The University of the Philippines College of Education did not need a departmental, national or regional directive to initiate and sustain almost half a century of academic pursuits and pioneering work in literacy education.
Its Department of Reading Education has undertaken significant research and instructional innovations to train and encourage students from different parts of the country to become outstanding educators and researchers in literature, English and Filipino and, of course, reading education (EDR or Education Reading, as formally known in the college).
Approaches to the teaching of reading and literature from basic education to graduate level have been developed by the department’s faculty and students.
These include the Four-Pronged Approach to Teaching Beginning Reading, Literature and Skills Integrated Framework (Links) for Language and Literacy Development, and Gradual Psychological Unfolding (GPU), developed during the time of its founder, professor Basilisa J. Manhit.
She believed, “To teach is to love … to share something precious, something we value and hold dear. It may be knowledge that broadens our understanding of people and things. It may be a skill. It may be an attitude of mind that nourishes our being.”
Through the years, the approaches she initiated were updated and developed to meet the changing demands and needs of students and teachers. Now, they are widely used in schools to foster a love for reading among children.
Pioneers
The department opened in the mid-1960s when Manhit returned from the University of Ohio, where she studied under one of the most distinguished scholars in education and communications, Dr. Edgar Dale.
While former students remember Manhit for being strict, they also recall her determination to develop in them a love for literature.
She brought this passion to the graduate level when she mentored reading and literature teachers, pioneering reading education and its programs.
Manhit would be joined in 1968 by Dr. Natividad A. Santos, who had completed her master’s and doctoral studies in reading education at Indiana University.
The two women became the pillars of the UP reading department, training generations of reading teachers. They developed the knowledge, attitudes, values and skills reading majors should have—a love for reading and the competencies for developing it in all learners.
Innovations
Manhit and Santos generously shared their vision, devotion and work ethic with aspiring teachers.
Among those they mentored were Drs. Aurora Gaceta and Emeteria Lee, who became faculty members of the college, and teachers of the UP Integrated School (UPIS) like Drs. Eleanor Hermosa, Ma. Theresa de Villa, Ma. Luisa Doronila and Dina Ocampo.
Scholars under the UP-Bureau of Public Schools (BPS) training program, who come from all regions of the country, included Elena Cruz Cutiongco of Marikina, Nemah Nuñez Hermosa of Masbate, Helen Abadiano of Iloilo, Felicitas Pado of Camarines Sur and Lina Diaz de Rivera of Manila. They later joined the College of Education faculty.
As new generations of mentors joined the faculty, more innovations and new research were produced. Among them are: Catch Them Early (a remedial program for children-at-risk), Children’s Literature across the Curriculum (methodologies to bring the right book to the right child at the right time), Blended Learning: Reading Ed and ICT; and Research on Literacy Development among Bilingual-Biliterate Children, including those experiencing literacy difficulties.
In addition, reading honor graduate Portia Padilla developed Creative Story Telling for Teachers.
Manhit and Hermosa came up with the Reading Test Development through their Diagnostic Reading Tests (DRT) Forms A to D.
In the mid-1990s, the Scholastic Tools for Assessment in Reading (STAR) was developed and partially normed by the entire faculty.
Alongside these innovations are programs shared with the community in and outside the UP campus—Reading Link (for remediation and enrichment of readers) and MILES (a summer training program for teachers).
All curricular levels of the UP College of Education have reading and language arts components. Until very recently, it was the only teacher education institution (TEI) that required Theory and Practice of Teaching Beginning Reading (TPTBR) as a pre-service course.
A few TEIs offered it but only as an elective. Since 2004, however, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) revised the Bachelor in Education curriculum to include Developmental Reading 2 on the strong recommendation of reading consultants from the college.
There are reading majors in both the master’s and doctoral levels, and graduates have assumed leadership in the field locally and internationally.
Beyond Diliman
The department’s literacy advocacy extends to other institutions and agencies that share its goals. Many reading mentors have become presidents and/or directors of the Reading Association of the Philippines (RAP), the national affiliate of the International Reading Association (IRA).
The IRA has tapped the ERD faculty as members of the board of editors/publications committee of its many journals. The International Dyslexia Association and the University of Surrey, United Kingdom, have also linked up with the department.
Locally, the UP Open University (UPOU), WordLab School, the Philippine Board on Books for Young People, Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education Inc. and Sa Aklat Sisikat have also partnered with the department.
Aside from Ocampo, Hermosa (former UPOU faculty of education dean and vice chancellor for academic affairs), Padilla (concurrently director of instruction of the UP System under the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs), the ERD faculty also includes professors Hazelle Preclaro-Ongtengco and Ana Margarita Salvador, representing the new generation of reading advocates.
The author is mentor in reading education at UP College of Education. Since retirement, she has been writing children’s stories and devoting her time to RAP activities and projects.