BEST Program 2013-2019

BEST Program 2013-2019 A partnership between the governments of Australia and the Philippines from 2013 until 2019

BEST was a six-year (2013-2019) joint undertaking between the governments of the Philippines and Australia that aimed to ensure the improvement of quality, access and governance in basic education. The program’s goal was for Filipino learners to develop competencies and skills to make an increased contribution to economic growth and stability in the Philippines. BEST was a DepEd program supported

by a managing contractor, Cardno Emerging Markets, and implementing partners in the sector including Commission on Higher
Education (CHED), Assessment Curriculum and Technology Research Centre (ACTRC) Research Centre for Teacher Quality (RCTQ) Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) and Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP). BEST was nationwide in scope with six (6) regions targeted for focused interventions. The program recognized and responded to the needs of a complex education system operating in a country with challenging geography and diverse local cultures. These regions were representative of the diverse challenges facing the country’s education sector:

� National Capital Region (NCR)
�� Region V – Bicol Region
�� Region VI – Western Visayas
�� Region VII – Central Visayas
�� Region VIII – Eastern Visayas
�� Region X – Northern Mindanao

19/06/2019

When schools re-opened this month, the enrolment of some 27 million learners in their respective schools was aided by the use of the BEST-supported Learner Information System (LIS).

LIS is an online registry of formal and non-formal learners in the Philippine basic education system including those enrolled in private schools, senior high schools, Philippine schools abroad, and the Alternative Learning System (ALS).

LIS helps DepEd identify individually a growing number of learners: where they are, who fall in and out of the system, and how they are progressing.

Watch how the system is transforming the Department of Education, and how it makes life easier for our schools and their learners.

19/06/2019

Allan Mesoga, a blind copyreader at the Bureau of Learning Resources (BLR), shares how the BEST Program upgraded their skills in producing materials that would make learning more exciting for visually-impaired learners or those with low vision.

In 2018, BEST helped the BLR produce a total of 272 tactile images for 7 learning areas to be used by visually impaired learners in Grades 1 to 10. BEST donated equipment and software that would help the BLR and all DepEd regions produce more learning materials including a Victor Reader Stream on which audiobooks are played; Victor Embosser; Swell-Form machine that converts illustrations, maps, and charts to tactile images; and a CorelDraw software.

18/06/2019

In the National Capital Region, BEST supported a transformative project called Each Class, Every Student in School Succeeds (ECESiS) in partnership with the DepEd NCR. This was in addition to the region's participation in a range of the Program's national activities.

ECESiS sought to prevent students from dropping out of school, and encouraged out-of-school youths to enrol in alternative learning programs in the divisions with the highest dropout rates (Quezon City, City of Manila and Caloocan City).

John Kyle Romero and Adrian Nadonga, both senior high school students from Manuel Luis Quezon High School in Manila, were among the 471 learners brought back to school during the five months of ECESiS implementation (locally known in the Division of Manila as Project Smile).

17/06/2019

Public school teachers will soon have better strategies for teaching Mathematics, Languages, and Science after BEST helped DepEd develop an integrated program of continuous professional development for in-service teachers in Math, Science, English and Filipino through the Pedagogical Retooling In Mathematics, Languages, and Science (PRIMALS).

In partnership with the Teaching and Learning Division of DepEd's Bureau of Learning Delivery, BEST trained Early Language, Literacy and Numeracy (ELLN) Coordinators, Division Education Program Supervisors, Public Schools District Supervisors (PSDS), School Heads and select teachers in Math, English, Filipino, and Science who, in turn, trained teachers at the district and school levels on PRIMALS.

BEST helped develop Learning Action Cell (LAC) resources, and a compendium of materials for teaching text types in English and Filipino, for PRIMALS Grades 4 to 6 and Grades 7 to 10.

Naga City-based Ateneo de Naga University is helping the University of Saint Anthony in neighboring Iriga City make its ...
09/06/2019

Naga City-based Ateneo de Naga University is helping the University of Saint Anthony in neighboring Iriga City make its teacher education curriculum more responsive and relevant to current basic education reforms.

Under the BEST Program and in partnership with the Research Center for Teacher Quality (RCTQ), 32 universities including the Ateneo de Naga University which are Centers of Excellence/Centers of Development (COEs/CODs) in Teacher Education have reviewed and revised their respective teacher education programs after being trained on Outcome-based Pre-Service Teacher Education Curriculum Quality Audit (CQA).

Owing to their responsibilities as COEs/CODs, these universities are now rolling out the same CQA technology to other teacher education institutions (TEIs) in their areas to achieve more inclusive results.

Through the CQA process, universities learned to revise and align their respective teacher education curricula with the new teacher quality standards triggered by the K to 12 education reform and as set out in the newly-adopted Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST).



[Photos by Paolo Jose Silang, AdNU]

06/06/2019

Under the BEST Program, Australian and Philippine Universities came together to establish high-quality research institutes to provide evidence and technical advice to DepEd on priority reforms. Set up in 2013 were the Research Center for Teacher Quality PH (RCTQ), a partnership by the University of New England, AU and the Philippine Normal University; and the Assessment, Curriculum & Technology Research Centre (ACTRC), a partnership between the University of the Philippines and The University of Melbourne.

To date, the two research centers have been instrumental in supporting DepEd develop a number of significant policies in curriculum, assessment and teacher quality, and will continue to do so even after the conclusion of the Program.

06/06/2019

Ana Marie Sala grew up wanting to become a teacher. As she was studying for her Bachelor of Elementary Education at the Cebu Normal University, she was on the verge of quitting her studies because of financial problems. The Scholarships for Teacher Education Programs to Upgrade Teacher Quality in the Philippines (STEP UP), implemented by the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) under the BEST Program, provided an opportunity for her to continue her degree. Today, she is a licensed teacher and has been teaching at San Roque College de Cebu in Cebu City since 2017.

Since 2015, a total of 981 high-performing high school graduates, college students and graduates have been recruited into the teaching profession under STEP UP.

STEP UP scholars registered a 99 percent passing rate in the recent licensure examination for teachers.

06/06/2019

BEST supported the development and publication of a handbook for implementers of Alternative Learning System - Education and Skills Training (ALS-EST) which DepEd launched this week. It will help implementers "navigate the ALS-EST program, progress intuitively, and help each learner have a satisfying experience."

ALS-EST is a complementary program to the mainstream ALS, the parallel learning system in the Philippines that provides a practical option to the existing formal instruction. It aims to holistically prepare learners for various exits, such as higher education, middle-level skills development, entrepreneurship, and employment by integrating a skills training component with the basic education component.

Click to read more:
http://www.deped.gov.ph/2019/06/04/deped-launches-als-est-handbook/

More photos from the BEST Formal Closing Ceremony last week including the keynote speeches of DepEd Undersecretary Nepo ...
04/06/2019

More photos from the BEST Formal Closing Ceremony last week including the keynote speeches of DepEd Undersecretary Nepo Malaluan and Australian Embassy Deputy Head of Mission Mat Kimberly; signing of the Deed of Donation and Ceremonial Handover of BEST materials to DepEd; and panel discussions on Teaching and Learning, Strengthening Systems, and BEST Achievements in the Regions.

The ceremony was hosted by BEST Team Leader Dr. Alison Atwell and Deputy Team Leader Hazel Aniceto.

Photos from the final joint meeting of the BEST Program Steering Committee (PSC) and the Program Management Committee (...
04/06/2019

Photos from the final joint meeting of the BEST Program Steering Committee (PSC) and the Program Management Committee (PMC) on May 28. Both committees provided policy guidance, strategic directions, and operational guidance to BEST for the last six years.

The Program gains, lessons learned, and the ways that BEST initiatives will be sustained were reported and discussed at this meeting.

BEST was designed as a national program with extensive support and contextualized packages of activities for six regions...
31/05/2019

BEST was designed as a national program with extensive support and contextualized packages of activities for six regions.

DepEd Regions 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and NCR joined us this week at the BEST Program Formal Closing Ceremony to showcase results of Program interventions in their local settings.

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