Thirty principals from public schools across the country, many from Security Bank Foundation, Inc. (SBFI) beneficiary schools, completed the first phase of SBFI’s newly launched three-year training program entitled “Mentoring Future Leaders for Nation-Building.”
The principals received the International Certificate in Educational Studies in Leadership (CESL), a program of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and The HEAD Foundation in Singapore, which was implemented in partnership with the Ateneo Center for Educational Development. The principals completed four months of in-person and online training culminating in a presentation of their Transformational Action Plans (TAPs). The certificates were awarded at Security Bank Centre in Makati City in October.
The school principals’ TAPs aim to address pressing issues of their schools and stakeholders. The TAPs are to be implemented for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year, with impact to be reported prior to the second year of the training curriculum by Ateneo de Manila University.
“According to studies, three things are necessary to enact educational reform, namely, leadership, innovation and partnership. The CESL was created to bring all these elements together,” said Dr. Vicente C. Reyes, Jr., CESL Project Lead and University of Nottingham Associate Professor for Educational Leadership.
The TAPs followed the themes of “Leading Schools in Challenging Times, Leveraging Technology Affordances” and “Partnering with Stakeholders.” Some notable TAPs included plans to transform free spaces such as gardens into mini-libraries/reading corners, establish safe spaces for learners with disabilities, create a reward system that incentivizes disciplined students to reduce incidents of bullying and unruly behavior, and the use of mobile applications for learning English at home as intervention to students with low reading and comprehension levels.
“While your training has just started, we hope that this first phase of your training has given you many learnings, discernment, and practical insights, and has made you more sensitive to the needs of your role as a principal. Your training is of utmost importance because leaders cannot show the way, until they know the way,” said Rafael F. Simpao, Jr., SBFI Chairman.
“Through our partnership with SBFI, we can ensure that our transformative leadership initiative for empowering school leaders will not just result in a short spur of change, but rather, a sustainable improvement to the country’s educational sector,” said Vignesh Naidu, the HEAD Foundation Director for Operations.
To learn more about Security Bank Foundation’s projects and how you can contribute, visit www.securitybank.com/foundation.
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