Saturday, August 23, 2008

Principals now high tech

The Department of Education (DepEd) has partnered with SEAMEO
INNOTECH, a South East Asia-based educational institution, to upgrade the
competencies of school principals to improve the quality and reach of education
in the public school system.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus tapped SEAMEO INNOTECH (Southeast Asian
Ministers of Education Organization, Regional Center for Educational Innovation
and Technology) to initially train some 1,600 school principals all over the
country under the DepEd eXCELS – Excellence in School Leadership in
Southeast Asia.

“We believe that the school principals are critical players in delivering quality
basic education,” Lapus said. “By upgrading their competencies, we optimize
the principal’s leadership and management capabilities while updating them on
the latest trends in curriculum and instruction,” he added.

The combination of online classes, individual coaching through the Internet and
face-to-face sessions will help maximize group and individual learning, while
ensuring that the outputs are produced by the principals themselves.
To date, some 1,200 principals have undergone four weeks of intensive online
sessions where a flexible learning tutor guides them through different sessions.
The principals can either have group interaction, one-on-one consultations with
the flexible learning tutor, or do online forums among their peers.

On their own time, the principals read, download and study resource materials,
and answer exercises and case studies. Among the learning resources for the
principals are the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
(ASCD) materials and the Harvard Education Review online.

“We are pleased that the DepEd leadership can see the potentials of the flexible
learning system and appreciate the opportunities it offers for the future,” said Dr.
Erlinda Pefianco, SEAMEO INNOTECH Director.
One major requirement in the course is to put together a school improvement
plan for their region. The partner TEI also grants 3 academic credits leading to a
graduate degree in education.

The program is currently being operated by SEAMEO INNOTECH. It has
successfully demonstrated the system in the Philippines, Vietnam and
Indonesia. Pefianco hopes to mainstream it in the Philippines.
OSEC COMMUNICATIONS | DEPED COMPLEX, MERALCO AVENUE, PASIG CITY 1600
T (02) 6316033 | F (02) 6364876 | WEBSITE www. deped. gov.ph | EMAIL depedcommunications @gmail.com

“We are looking at DepEd and our partner TEIs to institutionalize the program.
There are more than 40,000 schools all over the country and each principal
could be trained through the system. . It will need some investment in hardware
and operating systems, though,” Dr. Pefianco said.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a good news. But aside from hardware and operating systems, a good school technological plan is a must.

Anonymous said...

correction: school technology plan, not school technological plan

Anonymous said...

I am working on a study about school administrators ICT competencies for my thesis and this is really good news since this program will help school administrators a lot. I hope to hear more of this in the near future.

Claw Machines said...

The thesis is very timely. Can you give me the abstract and your details so we can post your thesis here. What is your demographics area. It is regional, division or national level?

Claw Machines said...

I am a member of ICT Trainor for the past 5 years and I have experience mentoring principals, supervisors and even regional supervisors. These people are very much aware now with the relevance of IT in their career and management.

Anonymous said...

This is indeed a great opportunity on the part of school administrators since we are now on computer age. I am just hoping that this program will cater to the best of its interests.

Anonymous said...

i just hope it's really the principals themselves who are working on their lessons and not the assistants of the assistants of assistants. Meaning they will get the credit for a work which was actually from a younger teacher who can only follow what the boss says.

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