PTN MISSION:

Our mission is to bring together the Filipino educators in the Philippines and around the world, to give voice to our aspirations, to create a partnership with major education advocates and organizations, to advance the best possible innovative outreach and professional development projects for the teachers and students of the Philippines.


YOU CAN FIND US AT: http://pinoyteachersnetwork.blog-city.com

Fundraising for Book Outreach, Philippines

#giveback #dogood I still remember the destruction caused by Hurricane Haiyan in Central Philippines in November 8, 2013 and until now I still feel the urge to help as much as I can.
 
Starting today, I'm raising $150K to send 40,000 books and I hope you will join me. Our project with First Book takes an important step towards helping children in Central Philippines recover from the devastation of their schools and educational resources by replacing lost/destroyed books. You don't have to be a millionaire to make a significant difference; even small donations have the potential to drastically improve a student's quality of life.
 



Global Teacher Migration and Mobility Survey

December 06, 2012

To our Filipino Teachers around the world,

Please take the survey and forward this message to our colleagues who are teacher migrants.


Education International has given the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Educational Foundation a grant to conduct research on global teacher migration and mobility. Through the research, we hope to help EI identify best practices for international teacher migration as well as highlight issues of concern and expose abuses. We also want to help our union colleagues around the world develop and promote strategies for positive union engagement with migrant teachers.

To better understand the motivation and experience of migrant teachers around the world, we have developed an online survey designed for individual teachers to complete and submit. Survey responses are collected anonymously; however, teachers may include their names and contact information if they wish to receive the results of the survey, along with the completed report, and be entered into a drawing for an iPad.

If you could fill this out and share with it other teachers in your network, whether they are working in the U.S. or elsewhere, that would be extremely helpful. The
link to the survey is here, and if for any reason anyone would prefer to print out the survey and mail it, that is no problem either. 

 
Maligayang pasko at maraming salamat po!

On the issues of Pinoy Teacher Migrants in PGCPS

Going through The Washington Post’s 4.4.11 article, “US Dep’t of Labor orders MD. School system to pay millions to mostly Filipino teachers” is like reading a familiar history story. On August 12, 1901, a group of 500 American teachers, the Thomasites, came to the Philippines to help establish the country’s public school system, to teach basic education, and to introduce innovative and effective way of teaching kids. My research tells me that the U.S. government spent about $105,000 for the expedition in 1901. More American teachers followed the Thomasites in 1902, making a total of about 1,074 stationed in the Philippines. I have seen the reverse of this happening right now; actually, I am experiencing it. According to the AFT report “Importing Educators”, “On the international level, UNESCO estimates that 18 million new teachers are needed by 2015 to meet ‘Education for All’ goals and ensure universal access to primary education for students in all countries in the world”. In the past few years, I have seen hundreds of teachers from the Philippines coming to different parts of the US, including PG County Public Schools with this mission: to teach the American school children.

It was not easy for the Filipino teachers to make this righteous decision and accept this noble challenge for they had to give up their homes, sell their properties, and make a sacrifice to be away from their loved ones. They did not have to, but unfortunately, they paid a very high price for this, approximately $15,000 out of their pockets. The Philippine government did not deploy and pay them to come here; it was their personal decision to make a difference to the American students. These Filipino teacher migrants stayed true to their mission, they reached out to everyone in the community and were able to pull in some 21st Century resources and help the students maximize their potential. Even PGCPS attested to the fact that “without these Filipino teachers, Maryland’s most precious resource – our children - would have been denied access to quality public education”.

I am pleased to hear that my fellow Filipino teachers are making a positive impact in their school district. What is alarming is that according to The Washington Post’s article, “DOL investigation found out that the teacher migrants, who were hired between 2005 and 2010, paid fees ranging from $190 to $320 to file their visas; spent about $1,000 in immigration attorney fees; and shelled out another $3,500 in placement fees. Hundreds also paid a $500 anti-fraud filing fee.” Where did the rest of the approximately $15,000 that each teacher pay for go? Shouldn’t PGCPS have policies in place for hiring international teachers to avoid these kinds of violations and exploitations? It is an irresponsible act of negligence if they do not have one.

I hope that the proper county authorities would go to the bottom of this to help find out what went wrong and who did wrong. I still believe in the fairness and sense of propriety of PGCPS in reaching an equitable end to this sorry affair.



Filipino teacher migrant, Washington DC

PTN IS GLOBAL

Locations of visitors to this page

Pinoy Teachers Network has been a great help to new teachers here in America. More power to its Prime Movers who are always there to inform and facilitate the involvement of us teachers in any enriching activities. -- Perla Alega, PG County, Maryland--

Thanks to the Filipino Teachers behind PTN. This is a great start to an inspiring movement in the field of education around the globe! Let's continue in the growing process and keep ourselves connected! --- Liz Genuino, Los Angeles, CA ---

We have done well. Let us continue doing what we are doing and still do more. --Ma. Lourdes Ladrido, PhD, IloIlo Philippines--

Continue to stay focused so PTN can achieve its full potential... --- MS. HJAYCEELYN QUINTANA First Secretary & Consul Head, Cultural Section Embassy of The Philippines Washington DC--

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