"EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY:

THE CHALLENGES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS IN THE PHILIPPINE

EDUCATION SYSTEM"
Melchor Ga-ayon Dullao

The vast advancement and expansion of technology in the 21st

century has significant impact in the field of education. Advanced technology
equipment serves as a tool for teachers in delivering their lessons inorder to
meet the needs and to keep up with the demand of 21st century learners.
Presently, the Philippine educational system is multifaceted by several
issues that need to be addressed in order to improve the quality and
accessibility of educations to all learners.
To provide quality education to all students is the most important
mission of every educational institution. However, with the multifarious
problems facing the public schools, its delivery is hindered. Reality tells us
that even if the public school teachers are qualified to teach, the lack of
instructional materials, inadequate facilities and lack of training for
professional growth hindered them to perform at their best. In addition
many teachers do not yet possess the skills necessary to be successful in
facilitating 21st century learning. One of the many factors is the lack of
technology training. Too often, teachers have not been provided with the
necessary technology skills to create a modern learning environment.

Teachers not only need to understand how to use technology in their

teaching, rather they need to understand how to help students use
technology to help guide their own learning. Teachers need to provide
students with the tools to learn both within and outside the classroom.

It is sad to note that with teachers reaching up to sixty pupils and

students in a classroom, the learning environment is distorted. Curriculum
changed and evolve, new teaching methodologies, approaches and
strategies are developed to reach this students from this generation, which
spends as much time stimulated by digital media as it does in school.
Today’s students are fundamentally different than those of even a
decade ago. The students we see in the classroom today are digitally
engaged; they have grown up with technology around them rather than
being forced to learn the technology later in life . Children raised on a diet of
new technologies are less willing to fill out worksheets and listen to lectures
patiently. Technology,especially social media is one of the primary ways in
which students communicate. If teachers do not fully understand how to
apply these technologies in their teaching, they will not have the basic tools
to communicate with their students. Simply put, without the tools of
communication, teachers will be unable to communicate with their digital
native students.
Support for use of technology is crucial. Teachers typically lack support
and in-service and preservice training on how to effectively integrate
technology into lessons and to use it for teacher and student collaborations.
And educators are often reticent to “allow” technology to be broadly used for
fear of inappropriate use (a genuine concern but one that has been
discussed for over a decade); concern about creating increased opportunities
for students to cheat on tests (more easily done when there is only one
correct answer); and encouraging off-task use and technology, which is
often seen by educators as a distraction from learning. Equally important,
there may be a deep underlying belief among educators that technology
tools are useful only in certain contexts for certain students or not at
all.Whatever the case, it is no longer a question of “whether” but rather
“how” to incorporate and leverage the use of technology and digital tools to
boost learning inside our K-12 classrooms. Technology has the potential to
be the great equalizer as long as all students have access (both inside and
outside school time) to these tools. And it is not just about having a
smartphone.
Devices such as tablets and laptops in all their shapes and sizes
provide students opportunities to organize their notes and assignments,
explore interests, communicate with their teachers and peers, prepare
presentations, work together on projects and connect with experts. We need
to ensure that teachers are provided support and training so that they know
how to integrate students’ use of technology into their classrooms and
create a student-centric learning environment. Until teachers and
administrators are convinced that technology can be a help not a hindrance
to learning, the shift will not happen.
The teacher is the key to students successfully using technology as a
learning and problem-solving tool. Students thrive when the teacher requires
students to use technology not only for researching and writing but also to
solve problems, work collaboratively and develop creativity (Rasmussen
2015).
With new technologies available to observe classrooms and study
student engagement, educators and the community at large can look more
closely at the extent to which they are using technology more effectively for
learning and to explore ways to increase student engagement, enhance
curriculum relevance and interact with students in different ways. When
students are genuinely engaged in their learning around topics that connect
to their lives and interest them, they are much less inclined to engage in off-
task behaviors with or without access to technology. It is when students lose
them-selves in their learning that we have accomplished what we set out to
do for them in the first place.
It is now a wakeup call to our government and every future teacher
that there is a need for a change as we move on to the 21st century.
Teachers as implanter of curriculum.
 The government should provide all the necessary needs of every
teacher from trainings, instructional materials that include books, electronic
devices inorder to cope up the needs of the learner and to respond to the
current trens of education and to meet the needs of ASEAN integration.

Gone are the days we are in traditional way. There is no such best
strategy but there is an effective and appropriate one in order to meet the
needs of the students, to create a more effective, meaningful and interactive
environment.

Change…there will be no more as days go by. Teachers must be an

active instrument of it so that the teaching –learning environment will
improve.