Selected School Heads to Undergo Training in School Leadership

Approximately 1,600 school heads from public elementary and secondary schools throughout the country are expected to benefit from an in-service training program on instructional and curricular leadership and management beginning May 2007 to December 2007.

The program is for school heads and managers who received scholarship awards from the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) to undergo training on Excellence in Instructional and Curricular Leadership and Management at the SEAMEO INNOTECH.

Aptly referred to as the DepEd eXCELS Program, this capability-building program intends to address the “shifting professional development needs” of school managers. It is a multi-modal learning system that makes use of the iFLEX, or the INNOTECH Flexible Learning Management System, which is a Moodle-based learning platform customized by the Center to deliver its flexible learning courses.

As a multi-modal learning system, the DepEd eXCELS Program combines traditional and non-traditional approaches to training.  The learners and the tutors have a face-to-face session at the start of the course; after which, all correspondences and communications are done on-line. Through the iFLEX, learners can view on-line announcements, access on-line resources, submit course requirements, and make use of its messaging and forum features.

The learners, or the school managers who will undergo the program, will have two self-instructional modules to tackle at their own pace but for a specific period of time, which in this case is four weeks. The modules are developed specifically to enhance the competencies of Southeast Asian school managers. For the Program, the learning modules deal with (1) Affirm the Instructional Leadership Roles and Functions of a School Head, and (2) Lead Curriculum Implementation and Enrichment.

The DepEd eXCELS Program will be implemented in five batches. Each batch will be divided further into 21 classes of about 10 to 15 learners per class. Each class will have its assigned flexible learning tutor (FLT), who is an accredited faculty either of the Center or of a partner teacher education institute (TEI). No less than the SEAMEO INNOTECH Center Director, Dr. Erlinda C. Pefianco, leads the pool of FLTs. From time to time, international experts from partner institutions of the Center in Cambodia and Vietnam likewise join the on-line forums to share their experiences and insights.

The learners who meet the prescribed standards will get credits equivalent to a three-unit graduate education program, certified by partner TEIs. On top of this is an international certificate of course completion, which they will get at the end of the DepEd eXCELS Program.

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