COACHING AND MENTORING IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC

Dr. AMPARO M. MUÑOZ

Education does not stop even in times of pandemic. The Department of Education assured that formal education continues via distance learning in its Basic Education – Learning Continuity Plan or BE-LCP. In line with this, teachers and administrators are provided with continuous and relevant online trainings and workshops mostly related to teaching-learning processes calibrated to the call of the new normal. Distance learning pertains to modular instruction, online teaching, or blended instruction. In any case, the use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) appears to be a foregone necessity to realize distance learning.

As expected, school personnel grapple with the online tools and platforms that will serve as information highway and content repository in the new normal education settings. The homes of the teachers and learners as classrooms will be connected and synchronized by these online platforms such as the Google Classroom, Zoom, Schoology, and others. Teachers therefore have to transition practicing their profession from traditional approaches towards a more ICT-based instruction. This scenario along with consequential realities offers both an ocean of opportunities and a whole new world of challenges for teachers.

In a competency study conducted among public school teachers by Caluza, Verecio, & Quisumbing in 2016, teachers were found to be possessing only basic skills in ICT – a competency level insufficient to cultivate the ICT skills of the learners. The lowest scores were found to be along the aspects directly related to the use of software, websites, and online educational platforms. These are the same areas wherein teachers in the new normal need to level up – an upskilling so urgent yet so sudden. However, benefitting from the long-term effort of the Department of Education and some features of the K-12 Basic Education Curriculum, a substantial number of teachers and other DepEd personnel have developed a high level of ICT skills adequate to facilitate and provide coaching and mentoring support to their colleagues at different levels of the organization.

On top of the heap, the Department of Education has provided this kind of coaching and mentoring to its teaching force through its project DepEd Open Educational Resources (OER). Quoting from the website of the Department on Digital Rise, “The Department of Education (DepEd) Open Educational Resources (OER) is an innovative pathway to connect the disconnected schools with its prime role to support the requirements of the K-12 Curriculum. It focuses on the ICT Assisted Teaching and ICT Assisted Learning whereas the customization of localized materials is made possible to deliver quality, accessible, relevant and liberating education for all even for schools without strong internet facilities. The OERs are designed in such a way to cater the needs for interactivity, digitization and delivery of 21st Century Skills to make learners future ready.”

As part of the DepEd-OER program, intensive hands-on trainings and workshops were widely rolled-out since the first months of nationwide quarantine. These trainings were conducted through online platforms. Teachers were able to participate since they had attended prior trainings and webinars on the basic use of online platforms through their school-based professional learning communities. These activities are all part of the coaching and mentoring mechanisms in schools and among teachers. In addition, the Department of Education through its regional and division offices have been providing related seminars and trainings which include Distance Education, Blended Learning, Mental Health and Psychosocial Well-Being, Module Writing, and Television and Radio Broadcasting. Due to the limited number of participants an online platform can accommodate at a given session, participants to these trainings are to serve as coaches and mentors in their respective schools. Evidently, coaching and mentoring in the Department of Education are even more important in this time of pandemic because sharing and co-dependency are some of the best ingredients in order to thrive even in the most challenging of times. Through coaching and mentoring, teachers can ensure that quality education will continue.

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The author is Principal IV at Cristo Rey High School, DepEd Tarlac Province