the Philippines and in Misamis Oriental, three out of 10 students who entered Grade 1 will not be able to finish Grade 6,” she said, citing a study conducted by Synergeia.

She also said that giving quality education to the children “cannot be done by the DepEd alone.”

“It takes a village to raise a child,” she said, quoting a saying popularized by Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of State.

She said Fr. Nebres conducted a study and found out there are only two differences between a good school and a bad school “and these are good teachers and very good parents.”

That is the task of Xavier University: provide quality training to the teachers of the 10 public schools involved in the project through its College of Education. XU has been doing this kind of training to public elementary school teachers all over Mindanao for the past six years.

Its partnership with Synergeia, Steag State Power and Tagoloan LGU is just an extension of its thrust to also help give quality education to all Filipinos.

“It’s a very good program because it brings together the different parts of the community. You cannot really address this question of education just by the school system. We need the parents, the local governments. We need also the private sector to come together and help. That is the power of Synergeia: it brings together different stakeholders to uplift education,” he said during the interview.

Washington Sycip, chairman of Steag State Power, said the Tagoloan Reading and English Proficiency Program is Steag’s way of giving back to the community where Steag is in.

Sycip, who was educated in the public-school system, said the role of Steag is just to bring together various stakeholders—like Synergeia, Xavier University, the DepEd and the LGU—to give quality education to Filipino children.

He said he hopes in his lifetime he will be able to see the “miracle in education” started by this program.

“It is the dream of Mr. Sycip to see every Filipino schoolchildren finish Grade 6. And hopefully high school and college,” Guevarra said.

Dr. Bodo Goerlich, president of Steag State Power said the program is just the “fulfillment of our promise” at becoming a “good neighbor by helping improve the quality of life of the people especially in its host communities.”

“Steag also re-affirms its commitment to its host communities here in Tagoloan by heightening our social investments in the areas of education, environment and health. For this reason, I am pleased to announce that Steag is setting aside P2.69 million to support various education programs in this town in the next three years. This amount represents about 40 percent of our planned social investments in this community which in total would be around P6.74 million,” he said.

Steag hopes that through the program, there will be “an improvement in the reading and English proficiency of our students hoping they will have better grasp of equally important subjects like science and mathematics” within three years.

“Ultimately, we want our students to excel in these fields and for them to be more prepared as they aspire to become more globally competitive,” he added.

Luistro: High-school students need career orientation from schools

Sunday, 17 July 2011 17:13 Claudeth E. Mocon / Correspondent 

STRESSING that early orientation on the many career opportunities provided in the curriculum will strongly encourage students to learn and complete their basic education, Education Secretary Armin Luistro has urged public and private high schools in the country to help prepare their students on the various career pathways available to them after their secondary schooling.

 

“In accordance with the mandate of secondary education to prepare students for lifelong learning and the world of work, the school heads of secondary schools, both public and private, are advised to orient their high-school students as early as the first year on the various career pathways to take after graduation,” Luistro said in his order contained in Memorandum No. 149.

Luistro said there is a need to prepare students on what courses are better suited to their skills and strengths rather than enroll in degree programs that only result in underemployment or at worse, unemployment.

The DepEd chief said the department has various curricular programs designed to enable students to “understand their strengths, pursue their interests, and develop their multiple intelligence.”

Among these are the special programs in the Arts, Sports, Journalism, Engineering and Science Education, and Science and Technology, Foreign Language and Technical-Vocational Education, including the newly designed Career Pathways in Technical Livelihood Education.

Luistro also called on student clubs and organizations to encourage their members to pursue their interests through the said programs.

Under the Technology and Livelihood program, students can take Food and Food Service, Beauty Care, Clothing and Textile, Home Management Services and Health Care and Support Services, while those who opt to enroll in Industrial Arts program can have Automotive, Civil and Electrical Technology, Drafting, Electronics, Metalworks, Handicraft and Refrigeration and Airconditioning.

For information technology (IT), students can take Photo Editing, Desktop Publishing, Webpage Design, Programming, Data Management, Computer Assembly, Maintenance and Trouble-Shooting, while in Agriculture and Fishery, students can take Plant, Animal and Fish Production.

The Special Program in the Arts offers specialization on Music, Visual Arts, Theater Art, Creative Writing and Dance.

For those who want to enter the world of journalism, Luistro said first-year high-school students can take print journalism and progress to print and online journalism in the second year, introduction to broadcast journalism and advanced broadcast journalism in the third and fourth years, respectively.

Though Luistro did not say in his order whether this is related to the government’s program to add two more years to the current 10-year basic education system under the K-to-12 program, the official has repeatedly stated in the past that the current education system does not fully equip the students with the right skills needed for them to land a job once they finish their schooling.

The DepEd has touted the K-to-12 program as one of the answers to the problem of under-employment and unemployment due to unsuitable skills of the graduates, adding the two additional years would focus on specialization and technical-vocational skills.

It added that the program would be able to produce employable 18-year-old high-school graduates by giving them a longer time to study and master employable skills.

But those opposed to the program said it would be better for the government to address first the problems facing the basic education sector such as shortages in classrooms, teachers, textbooks, toilets and other school facilities.

At the same time, they said the problem after graduation is not really about unsuitable skills but rather the lack of employment opportunities.