GOKONGWEI BROTHERS SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND LEARNING DESIGN

Bago ang lahat, edukasyon.

Continuing a 156-year-old tradition of excellence in teacher education, Ateneo de Manila University has established the Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design (GBSEALD).

The Gokongwei Brothers School of Education and Learning Design (GBSEALD) constitutes Ateneo de Manila’s strategic response to the challenges of Philippine education and enables the university to address these more effectively.

The naming is in recognition of the extraordinary donation from the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation (GBF) to establish the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation Endowment for Educational Innovation. Ateneo de Manila’s fifth and newest Loyola School therefore signals a strategic partnership between two leading institutions–one that promises to make a lasting impact on Philippine education.

GBSEALD traces its origin in the Escuela Normal de Maestros established by the Jesuits in Intramuros, Manila 155 years ago, the very first teacher education institute in the Philippines. The school emerged after almost three years of extensive research and consultation among stakeholders within the university, as well as other potential educational partners.

Bago Ang Lahat Edukasyon Mural at the JJ Atencio Lighthouse for New Learning in Arete

Research Thrusts and Priorities

Developing empowering and empathetic leadership in education that promotes inclusivity and innovation for universal human flourishing

Philippine Education Reform and Transformation
Critical Thinking in Education
Challenges to Asian and Filipino educational leadership
Catholic and Jesuit Education

The heart of education. Our education is not just about the acquisition of knowledge (recall or mastery of content), but more importantly, about understanding (through Reflection), application (through Action), and most of all, character formation
[Ignatian Pedagogy, Understanding by Design, Holistic Education]
Cura personalis. Our well-being, motivation, and emotions are critical to our learning.
Meeting learners where they are. All of us learners--no matter our background and starting point--can learn and have something valuable to contribute to the learning
[Growth Mindset, Individual Learner Differences]
Magis. We need to be stretched and challenged if we are to learn and grow. High expectations lead to high performance.
[Magis]
A Learning Sanctuary. We will have a safe space for learning and a community that supports and challenges us to learn to think independently and critically, where we welcome other perspectives, rehearse our ideas out loud, experiment with our practice, and receive reasonable and respectful feedback from fellow learners and mentors.
[Brain-based Learning, Harvard Discussion-Based Teaching]
Learning as Active and Interactive. We learn best by doing and by interacting with fellow learners. Content is best not “dumped” on students, but offered in a way that encourages our learners to interact with it and to learn it with other learners.
[Active Learning, Learner-Centered Learning, Peer Learning, Empowerment]
Learning as Meaning Making. Our learning becomes meaningful when we actually interact with the new ideas and concepts, unpack them, wrestle with them, connect them to others (even from other disciplines), add to them, and make them our own
[Learning by Refraction, Constructivist Learning]
Assessment for Learning and for Transfer. We learn more when our assessments are formative (when we are given constructive feedback) and authentic (when it entails application in a real-world context).
[Assessment for Learning, Authentic Assessment]
Companions in the Journey. We will build a learning community where each one is seen and feels that he or she belongs. Our learning will not be an isolated journey. We will be personally accompanied in a learning community of like-minded and supportive companions and coaches.
[Learning Communities, Learning by Refraction]
Education for the Greater Good. In our learning community, we will be guided not so much towards what we want, but towards what others need—and for the believers among us, towards what God wants for us and the world (Ignatian discernment).
[“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” — Frederick Buechne]