Serving to sharpen the skill set of its highly competent faculty, the Philippine College of Criminology (PCCR) Faculty Development and In-Service Training (INSET) Program ended its month-long run with over two hundred excited educators. Fully equipped with the right mindset, knowledge, skills, and tools to provide the unique brand of PCCR education to learners, the teachers and professors from the High School, General Education, and Criminology Departments were left in awe and ready to face the academic year head on.

Opening the afternoon with the “Bating Filipino” (a symbolic Filipino brand of greeting conceptualized by the Department of Tourism similar to the gestures of Thailand and Japan), Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) Dr. Noel Sergio thanked all the participants for persevering and making it through the 30-day INSET. He also expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed to the event’s success, from the academic leaders and team, to the staff of the different departments that tirelessly fulfilled their daily roles. Dr. Sergio then urged everyone to build harmonious professional relationships not just with their co-faculty members, but with the leadership of the school as well.

Much like the annual commencement exercises, the faculty members who successfully and painstakingly finished the whole training program were recognized and commended for their perseverance by their respective departments. High School Assistant Principal Ms. Dianne Manalili recognized the 96 High School Teachers present, while General Education Department Head Dr. Lesa Diaz and Criminology Program Chair Dr. Gaypelyn Casiw congratulated the 64 Gen Ed Teachers and 55 Criminology Professors, respectively.

For her inspirational message to the over two hundred teachers present, PCCR President Ma. Angelica Lei Bautista congratulated both the faculty and the organizers for a successful INSET Training. She then reiterated the previous call to build relationships, emphasizing that “together is better”. She expressed her excitement for what the faculty would bring to the PCCR brand of education for the coming academic year. 

President Lei also gave a quick report on the enrollment status of PCCR, exciting the teachers further. She emphatically presented the aggressive growth of the PCCR population from 5000 students overall in 2020, to 7500 in 2021, and over 10000 students for the coming academic year. Though the overall population is still growing as enrollment has not closed yet, this is already PCCR’s biggest enrollment population since the 1980s. After congratulating the Admissions and Marketing Teams for their aggressive campaigns, she proceeded to challenge the teachers saying “it’s your turn to shine, so shine in your own way”. 

Calling all PCCR teachers to be transformative mentors and role models to the Batang 641 community, President Lei further encouraged the dynamic faculty to embrace and love PCCR’s new and gamified Learning Management System. Aptly called FELX (Fun and Exciting Learning Experience) after PCCR Founder Justice Felix Angelo Bautista, the techy teaching and learning platform should be used to break the traditional teaching style and habit. As an incentive to make the Student Learning Experience more Participative, Interactive and Engaging, a cash prize would be awarded to the professors and teachers whose FELX output would start out among the rest.