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Recognizing the pivotal role of creativity in young people’s lives and their local communities, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), through the all-of-government Creative Ireland Programme – Creative Youth Plan, organized a webinar entitled “Embedding Creativity in Education: Ireland’s whole-of-government approach” on May 11, 2021, Manila time, via Zoom. The said platform served as sharing of resource persons’ invaluable insights and best practices as experienced by the Ireland government during the implementation of “creative learning.”

The entire session highlighted the importance of moving into the idea of creative learning among the schools and communities, and the significance of careful implementation in cultivating and assessing creativity and critical thinking of the young people. The shared inputs were situated at an Irish teaching and learning context.

The moderator, Mr. Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin, Senior Analyst and Deputy Head of Division in the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, was joined by the resource persons namely: 1) Tania Banotti, Director of the Creative Ireland Programme; 2) Gary Ó Donnchadha, Deputy Chief Inspector, Department of Education, Ireland; 3) Tomás Ó Ruairc, Director of the Teaching Council, the professional standards body for teaching in Ireland; and 4) Di Fisher-Naylor, Director of Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE), an international foundation that leads creative learning programmes in schools.

During the discussion, it was emphasized by Ms. Naylor and Mr. Donnchadha that creative approaches and new teaching and learning strategies are first achieved by posing a precise, coherent and explicit definition of “creative learning,” including how it looks like. This concept might be abstract for others. There might be a confusion on the implementation if it is not well-defined by the administrators at the school level. Hence, the school administrators are challenged to conduct self-assessment and establish their priority needs in terms of integrating creativity in their curriculum and teaching and learning, as mentioned by Ms. Naylor. She also added that the current curriculum must be scrutinized to determine the starting point and that the spectrum of arts and creativity must be checked to embed creativity and other important skills into the curriculum. However, creative learning must not be limited to arts but may also mean bringing in data and correlating it with other learning areas such as physical education and foreign languages, among others, as expounded by Mr. Donnchadha. He said that investment on data enables one to improve it and provide opportunities for the administrators and implementers to track creativity.

Moreover, it was stressed out that policy frameworks relative to creative learning approach must be closely worked with the communities. It was reiterated by Ms. Naylor that the government must continue listening to the young people and invest on programs that will support teachers in their teaching journey. Mr. Ruairc noted that creativity is not just a destination but an entire process. It means fluidity of space. Teachers were stirred up to create their own space and to reflect their learning and creativity. In order to produce creative students, there must be creative teachers which is only attainable if there are creative communities.

To exhibit creative communities, children consultation meetings and active engagement of the communities, especially the parents, must be closely implemented and monitored. Through these strategies, the Irish government was able to discover new pedagogical approaches responsive to common learning challenges. In fact, some of the consultation meetings revealed the low participation of parents in cultivating creativity among the young people. As a response, the Irish government shifted into educating the parents on the value of education and the positive impact of nurturing creativity in their lives. It was explained that natural curiosity among children is as valuable as its shaping. Thus, the government must sustain an active dialogue with the young people and the communities and strategically embed creativity through evaluation of programs and adaptation of changes. The communities were also affirmed of its diversity and were highly encouraged to wander freely even if it means crossing curriculum boundaries.

At the end of the webinar, the resource persons reminded everyone that with the vision of delivering creative learning to every child across the land, the policy makers can only consider it successful once this purpose becomes a natural work for all.

Participating in such webinars enables the LCC Secretariat to broaden its perspective and update its current knowledge of issues and concerns experienced not only by the education sector of the Philippines but of the international community. By considering and studying the shared best practices of neighboring countries such as the Ireland, the Council may come up with policy recommendations that would elevate the literacy and socio-economic status of the nation.

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) held a special roundtable discussion entitled Human Mobility in the Post COVID-19 Recovery: Looking beyond the Horizon of the Current Pandemic, in partnership with the University of the Philippines – Centre International de Formation des Authorites et Leaders (UP-CIFAL) Philippines on April 29, 2021 via Zoom.

During his welcome remarks, Mr. Alex Mejia, Director of UNITAR’s Division for People and Social Inclusion, shared the objective of the webinar– to understand life after the pandemic. Mr. Mejia recommended changing the paradigm from problem to opportunity, from protection to empowerment through access to information and training. CIFAL Philippines Director Dr. Edna Co discussed migration challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on migrants and refugees during her inaugural remarks. She also shared that financial incapability is the main reason why migrants and refugees opted not to seek medical care in case of COVID-19 symptoms.

UN Women Regional Office of the Asia and the Pacific Humanitarian Advisor Ms. Maria Holtsberg is one of the webinar panelists wherein she presented the challenges experienced by women migrant workers during the lockdown period and its disproportionate impacts on them. She highlighted that more women have experienced job losses during the pandemic, which prompted new migration flows. She also noted the key emerging issues during these trying times including limited freedom of movement, termination of contracts, lack of social protection and health care, unsafe working and living conditions, and the increase in violence against them. Ms. Holtsberg provided recommendations for governments regarding the issues she presented, emphasizing full protection of human rights. She urged employers to extend the necessary support for migrant workers and their families.

IOM Asia and the Pacific Senior Regional Migration Health Adviser Dr. Patrick Duigan addressed questions regarding migration challenges. Dr. Duigan shared the phases of mobility impacts and the travel measures issued worldwide from January to December 2020. He emphasized that migrants are the main drivers of the economy and that they are not problems but part of a solution. He also discussed the future of human mobility wherein it depends on a stronger internal coordination.

The LCC Secretariat wishes to extend its deepest gratitude to UNITAR and UP-CIFAL for allowing us to be a part of this significant webinar which tackles crucial issues and concerns worldwide especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It helped us further understand and appreciate how important migrant workers are in our society.

Jonnabel D. Escartin

In pursuit of universalizing literacy in the country, the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) continues its series of Orientation Workshops on the Foundational Framework for Exemplary Community-Based Literacy Programs and Engagement. The Philippine Normal University (PNU), being the Council’s lead member agency for research, spearheads the capacity building on the standards and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tool to the delegates of the Local Government Units (LGUs) and Nongovernment Organizations (NGOs) from Regions IX, X, XI, XII, CARAGA and BARMM.

Held on May 5, 2021 via Microsoft Teams with live streaming to DepEd and LCC’s Facebook pages, the research team composed of Dr. Judy C. Bautista, Dr. Merry Ruth M. Gutierrez, Dr. Boyet L. Batang, Dr. Maria Azela L. Tamayo and Dr. Leonora P. Varela led the orientation. The first two researchers served as the resource persons who thoroughly explained the developed foundational framework and M&E tool while the latter researchers moderated the discussions both in MS Teams and online via Facebook. The said two topics were known as the results of the Phases I and II of the DepEd LCC-funded research study on literacy conducted in 2018 and 2019 across the country.

During the open forum, various issues and concerns were raised by the participants. On the issue regarding the inclusion of the legal basis for indigenous peoples (IP) in the tool, Dr. Bautista clarified that since the analytic scoring rubric is aimed to be encompassing, it did not include specific groups, such as the IPs or other sectoral groups. However, different localities may do so especially if the programs developed within the community were geared towards them, as revealed by the needs assessment and analysis conducted. The said tool was designed to cater community literacy needs either in terms of majority or ethnolinguistic minority needs. Dr. Gutierrez also added, “No one is stopping you in including them (IPs). This instrument is not discriminating them but making them integrated to the whole community system we have… We appreciate all languages and it depends on your goals whether you include or exclude them in your planning of your programs.”

Mr. Enrico R. Mendoza, LCC Secretariat (LCCS) Chief, reiterated that the participants have the liberty to use the research-based framework and tool in doing self-assessment of their community-based literacy programs and familiarizing themselves with its contents and features for adoption in their respective local communities. He also said that the research team is currently in the process of drafting a DepEd Order and discussing it with the office of G.H. S. Ambat, DepEd Assistant Secretary for Alternative Learning System (ALS) Program and Task Force, for its proposed national adoption. Mr. Mendoza further expressed that the said framework and tool may also be used as basis in the development of the evaluation criteria for the conduct of LCC’s National Literacy Awards (NLA).

Aside from these, the involvement of the Parents-Teachers Associations (PTA) was raised during the session. It was mentioned by one of the participants that the PTA is very much willing to get involved in the said endeavor and may even request budget from the LGUs, as necessary. Mr. Mendoza shared that LCC has been engaged with PTA through DepEd’s External Partnerships Service (EPS) in the series of PTA Forums that it conducted in recent years in various regions of the Philippines. He said that one of the topics discussed by the LCCS is the importance of parental support in the teaching and learning process, as well as the important roles that parents play in ensuring that lifelong learning happens not only inside the classroom but also at home. LCC welcomes the support of all partners, including PTAs, because it wanted to apply the whole of society approach in universalizing literacy in the country. The Secretariat will explore possible partnerships with PTAs in mobilizing the parents to eradicate illiteracy in the Philippines.

Another suggestion raised was on the possibility to consider LCC programs as one of the indicators of the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG). Mr. Mendoza guaranteed that this concern will be brought up to the concerned office of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for their consideration.

The orientation workshop was concluded with the LCCS Chief, along with the research team, appreciating the presence of all literacy mobilizers, including the DepEd ALS implementers, who participated in the virtual convergence. Likewise, the participants and netizens happily concurred the activity as “inspiring and very informative.” They thanked the LCCS for facilitating such a meaningful and relevant activity. They also congratulated the LCCS for achieving another milestone through the development of the standards and analytic scoring rubric for exemplary community-based literacy programs.

To watch the recorded video of this event you may visit https://www.facebook.com/LiteracyCoordinatingCouncil/videos/959435378164858 .

The last orientation workshop is bound to happen on May 14, 2021 via MS Teams which will cater delegates from the Visayas Cluster. To register, please click this link  http://bit.ly/Orientation_Workshop_Visayas_Cluster .

The International Development Institute (IDI) in Washington, DC organized a free webinar presentation and discussion on Quality, Equity and Inclusion in Education: Post-Pandemic Response held on April 15, 2021 via Zoom. This webinar was attended by global audiences from different countries. A distinguished panel addressed the issue on the significant effects of COVID-19 pandemic to students and learners around the world such as closure of schools, the disruptive effects to education and unprecedented including wide range of challenges, best practices, success issues, and opportunities across the education landscape. The distinguished presentors shared their practical advice and effective pedagogical strategies of sustaining a high quality and inclusive learning environment online in the context of the pandemic.

The LCC Secretariat wishes to extend its deep gratitude to the IDI organizers for this invitation by raising awareness on how to build back more resilient education systems that facilitate quality education for all, and addressing equity and inclusion in education.

Czarina D. Abellonar