Progress Report of PEN Philippines presented on Sept 11, 2009

Center for Education Access and Development (PEN-Philippines CEAD)

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academics

De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde

Progress Report of PEN-Philippines

Basic Facts

De La Salle Philippines has 17 schools in my country. 11 schools are in Luzon Region. The oldest De La Salle institution in the Philippines is nearing its centennial. College of Saint Benilde or CSB on the other hand is only 22 years old.

11,000 students

Deaf - College: 160+

Deaf – Pre-college: 60

Graduates since 1991: 300+

Employed: 60%

Faculty/Administration: 60+

Deaf Faculty/Administrators: 30+

School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (SDEAS) Program:

1. Bachelor Degree in Applied Deaf Studies Major: Multimedia Arts or Entrepreneurship
2. Deaf Learners’ Preparatory Program

Education: Self-Contained since 1991

Student Development Opportunities: Self-contained under SDEAS and Mainstreamed in the bigger college

At present, SDEAS is one of the six (6) academic schools of DLS-CSB. The others are Schools of Design and Arts, Hotel, Restaurant Institution and Management, Information Management and Technology, Professional and Continuing Education, and Multidisciplinary Studies.

History.

The Deaf program in DLS-CSB began as a vocational training program in bookkeeping in 1991, evolved into the School of Special Studies (SSS) in 1996, and later into School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (SDEAS) in 2002. We became an official member of PEN-International in March, 2002.

PEN-International became a very important partner and mentor of the leaders, faculty partners and students of DLS-CSB SDEAS

The impact of this partnership is primarily focused on how it has helped DLS-CSB SDEAS strengthen its identity and capability in providing quality education, and its position as advocate and partner in advancing the rights of Deaf people within and outside DLS-CSB, in various settings involving Deaf people.

As PEN-International marks its 9^th year of operation, DLS-CSB PEN Philippines celebrates its 8^th year into the partnership.

The Situation in DLS-CSB

When PEN-International became our partner in 2002, the understanding of the universal nature and unique aspect of the Filipino Deaf experience was something that we were just beginning to comprehend. The validity of the socio-cultural identity of the Filipino Deaf and the crucial role of their culture and language in their education was something we believed in and were advocating. However application of the concepts as to how it will define the learning strategies truly responsive to the needs of the Deaf were all gray areas to us.

There were many things that we did not understand in terms of learning & teaching the Deaf, as well as advocacy for partnerships and employment. Our model for teaching was the hearing way that we have been used to and our model for Deaf employment is to advocate their deafness.

Consequently, we had great hesitation to test new ways of doing things. Employment opportunities were very limited. Educational opportunities were very few, even in our own institutions we were faced with many barriers.

As for the changes we were advocating within our own institution, these were faced with resistance, doubt and rejection. Assessment of Deaf students’ rights and appropriate interventions recommended were always in the context of how approximate these were to the traditional way of doing things.

But our mandate as a La Salle School is to create opportunities and to do so is to understand our learners’s needs from which we will find ways to address them But we did not have new models to help us do our job well.

The Impact of the Partnership

It is in this context that the entry of PEN-International and the partnership that has evolved in the last 8 years that truly helped us gain confidence and knowledge to innovate, advocate for, and implement Learner-Centered ways for the benefit of our Deaf students, our hearing partners in DLS-CSB, as well as partners from the industry, media and education. Such partnership transformed all of us to what we are today.

Basic Framework: The key model to capture our development is the basic model used by PEN International: IMPORT-CAPABILITY BUILDING-EXPORT and SELF-SUFFICIENCY.

Import is often the task of PEN-International with localized/custom-fit import initiatives from SDEAS.

Capability Building is the actual development of SDEAS and key partners as a result of the Import initiatives.

EXPORT initiatives are the transformation outcomes of the Capability Building done. Its main recipients are either within the CSB community, DLSP partners, or other external partners with employment, advocacy and faculty training as outcome.

Key Areas

A. Professional Development in the following areas:

1. Advocacy
2. Employment
3. Leadership & Governance
4. Interpreting
   

B. Faculty Development in the following areas:

1. Learning and Teaching
2. Use of Technology for teaching
3. Use of technology in learning output expressed in the form of academic outputs (thesis), portfolio for students’ employment, and advocacy

C. Student Development Areas

1.Application of Learning

2.Leadership

TOWARDS INDIVIDUAL and ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF COMMUNITY and THAT OF OTHERS. The slides will show you the different activities that PEN has helped made possible under the IMPORT for CAPABILITY BUILDING initiatives

We have strengthened our capabilities as a leader-advocate within our institution and in the industry. As a result of these we have done our phase 1 of policy changes and directions in our institutions-

2 new centers –

OPD (for partnership and employment) a leader in advocating Deaf Rights in Employment, Media and Youth Entrepreneurship partnerships. This is under the Academic School.

CEAD (education access and development) is newly created to help set up and create structures, policies and train personnel in CSB and later on in DLSP to make inclusive education for the Deaf possible

Interpreting Policy, Interpreters as Professionals, and Interpreting Education – In our country the professional nature of interpreting is not yet recognized, and in CSB we have given it a professional status equivalent to faculty with academic or industry credentials. Deaf students and faculty have gained more access to LS opportunities through interpreting support in student development, faculty development and any other opportunity available. Educational interpreting training is also being finalized that will involve access of other industry experts to learn the language to become teachers and interpreters. This will give way to more educational opportunities.

Curriculum improvements – creation of Pre-college program for our new students. This has been running since 2006

Faculty Expertise in Deaf Education evolving – Many of our younger faculty from 2002-2006 were recipients of many faculty training from PEN. And they are now our the young leader-administrators of SDEAS applying what they have learned, adapting and evolving unique ways of learning and teaching that benefits the Deaf most through various classroom applications including technology use, mentorship, and training

We have a number of Deaf faculty who belong to that young group and are now pursuing their Masters or have received their Masters’ degrees.

They now serve as members of the pool of experts who assist in the preparation of CSB to have a more inclusive education. We are working with the schools for Hotel, Restaurant Institution and management and the Design and Arts for this project.

The student development opportunities and the PEN-Multimedia and Learning/Teaching laboratory venues have helped not only our faculty to be more creative, but our students have developed extensive tools for the academic requirements that are focused on realities of Deaf experiences.

They have developed various tools, got involved in various leadership initiatives in and outside of CSB, and are now using these to further advance the rights of Deaf people who could not avail of the same opportunities {show CDS}

Deaf Graduates are also coming back to help teach in our college.

Future Directions –

CSB – partial to full inclusive education

DLSP schools to create and improve services to Deaf people

SDEAS – to be a model school and resource center to help other

Strengthen partnerships with the other PEN partners. We know we have much to learn from you in your successes in inclusive education and influencing policies in government to be more responsive to Deaf people.

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This paper was presented in the PEN International Forum from September 11-12, 2009 held in Changchun, Hotel, Changchun, China.