Ateneo and EDCOM 2 join forces, names 16 distinguished fellows for education policy research

PHILIPPINES, September 26 - Press Release
September 26, 2024

Ateneo and EDCOM 2 join forces, names 16 distinguished fellows for education policy research

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) has awarded on September 25 the research grantees of the Ateneo-EDCOM 2 Research Fellowship. The program brings together 16 distinguished scholars from universities all over the country, to help EDCOM address critical challenges facing the Philippine education sector.

The 16 awarded fellows will conduct in-depth studies on priority areas, ranging from early childhood education to higher education, teacher development, and industry involvement in skills training, in support of EDCOM 2's mandate to assess and reform the country's educational system.

"We are very excited to be EDCOM's conduit that would help them conduct these very important research projects in reforming and transforming Philippine education," said Fr. Bobby Yap, President of the Ateneo de Manila University in his welcome message.

The researchers come not only from Ateneo de Manila University, but also from the top schools around the country, namely: University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle University, Philippine Normal University, Cavite State University, Eastern Visayas State University, and Batangas State University.

From early childhood to the workforce

Dr. Ma. Josephine Therese Emily G. Teves will study on the supply-side challenges in Early-Childhood Education, particularly the availability of critical learning materials and resources, such as songs, apps, books, and TV shows, examining their respective contributions to learning outcomes. Her study aims to shed light on effective strategies for leveraging alternative resources in ECCD to promote holistic child development.

Dr. Genejane M. Adarlo's study seeks to characterize the Filipino family in the context of labor migration, describe the degree and forms of involvement of migrant parents in the education of their left-behind children, and examine the effects of parental migration on their well-being and educational outcomes The findings of this study can help formulate policies and strategies to support the educational and non-educational needs of left-behind children.

In higher education, Dr. Anne Lan K. Candelaria will focus on reforming graduate education to ensure students are prepared for global research and innovation challenges. Dr. Marilyn U. Balagtas will lead research on aligning teacher education programs across CHED, PRC, and DepEd, ensuring that future educators are trained and certified according to the evolving needs of the sector.

Teacher development will also be a key focus area. Dr. Rosalyn G. Mirasol's study seeks to understand how to encourage more students to enter the teaching profession. Dr. Gerry B. de Cadiz, EnP will lead efforts to address gaps in professional development programs for teachers and school leaders, examining interventions focused on enhancing the competencies of educators and leaders, ensuring continuous professional growth, and creating supportive environments for both teaching and leadership.

One of the fellows, Dr. Victor S. Rosales, brings significant expertise in the field of technical and vocational education. With extensive experience as a teacher and a certified trainer and competency assessor under TESDA, Rosales will focus on the quality in the provision of TVET courses to ensure better jobs. His study will attempt to identify the critical factors of quality training in TVET, how to address existing gaps in quality trainers and assessors, and, ultimately, how to improve the quality of training and assessment in TET programs.

"The research you are doing is so critical to the work we are currently doing. In our work in EDCOM, malinaw yung kahalagahan ng research. Simula pa lang, malinaw sa batas ng EDCOM na we won't rush into solutions without having the empirical evidence to provide the nuance and the direction to all these policies," said EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee in congratulating the fellows.