Recognizing the crucial role of teachers in delivering quality education, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Thursday, Jan. 11, reiterated its commitment to equip them with relevant skills through training and development.
DepEd Undersecretary and Spokesperson Michael Poa, in a Palace briefing, explained that part of improving the quality of education in the country is equipping teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge especially when it comes to technology.
“It’s never their fault. It’s really the system and that’s why we want to improve not just in-service but also the pre-service training,” Poa said.
DepEd, he added, has been focusing on teachers and has an existing facility for the development of teachers.
“That's why now, in DepEd, we have our NEAP [or] the National Educators Academy of the Philippines, which is the training arm of DepEd when it comes to our teachers,” Poa said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Recognizing that teachers also need to be trained when it comes to using technology in education, Poa said DepEd will be doing a “scoping” on the familiarity of teachers when it comes to using gadgets for teaching.
“We really need to update our teachers in technology. We need to ensure that they have the proper training programs and they have the proper expertise so that they can really fulfill their duties,” Poa said. “We also want to know how many teachers have gadgets that they can use,” he added.
More training for teachers
DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Gina Gonong added that on top of training, “we’re providing them modules or learning resources that they can use so that they can adapt to using technology in teaching.”
Gonong also underscored the need to collaborate with universities so that when it comes to pre-service teacher education, teachers can already be trained in using technology in teaching.
Meanwhile, Gonong also shared the importance of specialization among teachers.
Currently, Gonong said that many of the teachers in elementary are “generalists.”
“Kailangan nating pag-isipan, together with universities, paano magkakaroon, paano gagawin na magkaroon ng specialization ang mga teachers natin (We need to think, together with universities, how we can have, how we can make our teachers specialize),” she added.
Citing the latest findings of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Gonong said that while many Filipino teachers pass the licensure examination and they are certified, there are “fewer teachers with specialization or master's degrees” in the Philippines compared to other countries under the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).