THE SILLIMAN University co-hosted the first Philippine-Kenya Education Network Webinar on Teacher Education to provide teachers from both countries a platform to share practices during the pandemic.

The event, themed “Recover and Revitalize Education for Covid19 Generation,” was organized in celebration of the UNESCO International Day on Education.

“The forum aims to provide a venue for teacher educators in Kenya and the Philippines to share practices that maintain and sustain the quality of teacher preparation, and teaching and learning in general, amid the challenges of transitioning into the ‘new normal,” Dr. Gina Bonior, SU College of Education acting dean, said.

Bonior, along with Dr. Libertine de Guzman, Negros Oriental State University College of Education dean, presented a paper titled “Being and Becoming in the New Normal: Student Teaching Internship Practices of Teacher Education Institutions in Dumaguete City, Philippines.”

Bonior and De Guzman co-authored the paper with Dr. Erlinda Calumpang of Foundation University, Dr. Roulette Cordevilla of NORSU, Dr. Maricar Flores of Saint Paul University Dumaguete, and Dr. Elve Nasvik, head of the SU Teacher Education Department.

Bonior also presented the initial findings of a research conducted by the Teacher Education Institutions in Dumaguete, namely SU, NORSU, SPUD, and FU.

“The purpose of the study is to document the student teaching practices of TEIs in Dumaguete as they transition into the various modalities of teaching and learning to prepare our student teachers for the profession,” she said.

The study found that the practices of the TEIs in Dumaguete were based on the “New Normal Policies and Guidelines on the Deployment of the Pre-service Teachers for Field Study and Teaching Internship for Academic Year 2020-2021” proposed by Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Education.

However, Bonior said the institutions localized and contextualized their practices based on available resources.

“In Dumaguete, only Silliman University conducted its Student Teaching Program (using Online Distance Learning) because we have an existing learning management platform that is used in the University, including at the School of Basic Education where our student teachers are deployed,” she explained.

“Based on the feedback form, the majority of our student teachers find their experience productive and meaningful and rated the first-ever Student Teaching Program at Silliman University as excellent,” she added.

Meanwhile, SU President Dr. Betty Cernol McCann said that the pandemic should compel higher education institutions to adapt 21st century educational tools.

McCann described 21st century education as “transformative” learning as it highlights independence, creative thinking, reflection, problem solving, and seeking dialogue among learners.

“Even if the pandemic ends, there is no going back to a simply in-person, face-to-face, teacher-dependent education. We need to have all the tools that are available to us from the internet world to be used so that we maximize our own educational endeavors,” McCann said.