Learning Action Cell

Objectives
- Briefly discuss the Rationale and the Policy statements
- Define Learning Action Cell
- State and briefly discuss the objectives of the policy
- Briefly discuss the theoretical framework and classify various topics that can be
delivered in a session
- Identify LAC participants and their roles in the delivery of instruction
- Brief presentation of the LAC Implementation Process

According to the DepEd Order No. 35, series of 2016

Under and signed by former DepEd of Education Secretary Br. Armin Luistro

Rationale
- Department of Education (DepEd) works to protect and promote the right of Filipinos to
quality basic education
- The DepEd also recognizes that the quality of learning is greatly influenced by the quality
of teaching. Therefore, it is imperative for the DepEd to hire good teachers and to
support their development in the teaching profession.
- Successful teaching is a result of the systematic use of appropriate strategies.
- Different methods of teacher professional development are implemented throughout
the DepEd to improve teaching-learning processes.

Policy Statement
- Good educational systems ensure that opportunities for both approaches to professional
development programs are available and accessible to teachers.
- Action points that directly address the quality of teaching-learning processes must be
included in the SIP.
- Learning Action Cells (LACs) aims to develop and support successful teachers by
nurturing their knowledge, attitudes, and competencies in terms of curriculum,
instruction, and assessment in their workstations.
- LACs are the most cost-effective CPD process but may entail some expenses for meetings
and handouts.

Definition

Learning Action Cell (LAC)

- Is a group of teachers who engage in collaborative learning sessions to solve shared
challenges encountered in the school facilitated by the school head or a designated LAC
Leader.
- LACs will become the school-based communities of practice that are positive, caring,
and safe spaces.
- Key aspects of the process are ongoing collaborative learning or problem-solving within
a shared domain of professional interest, self-directed learning, reflective practice
leading to action and self-evaluation, and collective competence.

Objectives
- to improve the teaching-learning process that will lead to improved learning among the
students;
- to nurture successful teachers;
 - to enable teachers to support each other to continuously improve their content and
pedagogical knowledge, practice, skills, and attitudes; and
- to foster a professional collaborative spirit among school heads, teachers, and the
community as a whole.

Theoretical Framework

Community of practice with collaborative planning, problem-solving, and

action-implementation —
Improves teacher’s content knowledge, pedagogical skills, assessment strategies, and
professional ethics.
—
Student learning and holistic development.

Topics for LAC Sessions

1. Learner Diversity and Student Inclusion

- Successful teachers know and care for their students. Including learner diversity and
student inclusion
- It underscores the importance of teachers' knowledge and understanding of, as well as
respect for, learners' characteristics and experiences.
- Diversity emanates from a variety of factors (which may be in combination) such as
gender, community membership, religious beliefs, family configurations, and special
learning needs.
- Learner inclusion requires that teachers provide remedial instruction for those who are
experiencing difficulties
- Such interventions prevent failure and communicate caring by the teacher for students.

2. Content and Pedagogy of the K to 12 Basic Education Program

- By studying the K to 12 curriculum, teachers will be better able to prepare for lessons
and will be more relaxed in executing lesson plans.
- Content and performance standards and learning competencies must be mastered by
teachers so that they can plan lessons, deliver instruction effectively, and assess the
learning that results from their teaching.
- While boosting teachers’ own critical and creative thinking, their skill in translating
curriculum content into relevant learning activities also grows.
- Student learning will improve because the teacher will be more systematic and better
contextualized to the learning needs of students.

3. Assessment and Reporting in the K to 12 Basic Education Program

- Every teacher should understand how to implement the learner-centered assessment
policies for the K to 12 Curriculum.
- Discussions about lessons should necessarily include ways of assessing the learning of
students and how data from formative assessment can improve subsequent lessons.
- Assessment provides teachers and learners with the necessary feedback about learning
outcomes.
- This feedback informs the reporting cycle and enables teachers to continually select,
organize, and use sound assessment processes.
 4. 21st Century Skills and ICT Integration in Instruction and Assessment
- Teachers must enrich lessons with simple integration strategies utilizing Information and
Communications Technology (ICT)
- Instruction and assessment processes can be made more collaborative with ICT, which
teachers can implement with the tools and equipment available in their schools.

- Curriculum Contextualization, Localization, and Indigenization

- Curriculum contextualization is the process of matching the curriculum content and
instructional strategies relevant to learners.
- Teachers identify and respond to opportunities to link teaching and learning in the
classroom to the experiences, interests, and aspirations.
- By linking new content to the local experiences that are familiar to students, learning will
be more efficient for and relevant to them.
- The localization of the curriculum is an essential feature of the K to 12 Curriculum. The
teacher’s guide and learners’ materials may be modified to accommodate the unique
contexts of a particular locality.
- Providing spaces for unique cultures in the K to 12 Basic Education Program is a key
strategy for student inclusion and ensuring the relevance of education processes for all
learners.

LAC Participants and their roles

LAC Leader
- Principal, School Head, or can be a designated LAC leader.
1. Oversees the implementation of the LAC(s);
2. Leads in the development of a LAC Plan and integrates such in the SIP or AIP;
3. Organizes LAC groupings at the beginning of each school year and ensures that each LAC
has an assigned facilitator, preferably a Master Teacher or senior teacher or senior
member of the faculty;
4. Mobilizes resources for the conduct of LACs;
5. Provides feedback and submits LAC Progress Reports to District and Schools Division
Office;
6. . Adapts and shares LAC best practices from other schools, thereby developing a culture
of collaboration and continuous improvement;
7. Ensures the monitoring of LAC sessions and related activities and evaluating their
impact on teacher professional development, quality teaching, and pupil achievement;
8. Agrees with LAC Members on how to observe or monitor application of learning;
9. Provides feedback to the teachers;
10. Gathers evidences of implementation or application of learning;
11. Meets with facilitator to decide on next LAC topic and to prepare or plan for the next
session; and
12. Monitors the LAC implementation vis-à-vis the school LAC plan.

LAC Facilitator
- The LAC Facilitator could be the Principal or School Head, a Master Teacher or a senior
teacher or senior member of the faculty. This role could be assigned on a rotation basis.
The LAC Facilitator:
1. Convenes the LAC team meetings;
2. Provides technical assistance in the development of the LAC n, timetable of team
meetings, and other activities;
 3. Checks and monitors attendance of members and submission of materials and sees to it
that team meetings start and end on time, and that agenda for the meeting are covered;
4. Encourages active engagement and participation of members;
5. Serves as resource person on specific topics;
6. Assigns a documenter on rotation basis;
7. Invites external resource persons when necessary;
8. Reports regularly to LAC leader on LAC progress;
9. Prepares his/her session plan that identifies the topic, objectives, materials needed, and
outline of activities (at the very least) and where necessary, consults the LAC Leader and
members;
10. Ensures that the venue and equipment are available and prepares the necessary
learning materials such as reading materials, videos, presentations, etc., when needed;
11. Announces the LAC session including topic, time, venue, and other matters that the
group should know; and
12. Runs and facilitates the session based on the plan and ensures that the agreed norms of
behaviour are observed and that the objectives of the session are achieved.

LAC Members
- are the teachers who share common concerns such as grade level assignments or
learning area assignments or key stage assignments. LACs must be organized well so that
teachers are a member of at least one LAC.
1. Attends LAC meetings regularly and participates actively in LAC sessions;
2. Serves as LAC facilitator or documenter or resource person for certain topics when
assigned such roles;
3. Develops plans to apply what has been learned and implements agreed action plan in
one’s classroom;
4. Monitors one’s progress in relation to the LAC Plan;
5. Prepares and submits documents or materials as needed and brings materials relevant
to the topic;
6. Observes agreed norms of behaviour;
7. Captures evidences of implementation;
8. Reflects on the implementation;
9. Shares with colleagues in informal settings;
10. Prepares to share in each LAC session;
11. Allows LAC leader to observe how the learning was applied; and
12. Provides the LAC leader with evidences of application of learning.

LAC Documenter
- is a member of the LAC who has been assigned to record the minutes of the team
meetings. This role may be rotated
1. Documents LAC proceedings following the template agreed upon;
2. Keeps records of attendance and output of members;
3. Helps the LAC Leader and Facilitator in writing the progress reports to be submitted to
the District, Schools Division, Regional, and Central Office;
4. Devices innovative and efficient ways to document and synthesizes the agreements
during the LAC sessions;
5. Provides the information on the progress of the LAC and the insights of the teachers
about student learning;
6. Takes down minutes and captures the processes in the LAC; and
7. Gathers evidences of implementation (e.g., individual plans, etc.).
LAC Resource Person
- can be a member of the LAC or someone external invited to talk and lead the session on
a specific topic.
1. Shares current trends and best practices on certain aspects of curriculum,
pedagogy, and assessment;
2. Facilitates the activities during the session, which may include workshops and
demonstrations;
3. Mentors or coaches teachers on content and pedagogies for a particular lesson
unit;
4. Coordinates with the LAC Facilitator on materials and equipment to be used
during the session; and
5. Helps the LAC plan subsequent action based on the session.

LAC Implementation

Process 17.
- Before the LAC Session. In order to plan for LACs, the LAC members guided by the LAC
Leader and LAC Facilitator, are expected to identify professional development needs and
prioritize issues to be discussed or addressed in the LAC session. These can be recorded
in an LAC Plan, which will also require details on how the LAC process will be monitored.
A template for the LAC Plan can be found in Annex 1. Schools can revise the template to
suit their own needs and contexts.

17.1 Assessment of Needs.

- Needs are identified with reference to the professional teacher standards set for one’s
career stage. These needs could be captured through different forms like
self-assessment tools, classroom observation results, critical reflections, surveys,
research-based teacher development needs, students’ assessment results, and other
forms.

17.2 Prioritization of Topics or Agenda.

- From the needs that have been identified as focus of LAC, members could agree on
which of them should be prioritized for their sessions. The basis for prioritization could
be in terms of urgency of need, time needed in addressing the need, interest or in
whatever way agreed upon by the members of the group. These priority needs or topics
could integrate the areas mentioned above.

17.3 Formation of LAC.

- Every teacher must be part of a LAC. LACs could be formed based on the prioritized
need(s) and depending on the number of teachers in every school or cluster of schools.
However, these groupings are flexible according to need and context.

17.4 Identification of Appropriate Intervention.

- The LAC could agree on exploring interventions to address the identified need.
Interventions could be in the form of learning materials, instructional materials,
equipment, facilities, strategies in teaching, modality in teaching, program, etc.

17.5 Scheduling of Meetings.

- The LAC members can decide on the schedule, length, and frequency of meetings. One
to two hours a week is strongly recommended but the diversity of teaching conditions
may not always allow this. LAC sessions, however, should be conducted at least once a
 month. Interactions may also be done through ICT when it is difficult to have face-toface
sessions, particularly when involving clustered schools. There is a need to prioritize the
LACs because this is the support system for teachers who are tasked to deliver basic
education, which is the core business of DepEd. Activities that do not support this
mandate must not take priority over the learning needs of students. Finally, all schools
are encouraged to prioritize

17.6 Setting Up of Resources.

- Resources could be human or material that should be prepared or set up before the
implementation of the sessions. The human resources could be individuals who are
tapped as resource persons of the LAC sessions. Material resources could be the
supplies, worksheets, videos, equipment, budget, food, venues and other things needed
in the conduct of a LAC session. The LAC Leader or School Head shall take the lead in
identifying the needed resources, and ensuring their availability and sustainability.

17.7 Assignment of Work.

- The LAC members could be given specific roles to perform during LAC sessions. These
roles could be rotated among the members of the group.

17.8 LAC Implementation Norms.

- Norms are the framework from which team members commit to conduct business.
Developing norms and adhering to them ensure the success of the group, and facilitate
the members’ ability to deal with critical issues. Norms have several components that
clarify team dynamics. These are some elements to address:

- Time and Venue: Where and when will we meet? Will we start on time?
- Listening: How will we listen to our peers? How will we discourage interruptions when
someone is speaking?
- Confidentiality: What content is to be held in confidence? What can be shared after the
meeting?
- Decision Making: How will we arrive at a decision? What if everyone doesn’t agree with
the group's decision?
- Participation: Is participation optional? Will we have an attendance policy? What will we
do if a member constantly misses meetings?

17.9 Preparing Line-item Budget.

- The budget shall come from the school’s respective MOOE and other external grants,
provided that only expenses allowed under the school MOOE may be included, subject
to existing accounting rules and regulations.

17.10 Writing of LAC Plan.

- For a guided implementation of LAC plans, they should be written and documented
following the template in Annex 1. Schools are allowed to modify the template based on
their needs. This plan should be integrated or linked with the School Improvement Plan
(SIP) or Annual Implementation.

DO_s2016_035.pdf
Learning Action Cell (LAC) basics | PPT