3 decades of proving the urgency of reengineering teacher education and curriculum to make K-12 successful

(Part II – The Old Testament of Teachers and the Children’s New Testament)

O.B. Pagsasarili Preschool takes its name after the Filipino word “pagsasarili” which means the capacity to be self-sufficient or independent. By 1983-1986 the official Pagsasarili Preschools were set up in seven National Housing Authority Zonal Improvement Program (NHA-ZIP) encouraged by Gen. Gaudencio Tobias. The O.B. Montessori Child and Community Foundation Inc. (OBMCCFI) was then established to expand the O.B. Pagsasarili Twin Projects in 1993, catering to both children and their parents. In a span of 30 years, this project was replicated in 153 extension program in both urban and rural barangays in other provinces of the country.

The 1983-2013 research studies on the effectivity of Montessori Pagsasarili Preschools to promote K-12

Ten years after the seven NHA Pagsasarili Preschools in Metro Manila were set up, Dr. Eligio Barsaga, SEAMEO Research Director and Chairman of EDCOM Taskforce in 1995 made a study entitled Helping People Help Themselves: A Case Study of the O.B. Montessori Pagsasarili Twin Projects. The study found out the effectiveness of the project and the challenges that need to be addressed by conducting interviews with the mothers, management coordinators, teachers, students and graduates on how they perceive the projects.

 In 1988 to 1990 to determine what could help decrease the dropout rate in public elementary schools and improve children’s IQ level, the Zero Grade I Dropout experiment was conducted in Bagong Bayan of Dasmariñas, Cavite. It was funded by UNESCO and SEAMEO while supervised by the Bureau of Elementary Education Region IV Director Edith Carpio, Rose Sese and Dinah Mindo of the Cavite Division.

Grade I teachers were trained for six weeks to use the Pagsasarili materials in Language, Math and Cultural Arts. Two of them were selected for the experimental group of 70 children who were taught using the Pagsasarili materials for a period of five months. By November of that year, Dr. Mindo and her team’s evaluation of the children revealed that the experimental group performed better in Math, Sibika at Kultura and Pagbasa and Wika than the control group from the central Cavite Elementary School. Likewise, the experimental group had zero dropout rate, while the control group registered 2.5 percent dropout rate. Dr. Mindo then recommended that the Pagsasarili Program for Grade I be adopted in other schools.

2012-2013 rapid assessment of 105 Pagsasarili Preschools of Batangas

In 2012, seven years after converting 105 day care centers in Lipa City and 35 day care centers in Batangas City into Pagsasarili Preschools sponsored by then Mayor Vilma Santos-Recto until she became governor, Dr. Ethel Agnes Valenzuela, SEAMEO-INNOTECH researcher was commissioned by OBMCCFI to conduct a Rapid Assessment of the O.B. Pagsasarili Project. The results were presented at the Batangas Pagsasarili Preschool Convention on May 29, 2014.

The study aimed to assess the effect of the Pagsasarili Teacher Training Program on the day care workers and the impact of the Pagsasarili Preschool program among the three- to five-year-old students and their parents in Batangas. Ninety-three Montessori trained day care workers took part in a focused group discussion, while 40 parents of students who completed the Pagsasarili Preschool, now in various elementary schools of Lipa City, served as respondents for the study.

Majority of the teachers are middle-aged and more than half of them are 40 years old and above, mostly with college level education, and a handful are college graduates. They have remained loyal and committed to their work while reasonably sustained with monthly salary of P12,000-18,000 sourced from P200 monthly fee from each student, allotments from the mayor and each barangay captain. About 66 percent of the teacher respondents viewed that the Pagsasarili Teacher Training Program helped to increase their understanding of the nature of threes to fives facilitating their guidance of a mixed age group. Their self-confidence in teaching and even their personal relationship with others improved after the training. Despite their difficulties in English communication, these day care workers persisted in using this as a medium of instruction.

Teachers’ lifelong skills in grooming and learning acquired

The teacher respondents acknowledged that the Pagsasarili Program is very much different from the day care service program they have been using in the past. They used to be concerned only about making the children sing, play, sleep and eat but they never imagined that a different set of day care work activities, though more demanding, would be preferred by children. About 40 percent observed that the Practical Life exercises prepare both teachers and students for lifetime skills in Personal Hygiene and Care for the environment. Before, the teachers were constantly shouting to get the attention of the children. Now, they feel more relaxed that the children have the universally tested Pagsasarili hardware and software materials in Language, Math, Cultural Arts (Botany, Zoology, History, Geography, Science). They would even wonder why the children want to attend school on Saturdays and Sundays.

About 47 percent do not feel pressured to come up with topics, because they are guided by the Annual and Trimestral Workplan and look forward to join the summer enhancement refresher course because like professionals, they hunger to update their learning for a lifetime commitment.

How public school teachers perceive the Pagsasarili students

Forty public elementary school teachers who are now handling Pagsasarili Preschool graduates observed that these students were both friendly and helpful (94.87 percent), were orderly and exhibited independence and love for work (92.5 percent). Most of the teachers believe that the Pagsasarili Preschool program have taught them to excel well in Language, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science citing how they could easily learn their lessons compared with their counterparts from conventional school. Every school opening, the public school teachers always look forward to having them for they already have the needed skills for Grade I. They actually become teacher’s helpers.