ON September 30 REX Book Store and Miriam College signed a memorandum of agreement, which cemented the foundation of The Teachers’ Press.
Touted as the press by teachers, for teachers, REX Book Store and Miriam College decided to combine their expertise in transforming the landscape of Philippine education. The Teachers’ Press is the Philippines’s first comprehensive publication house solely dedicated to the production of both traditional and emerging professional teacher-education training and development resources.
At the launch held at The Manila Hotel, COO of REX Book Store Inc., Don Timothy I. Buhain said the vision of REX is continuously evolving. This iterative revisioning is rooted in their greater advocacy, Para sa Bata, which is premised on the whole-child philosophy.
“We are committed to provide a complete learning solution for the Filipino Whole Child, and a partnership program for the Whole School, Whole Teacher, Whole Parents, Whole Community, that nurtures the Whole Child. As it takes a village to raise a child, collaborative and collective work among key players in the education industry is indispensable,” Buhain said. “That is why we take pride in sharing this vision with Miriam College, a center of excellence in teacher education, designated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Both institutions have heard and stood to answer to a higher calling to provide a meaningful and remarkable contribution to the education sector and the nation it serves.”
A total of 10 out of the 74 national centers of development and excellence in teacher education were selected for the initial stage of the project. The University of the Philippines (Diliman), the Philippine Normal University (the National Center for Teacher Education), West Visayas State University (Iloilo), the University of Southeastern Philippines (Davao), Mindanao State University Iligan Institute of Technology (Iligan City), Angeles University Foundation (Pampanga), Saint Paul University, Philippines (Tugegarao), Saint Louis University (Baguio), De La Salle University and Miriam College.
Dr. Edizon Fermin, director for Innovation Development of Miriam College, presented the plans for the first title of the Teachers’ Press. The series “InnovNation” features essays on innovative delivery of teacher-education programs set to be released by December this year. The volume aims to capture perspectives on innovation in Philippine teacher education. The collaboration will eventually involve professional teaching organizations such as the Philippine Association for Teachers and Educators, State Universities and Colleges Teacher Educators’ Association, and Philippine Association for Teachers of Educational Foundation—United Professionals for the Development and Advancement of Teacher Education.
“The Teachers’ Press is made by teachers for teachers. That alone is a revolutionary approach to how we see pedagogical, craft and procedural knowledge about teaching being brought out in the open. Here you see teachers collaborating with each other to identify the best practices that happen in the field,” Dr. Fermin said. “Let’s write about those practices by telling people the very outcome that those practices have generated. So what you consume in The Teachers’ Press are actually outcomes of outstanding practices in teaching and learning, and what better way to teach outcomes-based education than by consuming exactly what those outcomes are like from the vantage point of the very persons who manage the teaching and learning process.”
Present during the event was Dr. Marivic Irriberi, chief of the Office of Program Standards Development of the CHED central office. Their office is responsible for the evaluation of teacher-education institutions (TEIs) to qualify as centers of development or excellence.
“In behalf of the Commission on Higher Education, we commend this project, spearheaded by Miriam College on coming up with this research output project/publication of selected centers of excellence in teacher education. As we all know, Miriam College is one the institutions granted autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education, and it’s Teacher Education Program is designated by [the] CHED as a center of excellence,” Dr. Irriberi said. “We hope that Miriam College will come up with more publications so that this will also help capacitate our other higher-education institutions, especially with regard to the coming up or producing good research outputs, which are really worthy of publication.”
Dr. Marie Therese Bustos, dean of the College of Education of the UP Diliman, said they have been looking for resources, especially Philippine made resources that would support activities in the classroom and within the field. They have always had to depend on foreign books as reference, and this endeavor would pave the way for the production of comprehensive textbooks that would support professors in the field relating to the Filipino child.
This would be in line with Dr. Fermin’s call to “glocalize” Philippine teacher-education. He explained that this process covers the documentation of practices done by Filipino teacher-educators to compete and adapt to the changes happening in education at a global scale.
“The fact of the matter is, the world is looking at Filipino teachers as really world-class teachers. They know how to adjust instruction at any given time. So maybe, by glocalizing our approach to the documentation of practices done by Filipino teachers through The Teachers’ Press, we may be able to tell the rest of the world, ‘Well here are the local teachers of the Philippines actually telling the whole world this is how good we are’…so the Teacher’s Press will be the voice of the Filipino teachers telling the rest of the world, ‘hey, you’ve got to watch out for Filipino teachers, because they do more,’” Dr. Fermin said.
The event also highlighted the unveiling of The Teachers’ Press logo, whose meaning behind was explained by Jeanne Marie Tordesillas, REX managing director. The logo consisted of an owl, which embodies the teacher, and represents wisdom. Behind it is a two-toned circle symbolizing the sun and the moon, awareness in the superconscious mind, and awareness in the subconscious mind. Together, they represent heightened awareness, which begins with the use of undivided attention with purpose.
Beneath the circle is a stack of books representing publishing, sharing of learnings and ideas and epitomizes the pipeline of ideas and branches of energies. Collectively, the whole picture looks like a light bulb, which represent concepts of innovation, learnings, insights and discoveries. Last, the green leaves depict truth, hope, renewal, revival and growth. The leaves are from the Upas tree where the Philippine owl is usually seen perching on. This represents exemplary research and knowledge generation.