| Foreword: |
In
the course of our work to improve education in Southeast
Asia, we have seen a lot of schools doing quite
well despite meager resources. Usually, the most
common element among them is a committed school
head who leads inspiringly and finds adequate means
to get to a shared goal. Another critical trait
of these successful schools is their willingness
to open their doors, go out to the people in the
community and engage them in talks and tasks that
put the good of the school learners on top of priorities.
A
welcome boon, therefore, to educational development
efforts in the region has been SEAMEO's making
it its main crusade in 2003 to promote school-community
partnership. During the year, scholars and practitioners
have come together in forums to share nuggets
of wisdom about what makes a school-community
partnership worth the effort.
We
begin in Singapore where Leong Jenn Yeoong describes
national efforts to give parents and the larger
community an active role in bringing about better
academic outcomes among students. Projects such
as COMPASS (Community and Parents in Support of
Schools) have shown the value of strong leadership,
continual training, commitment and communication
in effectively linking with stakeholders to help
schools achieve their targets for students.
In
the Philippiness, Dr. Zenaida Domingo presents
two initiatives that rely heavily on the participation
of the community and the private sector. "text2teach"
mobilized resources from the business community
to provide schools with educational videos delivered
through satellite and mobile communication techologies.
The aim is to improve science instruction in grades
five and six. Project TAO Kiddie PAMANA, on the
other hand, mustered the support of the local
government and oarents to deliver health-promoting
education to pre-school children.
Following
through on health, Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan and Dr.
Reynaldo Baquiran remind us that it is in school
health where different sectors--education, health,
social services, agriculture, civil society--can
most effectively coordinate their tasks towards
the common goal of a healthy community. The authors
bring up the concept of an integrated school health
program which is framed by the local community
based on its needs, resources and standards, aiming
ultimately to support families. This integrated
concept of school health responds to still prevalent
infectious diseases as well as to emerging morbidities
among school-age children and young adults.
Dr.
Erlinda C. Pefianco takes the point of view of
the community as well in her paper which expounds
on the critical relevance of educational development
initiatives, especially along the thrusts of accessible
education, developing thinking skills, promoting
national identity and global values, and promoting
lifelong and life-wide learning. These initiatives
can lead to better outcomes if done jointly with
the community. This line of thought is extended
in Dr. Loyd Guidry's discussion of contextual
teaching and learning and how it works on dense
classrooms. We see in his case study yet another
teching-learning principle with a sensible utility
across national borders.
We
cap this issue with three authors from Malaysia
(Aris, Harun and Ghaffar) who have been developing
computer-based tools for adult learners. As you
will see, these tools are finding their rightful
place in universities, but the application promises
relevance even beyond. |
