Education in the Philippines

Primary education in the Philippines consists of 2 Kindergarten levels and then Grades 1-6, thus totaling 8 years. Students are admitted to higher levels based on entrance exams and so there are a variety of age ranges in any one class. Children are supposed to start school at 4 (Kinder 1) but due to parents lacking funds to pay for their uniforms and tuition, some children are delayed as late as 8 years before being admitted to school. Parents in the area often send their children to school without breakfast and earn an average of P250 per day (0.40 Euros). Family size averages from 3-6 children. There is no government support through feeding programs.

The Schools in the Vicinity

Across the road from the Kids Worldwide site is a small kindergarten and primary school (Which only teaches up to Grade 2) called AMSAI Cabantian. This school is one amongst five AMSAI schools in the Davao region managed by a missionary organisation called Ananda Marga which aims to provide education to poor students. AMSAI Cabantian has a student roll of 55 with 3 teachers. The other four AMSAI schools have 11 staff between them. Regrettably the two principals managing the AMSAI schools (missionaries) have no educational training, experience or qualifications and this lack of knowledge reflects very poorly in the management of their schools and staff. There is no professional development for their staff at all and students from AMSAI Cabantian were all refused entry into the surrounding government schools last year for Grade 3 due to the poor standard of learning and achievement. Students have had to repeat Grade 2 again. This speaks volumes in itself. The missionary training centre is also located in the same compound as the AMSAI school and the trainer is eager for the 13 missionary trainees to be offered educational classes in order to better prepare them for their future duties.

There are also 2 government schools within a 1.5 km radius from the centre – Indangan Primary school and Cabantian Primary School. Indangan Primary School has a student roll of 1,150 students, with 22 staff. The principal has a Japanese husband who sends money to assist the school every now and recently built 3 new classrooms to ease class congestion. Despite this, classes are still hopelessly overcrowded and average 60 students per class.

Cabantian Primary School has 780 students with 14 classes averaging 45 students per class. However, 3 of their classes currently lack teachers, due to shortage of trained staff and government lack of funds for salaries, thus the children are distributed amongst other classes, pushing up the numbers to 60.

Professional Development for Teachers

The government offers training courses once a year to government teachers in selected curriculum subjects only, during their long summer break in March. Usually only 2-4 staff members qualify for training courses each year. We were also informed that the government offers professional development in the form of cyber-classes. However this is a privilege and teachers interested in this training are recommended by their head teachers. One teacher per school may be lucky enough to receive this training, although neither Indangan or Cabantian school have yet sent anyone. Those teachers who do get the cyber-class training must go to the Regional Education Office each weekend to undertake training. This may be an area for exploring more in the future in order to see if we could get staff using our mobile computer lab in partnership with the Education Office to gain access to these classes

Kate is also currently researching the Certificate in Teaching Mastery which is a free, self-paced certification that teachers from around the world have developed and designed co-operatively for Teachers Without Borders in order to mentor and assist teachers from around the world to improve their classroom practice and reflect on their teaching.

Kate has been soliciting the help of teachers from both her school in New Zealand and through the volunteer programme to assist as volunteers to help with the educational training programs. Sandra Roelof, a kindergarten teacher trainer from the Netherlands met up with Kate in Davao this December, as the first international Kids Worldwide volunteer at Pag-Amoma Childrens Home. They initiated their first teacher training course for the local primary and kindergarten teachers in the Indangan community on the 15 January 2010. Eighteen teachers and missionaries from the five AMSAI schools and Indangan Primary School attended the first course on Behaviour Management and a series of follow-up weekly lessons have been arranged for February for the AMSAI teachers and missionaries.

Teacher training course – Jan ‘10. Kate and Sandra are in the back row.