Lifetime of CHEd T/L enhancement project
TERESITA TANHUECO-TUMAPON
Part 2 T/L centers – survival attempts
SEEMINGLY endemic in this world of ours is the phenomenon of birth, life and death of ideas. Of course, ideas that have become hackneyed should be relegated to the hereafter. However, change gurus say, old ideas may become the basis of new ones. There could be aspects of the old that are enduring. More informed about what change is desirable and the necessary considerations, old ideas can be reborn, transforming robustly to edge out competitors. A fresh view of what these ideas are and what we can do with them would help us and our organization deal with the taunting challenges of the future.
Gestation of an idea from an old one. Thus, based on the “old” idea of in-service for teachers, the CHEd Teaching and Learning Enhancement Project aimed to set up, maintain and sustain centers of teaching and learning in our universities. For the first three of the five Mindanao regions — 9, 10 and 11 —15 academics who were on regular status in their respective state or private HEIs assembled at the then Bukidnon State College (now a university) for the initial training as staff developers lasting eight solid days. The training began midweek so that a Sunday would be a breather. The training of new and retraining of the first and second set of staff developers took place in Cebu City with the British Council sponsoring the hiring of training experts Ms Brenda Smith and Mr. John Fazey. This included expenses for their travel, hotel and food, and training materials. CHEd sponsored similar expenses of the CHEd regional directors and academics who underwent the training. Training of staff developers from Regions 12 and 13 and retraining of all staff developers took place a year after under similar British Council and CHEd sponsorships.
The project’s lifetime. After the training was completed, two regional CPD congresses were held during the succeeding years, on the initiative of CHEd regional directors of Regions 11 and 10, respectively — Dr. Eloisa W. Paderanga and Dr. Glory S. Magdale — to strongly express CHEd ‘sadvocacy for continuing professional development, particularly on teaching and learning. From their experience of the regional directors during their respective two-week study visits in the UK which I solicited from the British Council, the regional directors observed how such a facility sustains quality assurance in one the primary three-fold function of instruction in British universities. The next 10 years or so, continuing professional development, to some extent similar to university-based CPD in British HEIs went on in various venues — a strong and loud assertion of CHEd’s advocacy to promote and nurture quality teaching and learning.
Extending TL project to Visayas and Luzon. During the retraining of the first batch of 39 staff developers (Regions 10, 11 and 12) and the training of the second batch of 35 (Regions 9, 11 and 12), I was asked by the CHEd chairman to extend the project to the Visayas and later to the Luzon regions. This is the basis of the study visits I solicited from the British Council for then CHEd Regional Director Isabel Mahler (Visayas) and OPS (now OCPSD) Director Amelia Biglete and then Director III Dr. Francisco Felizardo (Luzon and Central Office). They each were sent on a two-week study visit to observe T/L centers in British universities as a facility for institutional quality assurance (IQuAME). Negotiations with the British Council on spreading the project to the Visayas was done and reported to the CHEd. An abstract on the negotiation for the study visits and reports on their observations during the study visits were submitted to the then director for programs and projects, Catherine Castañeda (now academic VP of Adamson University). In the meanwhile, the Mindanao staff developers, together with the CHEd regional directors had ongoing CPD activities in their respective regions.
Transforming an idea:from T/L centers to RCAPs. Maintaining connection with the BC experts to share with them the progress of the T/L Enhancement project, I learned from Ms Brenda Smith that in the UK “academic practice” was a term adopted to include academic management of T/L. At that time, there were 10 regions under CHEd. The other Mindanao region was under CHEd ARMM. Thus, my proposal for funding was to establish 10 Regional Centers for Academic Practice (RCAP). I communicated to Wendy Duncan, an independent education and evaluation specialist from Australia then working in the National Capital Region (NCR). Wendy wrote to me that she agreed with and liked, my proposal and that she submitted this proposal for funding considerations to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The ADB was willing to give an initial $4,000 for the opening and organizing of the RCAPS. The organizing plan was to invite to a meeting the heads or their representatives and the academic vice presidents of the state and private HEIs to introduce to them the RCAP. The institutions which would be the site of RCAPs would be those which had trained staff developers. The final choice would be on the recommendation of the CHEd regional directors. I sent to the CHEd department for which I was liaising the T/L enhancement project the letter from Wendy Duncan dated February 2003. A change in personnel was going on at the time. I followed up several times. Sadly, I did not receive any reply. In October that year, I retired from government as president of the Surigao State College of Technology. I am informed by friends in academe that there are a couple of HEIs having regular university-based CPD activities. But there has been no hint of a CHEd initiative nor of funding outsourced from ADB. To date, the hope from my end and that of those trained as staff developers, remains. The so-called in-service which was reborn as continuing professional development has been set aside meanwhile.
Next week: Reviving the project in limbo
Email: ttumapon@liceo.edu.ph
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