Towards a New Paradigm for Private Education in the Philippines
There was a time when the reputations and prestige of great centers of learning clothed them with such an aura of respect that the management of these institutions was never the subject of criticism or even study. The role of these ivory towers of society, and indeed of civilization, was justified in its own right and never questioned.
As these institutions and the problems besetting them multiplied, it became evident, even to those responsible for them, that running large educational institutions required at least as much management and leadership as running large corporations. It no longer sufficed for administrators to be respected scholars or have advanced degrees in some academic subject, which was often no help in balancing budgets, negotiating with faculty unions, raising funds, or expanding physical facilities.
And so the science of educational management was developed and propagated, not just as a subject of study, but also as an indispensable tool for school administrators. Deans, provosts, and presidents were drawn to learning basic skills of finance, marketing, corporate planning, and human behavior in organizations. Thus, today's educational administrators are generally better equipped with management skills then their predecessors, whether they took the time for formal further studies in educational management, or participated in conferences or seminars on the subject, or merely developed themselves in specific management skills that they felt they needed.
And yet, in these troubled times in the Philippines, there is a growing disenchantment with schools and those running the educational system. Respected thinkers recognize the capacity and potential of the Filipino people, and bewail the inability of its schools to nurture and bring out this potential. Instead they see a people embroiled in pettiness, crisis after crisis, greed and divisiveness, and a dangerously frayed social and moral fabric. It is of course unfair and untenable to blame all of society's problems on its schooling system. And yet, if by definition education is supposed to form the next generation into a harmonious and productive society, then it cannot be entirely spared from the blame.
If Philippine private schools are thus failing the societies they are meant to serve, the paradigm they hold of educational administration must be revisited and expanded to realize that leadership is more than just sound school management. Private schools have not lived up to their potential, not because they have not built classrooms, or trained teachers, or complied with DECS curricular requirements, but because they have failed to focus on the larger purposes of education. It is the classic phenomenon of allowing questions of efficiency to overrun questions of effectiveness. Overworked administrators are so busy with the short-term pressures of how to do things right, that they seldom reflect on the fundamental long-term issues of doing the right things. The urgencies of meeting payrolls, expanding facilities, juggling calendars and fulfilling requirements take away from the larger question of whether the school is in fact embarked upon the optimum path by which it meets the needs of its learners and of the society it serves.
Ironically, it is returning to the very foundations of management that one can see the limitations of educational management as it is often presented. (I am happy to see that you will be spending substantial time this week on a fundamental aspect of corporate planning, that is, strategic positioning.) Visioning, goal setting, and articulation of achievable measurable objectives are of course the foundations stones of cor-plan and strategy exercises. If one defines the purpose of a school as producing graduates with degrees and diplomas, then one will naturally focus attention and institutional efforts on producing as many and as good graduates as possible in identified fields: engineering, law, commerce, and so on. But if one defines the purpose of that school as meeting the learning needs of a generation that will develop into a productive, cohesive, fulfilled society, then the focus shifts from production of classes, exams, degrees, and graduates for its own sake, to determining ways in which it can better produce the kind of professional, the kind of citizen, the kind of Filipino, that the country needs for a preferred and hopefully much better future. If our country is in dire straits, it is not because our doctors do not know medicine, or our engineers cannot build bridges, or our accountants do not know how to handle money. What does the country more desperately need? More lawyers, engineers, doctors (many of whom go overseas to work)? Or professionals, leaders, and citizens who can shape a country of peace and security, justice and equity, economic productivity and social harmony, thriving in a tolerant multi-cultural society with a satisfactory quality of life for all?
It must be the ambitious goal of every educational administrator to transform his or her institution into a microcosm of the necessary utopia that its students must eventually fashion for themselves as they leave its portals. Meeting the learning needs of students for a better future is not only, or even primarily, a matter of curriculum revision, e.g. adding subjects on value education. It must be a matter transforming the way the university is run, the atmosphere of integrity, fairness, equity, and cooperation that is generated and is palpable in how students are evaluated and motivated, how faculty are mobilized, how relationships within and between sectors of the entire academic community are nurtured, how academic, administrative and other policies reflect an equitable, caring, motivated, productive learning community.
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The big question, of course, is how does one actually do this? How does one re-cast the paradigm of private education in the Philippines to make it optimally effective in shaping a better Philippines? My task this morning is to raise the questions and provide a context of trends and policies in the international arena and in the Philippine situation within which I hope you can find the answers or the insights to go about this ambitious but necessary task. I am happy to see that after this session you will be in the hands of management experts who will guide you through strategic positioning principles and exercises that will translate the desiderata I present into concrete and practical management policies, decisions and actions.
For my part, let me begin your reflections by giving you a brief overview of the latest thinking by some of the world's most respected educationists as regards the trends and shape of education for the twenty-first century.
I will start with a summary of the report of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century, chaired by Jacques Delors, which as put together by a commission of 15 world education authorities after three years of consultation, research, and reflection. I will take a closer look at the higher education sector in particular, and at developments in of this sector in the Asia Pacific region, as it is more directly relevant to your deliberations this week. Thirdly, I will look at the Philippine educational policy context in which you work, drawing upon the collective findings and wisdom of the Philippine Commission on Education Reform, which I had the privilege to chair.
Keeping in mind our original objective to rethink a new paradigm of education to help shape a better Philippines, and using the background ideas and insights from the above summaries, I will then attempt to tease out implications on various aspects of educational policy that you have to deal with as you go about setting the directions for your institutions: recruitment and admissions, testing and evaluation, curriculum, teacher development and welfare, student roles, and so on. Hopefully you will have by then a rough road map of the terrain through which you will individually have to chart your own institution's directions within this new paradigm.
Because of the wealth of background material I have brought, including quantitative data and charts, because of the complexity of some of the issues raised, and because I think this session would be optimally useful if it were interactive throughout, I will now continue in the style of an informal discussion with you, aided by a powerpoint presentation, instead in the style of a formal speech. I have also brought with me key documents, the relevant parts of which are available for making copies upon request from you or the organizers of this seminar.
I will now proceed with the PowerPoint Presentation.
View PowerPoint presentation here
