High school teachers across Northern Mindanao and Agusan del Norte undertake their Graduate Diploma in Teaching Arts at Xavier.
To prepare high school teachers in teaching arts in the K-12 curriculum orientation, Xavier University, as a partner institution of the Department of Education (DepEd) and National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ Philippine Cultural Education Program (NCCA PCEP), welcomed 20 public and private high school teachers from Northern Mindanao and Agusan del Norte for a Graduate Diploma in Teaching Arts (GDTA).
GDTA is a response of the NCCA PCEP to DepEd’s mandate to create a track in the arts where creative learning-centered modalities are included in the curriculum. The diploma course comes with certification and credits from the partner HEI, in this case Xavier University’s MA in Education program.
“With the K-12 implementation where arts is one of the tracks in senior high school, the Graduate Diploma in Teaching Arts is timely and significant, especially in equipping teachers with formal instruction on the teaching of arts,” said Hobart Savior, director of the Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts, which, together with the XU School of Education, is facilitating the implementation of the GDTA program at XU.
“Having a Special Program for the Arts, DepEd also needs qualified teachers to handle art courses,” added Savior. “The Graduate Diploma in Teaching Arts answers this need.”
The participants coming from national high schools in Valencia and Lantapan in Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Gingoog City, Cagayan de Oro and Agusan del Norte, including some teachers from XU have been holding their classes at the AVR 5 of the School of Business and Management since May 9. They are set to complete their program with courses in Pedagogy of Cultural Education, Foundations of Art, Philippine Arts, and Arts Criticism and Appreciation on May 27.
“We are grateful for this grant from the NCCA PCEP,” said Savior. “Thanks to them for making Xavier University their delivering education institution.”