The Tao Project (Teacher Amelioration for Optimum Welfare)

Author : Priscilla Cabanatan
Date added : 1999-12-10

Brief Project Background

Results

I would like to share with you some information about an exciting project, the TAO Project, that we have been conducting at SEAMEO Innotech. Just for background purposes, Innotech is the Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization. We aim to help SEAMEO member countries, as well as nonmember states, identify and solve common or unique educational problems though innovation and technology. We serve: Brunei Darussalam Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Nonmember countries served include: Bangladesh, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and Tanzania.

GOALS OF THE TAO PROJECT

Project TAO (Teacher Amelioration for Optimum Welfare) is an on-going project in the Philippines. Run as a cooperative effort between the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), SEAMEO Innotech, the Philippine Senate, as well as all teachers and schools in country, TAO is working to improve education by improving teacher welfare. (TAO is a nice acronym for the project, as "tao" means "person" in Tagalog.) The Senate of the Philippines felt that priority for funds should be for teachers, the rationale being that if teachers are cared for, they will be better able to care for the students. TAO is therefore setting up a database of all teachers in-country, approximately 500,000 people. The data will be analyzed and the teachers' needs will be identified. The data will be used to support required legislative changes in the Philippine Senate.

TAO PROJECT ACTIVITIES

The TAO project is divided into two phases. In Phase One, a questionnaire was formulated in consultation with the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS). This was fielded to all schools and, through the school principals, all teachers were asked to provide personal and professional information. (There are approximately 500,000 teachers in 146 divisions across the Philippines). The questionnaire also asked principals to provide school information. We had an absolutely outstanding return rate of 92% on the questionnaires. The information we collected was analyzed to generate teacher, school and division profiles. At the same time, meetings were held with division and regional planning officers to orient them on computer basics and the project.

In Phase Two: Each division and regional office will be provided with a computer for the project. Staff will be trained on Computer skills and on how to use project data in formulating teacher welfare and development programs. Thus, we will be able to get input of both data, and insights about current conditions and needs, from the local areas. In addition, the division and regional offices will build skills that can help determine and provide feedback on policies and programs in the future, and will help plan and implement activities more effectively.

CURRENT STATUS

Phase One has been completed, and we are continuing with Phase Two.

The survey is completed, the database has been set up and a first analysis has been finished. The database is now able to provide indicators of teacher welfare, such as maternity and housing benefits, for the national and divisional levels. One result is that the data show that most teachers are young women of child-bearing age. This indicates the need to provide legislation to guarantee maternity benefits to the teachers and substitute teachers for the schools.

At the division level, computers are scheduled for deployment in a month or so, with the corresponding training. This includes working with staff in the divisional planning units, teaching them to use the hardware and software, as well as teaching them how to use the data for planning purposes.

LESSONS LEARNED

Difficulties in using ICTs:

Setting up a database for 500,000 teachers required a massive effort and the cooperation of all concerned: DECS, the schools, the teachers, SEAMEO Innotech, and the Senate. Teachers and principals had to be trained in filling out questionnaires to be processed by omputers. Not all questionnaires were answered well, so that a period for validation of responses had to be allotted in the project (which was not anticipated).

The tremendous amount of time and energy required to complete each stage with a high level of quality was, perhaps, not fully appreciated before we started. It takes considerable time to collect the data, analyze it, identify appropriate legislative measures to take to improve teachers' welfare, install that legislature and to see the results. As a result, there is sometimes impatience on the part of various individuals and organizations for immediate results.

Benefits associated with using ICTs:

In addition to the anticipated benefits of this project, we encountered unintended benefits. Planning Officers from the divisions who attended the meetings and training sessions all agreed that the computer skills they acquired enriched them professionally. As part of Phase Two, a position of MIS Officer will formally be setup in each division of the DECS, and each division will receive a computer for the Project TAO database. The staff of the division will be trained in computer skills and how to use the database to determine the status and needs of each teacher in their divisions. These skills will doubtless have spin-off benefits in other areas as staff become more proficient in using the computers. Importantly, the Senate legislative committee now has data that serve as basis for legislation.

The data, while still preliminary, have themselves already proved beneficial. One important example: the results have debunked the myth that teachers are "old maids." Data showed that teachers are mostly young, married women; hence the need to provide maternity benefits and substitute teachers.

Due to the size and complexity of the data in this study, this project would not be feasible if we did not have access, and do not continue to have access, to computer technology. The database and the computerized questionnaire forms have allowed us to analyze a huge amount of data, to do so relatively quickly, and to already have concrete proposals to take to the Senate. This would not have been possible without computer technologies. We anticipate that as people at various levels of the educational system grow more skilled in using computers and in analyzing data, we will be able to rationalize and improve legislation and programs to meet the needs of teachers, and of students.

Project Information

Total budget in US$ : -
Country of activity: Philippines [PH]

Contact Information

Priscilla Cabanatan

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