Republic of the Philippines

Commission on Higher Education

Region V (Bicol)
OAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Calzada, Oas, Albay

Module No. : 08
Subject : The Teacher and the Community, School Culture
And Organizational Leadership
Semester/AY : Second Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021

I. Title

The Why and How of School and Community Partnership

II. Learning Outcomes

After completing this module, you are expected to:

 explain what school and community partnership means;

 explain the legal and sociological bases of school and community
partnership; and
 cite examples of school-community partnerships.

III. Introduction

Family-school-community partnerships are a shared responsibility and

reciprocal process whereby schools and other community agencies and organizations
engage families in meaningful and culturally appropriate ways, and families take
initiative to actively supporting their children’s development and learning. Schools and
community organizations also make efforts to listen to parents, support them, and
ensure that they have the tools to be active partners in their children’s school
experience.

Partnerships are essential for helping students achieve at their maximum

potential and, while parent and community involvement has always been a
cornerstone of public schools, greater recognition and support of the importance of
these collaborative efforts is needed.
IV. Discussion

What is Educational Partnership?

Partnership implies two parties helping each other. Both parties benefit.
This means that if a school-community partnership exists, both parties benefit
from the relationship. When two parties come together for the common good of a
school or to enhance student learning, we call this an educational partnership.
Partners can include anyone who is interested in or committed to enriching
educational experiences for students, families, schools, and the community. Most
important, partnerships do not include one individual or one group dictating what
should be done and why it should be done. Decisions are made collaboratively
within a partnership. Partnerships are integrated within larger groups, and
organizations can supplement school learning and encourage lifelong learning
among children and families. Having partners in education helps provide a more
even playing field for all families and children. Society benefits when students,
families, the community, schools, and teachers work together to educate children.

Principles of Effective School-Community Partnerships

Effective partnerships between public schools and community agencies require

willingness and commitment. Both sides of the partnership have to want to do it
and have to be willing to make it work. While you cannot plan for every eventuality
along the way, there are some basic steps you can take to make the partnership
run smoothly:

Plan Together from the Start. Often partnerships get started because one party
writes a grant proposal, gets a support letter from one or more collaborators, and
the partners don’t really begin working together until “the check is in the mail.” A
much more effective approach is to get the leadership of the partner organizations
together at then outset to conduct joint planning, visioning and problem-solving.
Make sure you draw on needs assessment data from both sides of the
partnership—for example, use school data (such as grades, test scores, attendance
and suspension figures) as well as community data (such as information about the
number and location of children who are unsupervised after school) as you
conduct your joint planning.

Clarify the Vision. The only reason to work in a partnership is to accomplish

goals you can’t accomplish separately. The most effective partnerships develop and
own a shared sense of purpose. Most partnerships have found it useful to create a
written vision statement that guides all of their subsequent work. Such a vision
statement can outline specific goals but should also communicate the
partnership’s overarching purpose, philosophy and long-term aspirations.
Take Time to Get to Know One Another. In the press of daily business, partners
might be tempted to ignore this step, thinking of it as a luxury. Experience reveals
that taking the time to get to know one another is a cost-effective step that can
prevent later misunderstandings. Think of this step as an investment. Agency
leaders and staff should spend time on-site in the school, during the regular
school day; and school leaders and staff should visit the agency during its busy
times. This way both sides of the partnership can learn about one another’s core
competencies and on-the-ground challenges.

Set Ground Rules. Jointly develop ground rules for who will lead meetings, how
decisions will be made, how problems will be addressed, how grievances will be
handled, etc. You won’t be able to anticipate every challenge, but clear guidelines
and procedures can help your partnership avoid unnecessary pitfalls—and having
these discussions early can help the partners learn about one another’s working
styles.

Start Small and Build Gradually. You don’t have to initiate a full-scale
partnership in the first year. You might consider starting with a small after-school
program in the first year, then add components and participants the second year,
then identify some school day activities that the school needs and the community
agency is competent to provide (for example, supervising the playground program
during recess and lunch breaks, or running after-school sports leagues). It’s
important to identify some “quick wins” that will allow the partnership to get off to
a strong start. Quick wins are usually those that address critical needs and that
build on the core competencies of the provider.

Involve Parents as Partners. The sooner you involve parents from the community,
the easier it will be to spread the word of your new program, mobilize support and
build community acceptance. With their unique perspectives on the strengths and
needs of their community, parents and other residents will have a lot of valuable
information to share, especially when the key elements of the partnership are still
on the drawing board.

Clarify Roles and Responsibilities. Effective partnerships rely on clear

communication and a shared understanding of who will be responsible for what.
Given that there are usually multiple players involved on both sides of the
partnership, it’s best to get written agreements and protocols that outline the basic
elements of the partnership. These written documents should be jointly developed
by the partners.

Share Decision-Making. Throughout the implementation of the partnership—from

design and planning to daily operation—those people who will be depended upon
to make the program work should be consulted and given ample opportunities to
provide input and feedback about program components or other key questions.
Shared decision making and strong leadership are not contradictory. At various
times, depending on the issue, one partner can and should become the group’s
natural leader.

Prepare Team Members to Work Together. Another cost of doing business in a

partnership mode is training. Make sure you arrange for joint orientation and
training opportunities for school and agency staff to enable all the partners to
develop the skills they will need to make their collaboration work. Small,
interactive workshops should focus on team building, shared decision-making,
communication and conflict resolution.

Stay Flexible. Effective school-community partnerships require a willingness for

all involved to be flexible. Do not expect everything to go exactly as planned, and
do not expect to be able to continue working just as you always have. Also
remember that the context on both sides of the partnership keeps changing.
Schools will get new mandates; community agencies will gain and lose funding
streams; schools and agencies will experience board and staff leadership changes.
All of these inevitable occurrences will affect—but not derail—your partnership if
you are prepared and can stay flexible.

Keep Tending the Relationships. Team building is not a one-time event. It needs
continued examination and daily effort. And this is true at all levels of the
partnership, from the superintendent-agency director relationship to the on-site
interactions between teachers and youth workers.

Be Strategic. In meetings with partners, listen carefully to what’s on their minds,

and think about ways you can respond to their needs. With new standards and
increased accountability, schools are under increasing pressure. But with these
pressures have come new opportunities. Community agencies should constantly
assess what they are bringing to the partnership (including program, staffing and
financial resources)—and be proactive in offering to make these resources
available to schools and districts.

School and Community Partnership

As the school lays the foundation of education, the community serves as the
laboratory for holistic learning experiences for the learners.

Undeniably, the school and the community may influence the child’s
character and may determine the quality of formal and non-formal education he
received. It is not only in school that education takes place, the community also
offers a wide array of learning experiences that enable learners to be sociable,
interactive and participative to communal affairs. Either formally or informally, the
school and community work hand-in-hand in giving the utmost welfare for the
learners in order for them to succeed in various life challenges.

One of the many similarities of school and community is its nurturing aspect.
Nurturing a child to be upright, responsible, and caring citizen is a task worth
doing for. If a child is raised in a way that he could be beneficial to the community,
there is no way that he will not be able to give pride to that community someday.
In doing such, the child is being molded holistically and morally upright. All the
learning opportunities given to him is gearing toward the development of all his
innate and hidden potentialities that could be advantageous in his part. When the
child is nurtured conforming to what is moral, that child could be of value to
anyone. Surely, there will be an assurance that the child will do what is right and
will know the right thing to do.Another similarity is that the school and community
provide opportunities for learners to realize their full potentials. Like in the school,
the community is a place where a child could learn a lot of things. With proper
guidance, the community could be an avenue for learners to practice what they
have learned in the school. If the school is providing all the theories in learning,
the community is the laboratory to test, apply and transform all the learned
theories to realities. In here, the child is able to discover learning by transforming
theories into practicalities and by applying concepts to meaningful learning.

There are times when a child is misbehaving and/or poorly performing,

school officials and community people are blaming one another and tend to neglect
their responsibility. This is the dark side of the school-community relationship
that should not persist. Though there are some learners who cause concerns for
the school and the community due to their misbehaviors and acts negating the
norms and standards of the society, they will cause more troubles if they are not
properly guided and accounted for. No matter how bad a child may become due to
some circumstances, there is still hope in that child. A child may be directed
towards goodness and positive attitudes by means of collective efforts by the
people surround him. Rearing a child is not the sole responsibility of the parents,
but also with the help of the community people. Truly, it takes a whole society to
raise a child.

At the end, the school and community share a common responsibility to

raise the child. This is the very reason why Parent and Teachers’Association (PTA),
Brigada Eskwela, and other school-community activities existed. Such
associations/activities center in one thing – to assure that quality education is
being delivered to the learners for they are the most important clientele of
education.

The school and community are partners for child’s sake. If this society
wanted that no child should be left behind, the school and community people
should work hand-in-hand to realize such goal.

(The author is Teacher III at San Juan Elementary School, Guagua West District,
Division of Pampanga)
What can the community do for schools?

Here are examples of what a community can do for schools:

1. Brigada Eskwela - This program engages all education stakeholders to

contribute their time, effort and resources in ensuring that public school facilities
are set in time for the forthcoming school opening. It takes place more or less two
weeks before classes begin in June. This is a school maintenance program that
has been institutionalized since 2009 when DepEd issued DepEd Order No. 100.

2. Curriculum Development - This can mean the use of community resources for
learning, e.g. museum, elders of the community as key informants in research or
resource persons in the study of local history.

3. Work Experience Programs - Business establishments and offices in the

community can serve as training ground for learners. A concrete example is the
Work Immersion required of Senior High School students. In this work immersion,
students are given the opportunity to work in relevant establishment or offices in
the community to help develop in them “the competencies, work ethics, and values
relevant to pursuing further education and/or joining the world of work. Partner
offices for immersion provide Senior High School students the opportunities: (1) to
become familiar with the work place; (2) for employment simulation; and (3) to
apply their competencies in areas of specialization/applied subjects in authentic
work environments (Enclosure to DepEd Order No. 30, series 2017).

In this school-community partnership, the school can fulfill what curriculum

requires and may improve on their curriculum based on community feedback,
enables the students to undergo hands-on work experience, while community
establishments contribute to the formation of graduates who are more ready for
life and more equipped for the world of work. Business establishments or any
world of work in the community are the ultimate beneficiaries of these graduates
who have been more prepared through work immersion.

Some schools call this service learning since it actively involves students in a
wide range of experiences which benefits students and the community at the same
time fulfilling the requirement of a curriculum.

4. Remediation and enrichment classes - Parents and retired teachers may be

involved in the School Reading remediation and Learning Enrichment programs.

5. Youth Development Programs - The young may involve themselves in youth

development programs and develop their skills and talents, learn how to deal
positively with peers and adults as resources in their communities.

6. Community Service - Examples of community service are students

participating in tutorial programs, community reforestation programs, clean up
drive for a river, assisting in medical mission; school head involved in planning
local celebrations, teachers managing programs, projects, activities; school band
playing in fiesta parade.

What can schools do for communities in return?

Schools may allow the community to use school resources. Here are
concrete examples enumerated by the DepEd Primer on School Community
Partnership:

 Classroom used by community organizations for meetings

 School used as a polling place and venue for medical mission which it
may co-sponsor with the Rural Health Unit
 School used by the RHU for mothers class on child care
 School used as an evacuation center
 School facilities used for local celebrations and barangay sports league
 Schools conduct livelihood skills-training programs for parents and out-
of-school youths by using school resources
 Livelihood skills-training for parents and out-of-school youths by
teachers themselves

Learning from the Experiences of Schools and Community Partners

Here are concrete examples:

1. Dumingag Central School, Zamboanga del Sur

Strong school-community partnership - Feeding program wa maintained by

the community donors - Mother Butler Mission Guild, Barangay Councils, Office of
the Mayor, parents who budgeted, cooked, purchased.

“Kiddie Cop” classes - Cops lectures on good manners and right conduct,
drug addiction, child abuse, child welfare. Municipal Welfare and Development
Office - Municipal Health Office conducted special classes on health and nutrition,
rights of the child.

2. Pembo Angels Magic Spot and Project REACH, etc. Pembo Elementary School,
Makati City, Metro Manila

Pembo Angels Magic Spot (PAMS) were the volunteer environmental steward-
students of Pembo Elementary School while magic spots were the small dumpsites
or empty lots in the barangay which were converted by the students into vegetable
gardens from which members of the barangay could harvest for home supply, the
school for their feeding program or sold them for cash for the purchase of
seedlings and planting of more vegetables.
 PAMS brought together students, teachers, school head, parents,
barangayofficials and other members of the community clean up litle nooks for
garbage and converted them into green areas with vegetables shared by all. It also
taught gardening skills and positive attitude toward work to students and
supplemented the feeding program for the underweight and the malnourished in
the school, Project BOWLS (Brain Operates Well on Loaded Stomachs).

Another effective practice was Project Revitalized Enthusiasm for Assistance

to Children for Humanity (REACH) where each teacher adopted student and acted
as his/her mentor for the entire school year. The teacher gave free tutorial to the
adopted students during free time, visit the student’s family every now and then,
and in some instances gave the students a daily allowance of ten pesos from the
teacher’s pocket. This contributed to improved performance of Pembo Elementary
School, 23rd in rank in the division Achievement Test zoomed up to rank 9 and six
years later ranked 1.

Urbanidad Kids were ideal students who acted as role models for the
students and the Pembo community. They were the cleanest, most well-mannered
and most diligent in class.

Pera sa Panapon was a weekly trash market where students, their parents
and other members of the community were invited to bring their recyclable
garbage. The project helped the school purchase the necessary supplies and was
able to support two students to a 2010 math competition in Singapore.

Sociological Basis of School-Community Partnership

The functionalist theory states that institutions must perform their repective
functions for the stability of the society. Other institutions must come in if one
institution fails to do its part for the sake of society.

The school cannot do it all. “It takes a village to educate a child”, so goes the
African proverb. It has to work in partnership with other institutions in the
community such as the church, government organization and non-governmental
organizations. With the breakdown of families, schools face greater challenge in
educating the young.

The rearing and education of the child is the primary obligation of parents.
The school, the Church and other social institutions come in to assist parents and
families to fulfill their irreplaceable obligation. The breakdown of marriages, the
demand for both mother and father to work to meet the demands of a rising cost of
living resulting to less or practically no more time for parents to spend time with
their children have, however, attacked the stability of families and have adversely
affected families in the performance of their irreplaceable duty to education
children. Added to these is the increasing number of families composed of single
mothers struggling to raise a family. With the burden of earning lodged solely on
the shoulders of one parent, single parents struggle to earn enough to provide for
their families. Consequently, this responsibility leads to their having a limited
amount of time to spend for and with growing and developing children who,
unfortunately become more likely single-parent families themselves. The cycle
goes on.

This is not to mention the negative effect of uncontrolled and unregulated

use of technology on the young. While the use of technology has brought a lot of
convenience its uncontrolled and unregulated use by the tech-savvy kids expose
these kids to all sorts of information not necessarily favorable for their
development. So families, schools and other social institutions need to work
together to save the youth.

Legal Basis for parents and Community Involvement

It is no wonder why even our laws support school-community partnership,

RA 9155 or the Governance of Basic Education Act, Section E, (10) explicitly states
that one of the responsibilities of school heads is “establishing school and
community networks and encouraging the active participation of teachers
organizations, nonacademic personnel of public schools, and parents-teachers-
community associations.”

Section 3 (f) of the same act encourages “local initiatives for the improvement
of schools and learning centers and to provide the means by which improvements
may be achieved and sustained.”

Batas Pambansa Blg. 232, otherwise known as the Education Act 1982,
Section 7 states that:

“Every educational institution shall provide for the establishment of

appropriate bodies through which the members of the educational
community may discuss relevant issues and communicate information
and suggestions for assistance and support to the school and for the
promotion of their common interest. Representatives from each subgroup
of the educational community shall sit and participate in these bodies, the
rules and procedures of which must be approved by them and duly
published.”

Another law, RA 8525, Adopt-A-School Program Act, also provides for

school-community partnership. It allows “private entities to assist a public school,
whether elementary or secondary and even tertiary, but not limited to, the
following areas: staff development, upgrading of existing facilities, provision of
books, publications and other instructional materials; and modernization of
instructional technologies.”
 Even the Philippine Education for All (EFA) 2015 plan, then a vision and a
holistic program of reforms that aimed to improve the quality of basic education
for every Filipino by end of 2015 likewise states: “Schools shall continue harness
local resources and facilitate involvement of every sector of the community in the
school improvement process.”

This EFA 2015 Plan was extended in Education For All Beyond 2015 -
Agenda 2030. Agenda 2030 has 7 new educational targets from 2015 to 2030 that
must involve education stakeholders which in essence is the school - community
partnership. UNESCO Assistant Director General for Education, Dr. Qian Tang,
himself admits that Agenda 2030 cannot be realized without school partnering
with the community. He said: “Our vision must be more aggressive, more
committed not just involving government, non-government agencies but all
stakeholders.”

RA 9155, states that partnership between school and community also

ensures that (1) educational programs, projects and services take into account the
interest the interests of all members of the community; (2) the schools and
learning centers reflect the values of the community by allowing teachers/learning
facilitators and other staff to have the flexibility to serve the needs of the learners;
and (3) local initiatives for the improvement of schools and learning centers are
encouraged and the means by which these improvements may be achieved and
sustained are provided. So, schools and communities function better when they
work as a team.

V. Application

Do these:

1. Consider yourself as a classroom teacher already, what classroom

activities could you do to strengthen parent-teacher relationship or
partnership? Cite activities as many as you can.

2. Why there is a need to establish school-community partnership?

3. Make a slogan that will serve as a motivation to strengthen school-

community partnership.

VI. Assessment

Do the following:

1. Explain the concept of school-community partnership.

 2. Discuss the following legal bases of school-community partnership:
 RA 9155 (Governance of Basic Education Act)
 RA 8525 (Adopt-A-School Program)

3. Discuss the impact of school-community partnership to the learning

performance of learners.

4. Enumerate at least 3 benefits of the school from school-community

partnership.

5. Cite at least 3 benefits of the community from school-community

partnership.

VII. References

Textbook:

Prieto, Nelia G. et al., The Teacher and the Community, School Culture and
Organizational Leadership, Lorimar Publishing, Inc. (2019), Quezon City,
Philippines

Serrano, Erlinda D. et al., The teacher and the Community, School Culture
and Organizational Leadership, Adriana Publishing, Inc. (2020), Quezon City,
Philippines

Online:

http://www.wholechildeducation.org/assets/content/mx-
resources/handoutprinciplespartnership.pdf

https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/sunstar-
pampanga/20170504/281651075010524

Prepared by:

RAYMUNDO B. SALISI
JOSE POCHOLO N. GUMBA
NANET B. KAPITBAHAY
Instructors