Teaching Mindanao’s teachers
For
30 teacher educators representing a diverse range of tertiary
institutions from Mindanao in the Philippines, time spent at UniSA this
month will have a long term benefit for education at home.
Their visit is part of the Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) project aimed at supporting sustainable educational development for one of the Philippines most marginalised regions.
The educators have been chosen by their universities to attend this capacity building program with the view to improving pre-service education in the teaching of Science, Mathematics, English and the teaching practicum. With class sizes in the Philippines typically made up of 50 to 80 children, the program aims to foster teaching techniques that encourage higher order thinking skills in children which will ultimately raise the standard of education in Mindanao, one of the lowest socio-economic communities in the country.
BEAM is a multi-million dollar initiative of the Australian Government through AusAid, jointly funded by the Australian and Philippino governments. The four week program is the result of a partnership between BEAM, UniSA’s School of Education and the Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS).
According to Dr Yvonne Zeegers, BEAM’s pre-service advisor who is on leave from UniSA’s School of Education, says the program will make an important contribution to improving the standard of teacher education in the Philippines.
“By capacity building personnel and getting them to a level of competency that is sustainable we will be able to gradually phase out the Australian project advisors and hand over full responsibility to our Philippino counterparts by 2008,” she says.
In early May another group from BEAM known as 'BEAM Access' will arrive from the Philippines. This group will concentrate on indigenous programs in partnership with DECS.