Group seeks better tools for teachers

MANILA, Philippines -  A non-government organization providing training to teachers in public and private schools is calling for an improvement in the content of teaching tools given to educators.

The Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education (Fuse) said in the past, it had focused on developing teaching strategies, particularly in English subjects. Now, it said it needs to focus on the educators’ mastery of the subject they teach.

“We want to balance the competence of the teacher, that the teacher must be good not only in how to teach a given subject but in what to teach, because if we do not ensure that the teacher is up to date in her knowledge of a given subject she might be teaching successfully and effectively knowledge that is already obsolete,” said Fuse president Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero.

He said the content of current teaching materials need to be updated because new terminologies are now in use. “The teacher might be using the old terminologies. So it’s very important to balance the two, that the teacher continues to be up to date on what is going to be taught (content) and how to teach it (strategy),” he said.

The foundation, which celebrates its 16th year, was founded in December 1994 to help raise quality of education in the country. It is part of the Tan Yan Kee Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the Lucio Tan Group of Companies.