INNOTECH PARTNERS WITH VOCTECH TO DELIVER PROGRAM ON SCHOOL-COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
In the pursuit of fostering greater partnership and collaboration among SEAMEO Centers, INNOTECH tied up with the Regional Center for Vocational and Technical Education (VOCTECH) to deliver a learning program on creating shared responsibility for educational success through school-community partnerships.
The first collaborative undertaking between the two SEAMEO centers was a practitioner-oriented program designed to enhance the competencies of school leaders and managers on building partnerships and collaboration within the community. The program was divided into three phases. The first phase, which took place from June 27 to 29, provided a perspective of school-community partnerships in the Philippines. This involved school visits to the Concepcion Elementary School in Marikina City, the San Pedro Relocation National High School in the province of Laguna, and the Obando National High School in the province of Bulacan. The visits afforded the training participants an opportunity to network and to interact, as well, with their fellow practitioners. The second phase was an in-house training at SEAMEO INNOTECH from June 30 to July 2 intended to enhance the knowledge and skills of participants on developing successful school-community partnerships. The training included sessions on (1) assessing opportunities and challenges in the education sector; (2) understanding one’s role as leader and manager in school-community partnerships; (3) strategizing for engaging stakeholders; and (4) integrating and enhancing school-community partnership plan. The last phase took place from July 3 to 5 in Brunei Darussalam. Hosted by SEAMEO VOCTECH, this phase of the learning program gave the participants opportunity to benchmark with Brunei’s experience on school-community partnerships. All the learning and insights gained from the program are expected to be translated into individual action plans on how to enhance school-community partnerships, with the end view of integrating these eventually to the participants’ respective school improvement plans.
