DO 40, s.

1994 - Revised Guidelines for the Establishment

and Operation of Philippine Elementary and Secondary
Schools Abroad

Revised Guidelines for the Establishment and Operation of Philippine Elementary and
Secondary Schools Abroad
To: Bureau Directors and Regional Directors

1. In view of the number of inquiries on establishing and operating elementary and secondary
schools following the Philippine educational curriculum (hereinafter called Philippine schools
abroad), intended primarily for dependents of Filipinos working abroad, this Office hereby issues
the following revised set of guidelines:

2. Nature of school. In general, the proposed Philippine school abroad shall be organized and
operated as a private school and shall adhere to the Manual of Regulations for Private Schools,
Eighth Edition, subject to regulation by DECS in much the same way as a private school in the
Philippines. In accordance with the preference of the Department of Foreign Affairs, all
Philippine schools abroad which are presently officially operated by the Philippine Embassy
itself shall take the necessary steps to organize and operate as a separate juridical entity from that
of the mission pursuant to the provisions of this Order.

3. Organization of the School. A Philippine school abroad shall be organized as a private juridical
entity. If under Philippine law, such a school shall incorporate as a private corporation, duly
registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission. Such schools in the
alternative may also incorporate and register as a juridical entity under the laws of the host
government.

4. Permit from the Host Government. - The authority or permit from the host government to
establish and operate the Philippine school abroad shall be a requirement. In those instances
when the host government requires that the establishment and operation of such schools shall be
as government-owned schools, then alternative arrangements may be made on a case-by-case
basis.

5. Filing of applications. Applications to operate such Philippine schools abroad shall be submitted
to the central office of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports located in Pasig, Metro
Manila (see Annex A for short form submission). Only applications for pre-school, elementary
 school, and secondary school will be considered by DECS. As a general rule, applications for
authori¬ty to operate shall be received by DECS at least six (6) months before the target opening
of the school. The authority given by DECS for the operation of a private school in any particular
locality abroad shall not be exclusive; additional or subsequent applications may be considered
favorably as well.

6. Governing board. The majority of the members of the governing board shall be com¬posed of
Filipinos, who shall manage the operation of the Philippine school and shall formulate
appropriate policies. It is advisable that close coordination be maintained with the Philippine
Embassy or Consulate where the school is to be located.

7. Issuance of permits and recognitions. A Permit to Operate the elementary or secondary course of
study, or both, shall be given to the school after requirements in pertinent DECS issuances
(DECS Order No. 5, s. 1989, DECS Order No. 92, s. 1992) and in Batas Pambansa Big. 232 have
been satisfactorily met. The permit shall be for a period of one year, renewable yearly. A
certificate of recognition shall be applied for and given prior to the beginning of the last year of
the course.

8. Inspection of school site and facilities. An ocular inspection of the school by an author¬ized
DECS representative shall be a prerequisite to granting a Permit to Operate or a Certificate of
Recognition. The one-time application fee and periodic inspection fees shall be determined by
DECS subsequently.

9. School Calendar. Whenever feasible, the DECS school calendar shall be followed to enable the
students in these Philippine schools abroad to transfer with facility to schools in the Philip pines;
however, these Philippine schools abroad can adopt their own school calendar to conform with
the local calendar.

10. Curricula. The school shall implement the standard minimum elementary and secondary
curricula required for private schools in the Philippines, but may submit such modifications
which may be suited to its particular location, such as additional foreign language subjects.
Deviations from the standard curricula will require DECS approval beforehand. Teachers and
school administrators to be hired shall be educationally qualified.

11. Submission of periodic reports. The Philippine school abroad shall submit to the DECS central
office in Pasig such reports as are required of private elementary and high schools in the
Philip¬pines, with copies furnished the Philippine mission in that country where the Philippine
school abroad is located.

12. Transitory provisions. Those Philippine schools presently in existence abroad may continue to
operate for the time being, provided that steps are immediately taken to notify DECS cen¬tral
office in Pasig about the proposed schedule for compliance with all the requirements, which in
any case should be completed before the end of the current school year 1994-95, or by March
1995 at the latest.
13. Effectivity. This Order shall take effect immediately. All DECS issuances contrary to this Order
are considered superseded.

Incl.: As stated
Reference: DECS Orders: (Nos. 5, s. 1989 and 92, s. 1992); No. 109, s. 1989
Allotment: l-(M.0.1-87)

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:

CURRICULUM
RULES & REGULATIONS
OFFICIALS
SCHOOLS
PERMIT
TEACHERS
REPORTS

Teacher Education and Development

Program (TEDP) and NCBTS
Career Planning:

Career planning is an ongoing process that can help you manage your learning and
development.

Career planning is the continuous process of:

 thinking about your interests, values, skills and preferences;

 exploring the life, work and learning options available to you;
 ensuring that your work fits with your personal circumstances; and
 continuously fine-tuning your work and learning plans to help you manage the changes in
your life and the world of work.

The career planning process has four steps:

Step 1: knowing yourself

Step 2: finding out
Step 3: making decisions
Step 4: taking action

Step 1: knowing yourself

Begin by thinking about where you are now, where you want to be and how you’re going to get
there.

Once you have thought about where you are at now and where you want to be, you can work on
getting to know your skills, interests and values.

Begin by asking yourself the following questions:

  Where am I at now?
 Where do I want to be?
 What do I want out of a job or career?
 What do I like to do?
 What are my strengths?
 What is important to me?

At the end of this step you will have a clearer idea of your work or learning goal and your
individual preferences. You can use this information about yourself as your personal ‘wish list’
against which you can compare all the information you gather in Step 2: finding out. Your
personal preferences are very useful for helping you choose your best option at this point in time,
which you can do in Step 3: making decisions.

Step 2: finding out

This step is about exploring the occupations and learning areas that interest you. Once you have
some idea of your occupational preferences you can research the specific skills and qualifications
required for those occupations.

 Explore occupations that interest you and ask yourself how do my skills and interests
match up with these occupations?
 Where are the gaps?
 What options do I have to gain these skills or qualify for these occupations?
 What skills do I need?
 Where is the work?

At the end of this step you will have a list of preferred occupations and/or learning options.

Step 3: making decisions

This step involves comparing your options, narrowing down your choices and thinking about
what suits you best at this point in time.

Ask yourself:

 What are my best work/training options?

 How do they match with my skills, interests and values?
 How do they fit with the current labour market?
 How do they fit with my current situation and responsibilities?
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
 What will help and what will hinder me?
 What can I do about it?

At the end of this step you will have narrowed down your options and have more of an idea of
what you need to do next to help you achieve your goals.
Step 4: taking action

Here you plan the steps you need to take to put your plan into action.
Use all you have learnt about your skills, interests and values together with the information you
have gathered about the world of work to create your plan.

Begin by asking yourself:

 What actions/steps will help me achieve my work, training and career goals?
 Where can I get help?
 Who will support me?

At the end of this step you will have:

 a plan to help you explore your options further (eg work experience, work shadowing or
more research); or
 a plan which sets out the steps to help you achieve your next learning or work goal.

Decide which step is relevant for you right now and start from there.

Why develop a career plan?

By developing a career plan, you can focus on what you want to do and how to get there.
And when you are ready to develop your resume, you will have a better understanding of your
skills and experiences to discuss with potential employers.

Career Path of a Teacher

The Teacher Education & Development Program (TEDP) is a package of reforms and
policies in teacher development.
The primary focus of the TEDP is improving teaching quality in basic education, but is
also intended to rationalize various teacher development efforts under a common framework and
to provide a focus for project investment possibilities for both short and long-term interventions
in order to foster and develop teacher education in the Philippines.
Why the need for quality teachers?
(a) The UNESCO-supported program of Education for All (EFA) is directed towards
satisfying the Basic Learning Needs of all members of Philippines society, and includes
learning by children and adults that occurs both inside and outside schools. The TEDP
dovetails closely with EFA;
(b) Basic Education is the only formal schooling that the majority of Filipinos will receive in
their lifetime; for many, this is limited to an incomplete elementary education;
(c) Non-formal and Informal Education (or what is now called Alternative Learning
Systems), constitute the out-of-school learning that is sometimes devalued as meaningful
learning;
 (d) The teacher is still a major factor in the formal basic education process, and is a key agent
in learning quality improvements in the formal education process;
(e) The teaching profession has been slow in adapting and responding to changes in society
and to the accompanying changes in curricular and instructional requirements to foster
learning in diverse types of learners and learning environments;
(f) Teacher Education, has had very limited success in bridging the growing gap of both new
and existing teachers on the one hand, and the needs and expectations of learners and of
the human resource development needs and expectations of other stakeholders of
education in a globalized knowledge society.

The TEDP was conceived as an attempt to revitalize and at the same time reform teacher
education and to make it more responsive to the demands of a modern society.

1. THE TEACHER DEVELOPMENT CONTINUUM

Teacher education is a continuum that commences at the recruitment of high school students into
the teacher education institutions (TEIs) and concludes sometime around retirement, or perhaps
even after.

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT MAP

CHED/TEIs
Retirement
Entry to
Preparation
Teacher
Education
DepED/CHED/TEI
s
In-Service Education
CHED/T
Pre-Service Teacher
and Professional
Development NATIONAL EIs/Scho
Education
(BEEd/BSEd/PGCEd))
COMPETENCY-
BASED TEACHER
ols
STANDARDS
 Figure 1. The Teacher Development Map.

The map also indicates that even the non-continuous phases should be interrelated, as indicated
by the broken lines. Finally, although reform efforts will not be directed at the retirement phase,
this is nevertheless an important component of the teacher education development map, as there
is the option for some truly exemplar retired teachers to re-enter the development map by joining
teacher education institutions as teacher educators in the preservice education phases.

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT MAP

Entry to Teacher Education More qualified

preservice teachers

PreService Teacher Education More qualified teacher

education graduates
TEDP AND

Teacher Licensure More qualified licensed

professional teachers

Teacher HR Planning, Recruit- More qualified teacher

Figure 2. Reform Outcomes of TEDP and NCBTS in Different Phases of Teacher Development
Map

THE NATIONAL COMPETENCY BASED TEACHER STANDARDS (NCBTS)

The core of the TEDP is the common framework for teaching quality, which is referred to as the
National Competency Based Teaching Standards (or NCBTS).

The Structure of the NCBTS

The competency-based teacher standards are organized hierarchically. At the highest level, the
standards are categorized into seven domains. A domain is defined as a distinctive sphere of the
teaching-learning process, and is also a well-defined arena for demonstrating positive teacher
practices. Each domain is defined in terms of a principle of ideal teaching associated with
enhanced student learning.

At the second level of the hierarchical organization, that is, under each domain, there are strands.
Strands refer to more specific dimensions of positive teacher practices under the broad
conceptual domain.
The Domains
4.5.1 Domain 1: Social Regard for Learning

The domain of Social Regard for Learning focuses on the ideal that teachers serve as positive
and powerful role models of the values of the pursuit of learning and of the effort to learn, and
that the teachers actions, statements, and different types of social interactions with students
exemplify this ideal. There is only one strand under Domain 1:
 Acts as a positive role model for students

4.5.2 Domain 2: Learning Environment

The domain of Learning Environment focuses on importance of providing for a social and
physical environment within which all students, regardless of their individual differences in
learning, can engage the different learning activities and work towards attaining high standards
of learning. There are four strands under Domain 2:
 Creates an environment that promotes fairness
 Makes the physical environment safe and conducive to learning
 Communicates higher learning expectations to each learner
 Establishes and maintains consistent standards of learners’ behavior

4.5.3 Domain 3: Diversity of Learners

The domain of Diversity of Learners emphasizes the ideal that teachers can facilitate the learning
process in diverse types of learners, by first recognizing and respecting individual differences,
then using knowledge about students’ differences to design diverse sets of learning activities to
ensure that all students can attain appropriate learning goals. There are two strands under
Domain 3:
 Is familiar with learners’ background knowledge and experiences
 Demonstrates concern for holistic development of learners

4.5.4 Domain 4: Curriculum

The domain of Curriculum refers to all elements of the teaching-learning process that work in
convergence to help students attain high standards of learning and understanding of the
curricular goals and objectives. These elements include the teacher’s knowledge of subject
matter, teaching-learning approaches and activities, instructional materials and learning
resources. There are four strands in Domain 4:
 Demonstrates mastery of the subject
 Communicates clear learning goals that are appropriate for learners
 Makes good use of allotted instructional time
 Selects teaching methods, learning activities and instructional materials or resources
appropriate to learners and aligned to the objectives of the lesson

4.5.5 Domain 5: Planning, Assessing and Reporting

The domain of Planning, Assessing and Reporting refers to the aligned use of assessment and
planning activities to ensure that the teaching-learning activities are maximally appropriate to the
students’ current knowledge and learning levels. In particular, the domain focuses on the use of
assessment data to plan and revise teaching-learning plans, as well as the integration of formative
assessment procedures in the plan and implementation of teaching-learning activities. There are
three strands under Domain 5:
 Communicates promptly and clearly to learners, parents, and superiors about the progress
of learners
 Develops and uses a variety of appropriate assessment strategies to monitor and evaluate
learning
 Monitors regularly and provides feedback on learners’ understanding of content

4.5.6 Domain 6: Community Linkages

The domain of Community Linkages focuses on the ideal that school activities are meaningfully
linked to the experiences and aspirations of the students in their homes and communities. Thus
the domain focuses on teachers’ efforts directed at strengthening the links between school and
community activities, particularly as these links help in the attainment of the curricular
objectives. There is only one strand under Domain 6:
 Establishes learning environments that respond to the aspirations of the community

4.5.7 Domain 7: Personal Growth and Professional Development

The domain of Personal Growth and Professional Development emphasizes the ideal that
teachers value having a high personal regard, concern for professional development, and
continuous improvement as teachers.
There are three strands under Domain 7:
 Takes pride in the nobility of teaching as a profession
 Builds professional links with colleagues to enrich teaching practice
 Reflects on the extent of the attainment of learning goals

4.6 Integrating the Domains

The seven domains are best understood a constituting an integrated whole.

To understand how the seven domains comprise an integrated whole, it would help to see the
seven domains as falling under two broad categories. The middle domains 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
represent standards referring to “The Teacher as Facilitator of Learning,” whereas the two
outer domains 1 and 7 represent standards referring to “The Teacher as Learner.” The middle
domains can further be divided into two sub-categories. The innermost domains 3, 4, and 5
represent the specific teacher practices related to the technical aspects of the teaching-learning
processes, whereas the other domains 2 and 6 represent the specific teacher practices that embed
the learning process in appropriate contexts.

DOMAIN 1: SOCIAL
REGARD FOR LEARNING

DOMAIN 2: THE LEARNING

ENVIRONMENT

DOMAIN 3: THE DIVERSITY

OF LEARNERS

DOMAIN 4: CURRICULUM

DOMAIN 5: PLANNING,
ASSESSING & REPORTING

DOMAIN 6: COMMUNITY
LINKAGES

DOMAIN 7: PERSONAL
GROWTH & PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Figure 3. Schematic representation of the seven integrated domains of the NCBTS.

The integration of the seven domains can thus be summarized in the schematic
representation in Figure 3. The darker portions in the middle of the figure represent the teaching
standards related to the teacher as facilitator of learning. The darkest innermost domains
represent the technical aspects of the teaching-learning processes. The light shaded portions
around the darker middle portions represent the attempts to embed the teaching-learning
processes in appropriate contexts, and thus provide the larger environment for these processes.
Finally, the unshaded outer portions represent the teacher standards related to teacher as learner,
which provide the personal drive and motivation for developments in the inner portions.
 TEACHER EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (TEDP)
The DEP-Ed’s Teacher Induction Program of Dep-Ed uses different terms to describe the
different stages of the career ladder.

1. Cadet
2. Rookie
3. Young Professional
4. Full-pledged professional
5. Mentor
6. Artist
Cadet:

- College student, about to complete the teaching degree

- student teacher
-
Rookie

- degree who has passed the LET

- certified teacher by the PRC
-
Young Professional

- have had 2-3 years of teaching experience

- connected w/ other teachers by being active in the professional organization

Full-pledged Professional

- master’s degree holder

- found inspiration and pride in work
- conducts action research to find solutions to some problems encountered by teacher

Mentor

- have taught at least five years in any education level

- provided evidence of some best practices in the teaching career
- offers professional advice to teachers with lesser experience
-
Artist

- been in teaching profession for at least 10 years

- earned the highest degree, doctorate degree
- mastered the craft of teaching and has raised it to a level of art