Through our previous courses, we were privileged to observe different public schools in Manila.

One of the schools that caught our attention is the so-called, Center of Excellence, Gregorio Del Pilar Extension or simply, CENTEX. As the name implies, this center is a part of Gregorio Del Pilar Elementary School which is a public school in Tondo, Manila.

CENTEX is a collaborative project between corporate funders, Ayala Foundation Inc., the local or provincial government , the Department of Education and other volunteers.

Though CENTEX may sound grand, this center aims to offer quality education to promising children from economically disadvantaged families. Some of these families live on the streets and places like Tondo.

According to an interview that we took from the website of CENTEX, the parents of the students in the center observe that their children became different from other children in their neighborhood.

The parents described their children as having more disciplined study time, rationale time management and are keen on hygiene and order.

Because of the great improvement of the students in CENTEX, the researchers decided to conduct this study to: Differentiate the academic performance of the kindergarten pupils in the public schools and in the Center of Excellence. Identify the different factors that affect the academic performance of the kindergarten pupils in the public school and in the Center of Excellence

As students of the Philippine Normal University, a State University, graduates are expected to serve the country for at least five (5) years as passionate teachers in the Philippines. Graduates can apply for a job in private schools and can eventually apply in public schools after passing the licensure examination for teachers.

But because of low salary and lesser benefits, BECED graduates chose to apply for jobs in more developed countries like Canada, Singapore and New Zealand. Because of this, Philippines lack licensed preschool teachers.

The researchers chose this study to identify the factors that affect the views of PNU graduating BECED students in choosing their preferred countries to work at and to determine the prospective country where PNU graduating BECED students desired country to work at.

The researchers decided to conduct this study to:

determine the prospective country where PNU graduating BECEd students want to work at; identify the factors that affect their views in choosing their prefect countries to work.

It is believed that Technology is the great equalizer between the rich and the poor and is changing our access to knowledge. It is one of the many ways that bridges the gap between the classroom and the real world to make learning credible. It redefines the classroom experience by using innovative ways to teach and learn new skills using ICT.

This gives the idea that as a future educator, beyond the basic skills, one must have the competence in the 21st century skillsthe proficiency in collaboration, communication and managing information and access to tools that put those skills at hand.

As a student in the National Center for Teacher Education, students have been trained to become skillful in every aspect of a teacher. With this, it has moved the researchers to conduct a study on the efficiency of graduating BECED students in terms of using ICT as their medium of instruction. It seeks to find the level of expertise of the students and assert how confident they are in using ICT in teaching the 21st century students.

The researchers decided to conduct this study to:

identify the level of expertise of PNU graduating BECEd students in using ICT assert how confident the PNU graduating BECEd students are in using ICT as medium of instruction.

Apolonio, Leanna Carmela Balla, Donna Christine Calucin, Princess Cantuba, Sarah Jane Docena, Geraldine Dooc, Pauline Joy Pabico, Sherah Maye