Dr. Reganit re-elected as Philippine Association for Teacher Education (PAFTE) President

The College of Education jointly sponsored the 2008 PAFTE General Assembly held on August 29, 2008 at the Consuelo Madrigal Amphitheater, Ateneo de Naga University. Attended by about a hundred participants from 73 teacher training institutions in the region, Dr. Angelita D. Romero, Academic Vice President of the Philippine Normal University, as keynote speaker discussed Quality Innovations in Teaching and Learning. The conference aimed to: (1) enhance better understanding and knowledge of innovative teaching and learning practices (2) encourage opportunities for adoption and adaptation of innovative teaching and learning methodologies and (3) facilitate networking and exchange of experience among teachers, teacher educators, and policy makers to increase the level of professionalism.

In a business meeting held in the afternoon, Dr. Arnulfo Aaron R. Reganit presented his President’s Report which updated the members on how the Association was able to go through its program, activities, research and advocacies.

Immediately after his election last September 1, 2006, he called for a board meeting to review the by-laws of the association. Amendments were introduced and ratified at the 2007 General Assembly.

For academic year, 2006-2007, training for teachers handling experiential learning courses and student teaching was conducted with the theme: The Challenge of Implementing Experiential Learning Courses in Teacher Education: A Need for Dialogue and Innovation. To spell out the overriding objective of PAFTE to address its priority concern, a conference on Developing Teaching Competencies: Issues and Challenges was held last August 24, 2007.

Student Teachers Congress was held on two occasions held at the University of Saint Anthony and at the Crown Hotel.

The performance of Region V in the Licensure Examination for Teachers over the years is relatively low and there was a variation in passing rates across schools ranging from zero to as high as 80+ percent. To address this problem, PAFTE sponsored a one-day conference with the theme: Raising Standards—Setting Targets: Improving School’s LET Performance with no other than, Dr. Brenda B. Corpuz, OIC of the Board for Professional Teachers.

Considering the moral responsibility of every teacher training institution of providing students quality education, Dr. Reganit appealed on a letter dated March 27 to the DepEd Sec. Jessi Lapus for the inclusion of accreditation in the criteria for hiring applicants for teacher position.

In the consultative meeting with CHED and PRC held on July 25, 2008 at the Universidad de Sta. Isabel, Dr. Reganit strongly opposed that teachers handling general education and major subjects be required to have a license. He believed that teachers with master’s and/or doctorate degrees in their fields are better.