TESDA Gears Up With International Standards This Year

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), under the leadership of Secretary and Director General Irene Isaac, is gearing up with international standards this year.

In an interview with the Philippines News Agency, Rosanna Urdaneta, deputy director general for Policies and Planning, revealed TESDA’s priorities and plans for 2016.

For the first quarter, TESDA is trying to come up with programs dedicated on higher learning applications.

“Our Secretary is very keen into the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF),” Urdaneta said.

She said that the PQF is currently being pilot-tested together with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Education (DepEd), since TESDA, CHED and DepEd are the three pillars in education.

Using the PQF, Urdaneta cited that if a student wants to take up agricultural engineering, for instance, they could already inform the student about the available programs he might want to undergo first.

“For example, the student might want to take Technical-Vocational Education and Training (TVET) first until he becomes an agricultural engineer,” she explained.

TVET is the education or training process where it involves, in addition to general education, the study of technologies and related sciences, and acquisition of practical skills relating to occupations in various sectors of economic life and social life. It comprises formal (organized programs as part of the school system) and non-formal (organized classes outside the school system) approaches.

Speaking of education, TESDA is currently working on its curriculum based on the 21st Century Skills (P21).

Urdaneta said that other countries have what they call “Higher Order of Thinking,” where they focus on critical and collaborative processes, and also on teamwork.

With P21, which is defined as the set of abilities students need to develop to succeed in the information age, Urdaneta said the right attitude and knowledge requirements of students if they will work in a team environment can be identified.

“It’s important that that we are in-sync with international standards. We are now dealing with it,” Urdaneta noted, and added that they have tapped some international experts to sit with them and come up with a framework on how they could make their curriculum incorporating the P21.

Also, TESDA is trying to beef up its training centers.

According to Urdaneta, using the Star Rating System, they evaluated the 23 TESDA Centers for Excellence.

“We evaluated them to determine what levels are they in right now, because those that can already be accredited internationally, we will include them in international accreditation,” she said.

She added: “We’re bolstering them (centers) now, maybe from January to second/third quarter, so that they will be ready for international accreditation by next year.”

With regard to scholarships, Urdaneta said they’re now in the process of consolidating programs, and cited that Isaac is now approving programs for Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP), Special Training for Employment Program (STEP) and Private Education Student Financial Assistance (PESFA).

STEP is a community-based specialty training program that seeks to address the specific needs of the communities and promote employment, particularly through entrepreneurial, self-employment and service-oriented activities.

PESFA, on the other hand, is a key program of TESDA which aims to extend financial assistance to marginalized but deserving students in tech-voc courses, and to assist private institutions in their development efforts by assuring a steady supply of enrollees to their course offerings.

PESFA grantees are entitled to free training cost, training and book allowances and free competency assessment after graduation.

“Being an authority, TESDA is supposed to trail-blaze and tell the private sector that this is the way we have to run our programs,” she uttered.

Between the third and fourth quarters, meanwhile, TESDA will work on the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) plan.

“We would work really well on international commitments, developments between the third and fourth quarters,” Urdaneta said. (PNA) SCS/MCCA