“The State shall establish, maintain and support a complete, adequate and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of the people and society” – Article XIV, Section 2(1); 1987 Philippine Constitution
When I was taking up my course, Bachelor of Secondary Education, for four years, I was able to finish 51 units for Professional Education Subjects, 78 units for major subject, which is Araling Panlipuan, and 62 units for the minor subjects before taking up Licensure Examinations for Teachers. One of the subjects on the Professional Education, which is “Principles and Methods of Teaching”, taught me one thing I will not forget as a teacher. It is that, the fundamental elements of teaching are the teacher, the learner and the learning environment.
I have learned that if one of these elements would be compromised, the teaching and the learning process will not be successful.
This point out that the quality of the classroom really matters in the learning process though it is often ignored in Philippine setting.
According to specialists in education, for education in school to be effective, the learning environment should be conducive to the students. There is even a prescription that should be strictly followed to facilitate the teaching and learning process.
In meeting this prescription, experts in education share tangible and intangible instruments of learning environment that the teachers strike to aid them in the teaching and learning process. These include the physical element and the social atmosphere that complement each other.
The blackboards, chairs, furniture, windows, and lighting refer to the physical environment while the social interaction between the teacher and the learners is what social atmosphere is all about.
A doctor of education had said that the blackboard as the most common visual aid should be large enough for the teacher and the learners to use and for the audience to see and its position should be where the students will not face the lights.
If you are thinking that, you can even freely post bulletin boards and other visual aids such as charts, posters and mock-ups anywhere in the classroom, drop that idea because according to experts, it is unscientific.
The armchairs also affect the learner as well. Most of armchairs are purposely made for right-handed students. For this reason, a dilemma emerges in the part of left-handed students. The left shoulder of a left-handed person blocks the light that comes from the left. Teachers must control glaring lights that can cause eyestrain to the students.
Even the windows influence the teaching and learning process. The location and size of the windows should give priority as well for it affects the lighting and temperature inside the room.
On the other hand, the social atmosphere refers to the professional relationship between the teacher and the learners and the learner among themselves.
Certainly, the personality of the teacher, her classroom management and sense of leadership influence the mood of social atmosphere.
For example, a traditional or a disciplinarian teacher may create a social atmosphere that promotes fear and punishment as his way of motivating the students to learn while a progressivist teacher may set an atmosphere where a learner will be given options how to learn a certain lesson and they will be guided by the teacher. This is said to be student-centered approach of teaching.
As we speak of the quality we are far left behind by other developing countries in Asia. According to recent comparative data on the pre-university education in Asia, among the 12 developing countries as Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Malaysia only the Philippines remains to have 10 years basic education. The rest had at least 11 or 12 years. Thus, our lawmakers and even President Aquino called for an educational revision. That is why K to 12 curriculum emerged.
Qualitative and quantitative problems unswervingly affect the learning environment both physically and socially.
We may have competitive teachers in the field and attentive learners but there should be no compromise on the learning environment as one of the elements of learning process. I believe that all Filipinos not only few deserves a conducive learning environment.
To solve this predicament, the department of Education, after having been granted budget by the government will be constructing an estimated number of 66,000 classrooms and hiring 100,000 teachers nationwide by 2014 as part of implementing the K to 12 curriculum. The new curriculum is considered a big step in addressing our nation’s concern in terms of education.
By: Conrado P. Refuerzo | Teacher I | JEAG MHS | Orion, Bataan
