SDEM discusses post-2015 education · PDF fileSDEM discusses post-2015 education agenda • INNOTECH, ... Grade 3 students from 40 ... Sinugbuanon Binisaya, and

SDEM discusses post-2015 education agenda • INNOTECH, SEAMES meet to plan strategic dialogue among education ministers • INNOTECH initiates scoping study on rights-based education • Cong. Romulo partakes in rights-based approach to education training • Experts assess early grade reading assessment results • SEAMEO INNOTECH holds resiliency program under SEDF • Quirino province sponsors a new capacity building program for leading and managing K to 12 schools • SEAMEO INNOTECH gets ISO 29990 certification

A Publication of the Southeast AsianMinisters of Education Organization

Regional Center for Educational Innovationand Technology (SEAMEO INNOTECH),

Quezon City, PhilippinesJuly-September 2014

ISSN 0115-7469

n e w s l e t t e rinnotech

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Education ministers and high-level education leaders

from 10 member countries of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), convened at the Landmark Mekong Riverside Hotel in Vientiane, Lao PDR last

13th of September to discuss the region’s education agenda for the next decade.

The participants of the Strategic Dialogue for Education Ministers (SDEM) discussed issues on the Post-2015 Development

Agenda and ASEAN Integration, its gains in Education for All (EFA), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other global covenants, gaps, and suggestions for regional actions. Two roundtable discussions were held, built on the presentation

SDEM discusses post-2015 education agenda

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SDEM...(from page 1)

of Dr. Sheldon Shaeffer, former Director of the UNESCO Bangkok Office, and covering issues that each of the member countries presented.

The first discussion, facilitated by Br Armin A. Luistro, Secretary of Education of the Philippines, reviewed the achievements, gaps, and possible solutions on current critical issues. Participants shared their thoughts and reflections on their journey to achieve EFA. The second one, facilitated by Pehin Abu Bakar Apong, Minister for Education of Brunei Darussalam, discussed the emerging trends, drivers, and unmet challenges affecting education in Southeast Asia. Representatives from each country discussed a specific pressing issue that their country’s education system experiences. The roundtable discussions also tackled ways to strengthen regional cooperation to implement the future education agenda within the framework of SEAMEO and the ASEAN Community.

Afterwards, a joint statement was drafted and discussed, setting the region’s agenda for education development beyond 2015. It was stated that the cooperation of the countries in the region is the most potent resource available for the Southeast Asian education community. It was suggested that the region have more focused collaboration and interactions in addressing the issues identified in the discussions.

Part of the agenda are promoting Technical and Vocational Education and Training among learners, making teaching a

profession of choice, addressing barriers to inclusion and access to basic learning, and developing a more forward-looking, future-oriented, and strategic education systems.

They noted that education reforms should be strategic, comprehensive, across the board, and systematic, while being rooted in the values and traditions of the region. SDEM participants also acknowledged the fact that each country has unique and diverse cultures.

Increasing resiliency was also in the agenda. The participants included the need to build resiliency in times of conflict, extreme weather and disasters among school leaders, teachers, and students as one of the priority issues to be addressed.

SDEM is a module within the framework of SEAMEO College that envisions an informal and less structured discussion on current and emerging education issues that are important to the Southeast Asian region.

SEAMEO College is a flagship program of SEAMEO launched in 2013 that aims to provide a platform for discussions and exchange of ideas among education officials and stakeholders in SEAMEO member countries.

The project is supported by the Asian Development Bank through the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction. This year’s SDEM is jointly organized by the SEAMEO Secretariat and SEAMEO INNOTECH.


In preparation for the SDEM, Dr. Sheldon Shaeffer, education

expert and consultant for the Module 1 of SEAMEO College, led a two-day meeting in July 2014 to talk about a work plan on how to organize and implement the SDEM in September 2014. Present during the meeting were key officials of SEAMEO INNOTECH, led by Center Director Dr. Ramon Bacani, and officials of the SEAMEO Secretariat, Ms. Abigail Lanceta and Ms. Marina Oro.

Meanwhile, Dr. Shaeffer shared his thoughts with staff and officials of SEAMEO INNOTECH on the SDEM’s theme and its implications for the future of education. The year 2015, he said, is a real turning point because there will be a new EFA strategy, new sets of development goals and agenda, and in Southeast Asia, there is the administration of an integrated ASEAN economic community.

The former UNESCO Bangkok director believes that greater access to good quality early childhood development programs and pre-primary education should be given emphasis as these would lead to less poverty and higher future income. He raised a number of thought-provoking questions related to this assumption, foremost of which was why many governments and donor agencies, including SEAMEO, pay so little attention to ECCD programs.

Dr. Shaeffer said there is need for a change of mindset, particularly for school leaders to consider who they should really be accountable to, and a shift in focus for children who are not in school more than those who are already in school.

He said school leaders should think more of being accountable to the children and the children’s parents instead of the ministries of education. The school system

should be actively seeking out children who are not in school and bringing them in to learn. Instead of making this happen, Dr. Shaeffer said that the more common scenario is where schools push out children who are not doing well.

For him, an education system of good quality should be child-centered, rights-based and equity-focused. It should be concerned always about inclusion, equality, and non-discrimination. In this age and time, inclusive education, he said, should not just be limited to those who have special needs; it should now cover those who are faced with other barriers to accessing quality education, like poverty, gender disparity, language barriers, health status, and geographic differences.

This year’s SDEM focused on the post-2015 development agenda and the ASEAN economic integration.

INNOTECH, SEAMES meet to plan strategic dialogue among education ministers

RELATED STORY


In an effort to strengthen the pursuit of Education for All

and MDG goals in Southeast Asia, SEAMEO INNOTECH, through its Research Studies Unit, conducted a scoping study on rights-based education in the region. The workshop was held at INNOTECH from 27 to 29 August 2014.

The scoping study aims to review the achievements of different Southeast Asian countries in promoting education from a human rights perspective in the past decade. It also aims to analyze the existing Southeast Asian policies and practices, as well as case studies on

promoting rights-based education. It will be divided into four phases—preliminary desk review, primary data gathering through consultation with stakeholders, report writing, and publication and research dissemination.

The scoping study is a proposal of the Research Studies Unit (RSU) of INNOTECH to strengthen the SEA region’s pursuit of EFA and MDG goals. It is an in-depth study of what has been achieved in the past decade in different Southeast Asian (SEA) countries in promoting education from a human rights perspective. It

is funded by the SEAMEO INNOTECH Regional Educational Project (SIREP).

Rights-based education experts from different SEAMEO-member countries are expected to participate in the said workshop and share their ideas in strengthening the promotion of rights-based education in Southeast Asia.

The workshop covered the strategies, approaches, innovation, successes and remaining barriers in promoting rights-based education with participating local and regional experts across Southeast Asia.

INNOTECH initiates scoping study on rights-based education


Hon. Cong. Roman Romulo, chairman of the Committee

on Higher and Technical Education of the House of Representatives, shared the Philippine experience in making education ‘available, accessible, acceptable, and adaptable’ during the workshop about rights-based education last 28 August 2014 in INNOTECH.

The Pasig representative discussed the initiatives associated with access and quality factors such as financial

assistance programs, security in the SUCs, motivation of the faculty, and the Iskolar ng Bayan Bill.

Cong. Romulo shared, “As chairperson of the Committee on Higher and Technical Education, (…) having a strong impact on education will always be our top priority.”

Cong. Romulo also shared some of the initiatives in the country for the coming ASEAN integration in 2015, quoting a

news article, “The Philippines is not ready, but Filipinos are.” He also disclosed the challenges in the implementation of the K-12 educational system.

Aside from being the chair of the Committee on Higher and Technical Education, Cong. Romulo is also a member of the Committee on Basic Education and Committee on Human Rights of the Philippine House of Representatives.

Cong. Romulo shares insights on rights-based approach to education

The rights-based approach focuses on dignity and respect for every individual in order to address underlying issues of poverty, injustice and exploitation.

RELATED STORY


Curriculum and language experts converged for a

one day workshop to determine the implications of the results of the nationwide early grade reading assessment (EGRA) conducted in February 2014. RTI International, through its USAID-funded project PhilEd Data II, organized the event in partnership with the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) on 23 July 2014 at SEAMEO INNOTECH, Quezon City.

Nearly a hundred participants took part in small group discussions that focused on the following: (1) factors that could

have influenced the assessment results; (2) implications of the results to mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE); (3) and recommendations on how to influence policy and improve future assessment results.

EGRA is an orally-administered test to determine basic reading skills, such as letter-sound identification, word and non-word decoding, and reading comprehension. It has provided educators with a quick and easy-to-interpret feedback on the literacy levels of students in primary schools.

Under the EdData II Project, RTI International worked with DepEd – Bureau of Elementary Education, and TNS Global in conducting baseline assessments to support the Philippines’ MTB-MLE program using contextualized EGRA instruments.

In 2013, randomly selected Grade 3 students from 40 schools were assessed based on their reading performance in English and Filipino, while nearly 500 Grade 1 students were sampled for their reading proficiency in Ilokano.

This year, approximately 400 Grade 1 students and

Experts assess early grade reading assessment results


another 400 Grade 2 students, both randomly selected, were assessed to determine reading proficiency in four languages—Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Sinugbuanon Binisaya, and Maguindanaon. Teachers were interviewed and classroom observations were also conducted to serve as contextual input on the implementation of MTB-MLE program and to determine other factors that could be related to the reading outcomes.

The results of the assessment, as presented by RTI International’s senior education advisor Joseph De Stefano during the workshop, suggests that there are gaps in productive teaching methods, which may be associated with achievement.

For example, in letter-sound identification—a skill that should be automatic to readers—10-25% of the surveyed children could not identify a single letter sound correctly. The reason for this was instead of saying the sound, the children were saying the letter name. In reading fluency, while the average scores are increasing from Grade 1 to Grade 2, many children still cannot read a single one- or two-syllable word correctly, even after two years of schooling. Comprehension scores are also weak, and, depending on the language, between 8% and 38% of the students cannot read a single word of a short story.

Data from teacher interviews and classroom observations showed that mother tongue is used as medium of instruction in Grade 1 and Grade 2 reading lessons and other subjects. However, not all support are in place to allow for the most

effective instruction possible in MT. For instance, no more than 30% of the teachers have had specific training in teaching reading in MT for early grades. It was noted that teachers did not regularly employ techniques that would reinforce reading in MT, and the instructional approach was teacher-centered. During reading lessons, many teachers spent little or no time on reading activities, and students rarely demonstrated productive speaking, listening, or writing.

Based on RTI International’s analysis, differences in the reading outcomes per language may be attributed more to demographic and socio-economic factors like how well-resourced the schools are, rather than on factors related to the language itself or the MTB-MLE implementation. The degree of exposure to reading and a culture of learning in school and at home also seem to contribute greatly to the differences in achievement.

Presented with these findings, the workshop participants, representing various groups

from the government, private, and non-government sectors, discoursed on the implications of the EGRA findings.

Recommendations were then formulated on how to improve the implementation of the MTB-MLE program in line with the K to 12 basic education reform. Some of the more notable recommendations include strengthening the pre-service training of teachers, particularly in beginning reading; re-tooling of school heads and teachers on teaching reading in mother tongue; strengthening the school-based learning action cell; and improving the literacy environment inside and outside the school.

DepEd Undersecretary for Programs and Projects, Dina S. Ocampo also participated in the workshop and gave a briefer on the state of the country’s mother tongue-based multi-lingual education (MTB-MLE) and DepEd’s efforts to improve reading.

(Source: https://www.eddataglobal.org/countries/index.cfm?fuseaction=pubDetail&

ID=600)


SNAPSHOTS

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8 August 2014Pearl Hall


SNAPSHOTS

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Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The program is divided into three phases delivered through a blended learning mode and face to face training sessions. The first phase of the program ran from 16 June to 18 July 2014, and assessed the competencies and gaps of the participants’ schools through online interaction using the INNOTECH flexible learning system (iFLEX).

The third and last phase will be an online sharing of the learning and practices as they implement what they have learned from the program. It will be held from 15 to 26 September 2014. The participants will come up with their concrete action plan based on their learnings and experiences by the end of the three-phased program.

As part of the learning program Excellence in

Leading Resilient Schools in Southeast Asia, school leaders from seven Southeast Asian countries participated in a 12-day face-to-face learning interaction at INNOTECH from 4 to 15 August 2014. It is the second phase of the learning program which promotes school-based mechanisms and processes for school disaster resiliency.

The participants developed shared and deeper understanding and awareness of the concepts and overall framework in disaster management during the learning interaction. There were technical presentations and discussions, interactive group and individual activities, and visit to schools and other organizations.

By following five interrelated modules, the participants identified the relevant action

points to enhance mechanisms and processes on disaster preparedness, sustainable response, and recovery program in school and community. The modules outline (1) the school context and DRRM, (2) the evolving role of school leaders in DRRM, (3) the strategies in building more resilient schools, (4) school-community partnership in DRRM, and (5) crafting concrete action points for DRRM.

The learning program under the SEAMEO Educational Development Fund (SEDF) aims for the participants to develop an action plan to set up or enhance school-based mechanisms and processes for school resiliency against disasters. The participants are school leaders with varying school contexts and challenges in leading their schools’ disaster resiliency program. Participating countries are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia,

SEAMEO INNOTECH holds resiliency program under SEDF


Quirino province sponsors a new capacity building program for leading and managing K to 12 schools

An important context of the training program is the discussion on how to operationalize K to 12 at the school level. Participants learn together to contextualize and localize the K to 12 curriculum depending on the needs of the community where the schools are located. This exercise enhances further their competencies in assessing learning under K to 12.

Apart from this, participants also learn how to effectively engage school-community stakeholders for a more suitable partnership. Likewise, they are given opportunities to assess their own strengths and capacities that will help them manage their schools better under the reform program.SEAMEO INNOTECH offered to customize the training program for the schools division of

The provincial government of Quirino, led by Governor

Junie E. Cua, is sponsoring for the second time a training program that seeks to capacitate school principals in leading and managing schools under the K to 12 education reform program. This development came following the success of the initial run of the training program in May 2014. (Related post: Quirino province school leaders train on leading and managing K to 12 schools)

“Leading and Managing K to 12 Schools” is a five-day program developed by SEAMEO INNOTECH to capacitate school administrators in meeting the demands of K to 12. It intends to enhance skills on instructional coaching directed at curricular enrichment and learner assessment.

Quirino after a discussion on the provincial government’s development agenda. It was then that the province’s officials gained a deeper understanding of the province’s role as the overall anchor of the K to 12 program for all schools in the division.

Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Reynalda Bangunan is working closely with SEAMEO INNOTECH in the conduct of the training program. All education program supervisors were required to participate so they could train other school heads, which were not reached by the training program.

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Re-entered as second class mail matter,February 7, 1983 at U.P. Post Office,Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

SEAMEO Regional INNOTECH CenterUPPO Box 207, U.P. Diliman, Quezon City, 1101, Philippines

Published quarterly by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology (INNOTECH). Tel: 9247681; Fax: (632) 9210224. For your feedback, e-mail us at: [email protected]

Editorial Office at the Information Management Unit, SEAMEO INNOTECH, UPPO Box 207, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines .

Editor: Jesse M. TuasonEditorial Assistants: Aury Anne A. Santos, Gillian Marie M. Cruz, Alecsa Joy Ann L. Geronimo,

Nicole M. AsedilloPhotos: Jesse M. Tuason; Guillermo Cruz; Mark John AntidoLayout: Nicole M. AsedilloAdvisers: Ramon C. Bacani, Director; Benito E. Benoza, Manager, Knowledge Management and

Networking Office; Carolyn S. Rodriguez, Manager, Quality and Systems Management Office

Bylined articles reflect the opinions of the author and not necessarily of SEAMEO INNOTECH.

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SEAMEO INNOTECH gets ISO 29990 certification

It’s official! SEAMEO INNOTECH becomes the

first SEAMEO center and the only organization throughout Southeast Asia to get certified by the International Organization

for Standardization (ISO) for its learning services management system. The certification means that the Center fully complies with the requirements of the standards for ISO 29990. Apart

from this, SEAMEO INNOTECH was successfully recertified under ISO 9001:2008 for its quality management system.

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SDEM discusses post-2015 education · PDF fileSDEM discusses post-2015 education agenda • INNOTECH, ... Grade 3 students from 40 ... Sinugbuanon Binisaya, and