USJ-R hosts K-12 training for senior high teachers

Teachers from the different private schools in regions 7 and 8 trooped to the University of San Jose-Recoletos for a three-day training session on senior high school.

The training, which started last Wednesday, attracted more than 550 private school teacher representatives from the Central and Eastern Visayas.

The training was organized by the Department of Education (DepEd) through the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC).

“We are doing this to prepare senior high school teachers for the implementation next school year of the K-to-12 program,” said Dr. Perlita S. Quiñones, PEAC region 7 coordinator. “We want to equip them with the needed skills and strategies, teaching approaches and proper mind-set for the transition.”

With the implementation of the K-to-12 program of DepEd, there will be no college freshmen enrolling in school years 2016-17 and 2017-18 since Grade 10 students (fourth year high school students in the old system) will proceed to Grade 11 and thereafter to Grade 12 in the next academic school year.

Dr. Quiñones, who is also a faculty member of USJ-R’s College of Teacher Education, said the training session was focused on academic tracks of the senior high school program, with emphasis on Communication, Humanities, Social Sciences, Mathematics and Sciences.

The discussions revolved around the kind of learners that would be serviced by the senior high school program, outcome-based teaching and learning in the senior high curriculum, learner-centered pedagogs, and technology and information literacy.

The lineup of trainers included professors from USJ-R, University of San Carlos and Silliman University of Dumaguete City.

Dr. Quiñones said the trainers also underwent training provided by the DepEd.

She added that the modules used in the sessions were crafted by Philippine Normal University and the Commission on Higher Education.

“All over the country,” Dr. Quiñones said, “we are doing trainings like this so that there will be uniformity of instruction.”

USJ-R professor Roberto Cabardo, a member of the organizing committee, expressed approval over the number of participants who came from outside Cebu province.

Cabardo, who is also the president of USJ-R Faculty Association Inc., said USJ-R is “almost done” with all the necessary preparations for the implementation of K to 12 next year.