The Department of Education (DepEd) made an open call for the submission of studies on future learning spaces for Filipino students.

Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones invited experts and stakeholders to participate in creating an integrated concept or design for the future learning spaces for learners during the celebration of the 2022 International Day of Education (IDE).

“We are making an open call for submission of studies on future learning spaces as part of the co-creation and knowledge-building process, and the identification of existing best practices and implementation of models of integrated learning spaces to unlock, connect, replicate and scale future learning spaces and create system-level change,” Briones said.

Briones explained that these spaces will help learners “thrive, learn, and adapt to challenges while learning.”

For DepEd, she noted that these spaces “should be built with the ideas, resources, and help from its stakeholders.”

Briones, in her speech, also shared that DepEd’s Education Futures Programme (Educ Futures) has been collaborating with experts and stakeholders to co-create the design for learning spaces that will benefit the learners in the future.

She cited that education stakeholders have been part of the great transformation of education brought about by the challenges of the pandemic.

“From parents who guided their children during modular and blended learning to the Local Government Units that provided the equipment and connectivity needed by their learners, they all are part of the gains that the Department has realized,” Briones said.

Briones also acknowledged the need for learners to go back to school to re-integrate the social interaction between teachers and learners in the traditional classroom setting.

“The pilot testing of the face-to-face classes and its expansion phase will introduce a learning recovery wherein the schools can open their doors again as the course of learning will change due to the innovations made during the blended learning phase," Briones said.

Briones noted that amid the challenges, “we are at the threshold of great education transformation.”

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), she added, has “compelled us to look again at the broader learning ecosystem beyond the confines of physical classrooms.”

This year’s celebration of the IDE highlighted best practices, trends in the learning and teaching process, the Basic Education Development plan, and teacher’s perspective under the theme “Changing Course, Transforming Education.”