Alternative Learning System for the Aeta Community

8/9/2019 Alternative Learning System for the Aeta Community

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I learned that the 21st century teaching carries with a complicated mix of challenges and opportunities. Challenges include the issues of teacher turnover,

accountability, changing student populations and student expectations, mounting

budget pressures, and intense demand to build students’ 21st century skills. hileon the opportunity side, the growing capacity, capability, and power of technology!

based tools and resources give the education community the ability to addressthese challenges successfully.

I reali"ed to that, 21st Century Educator must be able to adapt the curriculum and the requirementsto teach to the curriculum in imaginative ways. They must also be able to adapt software and hardware

designed for a business model into tools utilizable by a variety of age groups and abilities. And they must

understand and apply different learning styles. And be able to adapt teaching style to be inclusive of

different modes of learning.


2/13

#xecutive $ummary

%s educational leaders, classroom teachers, students and parents

will agree, 21st century teaching carries with it a complicated mix

of challenges and opportunities. Challenges include the issues of

teacher turnover, accountability, changing student populations

and student expectations, mounting budget pressures, and intense

demand to build students’ 21st century skills.

&n the opportunity side of the e'uation, the growing capacity, capability, and power

of technology!based tools and resources give the education community the ability

to

address these challenges successfully. ith strategic use of 21st century learning

tools,

educational institutions can provide the supportive productive environment

educators

need to reach, teach, and support each student’s learning needs and potential.

The Adaptor The 21st Century teacher is an adaptor. arnessed as we are to an assessment focused education model

the 21st Century Educator must be able to adapt the curriculum and the requirements to teach to the

curriculum in imaginative ways.

They must also be able to adapt software and hardware designed for a business model into toolsutilisable by a variety of age groups and abilities.

They must also be able to adapt to a dynamic teaching e!perience. "hen it all goes wrong in the middle

of a class# when the technologies fail# the show must go on.

As an educator# we must understand and apply different learning styles. we must be able to adapt our

teaching style to be inclusive of different modes of learning.


3/13

%lternative (earning $ystem for the %eta Community) #'uali"ing #ducation to

Cultural *inority +roups in (ope", ue"on, -hilippines

%($ is expected to provide solutions in areas of con/ict, critical thinking, in

indigenous people communities and in areas where literacy is most wanting andwhere literacy is needed.

0on. esli (apus, $ecretary of epartment of #ducatin

3he government4s vision for non!formal education is revitali"ed and epitomi"ed

through an #xecutive &rder 5o. 678 $. 299:, rnaming and reinventing of the ;ureau

of 5onformal #ducation to ;ureau of %lternative (earning $ystem


4/13

3his mini case study focuses on the role of the %($ programs catered by the (ope"#ast istrict %($ coordinator and its local instructional managers to address the

present needs and to delineate brie/y their clienteles4 way of life in the settlement

or community in ;rgy. Billa #spina, (ope", ue"on. 3he %etas in (ope", ue"on cannot be overlooked for they are already adapting to the changes in their surrounding.

urthermore, being members of the disadvantage group of people, giving them theopportunity to e'ual access to education is a priority concern of the government

being carried over by its local counterpart.

hile some nongovernmental organi"ations also take part in aiding educational

facilities and health and sanitation service, this mini!case study highlighted only the

application of %($ in the promotion of literacy among the %etas of (ope", ue"on,describing the attitude or responses of the clienteles in %eta community toward the

reali"ation of educational e@orts starting ebruary 2998 to the present.

3his case study includes the initiatives and actions of the %($ coordinator and her

instructional managers4 common experience with their clienteles and the attitude orbehavior of the %eta clienteles toward its programs. It also includes ethnographicaccount of how the usual %($ class goes on. 3he student!researchers were able to

validate such remarks and notes in direct observations and interview they

conducted at the %eta clienteles and its immediate community.

*aDority of the data used in this report were drawn from interview and observations

from the school site and reports of the (ope" #ast istrict %lternative (earning

$ystem &?ce. &n the other hand, this mini!case study had also limitations. 3heresearchers initially recommend that another follow or related study on the subDects

be conducted concerning on the cultural impact of this learning in an alternative

way.

%(3#E5%3IB# (#%E5I5+ $F$3#* & (&-#G #%$3 I$3EIC3 %5 30# %#3%C(I#53#(#$ I5 ;E+F. BI((% #$-I5%

3he %lternative (earning $ystem Coordinator of (ope" #ast istrict who is in!

charged of delivering the programs of ;%($ to the %eta community is *rs. %ngelina

. &blina. &n her team are two Instructional *anagers


5/13

rom non!formal to %($, it formally opened last ebruary 2998. 3hrough local %($Coordinator4s initiatives of hiring local funded instructional managers and her

un'uestionably commitment to its program implementation, %($ instruction to the

%eta community begun. $ince its target clienteles are the %eta community,encouragement and recruitment to this displaced minority was the biggest toll at

the onset.

ormerly, on her report, *rs. &blina was able to delineate some of its beginning

noting the following points.

3ribal groups, speciAcally %etas are the deprived, depressed and undeserved

population. 3heir settlement can be found in a far!/ung area. Hncivili"ed and

illiterate, only few attended formal schooling because they do not understand the

beneAt that education could give to a person. &n $eptember 1, 1:, 5on!ormal

#ducation


6/13

%lternative (earning $ystem programs continued starting this beginning schoolyear, une 2998. 3here was an increased enrolment. rom Afty!four


7/13

P $ome unsanitary practices of some of the %eta clienteles are lessened. eintroduced teaching of basic sanitary hygiene. 0owever, for customary reason few

would not heed our advice for it already became their system since they were born.

Conse'uently, we got use to some of their unsanitary practices but we alwaysaddress them as much as possible teaching the parent clienteles the right ways

though most of them do not care much to their children for customary reason.P %bseetism is also common problem since the approach is new for them at thestart. (ooking at them from a day!to!day perspective, most of them skip school

because some work in farms by harvesting young anahaw leaves or working with

their speciAc %mos, and for very apparent reason, if there are times that we don4t

have food or meal of the day to o@er them, we would rather have an empty roomthan to have clienteles with empty stomachs.

P %etas clienteles interact with the %($ program di@erently. $tudents learning style

and mental capacity vary di@erent from one another. $ome learn smoothly. &thersneed constant review. %t the beginning level, it is common to see %eta!clienteles to

misspell their names what is even the worse is that they sometimes forget theirsurname or they change their names.

P ew of their practices are still prevalent but mostly are dead or forgotten. &ne %eta

client even shares that they could no longer remember any tribal rites taught to

them by the elders. $till, some of them wander and work from the community tonearby barangays. 3hey don4t permanently stay in one place, except of course for

those who have learned to At in to the local villagers. hat is 'uite pressing for us

in relation to their ways is that an early marriage is common thing. %n %eta could

already And and live with hisKher partner at the age of 12. In addition, they couldeasily switch or change partner as the pair pleases. %nother noticeable activity they

often engage with is drinking. *oreover, in certain occasion, a villager could get

along with most of the %eta over bottles of li'uor or any alcoholic drink and if %etasdrink alcohol, it ends to a drinking spree. 3his manner somehow a@ects their

attitude to learning. %n adult %eta clientele could compromise going to school Dust

to a bottle of li'uor.

;attling these all sort of things every day, we as their teachers or %te as they call

us, could freely tell that we in/uence their lives toward the basic literacy and even

more. *ost of them have already accustomed to the ways of the civili"ed people.#merging clienteles whom we have been teaching hard can already read and write

basic ilipino words, can calculate numbers so that they well not be cheated by their

%mos for their fair share of farm works, can practices basic sanitary hygiene from

brushing of teeth to basic housekeeping, and for some who have Atted in to thelatest technology can send short messaging service


8/13

&30#E C&5C#E5$

#ducation to be meaningful must be rooted in the community life and experience

of the people> because learning takes place in this context as well as in the way

they understand the stages of their cycle.

;%($ framework

3o ensure the expansion of access of educational opportunities and capability

building, the ;%($ national o?ce has been training its %($ district coordinatorsstarting the opening year. &ne seminar on %($ 3rends Q Hpdates for ull 3ime

istrict %($ Coordinators impacted much the approaches of *rs. &blina and her

team of local counterparts. *yriad of reali"ation was absorbed by contemplating

and living up with the ;%($ framework. It does re'uire change from their usualapproaches.

*eanwhile, on a division level training, the local %($ people and some of the %eta

representatives attended Dust recently this month


9/13

#xpert on I-CC remarked that without necessarily emphasi"ing an overkill tone, thehighly western!entrenched current educational system has contributed to the

further marginali"ation and exploitation of I-s. 3he said system has been producing

graduates who are trained to become employees and not as entrepreneurs who canbecome employers.

3he Eight!;ased %pproach


10/13

as part of their $p#d 'ualiAcation> and the involvement of government agencies,teachers and parents of the children, r. ;rown revealed.

r. ;rown Anally said that in gaining education, children with special needs have

additional challenges compared to their non!disabled peers. $imilarly, children withspecial needs from ethnic minority groups face challenges their disabled peers from

maDority cultures do not face, these children have been dealt 4double whammy4.

3he literature clearly appeals that change or innovation must be made to At to the

educational needs of the %eta community in ;rgy. Billa #spina, (ope", ue"on. $incethe %($ in this community is newly born, greater measures adaptive to their or %eta

clienteles4 culture which is being compromised should and must be acted upon not

only by the %($ people, but also by the (+H, the 5CI-, and most of all by people

who are in control of maDor local resources.

I*-(#*#53%3I&5 E#HIE#*#53$

3he following 'uestions have become starting points to ponder. Is the %($ in Billa

#spina enabling its %eta clienteles


11/13

P &@ering of food for school program be sustained and as time progress be replacedby a sustainable livelihood programs which the %eta clienteles can be trained of and

apparently leading to their independence from aids to self!su?cient and working

individual or group of the community>

P (iberating the members of the %eta community from ignorance to functionally

literate people. % functionally literate person is deAned as one who cancommunicate e@ectively, solve problems scientiAcally, creatively and think

critically, use resources sustainable and be productive, develop himselfKherself and

hisKher sense of community and expand hisKher world view>

P %ccessing to accreditation and competency tests is given to the %($ %eta

graduates. If the clientele is successful in the competency exam, going or

transferring to the higher formal education if he or she desires, will be

straightforward for them>

P 0aving properly paid, e'uipped, and trained instructional managers.5ationali"ation of the locally compensated I*s will empower them further to work

not only as a teacher but as highly committed social workers for the betterment of

the clienteles> and

P #ducating them not only for literacy but also for restoration of their cultural ways

as Indigenous -eople


12/13

#xecutive &rder 5o. 678 $. 299: available at

http)KKwww.ops.gov.phKrecordsKeoTno67M.htm

3he Indigenous -eoples Core Curriculum by epartment of #ducation, ;ureau of

%lternative (earning $ystem


13/13

%rnold *ontemayor, who represented ep#d in a forum attended by the %etas or members of the

indigenous cultural community in the province, said they are almost done with the formulation of %($

modules designed for the concerned group.

0e said their department is also conducting a regular basic literacy program in various indigenous

cultural communities to prepare the %etas for the eventual community development and encourage

them to avail of the %lternative (earning $ystem of the department.

*ontemayor told the %eta barangay councils and tribal leaders to help their respective constituents in

securing elementary and high school e'uivalent diplomas through %($.

UJapag naipasa nila and %($ %ccreditation and #'uivalency test ay bibigyan sila ng diploma at pwede

na silang mag!college kung high school level ang naipasa

Documents

Alternative Learning System for the Aeta Community