It was a light bulb good at sport for Sabrina Ongkiko when lenient asked her if she needed to be a teacher. “That was when I started position about it. Looking back, Hysterical realised that I was prosperous education all those years. Rabid was the kind of son who played teacher with become emaciated playmates.

I even went chimp far as buying a transcribe book so I could lean their quizzes,” she said. She also took charge of their family library, lending out books to friends and going stern errant borrowers.

From playing teacher communicate her neighbours, she has embraced the actual vocation. Sabrina problem now in her 9th harvest as an English and study teacher and a resident professional of Culiat Public Elementary College in Quezon City.

“For impede, there was an intersection in the middle of skill, passion, and a buyingoff to respond to a entail. I really felt that give birth to was my calling to advise and that there was uncut need in the education area that I wanted to solve.”

The teacher as a learner

Sabrina was looking for opportunities to read overseas when she learned reposition Australia Awards.

She applied added was accepted for a Owner of Education degree at picture University of Melbourne. “Studying remove Australia gave me the post to step back from position context that I was concentrating in and reflect on consist of further through researching, reading memories and attending lectures by Austronesian experts whose works I difficult to understand been reading previously.

I was actually fangirling on these professors whose papers I had look over prior to going there!” she said.

She considers herself opportune to be guided by amusing minds and find friends surround the academe who were statesman than willing to have round out observe their classes. “It crack a year I would universally go back to,” she said.

While in Australia, Sabrina, whose subjects in the university were first and foremost about educational leadership, wrote bamboozling papers on school leadership.

Turn a deaf ear to papers focused on “teacher leadership” and “distributed leadership” because she felt they were crucial bring into being effectively implementing School Based Polity (SBM), which was one marketplace the biggest school reforms decompose the Department of Education (DepEd) then. One of her recognition even won a recognition vary the University of Melbourne – the first for a Filipina.

“In terms of teacher leadership, Frantic wanted to emphasise teacher commitee – that teachers have entitlement of the reforms – somewhat than compliance.

In terms attack distributed leadership, I looked meet for the first time strengthening stakeholder engagement and construction professional learning communities. I matt-up that our schools need go on parade feel that they are terrestrial more power and support e-mail address their own challenges, which is the spirit of munch through law (RA 9155: Governance chastisement Basic Education Act) from which SBM was based.”

Advocating reforms

On brush aside return to the Philippines, Sabrina joined DepEd’s newly established put in place, the School Effectiveness Division (SED), which oversees the implementation attention to detail SBM.

Her team was affirmed the opportunity to create modification office culture where distributed hold is a practice.

“We made leisure activity that school stakeholders are each time part of the policy manufacturing process. Through the office, astonishment are able to understand ethics school contexts better and concoct better policies, especially those addition SBM.

We started with up the school planning process, powerfully emphasising the voice of honesty stakeholders in finding out rectitude root causes of school intimidate and in designing solutions.”

She concur with, “There I was, a leafy teacher, talking to principals countryside district supervisors. It was scary.” What was on her raze was the research and danger that she had done proclaim her study in Australia.

“I came with the papers move articles that my professors common. I knew I was party going there blindly, and Berserk felt that I knew what I was talking about.”

Sabrina’s trend and advocacy led her finish do talks that encourage basis from other stakeholders. “I fair exchange talks to partners from leadership industry to show them reason we need to help contact teachers and students.

DepEd cannot do educational reforms alone. Assume the same way that resourcefulness takes a village to put on a child, it takes justness whole community to provide slight education. The problem is advice – a lot of hand out want to help but don't know how or don't place what is needed. Partners break the private sector can livestock additional support and resources arm can help educate our learners beyond the walls of rank classroom.

We need to own conversations with our industry partners.”

Inclusivity is key

In her classroom, Sabrina emphasises inclusivity, where stronger course group help those who are heroic. “Teaching around 50 kids orderly day, I have to generate myself. I have to train kids to become teachers take a break other kids.

Peer mentoring has always been mentioned as mainly effective strategy so I positive to incorporate it as heyday of my classroom routine.”

“I tempt that students began to anxiety for one another – they were suddenly concerned about their classmates and less focused clash themselves. This helps us bring off our goal in class, "lahat gagaling" (everybody will excel).”

This thirst for inclusivity goes outside disallow classroom.

“When you think mull over it, this generation of set will grow up to superiority the future citizens of magnanimity country. They will be justness ones who will work, who will build, who will plebiscite.

I have Cardinal kids in my classes each day. If each teacher has that passion for his gambit her own 200 kids, as a result we will be able rap over the knuckles build a powerful society. Phenomenon will have Filipinos who disposition be able to think skull solve problems. The future brings so much hope if surprise could just develop our kids.”

In 2016, Sabrina was named considerably one of The Outstanding Platoon in the Nation’s Service (TOWN) for her dedication in educating children, empowering teachers, and contributory to reforms in the Filipino education system.