Teaching for tomorrow

The trainers and facilitators were much younger than the participants. As they were introduced, we craned our necks and did the math: Some were half our age, others as old as our years in teaching. They asked, “How many years have you guys been teaching?” with their American accent.  Then we were instructed to go to certain sections of the room based on the length of our teaching experience. Several of us, including myself, were at the farthest end of the room, having taught for over 25 years. We were instructed to shout “weaw” (for wow) from time to time. And, we genially followed. We made fun of our situation.

We were practically “voluntold” to attend the Service Management Program Teachers’ Camp jointly organized by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap), and an air of mixed feelings pervaded among the participants from Cavite State University, with 26 representatives of its various campuses, Laguna State Polytechnic University, with 47 delegates, and 16 lean and mean participants from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP). At times we could feel our trainers groping through our inquisitiveness and maneuvering their way around our impatience over the protracted orientations. Yet we soldiered on, eager to be reconfigured through the Service Management Program. It could not just have been our pioneering spirit that motivated us to wake up at 4:30 a.m. every training day and show up at the Asia Pacific College for the duration of the teachers’ camp. Perhaps it was the idea of writing history as the first batch to be certified on service management for business process outsourcing.

We were divided into specialization tracks—BPO Fundamentals, Business Communications, Language Training, Systems Thinking, and Service Culture. In the afternoon of the second day, we went for a site visit to member-organizations of Ibpap. It was a revelation for us to witness how our graduates go through the process of recruitment, the training provided prior to their employment, the company programs and provisions they enjoy, as well as the career path they can traverse.

At the company we visited, an alumna of PUP was recruited fresh from her graduation. While she jovially shared her earlier stories of inexperience, she beamed with pride that after having served the company for almost 10 years, she is now a business development manager. The upward mobility was evident not only in the way she dressed but also in the confidence she exuded.

On the third day, we were ushered into the computer laboratory rooms to take the Global Competitiveness Assessment Tool (GCAT). It could have been the first time that some of us were taking computer-mediated examinations but none of us buckled. The GCAT is one of several tests given to applicants in the IT-BPM (information technology and business process management) industry, and we took the examination to have a firsthand experience of how our graduates are evaluated.

I attended the Service Culture course and I am most certainly glad I did. Well, the other tracks seemed to have a good time, too, what with all the causal loops they had to do and explain in the Systems Thinking track, the practices in English communication by the Business Communication and Language Training tracks, and the theories and exercises in the IT-BPM track.

In the Service Culture track, we drew lots on the module that each of us would micro-teach.  We mirthfully played games, role-played, and satirized customer-service situations. Through the laughter and banter, we learned quite a few things. Having been irate customers ourselves at one time or another, we realized that a frontline customer service job is not easy, and thus we should aptly prepare our students. We resolved not only to be better or relevant teachers to our students but to be kind and gracious individuals as well.

The Service Culture track was not just customer-centric training. It was a drill on kindness, generosity and good-naturedness. The track was a reminder of the service nature of the teaching profession as well. It was definitely a refresher course that grounded us once again on the idea that teaching is as much about methodology as it is with the subject matter.

What is our takeaway from our Service Culture track? Several. Young as they were, our facilitators Mike and Deng Lopez were willing to share their proficiency in the IT-BPM industry with us and humbly took note of our teaching experience and expertise. Teachers are most precious for their willingness to do a role-reversal and learn new things to add to their teaching toolbox.  Teaching our students to be service-oriented is teaching them on good citizenship—global yet Filipino.

How did we feel about our Level One certification? Excited is an understatement. Euphoric is a bit too much. Empowered is more like it. We are grateful that our universities’ partnership with CHEd and Ibpap will enable us to teach our students to be ready not only for the jobs available today but also for the jobs that will be available tomorrow.

Theresita V. Atienza, PhD (tva_pup@yahoo.com), is the dean of the College of Science at Polytechnic University of the Philippines.