San Juan teachers embrace PDET to champion children’s rights in classroom discipline

The SDO San Juan City, through its Curriculum Implementation Division (CID), conducted a webinar on Positive Discipline in Everyday Teaching (PDET) last March 10-12, 2021 from 1:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon through the Google Meet platform. It aimed to support teachers in deepening their skills and confidence in using the principles of positive discipline in their respective classes. Likewise, the activity elaborated on the impact of violence as manifested in certain discipline styles commonly observed and deliberated on some key actions that could help facilitate the use of PDET as the preferred choice of disciplinary measures. The participants included all the 451 public elementary and secondary school teachers together with the 13 school heads and all the CID personnel as well as the key officials of the division headed by the OIC-Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Cecille G. Carandang.

Mr. Roland P. del Rosario, a known advocate of PDET, served as the first speaker who talked about the fundamental facts about Positive Discipline as part of the introduction. He premised his session on the historical experiences of teaching from pre-pandemic and how positive discipline stays relevant up to this day. He cited legal bases and situations that highlighted the rights that should be afforded to all kinds of children relative to their development and effective teaching. Likewise, he illustrated the PDET model connecting it to brain research and the challenges that teachers face in the midst of distance education to support Session 2: Identifying Long-term Goals. He invited teachers to look at the bigger picture and situate themselves on how to contribute in the character formation and values development of children in their everyday learning.

The second day featured Dr. Emma A. Sendiong who discussed about Warmth and Structure that helped teachers reflect on the kind of social-emotional climate they create in their classes. Understanding this topic required careful reflection on the teachers’ practices and their intent to work out on their own relational status with their students in order to assess how much of the warmth and structure are they willing to commit given the circumstances they are in. Ms. Maria Anthonette H. Salvador and Ms. Maria Rosemarie Annie F. Mate carried on the second half of the day’s session which dealt with actual scenarios that showed the effective implementation of PDET principles.

The last day featured Pastor Sam Sumaoang who articulated key insights on spirituality and how it relates to effective teaching particularly in the area of discipline. He explained this with powerful images and texts richly contextualized by relatable stories from the field. He talked about neuroscience evidence on the effect of stress and negativity which might be dominating the classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His session primarily focused on the principles of spiritual intelligence which the participants could identify as the conversations centered on practical application of spiritual maturity in their daily actions.

In closing, the activity provided a venue to share experiences and promote the advocacy of positive discipline among the teachers. The deepening of one’s understanding doesn’t really happen at the end of each powerful session but in the mindful application of the learning gained from the resource speakers. It is hoped that as the teachers go back to their respective classes, they bring with them the framework that champion’s the rights and welfare of the Filipino children assigned to their care as they face the cognitive demands of learning in the remote instruction modality.

Article Written by:

Marnelli B. Tolentino

Education Program Supervisor in English