TEACHER INDUCTION
LAST week of May this year, the Philippine Teacher Education Council will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Today, we shall recall its earliest popularly known training for our public school teachers, termed "In-service Training," which later had newly appointed teachers undergo teacher induction. In England or Wales, teacher induction refers to a period during which a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) is supported and assessed to ensure that regulatory standards are met. We, too, have been having teacher induction since 2006. From an exposure to teacher induction in the UK during my short studies award by the British Council, and upon my return from said studies, I introduced the teacher induction to co-members of the pioneer Teacher Education Council. Together, we crafted our teacher induction, which has undergone the necessary revisions to keep pace with the 21st century.
Teacher induction in the UK and Wales. We share herewith the teacher induction in the UK and Wales — its beginning and today. In 1992, probation periods for new teachers in the United Kingdom and Wales were dropped. However, the 1998 Teaching and Higher Education Act "introduced arrangements by which the Secretary of State for Education could bring about regulations requiring new teachers to serve a period of induction." We continue quoting from our source: "The following year, David Blunkett, the then Secretary of State, introduced an induction period under The Education Regulations 1999. (Induction Arrangements for School Teachers) (England). These regulations made it a requirement that all teachers complete an induction period equivalent to one year upon qualification as a teacher." From the same source, we learn that "beginning in 1989, the program requires all newly appointed teachers to participate. As a result, all new teachers now spend at least 90 days of their first year in activities directly linked to teacher induction." A high number of training days was available. Added to this was "another significant aspect of the first-year experience" — "the amount of support the new teachers receive, both formally and informally, from guidance teachers and other instructional staff members.
"Although in place for only a few years, the program is well received by teachers, school principals, and other educators and policymakers. They believe it accelerates and systematizes the acquisition of knowledge and skills that in previous years had to be gained on a much more informal, and sometimes haphazard, basis." Such was the Teacher Induction in the United Kingdom when yours truly underwent the said British Council Study Visit Award. Introduced in 2021 to keep up with the 21st century, "Teacher Induction in England is underpinned by the Early Career Framework (ECF). Teachers with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) are required to complete a two-year induction period. During this time, they receive structured support, have a dedicated mentor, and benefit from additional time off the timetable in their second year of teaching. The induction period typically lasts for three terms. The system recognizes the importance of supporting NQTs during their initial years in the profession, ensuring their growth and success as educators."
Beginnings of Philippine Teacher Induction. Upon my return from my studies in the UK, yours truly shared the documents on TIP with co-members, pioneer members of the Philippine Teacher Education Council. We conducted research on TIP in Southeast Asian countries, which were former UK colonies. One of us conducted research in public schools in the Philippines. We then consulted with education experts and crafted our country's first Teacher Induction Program (TIP). Consultants from Australia helped us draft the training design for the four subject areas and corresponding trainers' training. The January 2006 DepEd Memo 36 announced the mandate of the TEC to hold orientation seminars to pilot the TEC flagship project "to systematize a nationwide TIP." Referring to the Manila Times, Campus Press column of July 14, 2016, on Orientation and Induction of Newly Hired Teachers (TIP) – Part 2, we learn that after a year of piloting beginning 2005 to 2006, the Teacher Induction called for improvements for the formal TIP one-week training. DepEd and CHEd chose official providers among the Teacher Education public and private higher education institutions (HEIs). The Philippine-Australian Project Basic Education (Probe) was just through its final year (1996-2001). Hence, Probe grantees of Teacher Education institutions in every region, having had a six-month trainers course in Australian universities, lent their expertise as trainers of the TIP. With bi-annual funding from the DepEd to official provider HEIs, the formal one-week TIP training in the four subject areas had a life span of 7 years, from late 2005 until 2016, when DepEd funds were needed for the onset of K to 12. Unfortunately, it seems the archives do not include the birth of the TIP in 2005.
Takeaways. Scholars around the globe uniformly agree that being a beginning teacher is challenging. Smith and Ingersoll (2004) viewed the initiation of beginning teachers into the teaching profession as akin to a "trial by fire," "sink or swim," or "boot camp experience" <8c5f687e34a9d8147f92bcfba9bf4d5fe40d.pdf(semanticscholar.org)> Our archives seem not to have much information about the beginnings of our Teacher Induction, save the January 2006 DepEd Memo 36 (DM 36) which announced the mandate of the TEC to hold orientation seminars for the piloting of the TEC flagship project "to systematize a nationwide TIP." Six years later, with the onset of K to 12, then Education Secretary Leonor Briones signed DepEd Order 43, S. 2017, which "issued the Teacher Induction Program Policy on the implementation of the TIP," which fully supported "the continuing professional development and progress of the newly hired teachers based on the principle of lifelong learning and the department's commitment to the development of new and beginning teachers."
Teresita Tanhueco-Tumapon, PhD, one of the Philippines' most accomplished educators and experts on higher education institutional management, studied at top universities in the Philippines, Germany, Britain and Japan. She held top academic positions at Xavier University, the Ateneo de Cagayan; was a presidential appointee after EDSA 1986 to normalize campus operations in state institutions; and served 17 years after that as SUC president. She is an Internationalization Office consultant and professorial lecturer at Liceo de Cagayan University. Awards include the CHEd Lifetime Professional Achievement Award, the British Council Valuable Services Recognition Award, the Federal Republic of Germany Order of Merit, and the Department of Education Award for her initiatives as a pioneer member of the Philippine Teacher Education Council.
2024-05-08T16:05:18Z dg43tfdfdgfd