The Batch 2 of 24 Security Bank Foundation, Inc. (SBFI) classroom beneficiary school principals completed their four months of international Certificate in Educational Studies in Leadership (CESL) training which ran from July 9 to October 25, 2024.
The CESL was a multi-country partnership of Security Bank Foundation, Inc. (SBFI), Ateneo De Manila University, The HEAD Foundation Singapore, and University of Bristol United Kingdom.
It has been offered to school principals of SBFI classroom beneficiary schools since 2023 and is a component of SBFI 3-year training program for school principals dubbed as Mentoring Future Leaders for Nation Building.
The CESL was a combination of two in-person sessions held at Ateneo de Cebu, industry visits, online courses, and mentoring from former CESL graduates. Each principal was also asked to develop and implement a Transformational Action Plan (TAP) addressing a pressing school problem. The program acknowledges that public school principals in the Philippines face a multitude of challenges that hinder their schools’ ability to provide quality education to their students.
Some of these challenges include lack of infrastructure and other educational resources, poor literacy and numeracy of students, as well as teacher welfare and limited professional development opportunities which became also the subjects of the principals TAPs.
The principals presented their TAPs to a panel which included Dr. Vicente Reyes, Jr. and Dr. Victoria Bowen, international educational leadership experts from University of Bristol and Dr. Jennifer Lopez, Director of the Department of Education National Educators’ Academy of the Philippines.
Principals proposed creative, community-focused TAPs to key school issues. Samples include using indigenous Badjao drum beats to support Math comprehension among indigenous students, incorporating the 4H approach (heart, head, health, and hand) to reduce student failure and drop-out rates, and using videos, animations and online simulations to make difficult Math concepts understandable for Alternative Learning System (ALS) students.
“The training gave me the opportunity to look at the total picture of the school and it guides me to systematically address the problems identified. It is now becoming clearer to me that any emerging problem in the school should be addressed with the end in mind and that the approach should be innovative and transformational,” said Dela Cruz.
SBFI Chairman Rafael F. Simpao, Jr. reminded the school principals of the value of their role. “We are aware that some of you are disheartened due to the challenges you face in your school. We are aware that some of you may have thought that change is only possible under the best of circumstances – “if only we had the budget, if only we had the necessary tools, if only we had more supportive superiors, if only we had better policies, and so on”. But the responsibility of a good leader is to work intelligently and effectively with what they have, and not spend time wishing for a perfect world. No matter how challenging things may seem, we need you to trust in the meaningful impact you are creating. You play a pivotal role in providing the learning that our Filipino youth needs, because education is the most powerful tool for empowerment,” said Simpao.
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