Teach for the Philippines is a for-purpose, non-stock, non-profit organization that works to provide all Filipino children with an inclusive, relevant, and excellent education. They enlist some of the country’s most promising young leaders to teach for two years in public schools throughout the Philippines. Through their experiences in the classroom, Teach for the Philippines transforms their leaders into lifelong advocates for education equity.

Founded in August 2012 by Lizzie E. Zobel, Margarita L. Delgado, and Clarissa Isabelle Delgado, Teach for the Philippines stands on the shoulders of giants: the Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation, which focused on functional literacy for over a decade and Teach for All, a global network of social enterprises working towards education reform.

Today, with a fast-growing team of individuals, driven with a common passion for expanding educational access, Teach for the Philippines looks forward to leaving their mark on the country.

Vision:

Within their lifetime, all Filipino children will have access to an excellent and relevant education.
 
Mission:

They identify, develop, and support…

…Teacher Fellows who positively impact the academic and life skills of their students; with a view to changing their students’ life paths.

…Alumni who grow into future positions that impact policies affecting education reform.

…A network that accelerates education reform.

Values:

Every employee and alumnus of  Teach for the Philippines – inside and outside the classroom – must aspire to model the leadership the country needs to progress.  They hold the following seven operational values of leadership to be true.  These values represent the way they conduct on a daily basis. 

1. They focus on the mission.  Teach for the Philippines exists to identify, develop, and support a community of leaders working to end education inequity in the Philippines. Their team commits to the mission in order to achieve an ideal vision: an excellent education for every Filipino child by the term of the 21st President of the Philippines.

2. They constantly learn from everyone and everything. At  Teach for the Philippines, each individual is handpicked for leadership achievement and potential. In modeling leadership, it is critical to have a sense of humility. Their team members accept that they do not know everything and cannot provide the answers for all the problems. They acknowledge that there is always a bigger picture and it is one’s responsibility to learn all the parts of this big picture before creating a solution. In modeling potential, they recognize that every individual has a story to tell – maximizing learning opportunities by learning something from everybody and everything.  

3. They roll up their sleeves to attain shared goals. Leaders know that success in achieving one’s goal is dependent on the success of the whole, rather than on the success of an individual. When it is necessary, each member of their team sets aside their personal ego to reach out and extend a helping hand.

4. They operate with integrity, respect, and generosity. Their vision of success includes operating with integrity (honesty), respect, and generosity.

5. They build strong partnerships and collaborate. Social change is a consensus amongst many different organizations, cultures, and orientations. Creating impact through social change means working with others, inside and outside their organization.

6. They act decisively and excellently, despite ambiguity. Their team members take action; they possess the courage to face a problem, analyze all the different aspects of the problem and understand the short-medium-long term impact/repercussions of any sustainable solution. They quell fear to act decisively, despite uncertainty or ambiguity. In taking action to deliver, they still commit to maintaining the high standards expected of them.

7. They persevere. In pursuit of the mission, Leaders are bold and creative in tackling challenges they face. Their work is complex and gratification is often delayed, but leaders within  Teach for the Philippines proactively make the effort to solve problems.
 
…And above all, they commit to working so that within their lifetime, all Filipino children will gain  access to an excellent and relevant education.