SPUP is Delivering HEI of CHED’s Developing Global Filipino Teachers Program

by Jeremy Godofredo Morales, PhD

St. Paul University Philippines (SPUP) is a delivering Higher Education Institution (HEI), together with the Philippine Normal University (PNU) – Manila and Cebu Normal University (CNU), of the Developing Global Filipino Teachers Program. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) virtually launched this program on October 23, 2020 through a Signing Ceremony of the Memorandum of Cooperation between CHED and the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The said event was participated in by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Honorable Teodoro Locsin, Jr, CHED Chairman J. Prospero de Vera III, Charge de Affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh, Honorable Myca Magnolia Fischer and CHED OIC Executive Director Atty. Lily Freida Milla, while the Presidents and representatives of SPUP, PNU, and CNU attended as witnesses to the ceremony.

The said program, to be delivered by the three Centers of Excellence in Teacher Education, seeks to pilot an education and training to equip, capacitate and enhance competencies of Filipino teachers abroad through a Certificate in Teaching, Master’s Degree, or Certificate of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, to qualify them for better teaching career positions as well as in fulfilling the Philippine Government’s thrust in bringing services closer to Filipinos all over the globe. This will elevate the level of Filipino teachers as truly Global Filipino Teachers who are competent and reflective practitioners in an intercultural and diverse environment.

It is noteworthy that SPUP had been delivering the Certificate Program for Non-Specialist Teachers which transitioned into Global Teacher Education Certificate Program to qualify Filipino teachers to take the Licensure Examination for Teachers. SPUP will likewise deliver its GTEC program in fulfillment of this CHED program. With the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, the Developing Global Filipino Teachers program has become an even more important component in ensuring the transition of overseas Filipino teachers to a new normal.