'Teacher-leaders' to improve quality of teaching

MANILA, Philippines - Australia recently provided a two-week leadership development program for the 10 Outstanding Teacher awardees of the Metrobank Foundation for 2012 through first-hand exposure to globally-recognized teaching programs in Australia. The teachers learned about “smart classrooms,” which encourage the use of new technologies to improve teaching and learning. They also visited several primary and secondary schools in Queensland and Melbourne to observe and learn from different teaching strategies and approaches used in Australian schools.

“Australia is pleased to be working in close partnership with the Philippines towards achieving better learning outcomes for Filipino children. Our support to outstanding teachers stems from the fact that better teachers can produce better students,” Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell said.

“The leadership development program is perfectly timed especially as the Philippine government rolls out the K+12 program – we will rely on nothing else but the excellence of our beloved teachers,” Education Secretary Armin Luistro said at a reception held for the teachers upon their return from Australia.

“Australia is the single biggest and most important partner of the Department of Education, and I have not had any other opportunity to partner with any other country that supported education the way Australia does,” Luistro added.

Civil Service Commission chair Francisco Duque III called the program “a brilliant initiative.”

“Teacher-leader means empowering teachers to become agents of change by allowing them to continuously find ways to improve their teaching as that of their colleagues, to participate in decision-making, and mentor fellow teachers to explore ways on how their school can contribute to the community,” said Duque.

“Education is the flagship initiative of Australia’s development cooperation program with the Philippines. Building on the history of the Colombo Plan, I am extremely proud of the crucial contribution Australia continues to make in education, a key area of need for the future of the Philippines,” said Ambassador Twedell.

The leadership program for Filipino teachers is part of Australia’s broader support to government reform. The initiative falls under the human resource development and institutional strengthening program administered through the Philippines-Australia Human Resource and Organizational Development Facility.

As a way of ‘paying forward’, the 10 teachers will mentor 12 scholars who are taking undergraduate degrees in education under the Philippine Business for Education’s “1,000 Teachers” program, which the Australian government also supports.

The outstanding teachers have been selected as the best among the best in the education profession from the field of more than 500,000 teachers. Sent to Australia were: Teodora Conde, Vilma Ambat, Maricel Franco, Marcela Jingco, Buenaventura Luces, Chelo Tangan, Shena Faith Ganela, Djhoane Aguilar, Lora Añar and Mercelita Labial.