Many teachers nowadays suffer from what we call “change phobia.” Change phobia is an unhealthy fear of change in the ways teachers teach lessons and create activities to provide more learning for their pupils. As teachers, we can’t avoid the fact that we are sometimes “change phobics” because we are afraid to try new ways and ideas to improve ourselves to reach our maximum potentials as educators and to make our pupils learn. But as “winds of change sweep schools,” teachers must be exceptionally capable to overcome the intense wind and stand firmly for the improvement of their teaching practices, consequently, for the development of their young learners.
What are these changes or should we say challenges teachers encounter during their professional growth? One of the major changes which most of the teachers must courageously envision and explore is the continuous advancement of technology and its contribution to education. Nowadays, technology plays an important role in the field of education. Computer literacy is an essential and beneficial addition to the advancement of the teaching methods and strategies. However, educators must not resist change but instead optimize the power of technology to make quality education accessible to as many learners anytime, anywhere. Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said that more than the limited resources, the resistance to change is the main obstacle in taking full advantage of technology in Philippine education. “Our fear for change prevents us from moving forward. It limits us to the same solutions – solutions that have not given us the desired output we so desperately need at this critical hour,” Lapus noted.
DepEd is currently expanding the reach of Information and Communications Technology in public schools to enable Filipino teachers and students to face the challenges in the Age of Technology and to make quality education easily accessible to as many learners as possible. According to Secretary Lapus, DepEd will continue to make ICT as a tool available to the teachers but we recognize that this will not teach our children. It is us dear teachers, who will continue to teach and impart learning. And therefore, we must be fully-equipped and up to the task. We must harness the full potential of technology to improve learning outcomes. It is there for the taking. We must grab it and bravely face the “change phobia.”
By: MS. VIVIAN S. PIZARRO | Orion Elementary School, Orion, Bataan
