Lorlie A.

Abiera EDM 609- Administrative Internship

PhD Educational Management

Internship with the Office of the Public Schools District Supervisor

District of Bugasong
Schools Division of Antique

Reflection Paper

School heads are the key leaders in the country’s educational system. They are
responsible for administrative and instructional supervision in the school or cluster of schools
as defined in RA 9155 known as the Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001. They have
the authority, accountability and responsibility of taking care of the people in school while
maximizing organizational performance and health by setting the direction of schools,
managing their systems and processes, promoting quality teaching and learning by nurturing
themselves and others and engaging stakeholders in initiatives towards the improvement of
school communities (DO 24, s. of 2020).

Having passed the principal’s test in 2016, I shifted in functions from a Master Teacher
to a school head. It was not an easy task. It is a big responsibility and accountability. Planning,
setting goals, budgeting, engaging stakeholders, planning for teachers’ professional
development, conducting instructional supervision, provide technical assistance and
mentoring to teachers are all part of the functions of a school head. Though tough but I
always made sure that everything is going well in my school.

Required to have a 40-hours internship in the subject EDM 609- Administrative

Internship with the office of our district supervisor, made me think that it is an easy task
because I am used already with my routinary functions as school head in one of the secondary
schools in our district but it turned to be a different experience. Becoming a district supervisor
is not simply managing the district office or the schools under the district but it is more of
dealing with school heads, visiting schools and providing technical assistance to all schools;
elementary, secondary and integrated schools within the district. It was a tiring and
challenging but it excites me because it was my first time to reach the last mile school in our
town, the Igsoro Integrated School.

Our district supervisor, Mr. Julian S. Ambay is a very hard-working supervisor,

innovative and work focused. He was awarded as Most Outstanding District Supervisor in the
Schools Division of Antique during the Pasidungog 2022. He was also the 4th runner-up in the
Regional Innovation Showdown in DepEd Region VI. I am lucky that he accepted me to be
his trainee because I know that I will learn much from him.

Sir Ambay made my 5 days internship in his office wholesome and comfortable and
made sure that I have learned from him. He exposed me with paper works through
consolidating the SMEA-Schools Monitoring and Evaluation Adjustment report of the district,
sent me to different secondary schools to provide technical assistance and assigned me to
attend the local school board meeting with the office of the municipal mayor to plan for
projects, programs and activities to be funded by the local school board fund.

My journey in his office started when I gave him the letter of support, the evaluation
sheet and the documents needed for the conduct of this internship. At first, he was hesitant
to accept me because he will be retiring from his office on the 28th of January and he joked
at me telling me that he will be accepting me not as his trainee but someone who will help
him in accomplishing all his work before he will retire.

Day 0- December 19, 2022

I brought my letter from the office of Dr. Joselito Villaruz to the office of Mr. Julian
Ambay, PSDS of the district of Bugasong and without hesitation, sir Ambay signed the letter
of support. He told me to come back on January 9 to 13, for my immersion. To focus and so
as not to hamper the operation of the school I am assigned, I filed a leave of absence and
designate an Officer-in-Charge in the school.

Day 1-2- January 9-10, 2023

I started the immersion proper and my assigned task is to consolidate the schools
MEA-Monitoring and Evaluation Adjustment Report for the 4th Quarter of 2022 in preparation
for DMEA -District Monitoring and Evaluation Adjustment Report for reporting to the schools
division office on the 14th of January. Sir Ambay mentored on how to consolidate data from
different elementary and secondary schools in the district. I created a link for different schools
to submit their report so that I can consolidate it but there are schools who are not done with
their report so I need to contact them and ask of the reasons why the school heads cannot
submit then Sir Ambay advised me to help to those schools who are not yet done with their
report.
Together with the district staff, we were able to consolidate the needed data for two
days to be reported by our PSDS in the Division Monitoring Evaluation and Adjustment
Conference on the 16th of January 2023. While consolidating the report, I found out that school
heads in the elementary have no consistency in their report. Maybe some submitted the data
for the sake of completing the report of the district.

Day 3- January 11, 2023

Day 3 was the unforgettable day for me. Together with district team, we visited Igsoro
Integrated School, the last mile school in the Schools Division of Antique and the farthest
school in the District of Bugasong. I represented our PSDS to grace the inauguration program
for the makeshift classrooms donated by Bugasong Pag-Ulikid Foundation – an association of
Bugasongnons in the United States of America. There I meet the parents who mostly are
illiterates but working hard to send their children to school. They were very happy, because
they were able to meet the DepEd personnel and people from Bugasong Pag – Ulikid
Foundation whom they believe can help much in improving the school.

I witnessed how poverty affected the performance of the learners in this school. They
were deprived of classrooms, teachers and textbooks. They have no internet connectivity. But
students are focused in their studies because they have no cell phones and no TV at home.
However, this school has good relationship with stakeholders thus they receive more projects
to support the needs of their learners.

I have a lot of learnings from this visit. The assigned school head in that school is a
smart and trustworthy, very dedicated in his work and very much concerned in improving the
school. He is well respected by the people in the community. I learned from him that leading
a school is not simply releasing memos and giving announcements but it is all about having a
vision of improving the school despite lack of resources and support coming from the
Department of Education, that distance cannot hinder learning if the people in the community
and the school help each other. Seeing the stakeholders’ support, dedication of teachers and
supportive parents motivated students to study and perform well. Likewise, setting targets
and showing competence and diligence in work will promote trust and support among parents
and stakeholders. In fact, this school is one of the schools which first opened for limited face
to face classes in Region VI.

The success of the school depends on the leadership and vision of the school head
leading it. It may be a last mile school but can be a performing school if the school head has
the competence and dedication in implementing programs and projects that fit the needs of
the learners and the community.

Day 4- January 12, 2023-

Another great experience because this time together with sir Julian Ambay, I joined
the district team in providing technical assistance to the newly opened secondary school, also
a last mile school in the district, the Pangalcagan National High School. During the visit, I was
given the opportunity to suggest with the teachers some points to improve their instruction
as well as in making the school a wholesome environment for the students.

Day 5-January 13, 2023- On this day, I attended the local school board meeting with the office
of the Municipal Mayor to plan for the budget and priority projects for this Fiscal Year 2023.

The five-day immersion I spent in the Office of the District Supervisor taught me a lot
of realizations of the job of a school head/ school administrator. With the overlapping activities
and programs of the Department of Education, school leaders must have priorities on what to
strictly implement in his jurisdiction. Each school have unique features, problems and issues
to face hence supervisors must be creative enough in planning for technical assistance and
support to be extended in each school.

Having a vision, competence, integrity and diligence are important characteristics that
a school head may develop in order to gain the respect and support from the teachers, the
parents and the stakeholders.

In addition, the problem on literacy and numeracy must be properly addressed in

schools through the intensive supervision of the District Supervisor. With the problem on poor
literacy and numeracy skills of students in both elementary and secondary, instructional
materials and pedagogy must be given priority by supervisors during their conduct of Technical
Assistance and monitoring.

The job of district supervisor is not simply monitoring and evaluation of the
implementation of the programs and projects of the Department of Education. It is more of
providing support, mentoring and technical assistance to schools and school heads. Visiting
schools is an effective way of knowing the real problems in the field. Providing direct support
such as bringing projects and providing financial assistance by tapping the stakeholders will
not only improve the school but also inspire the people in the community to be involved in
accomplishing the projects of the school.

The primary role of supervisors is to create an enabling and supportive environment

for effective learning by empowering school principals so that they could in turn create
innovative, caring and nurturing school climates where teachers productively execute their
roles in supporting the learners to reach their full potential. With the leadership and
supervision of Mr. Julian S. Ambay as district supervisor of the district of Bugasong, more can
be achieved by the schools in terms of improving the curriculum and providing a conducive
learning environment to the students.
 However, supervisors also need to be supported to become more effective in the
conduct of their roles in various functional divisions in the regions and schools divisions to
improve their professional practice. They don’t have the MOOE to finance their programs and
projects. They depend on the local school board to finance their office hence, they need to
have a good relationship with the Municipal Mayor so that their office will be provided with
enough budget. DepEd must look up on this and consider providing financial assistance to the
office of the Public Schools District Supervisor so that they will not be dependent with the
Local School Board.

This 5-day immersion is over. My experiences and learnings in this immersion inspire
me to work harder for the good of the school, the learner and for my commitment to service.

To our PSDS sir Julian S. Ambay, I am grateful for accepting me to conduct this
immersion in your office. I learned a lot from you. Your suggestions and advises and to school
heads helped me much in improving my work. Thank you sir for accommodating me in your
office despite your busy schedule preparing for your retirement.

To Dr. Joselito Villaruz PhD, the requirement you gave to us is very relevant with our
tasks as school leaders. You gave us the chance to apply what we have learned in our PhD
subjects. It was a motivating and challenging experience. Having stayed in the office of the
District Supervisor and given the chance to do some of the tasks of Sir Ambay, inspired me to
finish my Doctor of Philosophy Degree so that someday I will have the chance to apply for
PSDS and share my vision, skills and innovations with the different schools in the Schools
Division of Antique.