Learning to develop a responsive professional development plan for ISAL teachers
Learning and development (L&D) may have been a buzzword among many organizations, but for Mr. Mohtar Salik, senior education program specialist at the Bangsamoro Directorate General for Madaris Education (DGME), L&D holds a deeper meaning now for DGME education leaders after undergoing a series of L&D capacitation activities from RCTQ.
Mr. Salik shared that the training activities under RCTQ’s partnership with the Education Pathways to Peace in Mindanao (Pathways) program equipped him with skills and confidence to develop professional development programs for more than 5,000 Islamic Studies and Arabic Language (ISAL) teachers under the DGME jurisdiction.
After undergoing the three-day Capacity Building on the L&D Professional Development Program Planning on 17-19 May 2023, Mr. Salik and other DGME L&D focals received another training on L&D Program Designing on May 30 to 1 June 2023 in Cotabato City. Both workshops were facilitated by RCTQ L&D expert Dr. Twila Punsalan.
“What struck me the most from these L&D activities was the importance of developing a professional development plan that is truly responsive to the needs of our ISAL teachers,” Mr. Salik said. “RCTQ taught us how all parts of the plan should be aligned, and each component should be linked to the objective/s.”
Mr. Salik added: “We have also learned to not just come up with any activities for in-service training but to ensure that they are backed by evidence and aligned with the prioritized needs. In this case, we have the analysis from our needs assessment to inform our priorities.”
A case in point, he said, was when the needs assessment findings revealed the need for socio-emotional learning among ISAL teachers, this automatically informed their professional development priorities.
“I believe that a quality learner is a product of a quality teacher; and a quality teacher is a product of a quality instruction. This partnership between RCTQ and Pathways is helping us improve the quality of our instruction across the Bangsamoro region,” he said. “This will then translate to improved outcomes for Bangsamoro children.”
At the training on program designing, participants were capacitated on the guidelines on needs assessment, professional development planning and designing, designing processes and monitoring & evaluation tools, integrating feedback, trialing the designing system, and critiquing of professional development program designs.
Mr. Salik is part of the Learning & Development (L&D) Composite Specialist Group (CSG) that was formed under the 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 (𝘓𝘙) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 (𝘓&𝘋) 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘛𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘩 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 project supported by the Australian government and the Bangsamoro government through Pathways. It is implemented by RCTQ and the SiMERR National Research Centre. (RCTQ Comms)
https://www.rctq.ph/?p=4427FeatureLearning and Development,MBHTE,Pathways program
