Reflection on the New Normal Education

It has been over a year since the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic disrupted
normal life. Among those institutions that have been gravely affected is the country’s
education system. In an effort to ensure that the needs of learners are not neglected in
this so-called new normal, the Department of Education (DepEd) has implemented a
series of adjustments, which has now been simply referred to as “blended learning.”

Although not a new concept, nothing about it has been that simple, as far as its
application in the Philippines is concerned.

A pseudo-virtual approach, blended learning puts together two forms of

alternative education options into a “blend,” in order to better serve students who have
been forced to stay at home because of the pandemic. In a survey released in March
2021 by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), 89 percent of Filipino families with
members enrolled for school year 2020-21 consider blended learning to be “more
difficult” than the regular face-to-face setup. Some parents have shared that the current
system, although schools provide printed materials and online support, tends to require
students to study by themselves. Other mothers and fathers end up taking on the role of
teacher at home, which is especially difficult for those who are not full-time
houseparents.

These challenges, however, are not limited to parents and learners. Educators
have also been dealing with the difficulties blended learning has presented, particularly
those related to the country’s information communication technology (ICT)
infrastructure, which still leaves much to be desired. There are teachers who have
computers or laptops have no access to the internet, while others do not have
computers or laptops at all. I, on the other hand, belong to both situations.

As I am not a tech-savvy myself, I have gone through several adjustments in

order to cope up with the new normal teaching – learning set up. Luckily, I have a very
much supportive colleagues who have been there willingly give a hand especially if I
have questions ICT related. Thus, this only means that fellow teachers participation is
indeed helpful to set the directions of the teaching episodes in the right direction.

DepEd has promised to improve its implementation of the blended learning

system for the coming school year, amid calls from some sectors to slowly reintroduce
face-to-face classes. As the new school year ought to begin on September, I remain
hopeful that we, as teachers would be able to effectively perform our duties and
responsibilities of teaching school children through various distance learning
modalities.

We, teachers have been surviving successfully amidst the challenges in this
pandemic period. I believe that the best weapon at this time to tackle the never-ending
tasks in the service is our never-ending commitment as teachers. We get tired as
humans but we’ll never give up because we’re teachers.