The Learning Captain

is a blog discussing issues that in one way or another affects educational delivery and
uplifts awareness. It features articles that helps change and improve front-liner's outlook
and values for the betterment of institutional culture from the school, the community,
onwards. It believes that education apart from being the greatest social equalizer is the
key for the eradication of abject poverty.

Monday, September 25, 2017

When the School Leadership Falls Victims of 'Edifice Complex'
Syndrome
By: Gilbert M. Forbes
DepEd Quezon, Region IV-A (CALABARZON)

For quite a long time, more than two decades already, it has been experienced and observed that much
focus have been directed and given to institutional projects otherwise known as ground improvements
(landscaping) or beautification projects of all sorts among our schools. So much investment without
careful planning is spent in these project without considering its continuing maintenance cost or
sustainability and returns on investment. Teachers too are not prevented or excused from shelling their
monetary share in the process.

Delaire Elementary School in Pennsauken, NJ, USA

At the outset, it isn't surprising to see our schools look like a mini-park or resembles a resort! I am
particularly afraid that many of us particularly school leaders have been infected with the so called
'edifice complex' syndrome or sickness. Unfortunately, we might be setting aside some of the most
important things unintentionally. Sad to say, some authorities whose main function is curriculum and
instructional supervision are encouraging, tolerating even making it as indicator of how good or better the
school, its stakeholders and the school leadership is.

Surprisingly, schools in other countries particularly those which are topnotch when it comes to education
like Japan and Finland or even the United States, a super power country have simpler school landscapes,
even interiors as compared to the Philippines.
 SO SIMPLE: A typical Japanese rural school.
With this, it is thought that it would be better to look back at our priorities. What is really needed by our
pupils and students. How do these interventions going and is going to affect teaching-learning process
and so the performance of our learners and quality of education in a larger perspective?

Probably, engineers and architects tasked to construct our school buildings should already consider and
include specific landscape and designs for our schools to follow and maintain so that not much financial
resources are spent for it. In a third world economy and in a country where less than 5% of the GDP is
allotted to education, it is a great relief.

Financial resource commonly generated by the stakeholders can then be allotted to most important and
much needed things, i.e., instructional materials which are the immediate source and instrument that will
help raise educational performance and academic standards of our schools. More so, on other ways that
will strengthen and improve basic education performance indicators.

Posted by GILBERT M. FORBES at 1:58 AM

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Labels: beautification projects, edifice complex, institutional improvement, landscaping in schools, school priorities

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Being Whole, Becoming Holy: Upholding the Integrity Among
Education Leaders
By: Fr. Roderick C. Salazar Jr.
Director, SVD Mission Philippines, Inc.
First National Assembly of Education Leaders, Sept. 20- 22, 2017, PICC Manila Philippines

There is a philosophical principle first in intention last in execution. Being and becoming on one side and
whole in holy on the other side. The word paired with being is whole. The word that is introduced by
becoming is holy. Leaders then or its singular form leader and related words lead and leadership. Among
the many definitions of leadership the one that I like best is what Vance Packard wrote in his book The
Pyramid Climbers. He said, in essence leadership appears to be the art of getting others to want to do
something that you are convinced should be done. Towards, in that phrase, make it stand out from other
definitions. To want. Take this away and you might indeed still get people to do something that you are
convinced should be done but you’ll have exercised may not be leadership anymore. It could very well
be martial law, dictatorship. But with these two words to want what is revealed is that leadership is really
a matter of the heart. The leader so touches the inner being of so stirs the soul that react of following
which follows is a choice made freely motivated from within.

What this notion side by side with the usual of idea of leadership as taking charge and getting things
done. Contrast this with the familiar picture of corporate management on the one side and the work force
on the other side bargaining with bonuses and incentives, rewards and benefits and listen to these
questions of James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner in their book The Leadership Challenge. If that has
been normal, picture of management and leadership in corporate characters. What of those who have no
bonuses to give, no promotions to offer and no performance to write. What of those who cannot pay any
compensation and yet asked us to contribute our time, our resources, our services, our energies, even our
lives. What of those who must rely upon our willingness, our internal motivation, to give ourselves to
some just cause. Do they not lead? Keep this in mind so that we can be ready to look at transformational
leadership.

The idea and term was first introduced by James MacGregor Burns in his Pulitzer Prize winning book
published in 1978. Bernard M. Bass would later expand his idea and so would a host of other
writers. Putting together the contributions of these individuals we can differentiate between transactional
and transformational leadership. The first is characterized as the exchange of valued things that serve the
individual interest. This turns in contrast to collective efforts focus towards common
interest. Transactional leadership is a process of exchange the root word being Trans meaning between
and act or action, Trans act, transactional leadership, the leader in this case clearly specifies what he or
she wants. Determines what the employees want and brokers the contractual exchange of the two. So the
contractual relationship is based on agreed upon goals and minimum acceptable performance
levels. Rewards for satisfactory performance or penalty for unsatisfactory work. The negotiation that is
involved the exchange or transaction that occurs lead to the naming to this kind of leadership
transactional.

Management understood in the traditional sense is equated with it. By contrast, transformational
leadership occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers
raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. We ask ourselves then, what shall we
do? We ask ourselves who are we dealing with transactions or we transforming people? What is the kind
leadership that we are doing?

In his 1978 work, Burns mentioned the importance of a leader in both imparting and compelling forces
and in leveraging his or her charismatic personal qualities in support of the vision. So when, Bernard
Bass took of the pulpit, he said that transformational leadership is comprise of charismatic leadership
distances of reasoning and inspiring others to follow the vision. Individualize consideration which
concerns the leader developing the follower and intellectual stimulation, new ways of thinking, problem
finding and solving. To these others would add the importance of visioning, promoting shared values,
culture shaping, role modeling, trusting and empowering. The theory is that these practices inspire
followers to exert extra effort, become self-led leaders and enhance commitment to the common purpose
of the group and the leader.

Indeed Burns sees leadership as inducing followers to act to certain goals that represent the values and the
motivation. The wants, the needs, the aspirations and expectations of both leaders and followers. In other
words, leadership is a relationship between leaders and followers who are acting interactively to attain
some purpose.
And this is what Burns, Packard said which I quoted earlier, leadership is the art of getting others to want
to do something that you are convinced should be done. For when a vision is shared and the longing for it
has become common to both leader and follower, then the movement towards the goal comes quite
naturally. And one then knows that leadership has been exercise. Leadership is an art and stirs the
followers from the heart.

Taking off from the concepts just presented, two others offer their insights without actually using the
terms transformational. James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, who were also quoted earlier, articulated
the idea even more. And their research on leadership they found out that leader is at their best when they
challenge, inspire, enable, model and encourage. A shorter way of differentiating transactional from
transformational leadership is to look at the spelling of the verb to lead. It starts with an L and end with a
D. L E A D that is transformational. If you reverse the first letter and the last letter it become D E A L, it
becomes transactional.

How do you deal with your people? Where are we at this words and goods familiar not to ask that we try
to use them from our position in the organization? What do you think ourselves? Because we are the
director and the president and the superintendent and the supervisor, who are we?

Stories told that once Mohammad Ali boarded a plane and when it was about to take off, the
announcement came that everyone should fasten their seatbelts. And when the stewardess walks the aisle
to check everyone complied. She approached Mohammad Ali and politely said sir, “Please fasten your
seatbelt.” Mohammad Ali arrogantly answered loud enough for everyone to hear. “I am the greatest. I
don’t need any seatbelt. I am superman.” Without missing a deep, the stewardess asked politely replied,
“then please superman, get off the plane and fly.” And wordlessly, the greatest just put on his seatbelt.

Are we the greatest because of the title that we have? In another occasion in an airport, the check-in
counter was swarm with people waiting to be served when a man drunk the queue and demanded that he
be served first. The clerk said, “Sir please takes your turn and the queue.” The man shouted and said,
“Don’t you know who I am?” And the clerk took the public address system and announces, “Ladies and
gentlemen, there is a man here at the check-in counter, who does not know who he is. Anyone who
knows him, please come and identify him.” Amused chuckles of the people, the man who did not know
who he was immediately took his place in the queue.

Do you know who I am? Do you know who you are? Are you that kind of leader who will rise only on
titles and positions? Let us now look at where we are supposed to be as leaders in education.
Integrity also comes from the Latin word which means whole. Corruption breaks the heart, the core of
your value. That’s the reason why so many problems in our country today because heart has come to do
hell. If you don’t have your heart whole, corruption follows.

A person of integrity is living rightly not divided. It is not being a different person in different
circumstances. A person of integrity is the same person in private that he or she is in public. Integrity is
related to the word integrating which means the result of infusing together of different parts into a
coherent consistent whole.

Public and private life is the same for the person of integrity. Integrity is what we do when you are not
aware that your children are looking and listening. Integrity is who we really are on the inside. Other
descriptions of integrity are what you see is what you get and who you are when nobody is
looking. Integrity is the wholeness which is the first part of my title of this talk. Being whole. It is doing
what you say you’ll do.
In the words of Jesus about love and our relationship with God, you shall love the Lord your God with a
whole heart. With a whole soul. With your whole mind. With your whole strength. Love your neighbor
as you love yourself. Whole, entire, complete, not a fraction. No time in the history of our nation is this
world integrity find out for fulfillment. In the times and by some about elected leaders and the followers,
we are besieges with lies and fake news, and killings and insults and tens of lies and more lies. Where are
we going? Where is the integrity of this beloved nation Philippines?

At least this assembly is looking at what integrity requires. What is happening? It is indeed timely that
starting today on the anniversary of the declaration of martial law in our country where different positions
on leadership and integrity are raised. Without integrity, where are we?
This is not easy. If my leader above me says or does something patently wrong. Or even evil, what
should I do? If I speak up for the right and true, I may lose my job. This is an existential situation. There
are no easy answers.

Genuinely loving those God has placed in our life’s path is the starting point of that influence. Add to
that a commitment to using every ability, God has given us to be the best that we can be regardless of
what we do or where we are and you have a recipe for leadership to succeed. This is really what leading
from the heart is all about.

Leading and leading from the heart as God designed it means our relationships are always central to our
actually being the best that we can be. We make mistakes, we fall. We sinned but the God who called us
to be whole will help us to become holy. There will be so many temptations in our lives. We betray our
faith, our values, and our loves. We make compromises but we must rise after every fall.

There is a song that most Filipinos know. The story behind the song My Way is that after decades of
being in the entertainment world, Frank Sinatra felt that he should retire. He asked a fellow singer who is
also a composer Paul Anca to propose a signature song for Sinatra’s farewell concert which is how Paul
gave him the song with the catchy first line. “Farewell tour of Frank Sinatra, ladies and gentlemen, Frank
Sinatra.” He goes up on the stage, “And now, the end is near. And so I face the final curtain.” You
know that song did say in the proud final line, “I did it my way.”

It is truly great for a leader to do things his or her way. It is the mark of originality. But in the moral
scheme of things, each ones way is not God’s way. The life would be a failure. Jesus would say
it. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffer the loss of his soul.”

Back to the Frank Sinatra’s story, so after his farewell tour, telling people to do things his way, he retired
but the entertainment body in him refuse to go. After some years, the world knows that he is on a
comeback tour. “Huh, he already said good bye.” But he goes to Paul Anca and he said Paul, write me a
song. “I thought that was the lost song for you.” “Come on Paul, give me a song.” He did. “Ladies and
gentlemen, Frank Sinatra, in his comeback tour!”
I know I said that I was leaving,
but I just couldn't say good-bye.
It was only self-deceiving
to walk away from someone who
Means everything in life to you.
You learn from every lonely day
I've learned and I've come back to stay.
Let me try again; let me try again.

We must learn to say, Lord, let me try again. Upholding. It really means to hold on up. For everyone to
see. For us not to be ashamed of who we are. Uphold. Hold up. It is not meant to make a ghost of who
we are but it is also what Jesus said, “We must be the light of the world. Who you are. Stand up for
others to see. Not for your own benefit but for the sharing of the light to this world.

If God made us body and soul. Matter and spirit. He meant for us to do whole, integral. We cannot be
whole or holy unless God holds us up. Integrity is wholeness. Wholeness is holiness. This is what each
have all wants try to achieve. The goal the end must be clear even if the way is not easy. We need
God. And we need one another.

Many years ago in 1963, there was the popular movie entitled The Cardinal. It was about a priest who
became a cardinal despite his having vouch of unfaithfulness to his vocation. There is a lovely song
connected to the film which of us can learn, priest or not, religious or lay, learn in sing and pray when
struggle to uphold our integrity.

Should my heart not be humble, should my eyes fail to see,

Should my feet sometimes stumble on the way, stay with me.
Like the lamb that in springtime wanders far from fold,
Comes the darkness and the frost, I get lost, I grow cold.
I grow cold, I grow weary, and I know I have sinned,
And I go seeking shelter and I cry in the wind,
And though I grope and I blunder and I kneel and I'm wrong,
Though the rose buckles under where I walk, walk along
'Til I find to my wonder every task lead to thee,
Or that I can do is, pray, stay with me.
Stay with me.

God help us. Hole integrity among education leaders. Thank you.
Posted by GILBERT M. FORBES at 7:28 PM

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Labels: charismatic leadership, integrity, transactional leadership, Transformational Leadership
Philippines Lucena, 4301 Quezon, Philippines

Friday, September 22, 2017

Motivation in Public Service
By: Ambassador Henrietta T. De Villa
First National Assembly of Education Leaders, PICC Manila Philippines, Sept. 20- 22, 2017

Why is the heart so important because it is where all dealings are made? There is the heart. The heart is
the first organ that is visible. Engaging your heart is vital because you have the power, you have the
means and you have the captive subject to shape a new and different future for the country. I hope you are
very excited about what you do. Yes, o yes, you have to be because it is always an adventure and an
adventure to newness really is quite exciting. Servant leaders of the nation with a heart, a pure heart, a
clean heart, a compassionate heart. And you have the power to chart a new course for our country that
could even impact our ASEAN nations to draw them out, to draw us out, of the grab mentality. Grab
power, grab profit, grab pleasure. I hope you will ponder on this and start doing it.
I still remember my mother who was a Math teacher in FEU. For her, math is not merely addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division or equation. She expanded her math lessons to wider dimensions, a
more holistic meaning to the mathematical processes. Subtracting pain through sharing, adding joy and
hope through good deeds. Multiplying talents with community work and dividing work load through
volunteerism. Sharing pain, having joy and hope, multiplying gifts, dividing the burden, this is engaging
the heart of education leaders. The sit of wisdom, the heart, compassion, most of all the start up motor of
humanizing the person in society. Education is an on-going process, a life-long project. Even if in your
case, education would be, educating in schools, within the confines of classrooms, within specific
timelines, still there must be that consciousness that education is life-long and life-wide.

What you teach and how you teach can detonate positive or negative heart bites. TO TEACH IS TO
SHOW SOMEONE HOW TO LIVE. Teaching is not merely transmitting literal knowledge. Teaching is
making word and happening one. So it is witnessing. Pope Paul VI teachers teach best when they are
witnesses. Realize that engaging the heart is the dynamic force for motivation, experiences that becomes
memories of the heart and lessons for a life-long and life-wide practice.

Mothering or parenting and teaching form a single vocation. Both engage the heart to the hill in
motivating their children and students to strive for excellence and to account for the hope that is in
them. Engaging the heart does not mean permissiveness. It requires discipline. A danger, parents are
sometimes prone to probably due to the lack of time since both father and mother have to work. Or the
guilt provoked by this lack of time. Neither does compassion mean, you can’t confuse it with pity. If we
spoon fed our daughters and sons of whatever age. Your students of whatever level, there is a danger of
turning them to become mental wimps, worst with hearts that crumble at the slightest stress or difficulty.

Forms and substance but this has no reference to impeachment requirements. Impeachment cases have
become a dime a dozen now a days which is a sad commentary on public service. Was it Jefferson? I
think its Jefferson who said, what we acquire too easily, we esteem too lightly. Going back to my sharing,
this will focus on form and content. The form, anecdotal narratives. The content flushed out from the
Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines which is invoked by every congressional investigation in
aid of legislation, a dime a dozen too now a days. Since I am not a lawyer or an elected servant of the
people, I just went as far as the preamble articles I to III, because I find them all the highlights I needed in
these sections which can be crunched into three headings for purposes of motivation, motivating you as
educators and public servants.

The three motivators; maka-Diyos, makabayan, makatao. Maka-Diyos when you read the constitution,
that is the first part. It invokes God, so it is recognition of the primacy of God. And makabayan states
the national territory that is our country, the Philippines which public servants and all of its citizens have
to develop her patrimony and secure her posterity. And then makatao particularly the poor, ang mga
pinapahirapan, ang mga isinasaisantabi, mga kinakalimutan para sa panahon natin ngayon mga
pinapatay. Paulit-ulit, andun po sa Philippine Constitution ang karapatang pantao napakahalaga na ang
karapatang pantao, hindi pinapahalagahan ng isang libo lamang. Wala pong . . . , it cannot be buy
you. Do not be scared even if you are public officials to concern what is right and what is wrong. I
admire your secretary. She vouched for the character of Kian De Los Santos. That was brave. I thought
that was very brave. What will make maka-Diyos, makabayan, makatao excellent motivators is
love. And love is not an emotion. It is an action of the heart. Love for God, love for country, love for
people especially the poor. This love must be proactive not passive. Not just a passing emotion. Naku,
kawawa naman. Naku talagang mali ‘yan. Magrarally tayo. Pagkatapos, nakalimutan na. It has to be a
passion for it to be a life-long and life-wide.

Passion is a produce of the heart. A heart that has been loved. A heart that has known what it is to be
loved and what it is to love. ‘Yong mga nakaranas, naïve, na mahal sila. Na inibig sila. Those who
experienced how to be loved without looking at our warts, or moles, or defects, simply for ourselves, that
is the best motivation, iyon ang nag-uudyok sa puso na magmahal din, that dictates the heart to love too.

I am a Catholic. And I’m very proud to be one. I believe in one God for whom nothing is
impossible. My God whom I believe who loves me and is always there for me, come hell or high
water. You have to believe in something or in someone. Whatever your faith is or whatever god you
worship, your faith, your god must be your all in all. What is this that gives meaning to life? To your
vocation as educators. God who is love is the absolute motivation for remaining faithful in being maka-
Diyos, makabayan, makatao, in all things that we do and say.

You know, Pope Francis is a very practical man. He is very kin on encounter. Iyong
makipagtagpuan. Because life is all about relationships. You relate with our children. Children relate
with their parents. You relate with your students. You relate with each other. Life is relational. We
relate with people we encounter. Kaya best iyong person to person contact eh. Kaya ako, hindi ako
naniniwala nung bibigyan na lang ng assignment ang mga estudyante. Darating na lang kapag may
eksamin. Sa college yata iyon, mas type nila yon. At hindi na nakikita. Wala iyong exchange,
interaction, engaging the heart. And we need to encounter God in especial moments of our lives.

I met my God early in life. I know it was not through my effort for what grade three girl student for
seriously know who Jesus is. He must have been the one who drew me. To wake up early every morning
and walk to an early mass. 6:00 o’clock in the morning. And then, so that we will not be late in school
which starts the next day at 7:30. Since then, Jesus and I have been friends. And I can tell you. There is
no bff better than He is. And I know, He will save me from whatever fall I find myself into from
whatever foolishness I may do He will save me because He loves me.

When you know you are love unconditionally, faithfully walking with you in sunshine and in rain. Then
this gives meaning to your waking, sleeping, breathing, working living.

Motivation starts with relationships, carried through relationships, which bear fruit in relationships. They
can be good or bad fruit depending on the relationships you established and encounters that you have. I
am a Filipino and I am very proud to be one.

You saw that, The Devil Wears Prada? Ang galing-galing ni Merill Strip. The Devil Wears Prada, kase
kapag nagkaron tayo ng mga ilusyon, to buy this, to buy that, to wear this to wear that. Hay naku, umpisa
na ang katapusan. Madali po kaseng matisod, di po ba? Kaya kailangang balik-balikan ang dalisay na
hangarin sa paglilingkod. Alalahanin n’yo po si Bonifacio. Humayo kayo, humayo tayo at ibangon ang
bayan sa kawalan ng puri dahil sa katiwalian.

When somebody does something for you, no matter how small, or even if it’s their duty to do so, show
some appreciation, some affirmation because some affirmation expands the heart. And motivates it to go
an extra hundred miles for the magi’s be abundance to life. One of the things I cannot forget, he told me
because he made an order that I should repeat it to as many people as I can. Pope John Paul II said, “God
has blessed the Philippines, with two things that is not present anymore in other countries; the richness of
your faith and the closeness of your families.

Engaging the heart knows no distinction, no barriers, no differences. The three motivators, Maka-Diyos,
makabayan at makatao. I hope you will always remember God who is kind and merciful. Slow to anger
and rich in forgiveness. Even if your students are nakakagigil. That you will remember that. Na araw-
araw hahayo kayo at ikalat na walang pag-ibig pa, na hihigit sa pagkadalisay at pagkadakila, kundi ang
pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa.
That when you encounter people especially the poor. That you will teach them, rather show them,
through your hugs and affirmation that there are no children of a lesser god. And what better motivation
for you than being true to what you are and what you do which is a privilege no amount of money can
equal that privilege to form the minds and engage the hearts of the young Filipino, the new Filipino, the
future’s authentic Filipino servant leader. Education is on-going, life-long, life-wide.
Posted by GILBERT M. FORBES at 5:17 PM

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Labels: effective leaders, Effective Principals, Effective School Leadership, good leaders, Good
Teachers, government service, human rights, Politics and Good Governance

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Teachers' Continuing Challenges as Instrumentalities of
Knowledge and Wisdom in the 21st Century
By: Gilbert M. Forbes
With excerpts from Ms. Dina Ocampo’s talk at PNU Graduation Ceremony, April 7, 2017

No one can deny that LIFE has become easy due to the improvement in the lives of the
average Filipinos brought about by the increase in the so called per capita
income. Things considered as luxuries before by the poor and can only be afforded by
the rich and the middle class like sardines, instant noodles, frozen foods, fork and
chicken, even eggs are now affordable to the poor. Even mobile phones, television
sets, ordinary fashion even its from ukay are affordable too. As such, at times the poor
can outsmart the middle class in fashion and gadgetry. It is now easy to go from one
place to another. Indeed, due to the onset of information technology, it has shrunk the
world and the country we used to live.

Claro M. Recto Memorial Central School's grade two pupils in Tiaong, Quezon:
Learners' critical discernment has not been as great as it is today.
However, even if life has become easier and much entertaining, at least in our country
as compared to Sub-saharan Africa, it did not contribute in the improvement of our
values, morals, and spirituality. While there’s an explosion of knowledge brought about
by the information super high way, there came the evils of it. One example of this is the
deliberate manufacturing and sharing of fake news to manipulate public opinion. The
damage this causes society is massive. Anger is aroused, distrust is sewn, bigotry is
fostered and culture of impunity is raised, promoted and even accepted as synonymous
to forgiveness and the concept of moving on.

The pressure on educators such as ourselves to develop in learners critical discernment

has not been as great as it is today. The age of information technology has become
both a blessing and a bane to us teachers who ourselves have difficulty in distinguishing
between credible news and “alternative facts” regardless of age bracket we belong be
that as from baby boomers up to the mellenials or generation Y. As such there comes
the revisionists.

We must address this issue on two levels. First, establishing the truth must be based on
facts that are corroborated by credible sources. And second, we must teach our
students that the measure of fact has little to do with their preferred outcome. Just
because it is your opinion, it does not mean it is right. Nor is it the truth.

In other words, critical pedagogy is what you must practice so that the students will
develop critical discernment. Just because something resonates with your opinion, it
doesn’t mean it is a fact. Scientific processes and the proper appreciation of data is
needed. This can be done by giving students opportunities and direct instruction on how
to dissect information. Otherwise, we will fall into the trap of believing that all opinions
out there are for real. Worse, we will believe that our opinion is always better than
others all the time and we ignore that there is always a possibility that we are mistaken.

Another example has to do with bigotry. In education, we have struggled to move away
from labelling children and learners. We have stopped using terms like bobo and
retarded to describe learners with different learning needs. We stopped homogenous
grouping of our pupils and students according to their academic performance instead
grouped them heterogenously avoiding labels as higher or lower section or fast and
slow learners. Move on na tayo diyan db? We have moved towards seeing the learner
and their capacities instead of cuing onto the label together with the assumptions and
judgements that go with that label.

Unfortunately, social media is full of bigotry. Dilawan and Dutertards are only two
examples of such manifestations of bigotry. Labels such as these box in people into
categories. Worse, they call into mind generalizations and characteristics that make
recipients of these labels clones of each other as if they were not individuals and
human.

Such bigotry resulted in the reign of terror in the middle east or even the unexpected
personalities getting elected into public offices as a result of lies, trolls and memes. And
now, still on-going, the attack on Marawi City by the Maute Group allegedly linked to
ISIS. Or on statements like, “di ikaw na. Addict ka! “Kung kaanak mo kaya ang marape
. . .”
As instrumentalities in propagating knowledge and wisdom we can help to abate social
ills and lies for it would always be true and factual that education is the solution. It is our
greatest weapon and resource if we can only perform our sacred duties and
responsibilities to the best that we can. This we could do with much ease if we could
rise above our basic enemy, the average in ourselves. For we are tasked to do THY
WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN! Aristotle puts it, EXCELLENCE
ISN’T AN ACT, IT IS A HABIT.

We should always be open to trainings, lectures and discussions even when we feel
and think that it is no longer new or interesting because at the end of the of the day,
there will always be novel in things we thought we knew already. We should reflect on
what has been given to us up to this very moment onwards to the bits of wisdom our
experiences tell and by internalizing and committing to apply with much ease the
Constructivist, Integrative, Reflective, Inquiry, and Collaborative Approaches in
teaching.

Where others fail, in K to 12, with these clearly defined and given approaches, doing it
right and with expertise, we are bound to SUCCEED!
Posted by GILBERT M. FORBES at 2:16 AM

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Selected DepEd Orders and Memoranda

 Guidelines on the Recruitment, Selection and Placement of Personnel Pursuant to the DepEd
Rationalization Program Under Executive Order 366 s. 2004- DO 50, s. 2014
 Amendments and Additional Provisions to DepEd Order No. 45, s. 2007 (Institutionalization of the
Supreme Pupil Government in All Elementary Schools Nationwide)- DO 48, s. 2014
 Constitution and By-Laws of the Supreme Pupil Government and Supreme Student Government in
Elementary and Secondary Schools- DO 47, s. 2014
 Guidelines on the Implementation of the Alternative Learning System for Persons With Disability (ALS for
PWD) Program- DO 46, s. 2014
 Protocols for Travel Authority Requests for Official Travel Abroad- DO 43, s. 2014
 Guidelines on Resolving School Year (SY) 2014-2015 Learner Information System (LIS) Data Issues- DO
42, s. 2014
 CLARIFICATION TO DEPED ORDER NO. 20, S. 2014 (Additional Information and Corrigendum to
DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2012)- DO 41, s. 2014
 Establishment, Merging, Conversion, and Naming and Renaming of Public Schools, and Separation of
Public School Annexes in Basic Education- DO 40, s. 2014
 Implementation of the Flexi-Time Work Schedule for the Non-Academic Personnel of the Department of
Education- DO 31, s. 2014
 Corrigendum to DepEd Order 53, s. 2013 on the Implementation of the DepEd Rationalization Plan- DO
27, s. 2014
 Guidelines on the Utilization of the Human Resource Training and Development (HRTD) Funds for FY
2014- DO 25, s. 2014
 Additional Information and Corrigendum to DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2012 (Policy Guidelines on the
Implementation of Grades 1 to 10 of the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) Effective School Year
2012-2013)- DO 20, s. 2014
 Guidelines on the Abot-Alam Program- DO 17, s. 2014
 Guidelines on the Utilization of Downloaded Funds for Adopt-A-School Program- DO 16, s. 2014
 Hiring Guidelines for Teacher I Positions Effective School Year (SY) 2014-2015- DO 14, s. 2014
 Implementing Guidelines on the Direct Release of Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE)
Allocations of Schools to the Respective Implementing Units- DO 12, s. 2014
 Amendment to DepEd Order No. 50, s. 2013 (Additional Provisions to DepEd Order No. 59, s. 2012 –
Revised Implementing Guidelines on the Selection and Hiring of ALS Literacy Volunteers)- DO 10, s.
2014
 Implementing Guidelines on the Integration of Gulayan sa Paaralan, Solid Waste Management and Tree
Planting Under the National Greening Program (NGP)- DO 5, s. 2014
 Adoption of the Modified School Forms (SFs) for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools Eeffective
End of School Year 2013-2014- DO 4, s. 2014
 Ortograpiyang Pambansa- DO 34, s. 2013
 Reiterating DECS Order No. 53, s. 2001 (Strengthening the Protection of Religious Rights of Students)-
DO 32, s. 2013
 Clarifications on the Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the Language Learning Areas and Their
Time Allotment in Grades 1 and 2 of the K to 12 Basic Education Program- DO 31, s. 2013
 Additional Guidelines to DepEd Order No. 16, s. 2012 (Guidelines on the Implementation of the Mother
Tongue Based-Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)- DO 28, s. 2013
 Implementing Guidelines on the Allocation and Utilization of the Indigenous Peoples Education (IPEd)
Program Support Fund-DO 26, s. 2013
 Revised Guidelines on the Transfer of Teachers from One Station to Another- DO 22, s. 2013
 The Philippine Accreditation System for Basic Education (PASBE) Supplemental Guidelines to DepEd
Order No. 83, S. 2012 (The Implementing Guidelines of the Revised SBM Framework, Assessment
Process and Tool)- DO 20, s. 2013
 Amendment to DepEd Order No 58, s. 2012 (Revised Implementing Guidelines on the Provision of
Teaching Aid and Transportation Allowances to ALS Mobile Teachers and District ALS Coordinators)-
DO 19, s. 2013
 Guidelines on the Implementation of the National Competency and Certification 2013 Program- DO 18, s.
2013
 Strengthening the K to 12 Basic Education Program Delivery System for Elementary Education- DO 14, s.
2013
 Guidelines on the Granting of Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) For the Department Of Education
(DEPED) Employees and Officials- DO 12, s.02013
 Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the School Readiness Year-End Assessment (SReYA) for
Kindergarten- DO 5, s. 2013
 Amended Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 8190 (An Act Granting Priority
to Residents of the Barangay, Municipality or City Where the School is Located, in the Appointment or
Assignment of Classroom Public School Teachers)- DO No. 3, 2013
 Guidelines on the List of Approved Supplementary Reading and Reference Materials- Additional DO NO.
119, S. 2009
 Policy Guidelines on Hiring and Development of Kindergarten Teachers- Additional- DO No. 81, s. 2012
 Adopting the National Indigenous Peoples (IP) Education Policy Framework- DO No. 62, s. 2011
 Adoption of KRT 3 Quality Assurance and Accountability Framework (QAAF) DO NO. 44, S. 2010
 Assessment of Reading in Public Elementary Schools- DM No. 143, s. 2012
 Career Pathways for High School Students- DM No. 149, s. 2011
 Ranking of Honor Pupils and Students; Clarification on the Computation of Co-curricular Performance-
DO No. 23, s. 2012
  Creating the Schools Sports Events and Activities Unit (SSEAU) and Dissolving the Task Force on School
Sports (TFSS)- DO No. 79, s. 2011

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Educational Legislations and Reform Initiatives

 Training and Development Operations Manual of DepEd
 Kinder Garten Act of 2012, RA 10157
 The Enhanced K+12 Basic Education Program
 Competency-Based Appraisal System for Teachers (CB-PAST)
 Code of Ethics of Professional Teachers
 Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA)
 Schools First Initiative of 2005
 Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001
 Republic Act 7798 (An Act Amending Sec. 25 of Education Act of 1982)
 Education Act of 1982

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