Graciele Joie P.

Reganit
Educator’s Congress Reflection
Four vital topics in education was tackled and extensively discussed during the educator’s
congress. These are inclusion, mother tongue, artificial intelligence, and entrepreneurial
education. There was also a question and answer portion for clarifications.
Personally, the topic of mother tongue based education is what I found most relevant
because it is directed to early childhood education, kindergarten to grade three. Studies have
shown that students learn best through their own languages, because then, they are free to
express their thoughts and they understand what the teacher is saying. This results to active
participation and deeper understanding of the subject matter. But even having said this, there are
also many complications in implementing mother tongue based education in the Philippines. For
instance, there are a lot of languages in the country, that’s why it is difficult to create books that
cater to all languages. Teachers may find it difficult to look for learning materials that are in their
respective language. Aside from that, they wouldn’t be able to teach in a place that they’re
unfamiliar with with regards to language. Although there are many challenges, teachers can still
go the extra mile and make teacher made materials that will be of use to the class.
Inclusion, on the other hand, was clarified by the speaker, because people have varying
notions about it. Inclusive education goes beyond placement in a way that it subscribes to having
no hindrance to education for everyone regardless of their respective background and
capabilities. For me, if being inclusive means having no barriers to education, it doesn’t quite
mean placing a learner with disability in a mainstream classroom, but being able to address
his/her needs. It also means that the teacher will exhaust all means just to make sure that each
student will learn what they need to.
I saw the other two topics, namely entrepreneurial education and artificial intelligence, in
the business light. Artificial intelligence would not, as said by the speaker, replace teachers just
yet; but will enhance the way we teach. Given that I am not into using technology in the early
years of education, I still find artificial intelligence relevant, most especially in the operating the
school. It provides a detailed information in terms of energy or water consumption of the school.
The information will then be a source of information to improve efficiency of the appliances or
materials in schools, and hopefully, save and reduce consumption of energy. Entrepreneurial
education was about giving the students the skills they need, not just to be employees, but to be
employers. But even having said that, it is still important that people learn to be employees
because that’s the starting point, in most cases. And personally, I think those “employee skills”
that they have is essential and beneficial in their personal life.
Being an educator means being knowledgeable of the issues and trends in education. An
educator must learn the basics, the rules so that they will be able to give what is expected from
them in a societal viewpoint; but learn also to go out of their way, bending rules in the name of
quality education.