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The declining performance of
Philippine schools continues to be a pressing issue. Elementary and high
school students are doing poorly in standardized tests, English proficiency is
dwindling.
Some sectors point to brain drain. The good teachers are all going abroad, in
search for higher-paying jobs. Education courses receive low priority in the
academe compared with nursing, engineering, and technology programs. Education
graduates can no longer be found in schools, they are in call centers which
pay more.
Mrs. Lilia Vengco, the pioneering principal of La Salle Canlubang and PAASCU
chairperson identifies leadership as a key issue that should be examined in
addressing the problem of declining school performance.
"Effective school leaders are the key to successful schools. A high-performing
school has school leaders who can lead it to success," Vengco says.
Unfortunately, good school leaders are also very hard to find. Vengco says
there are those who have master’s degrees in administration but who do not
have adequate managerial experience or who lack leadership qualities to be an
effective school administrator. There are many excellent teachers who turn out
to be poor school managers.
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On the other hand, there are
excellent principals but they fail to train successors. These administrators
leave the school without what Vengco defines as a "reliable leadership
development system that continuously develops people who have proven records
of raising student performance, establishing high faculty and staff morale
and attaining excellent academic achievements."
AHEAD Professional Network (AHEADPro), a new training division of AHEAD
Learning Systems, recognizes the need for principals — from both public and
private schools, to undergo training and retraining. Last July, AHEADPro
held the Leadership Strategies for School Managers (LESSM) seminar-workshop
at La Salle Green Hills in Mandaluyong City. The seminar was attended by
over 90 principals and representatives from the Department of Education.
Also a speaker was Dr. Cornelia Soto, Ph.D. of the Ateneo Graduate School.
The leadership seminar gave participants specific tools for leading and
managing schools. It helped them enhance leadership skills by making them
aware of their leadership behaviors.
To continue what they have started, AHEADPro mounts another round of LESSM
in Baguio (Sept. 29 and 30); Cebu (Oct. 20 and 21); and Davao (Nov. 24 and
25). For more information about training for teachers and principals, call
486-0034 to 36..
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