British Council Partners with STI towards Innovative Learning

May 4, 2015

The British Council and STI Education Services Group, Inc. (STI) agreed to collaborate towards innovative learning by holding a training workshop for STI’s Content Developers for both tertiary and Senior High School (SHS) to equip them with skills in improving STI’s Outcome-based Education (OBE) and their methods of assessing the students’ OBE performance. The training sessions will be held at the STI Academic Center Ortigas-Cainta on May 8 to 9, 2015 and conducted by David Graham Norris, the Assistant Director of Education Scotland.

"British Council is pleased to contribute towards successful implementation of K-12. A shift of focus from ‘learning about’ to ‘learning to’ will better prepare students for life and work in the 21st century" says Lotus Postrado, Head of Education of British Council Philippines.   

OBE is essentially designed to focus on what the students should demonstrate and possess as knowledge, skills and values after the completion of the course. In the past, schools traditionally gave emphasis on how long topics were taught and how students recalled theories and concepts. In OBE, students should be able to shape themselves by starting with the desired end in mind and working backwards to innovate the learning activities and methods for assessment.

Tasked to develop the curriculum and courseware of all STI campuses nationwide, the Content Developers of STI Head Office are expected to improve their competencies by being able to prepare OBE aligned learning contents based on international best practices. They will also be taught how to develop assessment tools that will aid them in keeping track with the performance of their students.

A teacher himself, Graham has led the development of new approaches to making educational reform happen not only in Scotland, but also in countries such as Argentina, Thailand, France, Romania, Indonesia, Norway, and Vietnam. His reform is focused on preparing the future of the students. He has also served as Her Majesty’s Inspector and Assistant Chief Inspector of Education for over 21 years.

 “This is a big opportunity for us to be at par with the global standards of education. We find new approaches for our content developers in preparing the lesson plans for our students, and continue to innovate the education that we deliver. The improvement of the Philippine educational landscape, specifically Senior High School, is a thrust that both the British Council and STI share,” says STI Vice President for Academics Dr. Lloyd Bautista.

British Council has long been working on education innovations in the Philippines. Its recent education initiatives are on the areas of internationalisation of higher education, sports education, schools’ programs and skills development.