Education 101

There’s The Rub

By: Conrado de Quiros
Philippine Daily Inquirer
9:50 pm | Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 

First, Abigail Valte said that the students protesting the paltry budget for state universities and colleges would do better “to focus on their studies.”

Then Butch Abad came out to say that hiking the SUC budget to P45 billion, which the protesters are demanding—Abad has approved only an increase from P23.7 billion to P26.1 billion—is not feasible. “If we gave all agencies their maximum budget, the total budget will go past P2 trillion, which is way beyond what we can afford.” And it won’t solve anything anyway. “Note the recent international survey where the well-funded Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University and UST (University of Santo Tomas) fared worse than the underfunded UP (University of the Philippines).”

What benighted responses to the protest. First Abad’s:

If you simply diverted the fortune you are pouring into Batanes and the Department of Social Welfare and Development to the SUC, you won’t exceed anything and you will produce infinitely happier results for the present and future. Certainly ones that would have a more profound and lasting impact on the next generations. True enough, if you gave all the agencies their maximum budget, government will be in debt. But why on earth should you? Not all agencies are created equal, some are more important than others.

Education is, and epically so. Last I looked the Constitution still said education was the No. 1 priority of this country. Not Batanes or the DSWD.

What’s your logic in saying that impoverished UP is doing better than well-endowed Ateneo, La Salle and UST in the ranking of schools—underfunding universities and colleges helps to improve performance? For all you know, all the ranking proves is that a secular environment is more conducive to learning than a religious one. If so, then you pour vaster amounts into the secular schools and they will do even better than they are doing now.

The proposition that there is little or no correlation between a school’s performance and its funding is silly. You don’t have good teachers, you won’t have good education. And you won’t have good teachers if you keep paying teachers conscript wages. Which is what we have now: The salaries of teachers are criminal. Psychic income, which is the bulk of the income teachers get today, may be good for the soul but they do not buy the groceries. You raise the salaries of teachers (and reduce the budget of Cabinet secretaries, in direct inverse proportion), you recruit better teachers. You recruit better teachers, you’ll get better ranking for schools, particularly the secular ones.

Second, Valte’s:

At the very least, her advice is patronizing. It’s all of a piece with the Communications Group telling workers and jeepney drivers to leave economics to experts. Not quite incidentally, the people protesting the meager sums going to the SUCs are not just students, they are also teachers. Even the students themselves might teach Valte a thing or two about life outside the cocoon of Malacañang. Certainly they can teach her and her boss a thing or two about communications, which they can’t seem to grasp, managing to piss off people when they really should be trying to get them on their side. Or their boss’ side.

At the very most, it’s unenlightened. First off because it lacks a sense of history. If students did not make it a point to protest the protestable, or violently iniquitous, we might even now still be under martial law, with Marcos’ generals in lieu of him overseeing it. It was the students who stormed out of their classrooms to protest Marcos when nobody else would, some of them marching up all the way to the hills, and kept the fires of freedom alive in the darkest pit of his rule. If the students had focused on their studies rather than swelling the ranks of the throng that gathered outside the camps, we might never have had an Edsa. Which harvest P-Noy has reaped, along with his people in Malacañang. Ingratitude is never a sign of grace.

At least today, the students (and teachers) are just huffing and puffing about not getting their due. An eternity ago, a one-centavo increase in oil prices would have been enough to ignite an explosion of outrage. The problem today is not that the students have become wild, it is that they have become tame.

Second off because it posits a myopic view of education. Education is not something you get in the classroom alone. It is not something you get from books alone, though you can get a lot of education there, enough to not need the classroom all. But that’s another story. The students in fact are tending to their studies, if not indeed focusing on them, by being aware of the realities around them, by trying to do something about the realities around them. Those are studies, too, in ways Imelda never contemplated in her University of Life. That is education, too, in ways schools have not contemplated in their curriculums.
Learning there is a world out there, that there is a value that goes beyond looking out for No. 1, is learning. It is studying. It is getting educated. The UP students protesting the SUCs being shoved into the backburner of budget priorities are living up to a glorious tradition, one the Collegian put this way: “Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa? Kung hindi tayo, sino pa?” It was the students then and the students now who grasped the fundamental truth of that motto, the compelling imperative of that battle cry, who lived, and have lived, up to the ideal of being a iskolar ng bayan. They were and are the ones who have served the people.

The others? Well, they just focused on their studies in the narrowest sense of that idea and went abroad afterward, little caring about the country they left behind, crying, “Good riddance.”

That’s not education, that’s insulation.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/12985/education-101

SISC at 21: From dreams to realities

September 24, 2011, 8:00pm

 

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-one years ago, Southville International School and Colleges (SISC) started with the dream to offer an international pre-school program that would cater to the multiple intelligences of students.

That dream has been realized as SISC’s first batch of graduates eventually graduated from top world-ranked universities. The rest, as they say, is history as SISC eventually expanded each year to offer genuine international education from preschool to college.

This year, SISC takes a glimpse of its hopeful beginnings and looks forward to improving the early childhood education landscape by launching its S.T.A.R. Campus on Elizalde St., BF Homes Parañaque. The S.T.A.R. Campus is a non-traditional preschool which responds to the demand of today’s parents for an innovative learning environment with caring and well-trained teachers and a stimulating curriculum that encourages the child’s independence, individuality and creativity.

The S.T.A.R. Campus takes its name from Southville’s ingenious S.T.A.R. Curriculum which stands for Stanford Reading and Math Program, Technology-Assisted Instruction, Arts-Enriched Program, and Responsible Behavior Development Program.

In this non-traditional curriculum framework, multiple intelligences, learning styles, interests, and readiness of students are considered in the delivery of instruction. To ensure the holistic development of students, lesson plans and instruction are premised on brain-based learning principles such as Understanding by Design (UBD) and Differentiated Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (DCIA) and home-grown programs such as Strategic Program for Emergent Literacy through Learning Shops (S.P.E.L.L.S.) and 6Qs Program.

The Stanford Reading and Math Program is a well-thought out program to pave way to an improved approach to teaching Reading and Math to children starting at 2 years old.

Stanford encompasses strategic teaching accelerated and non-traditional curriculum framework for the optimum and rational development of young learners, follows international standards from the State of Pennsylvania Department of Education. This program offers developmentally appropriate activities and learning experiences for young learners to become prepared for the challenges of primary education.

Technology-Assisted Instruction utilizes e-classrooms, E-learning facilities such as LCD projectors and computers with early childhood educational software. This makes teaching concepts and skills to children more creative and effective. With the fast advancement of technology, young learners get hooked on easily to activities or presentations through software games or programs.

With the Arts-Enriched Curriculum, teachers utilize the Project Approach, which is based on the Reggio Emilia philosophy. This philosophy in Early Childhood Education originated in Italy in a town called Reggio Emilia and was founded by Loris Malaguzzi. This approach to teaching children emphasizes respect for each child’s ideas, feelings, interests and abilities; understanding the relationships of concepts developing critical thinking among children; utilization of art as the main medium of expressing learning, and; documentation of children’s works as they go through each phase of learning. With this kind of approach, teachers are not the sole owners of knowledge who impart them to children; they are the facilitators and co-builders of knowledge.

S.P.E.L.L.S. is a home-grown teaching-learning technology that uses learning shops. It stands for Strategic Program for Emergent Literacy through Learning Shops. This program provides young children with hands-on learning both in academics and values.

The 6Qs Program refers to the development of the Success Quotient of students early on by developing their Diligence Quotient, Intelligence Quotient, Reading Quotient, Emotional Quotient, and Computer Technology Quotient.

With SISC’s twin thrusts on academic and values excellence, the S.T.A.R. curriculum also emphasizes on Responsible Behavior Development Program. Students are equipped with positive, strong values necessary for building character.

As SISC turns more of its dreams into realities in the coming years, what will remain consistent is its commitment to develop learners who will be movers of society and who will make a difference in the 21st century.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/335509/sisc-21-from-dreams-realities

Education in a competitive world

Public Lives

By: Randy David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:18 pm | Saturday, September 24th, 2011

Not too long ago, the ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union structured the competition among nations.  The question then was: Which system promised the better life—capitalism or socialism? Today, political system hardly figures as a criterion in the classification of countries. And neither is the standing of nations assessed singularly by their present economic achievement. The key factor that now preoccupies governments that aim to succeed in an increasingly competitive world is the educational performance of their young people.

This is the reason for the current obsession with comparative rankings of universities on a global scale. These rankings constitute a major marketing tool for schools that are engaged in the fierce recruitment of students from all over the world. Increasingly, the big universities in the West have had to rely on foreign student enrollment to make up for the massive cuts in government subsidy to universities. But while the performance of tertiary institutions remains a crucial indicator of a country’s economic future, even more important to the overall prospects of a country is the state of its basic and secondary education. It is this that has been monitored for the longest time by inter-governmental institutions and research organizations.

The Economist (9/17/11) reports the latest findings from two reputable research agencies – the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), an office in the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and McKinsey, a research and consultancy firm. Pisa inquired into the academic attainment of 15-year-olds in 32 countries, and came up with rankings that troubled most of Europe. Only one European country – Finland, the maker of Nokia phones – made it to the top five. The other four were all Asian: Shanghai China (No. 1), South Korea (No. 2), Hong Kong China (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5). The United States stood at No. 14, Germany at No. 16, and Britain at No. 18.

The rankings were based on performance in three areas: Reading, Mathematics, and Science. Shanghai led in all three areas. Japan, the first Asian country to break into the league of industrialized nations, was at No. 8 in educational achievement, trailing behind the new Asian economic dynamos – China, South Korea, and Singapore.

These outcomes are confirmed by the latest McKinsey report. The study sought to know which countries have made the most dramatic improvement in educational performance in recent years. Not surprisingly, the top three were Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea.  But, what was interesting was the composition of the rest of the top 10: Ontario Canada, Saxony Germany, England, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Poland.

The question that these findings leave in everybody’s mind is: What did these places do in common? What was it that spelled the difference? Existing analysis, says The Economist article, tends to focus on three reasons for bad schools: low government spending, social class differences, and cultures that do not value education. The problem is actually more complex. “The idea that good schooling is about spending money is the one that has been beaten back hardest. Many of the 20 leading economic performers in the OECD doubled or tripled their education spending in real terms between 1970 and 1994, yet outcomes in many countries stagnated – or went backwards…. Andreas Schleicher, head of analysis at Pisa, thinks that only about 10% of the variation in pupil performance has anything to do with money.”

In contrast, class differences seem to produce the biggest differences in educational performance. Children from economically disadvantaged families “remain at higher risks of poor outcomes.” One expert, Dan Goldhaber of the University of Washington, is quoted as saying that up to 60 percent of academic performance is attributable to “non-school factors” like family income. This is certainly truer in countries like the Philippines where mass poverty exists, and children are sooner put to work than sent to school.

Perhaps the one thing that we share with the Confucian cultures of Asia is the high value we assign to education. Ask any Filipino parent and even the poorest will tell you that a good education is the most enduring of all wealth because no one can ever take it away from you. Yet it is a fact that the push to excel at school is felt mostly in middle-class families.  This is also where English, the preferred medium of modern education, is fast replacing the native tongue as the language of the home.

As important as these factors may be, current educational reform, says The Economist, tends to revolve around four basic thrusts: (1) letting the schools themselves set their own targets, with full support from the top, and calling on civic pride to raise the performance level of local schools; (2) paying particular attention to the needs of underachievers; (3) experimenting with a diverse range of schools that are suited to their milieu, including those “run by parents, charities, and local groups”; and (4) recruiting the best teachers and justly compensating them. These reforms do not come cheap, even as their outcomes are uncertain. But governments with lofty aspirations have had little choice but to keep experimenting, and studying, and copying, what others are doing.

What we do with the education of our children today will decide how we will fare in the even more intense competition of tomorrow’s world.

* * *
public.lives@gmail.com

http://opinion.inquirer.net/12739/education-in-a-competitive-world

DepEd boosts science education

By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star) Updated September 24, 2011 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) has acquired some P330-million worth of science equipment, instruments and learning tools that will be distributed to public high schools in a bid to improve the quality of science education for public school children.

At the same time, the agency has also allocated a P115-million financial assistance fund for the country’s 276 recognized Special Education (SPED) Centers to enable these schools to deliver quality educational services to children with special learning needs.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the equipment and instruments are to be sent to 435 public high schools nationwide to improve the students’ learning and appreciation of science concepts and applications.

Luistro said that aside from the procurement, DepEd through its National Science Teaching and Instrumentation Center (NSTIC) will hold a national consultative conference on the use of science equipment in Cebu City to prepare teachers to properly handle and maintain the equipment.

He said the NSTIC, together with regional science supervisors and Bureau of Secondary Education (BSE) representatives, will review and finalize the experiment and repair and maintenance manuals which will be used for the subsequent regional training workshops in October that would cover the country’s 17 regions.

NSTIC and its regional trainors will train one teacher per science subject area in Integrated Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics in each recipient school.

Luistro said a stronger science and technology curriculum in basic education was part of the 10-point education agenda of President Aquino aimed at producing graduates who are geared towards a science and technology-driven economy.

DepEd had earlier boasted that it has added 100 new special science elementary schools this year, bringing to 200 the total number of elementary schools offering a specialized curriculum focused on the sciences.

“The marching order is for us to continue to find ways to develop a new generation of science and technology-savvy graduates who will bring us to new levels of economic progress,” explained Luistro.

SPED is on top of priority list

Luistro also clarified that the allocation of the P115 million for the SPED Centers this year marks the agency’s continuing support for the SPED Centers, which started in 2009.
“The amount we are providing to each SPED Center is proportionate to the number of enrollees and the exceptionalities being served in a particular center,” he said.

The DepEd chief added that they have set a specific allocation on the kind of intervention/activity where the subsidy will be used.

Thirty percent will be set aside for pupil development activities, training, educational visits, camp activities, sports and pupil participation in SPED-related activities.

Twenty-five percent was earmarked for the procurement of assistive technology devices, while another 25 percent is for the procurement of instructional and reference materials, psychological tests, early intervention materials and science manipulative materials.

The remaining 20 percent is for the professional upgrading of teachers and school heads and travel expenses relative to their participation and attendance in activities relevant to the implementation of the program, training of classroom parent aides, availment of services of allied personnel such as psychologists, occupational, physical, speech and behavioral therapists.

“These efforts are geared towards creating an environment for inclusive education. It also aims to open all the avenues of learning to all kinds of learners,” Luistro explained.

The Philippines, through DepEd, is a signatory to the United Nations-initiated Millennium Development Goals of having universal education by 2015 as one of the goals.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=730351&publicationSubCategoryId=63

When a degree isn’t enough

Tales from Canada
10:45 pm | Wednesday, September 14th, 2011 

 

I started work as a temporary employee in a realty firm and was absorbed as permanent employee after three months.  Having some experience in dealing with commercial leasing, I thought my knowledge was sufficient to help me do my job well.  When I began joining team meetings and was caught tongue tied in most of the discussions, I realized that what I knew was not enough.

A colleague suggested that if I really would like to stay in this field, I should consider taking some courses to enhance my knowledge.  Although I am familiar with some of the basic concepts on leasing and property management, applying them at work here in Canada is entirely different.

I started looking into several designations offered by some leading organizations in property and facilities management.  I came across Building Owners and Managers Institute (BOMI), which offers professional designation programs through self-study, online courses and classroom courses. I decided to pursue the Real Property Administration (RPA) designation.  I needed to finish seven mandatory courses and one elective course.  Throughout the study program, I also need to gain some experience in property management.

Since I am not confident about taking the courses via self study, I started the first one by enrolling in the classroom course which normally requires students to read the textbook before the classes start.  The classroom course is a four-day accelerated program whereby the instructor goes over the important items in the textbook and gives additional information on topics that need further discussion or clarifications.  The textbook is normally composed of 15 chapters so I read one chapter a day before the classroom discussions.

I realized most of the people enrolled in the class came from the same industry so a few of them were already acquaintances.  Some had been in the industry for quite some time; others were property managers while some were building operators.  The good thing about being around these people who were well informed in the field was that I learned a lot from them during the discussions.  In that class, I was the neophyte having the least experience and knowledge on building operations and management.

My manager told me that in preparation for the exam, I needed to focus on the key items, review questions and practice exam in the textbook because 90 percent of the test questions would be taken from them.  We were given another two weeks to review.  This time, I made it a point to go over the key items of three chapters per day.  The following week I did the same thing and a day before the exam, I took a day off and reviewed the whole day.  True enough when the results came out after a month, I did not just pass the test but did so with flying colors.

I realized that I could do three courses in a year giving myself a month’s break in between.  I took mostly the classroom courses so I could be enlightened on some topics that were not clear to me. When they stopped doing the classroom courses, I opted for the self study program since I had no time for the online courses.  With a lot of sacrifice and self discipline, I passed each course with a grade not lower than 90 percent.  I even scored 100 percent in one of the courses I took.

After two and a half years, I finally received my designation and can now affix the initials RPA after my name.  A colleague from Montreal convinced me to continue studying and do the Facilities Management Administration (FMA) since I would only need to take three more courses to get it.

So far, I have done the first course and passed the exam and am now enrolled in the second one.  Hopefully in the first quarter of 2012, I would have received my second designation. 

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/12455/when-a-degree-isn%E2%80%99t-enough 

 

DepEd sets over P500M for tech-voc program

By Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
8:26 pm | Friday, September 9th, 2011 

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Education has released more than  half a billion pesos to boost its technical-vocational program in select high schools as it girds for the program’s integration into the K+12 (Kindergarten plus 12 yeas) program.

More than P500 million in “intervention” funds were released this year to improve the delivery of tech-voc training in some 282 high schools, including the construction of new workshops, laboratories and plant nurseries, acquisition of new equipment, teacher training and curriculum development.

“The release of the intervention fund is meant to produce a new generation of high-skilled workforce who has the competencies and skills to be absorbed by both local and international job markets,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro.

Under the Strengthened Technical-Vocational Education Program (STVEP), some P419.3 million was allocated for the construction of new facilities for specific tech-voc courses: P234 million for 156 arts and trade, P119.16 million for 81 agriculture high schools and some P66.2 million for some 45 schools offering fisheries training.

“This is to further improve the current situation of workshop rooms, which are generally classrooms converted into… [sub-standard] workshop facilities that are less conducive for learning and hands-on activities,” read DepEd Order 59, which detailed the fund boost.

“We really need standard workshop areas/facilities to make it conducive for the hands-on training of our students,” Luistro said.

DepEd also allocated some P20.8 million to train tech-voc teachers and “expose themselves [to] the latest trends and technologies which they can impart to students.”  Some P3.16 million was also allotted for capacity-building programs by DepEd’s Tech Voc Task Force.

Some P57.4 million was also set aside as competency assessment subsidy for graduating high school students. The amount covers skills assessment of students for certification by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

DepEd also earmarked some P21.8 million to enhance the current tech-voc curriculum for its “eventual integration” in the K+12 program.

100 Pre-schools—all in a year’s work

By: Neni Sta. Romana Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
9:29 pm | Friday, September 9th, 2011 

IT SEEMED so ambitious when Pinky Aquino Abellada mentioned last year that the goal of the foundation she would be involved in was to build 100 pre-schools during President Noynoy Aquino’s first year in office. But true enough,  AGAPP Foundation lived up to its boast of a hundred pre-schools from July 2010 to mid-June 2011, with the 100th built in Limay, Bataan.

The focus on pre-schools clearly emanates from two items (yes, ambitious but feasible with a lot of determination and grit) on the 10-point Basic Reform Agenda of the Aquino administration: First, universal pre-schooling for all: “All public school children (and all public schools) will have a full year of pre-schooling as their introduction to formal schooling by 2016.” Second, the critical “Every Child a Reader” program: “By the end of my administration, every child must be a reader by Grade 1.” Grade 3 used to be the old cutoff, but with the introduction of the mandatory pre-school level starting in school year 2011-2012, Grade 1 is now the target.

The acronym AGAPP stands for Aklat, Gabay at Aruga Tungo sa Pag-angat at Pag-asa (books, teacher training, feeding, livelihood and parenting support programs towards a better quality of life and hope) and the first phase has been the construction of Silid Pangarap classrooms, all brightly colored with a library corner of carefully selected books for K-3 readers, learning materials and toys and school supplies.

After a year, AGAPP says it has accomplished the Aklat and Gabay parts of its name, with the books and the teacher training. It now looks forward to finishing the rest of the acronym as it embarks on feeding, livelihood and parenting support programs. Well-known child development educator Feny de los Angeles Bautista (remember the very successful “Batibot”  TV series that she developed the curriculum for?) led the book selection and the teacher training. Also in sight for Year 2 are 150 more pre-school classrooms.

That AGAPP is devoted exclusively to pre-schools is a welcome development as it acknowledges the importance of preparing children better for the rigors of formal schooling. (That is also the reason why Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation has initiated Kinder College, a teacher training program for pre-school teachers.) It is a tremendous boost to the public school educational system (and DepEd’s lamentably limited resources) when a nongovernment organization tailors its program for a specific target grade level and in a sense “adopts” it by concentrating all its efforts on supporting, strengthening and enhancing  the grade level curriculum. The partnerships and programs that come to mind are McDonald’s Bright Minds Read for Grade 1, Union Bank’s Developmental Reading Program Integrated with Values and Good  Citizenship for Grade 2, Sa Aklat Sisikat Reading Program for Grade 4, and DepEd’s Library Hubs for all grade levels. These programs were all developed with the promotion of literacy in mind, all underscoring the fact that reading is at the heart of all learning. (And if we still have any doubts on that at this point, we are in serious trouble.)

Even while an assessment of the program is being discussed, Pinky is encouraged by reports that in Tuguegarao, some children switched from the private kinder classes they were enrolling in to Silid Pangarap classrooms because of the obvious difference in quality. The pre-school enrollment has also gone up between 30 and 60 percent in these Silid Pangarap classrooms, which have become “tourist” attractions to visitors and townsfolks alike. But again, why should something that should be a basic right of children be considered  such a novelty? Oh, for the day when such innovations become ordinary and commonplace and a way of life.

In Abuyog, Leyte, a DepEd staffer on the cusp of retirement was moved to tears at the mere sight of the children’s attractive classroom, saying that she never imagined she would see one in her lifetime.

AGAPP is in partnership with the DepEd, DSWD and the local government units, aware that such a collaboration is needed for any such endeavor. It aims to develop performance tracking systems that will look at retention rates, dropout rates, developmental skills, teaching skills—a complex area altogether. It is hoped that AGAPP will build the necessary systems to institutionalize these pre-school classrooms so that they are maintained and sustained beyond P-Noy’s term. (For more information on the project, visit www.agapp.com.ph.)

It cannot be denied that Pinky’s lineage and present political connections, despite her downplaying them in typical self-effacing Cory Aquino fashion, have made it much easier for AGAPP to draw public attention and donors.  But who is to complain?  What I am pleased about is that she is at the very least using her status as the President’s sister to draw attention to pre-school education.

How can this fledgling DepEd program not benefit from any attention? Finally, pre-school education will become widely accessible, and not just to children from privileged families.
Neni Sta. Romana Cruz (nenisrc@gmail.com) is a member of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People, the Eggie Apostol Foundation, and a trustee of Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/11603/100-pre-schools%e2%80%94all-in-a-year%e2%80%99s-work

‘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. 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.

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.

Engaging Filipinos institute reforms in public education

Sunday, 04 September 2011 16:02
Efleda P. Campos / Learning Editor

BEFORE he became secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) on June 30, 2010, Bro. Armin Luistro, then-president of the De La Salle University System, was a vocal proponent of reforms in the Philippine education system.

 

True to his word, since taking over the helm of the DepEd, he has institutionalized changes, foremost of which is the K+12 program, extending the number of years in basic public education to include kindergarten. The first batch of kindergartners was enrolled in public schools this year.

Luistro’s mission centers on addressing five shortages that adversely affect the quality of education in the Philippines: the lack of textbooks, teachers, classrooms including desks and chairs, water and sanitation facilities foremost of which are toilets, and electricity. He said that 7,950 schools in the country do not have water supply; 9,000 have no electricity; and 4,000 do not have both.

“Our schools are also desperately in need of toilets for the use of our schoolchildren,” he told Education editors in a meeting on Friday.

He has engaged various stakeholders to help diminish and eventually end these shortages.  He has signed agreements with local government units (LGUs), other government agencies, private schools, banks, private corporations, foundations, cooperatives, and foreign institutions. He has also sought the help of individuals, including “the rich and the famous,” overseas Filipino workers and the public in general.

For instance, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has agreed to donate to the DepEd confiscated “hot logs” to be made into school desks and chairs for public schools. Actively involved in this is the Caraga region, the first LGU in the country to provide illegal logs to the DepEd particularly for this purpose.

The province of Abra, which is rich in bamboo resources, has begun to use its plyboo, plywood made of bamboo, to build chairs and desks for some of its public-school classrooms.

The DepEd has also started to build small solar panels each costing between P10,000 and P15,000 in cooperation with LGUs, among others, to supply some schools with electricity.

Luistro said the country’s public schools need 66,800 classrooms. Although the DepEd’s budget was raised this year and is being increased for 2012, “the resources are still not enough to fully address the problem.”

In a proactive move, the DepEd, with the help of the private-sector group 57-75 Education Reform Movement, has launched the Bayanihang Pampaaralan “to solicit the support of companies and donor agencies to raise the needed resources.” It is also promoting the “TEN Moves” campaign or “The Entire Nation Moves” to engage ordinary citizens and provide even “non-Filipino friends of the Philippines the opportunity to take part in [the] effort to help address the classroom shortage.”

TEN Moves, Luistro said, “is a campaign to raise enough resources to build 10,000 classrooms in public schools all over the Philippines [by having] 2 million people donate P10 per day for 10 months or P3,000.” Local donors can make their donations through the Bank of the Philippine Islands, BDO, and UnionBank via special accounts set up by the Ayala Foundation; wire transfers; credit cards; and Globe Telecom Inc.’s G-Cash.

Filipinos living abroad can donate $10 a month or $100 for the 10-month period via wire, telegraphic transfer or through www.tenmoves.org.

Luistro said he expects two shortages to be eradicated by December 2011: textbooks and teachers, adding that “we now have enough teachers in the system.”

At present, there are 20 million students in the Philippine public-school system. Luistro expressed confidence that by year-end, 100 million textbooks will be made available, with every student having a textbook each for math, English, science, Filipino and social studies.

Since he assumed the post of education secretary, Luistro, himself an educator, has made at least 270 unannounced visits to various public schools in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. His aim: To have an actual feel of how schools are run and to assess for himself how pupils and students view and react to their learning environment.

Luistro said the DepEd has “flavors of the month,” projects to celebrate, for instance, “Buwan ng Wika” in August and Teachers’ Month this month. Highlighting September’s celebration of teachers is a DepEd campaign to use all possible resources—the media, letters, the Internet via Facebook, word of mouth and the like—to thank the particular teacher “who has made a difference in our lives.”  It will also join the entire planet commemorate World Teachers’ Day on October 5.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/component/content/article/30-education/16037-engaging-filipinos-institute-reforms-in-public-education