An e-Portfolio submitted by Mahvrick S. De Leon In partial fulfillment of the requirements in subject, Cooperative Education and Special Study (EDUC218)
My name is Mahvrick, a graduate school student of Rizal Technological University. I am taking up the course on Master of Arts in Public Administration and this would be my terminal semester. Everyone can agree that I am an easy-going person, a get-go buddy if in case you want someone to talk to.
Right now, I am dealing with my studies and working full-time as a government employee to the newly legislated department for OFWs, the Department of Migrant Workers, by virtue of R.A. 11641.
Cooperative Education transforming the traditional internship model into a better integrated learning modality for Rizal Technological University students.
Cooperative education (or co-operative education) is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for structured job experience, and is taking on new importance in helping young people to make the school-to-work transition. It falls under the umbrella of work-integrated learning (alongside internships, service learning and clinical placements) but is distinct, as it alternates a school term with a work term in a structured manner, involves a partnership between the academic institution and the employer, and generally is both paid and intended to advance the education of the student.
While at Lehigh University at the beginning of the 20th century, Herman Schneider (1872–1939), engineer, architect, and educator, concluded that the traditional learning space or classroom was insufficient for technical students (Smollins 1999). Schneider observed that several of the more successful Lehigh graduates had worked to earn money before graduation. Gathering data through interviews of employers and graduates, he devised the framework for cooperative education (1901). About that time, Carnegie Technical Schools, now Carnegie Mellon University, opened and thereby minimized the need for Schneider's co-op plan in the region around Lehigh University. However, in 1903 the University of Cincinnati appointed Schneider to their faculty. In 1905 the UC Board of Trustees allowed Schneider to "try this cooperative idea of education for one year only, for the failure of which they would not be held responsible". The cooperative education program was launched in 1906, and became an immediate success, and the program was kept beyond the one-year allotted. The University of Cincinnati returned to the matter in its September 2005 board meeting, declaring the 100-year trial period of one hundred years of Cooperative Education officially ended, for the success of which the Board resumed full responsibility.
The Rizal Technological University is the leading-edge with regards to Cooperative Education in the Philippines. It focuses on preparing the students towards a meaningful training and hand’s-on experience in various partner industry of the University. It provides significant work-related experience that could hone the skills of the students and lay-out the solid foundation of the students towards working in a real world. The Cooperative Education Manual of the University has defined the objectives of the Cooperative Education Program as follows;
Involve students in planned productive work related to the academic program being pursued and the career goals of the students;
Help in solving the perennial gap that exists between school output and actual industry needs through cooperative study program with the students;
Strengthen the coordination between RTU and the business sector; and
Expose the students to actual; life situations where they can develop suitable moral and civic values based on society’s standards.
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Reflection on the Subject
Cooperative education has its beginnings at the University of Cincinnati, when Herman Schneider introduced relevant work experience as part of the engineering curriculum, referring to it as the "cooperative plan". The history of development of cooperative education in the US is of interest to the Asian region as there are some similarities with the expanding of cooperative education in the Asian region. The shift to learner-centered education to adopt. The enactment and practice of those concepts and intents must be contextualized to the cultural context within it is situated.
Training agencies is expected to be aware of the objectives of the program. They must interview and select students for employment without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, creed, or handicapping condition. As the administration of schoolwork, the school must assure compliance with the policies of the Philippine Department of Education and Philippine Commission on Higher Education and the program of study. On the other hand, student-trainee is expected to maintain a good attendance record, not only at school but also on the job. He or she must complete all requirements on the training plan, cooperate with coordinator in securing an appropriate on-the-job placement and conform to the rules and regulations of training station. Conclusively, students must participate in employer recognition activities by maintaining proper decorum, conducting self in a businesslike manner, be prompt, courteous, and groomed according to the training supervisor's requirements.
Although, cooperative education is beneficial, there are some downsides. The negative implications do not fully compromise the number of students undertaking the study, but rather how the program will affect the government's future funding for education. A huge burden that cooperative education brings to the education institution is financial struggles. The financial struggles come from the schools and universities who put pressure on the departments of education for funding to keep the program going. Implications directly to the students who participate in cooperative education is mainly based on direct learning at their institution, whether it is school or university. The cooperative education program takes students away from school or university. The slow drift of co-op becoming centralized and service-focused has come at the cost of research active co-op academics who will likely have a better appreciation of structuring a learning experience and be informed by recent developments of understanding of the co-op learning process. However, whatever the structural or administrative role or label for the co-op practitioner.
