Three keys to EDUCATION in the NEW NORMAL
One of the incalculable losses of the COVID-19 pandemic is in how children and teenagers have, in many ways, been forced to “grow up.” In particular, due to the shift to online and modular learning, students are now taking more of an initiative in their own education and learning process.
“Students and teachers are entering an unprecedented time of distance learning,” says the team behind Teach for the Philippines (TFP), a non-profit social enterprise working to provide quality education to all Filipino students. “The traditional face-to-face classroom environment [is replaced] with a home-based learning experience.”
Experience. It is the perfect word to sum up the direction education has moved toward during the past few months.
The classroom’s built environment is specifically designed to facilitate learning. There are the presence and instruction
of a licensed professional to teach. But now, students and their guardians must work together with teachers and the educational system to re-create the learning experience in their home environments, each home with its own unique challenges.
TFP’s core programs create a pipeline of skilled public school teachers for the country. They search, train, and place teachers, as well as connect them to local government units working on education and youth policy. Like others in the educational sector, TFP’s typical mode of face-to-face delivery for their teaching fellows is not acceptable given the current health situation. But as a purpose-driven initiative, they were able to adapt.
“The Summer Institute is our intensive, seven-week predeployment training for teachers and, until this year, it had always been done at a live-in training venue,” says Clarissa Delgado, founder and CEO of TFP. “Pivoting to virtual training has been undoubtedly necessary, but also extremely challenging.”
In an interview with Manila Bulletin Lifestyle, Clarissa sheds light on how TFP has worked to prepare public school teachers going into the school year. In understanding how one of the country’s leading education initiatives has gone about teaching teachers, guardians and students may be able to re-create the learning experience in their home environment.
“The Summer Institute is preparing our teachers with knowledge, skills, and mindsets that would be necessary for the new school year,” Clarissa adds, before going into more detail on each of the key points