Crystal Venus D. Lopez
Teacher II
Dadalaquiten Integrated School
Sinait District
Division of Ilocos Sur
Educators in this VUCA World
The word VUCA was first coined in the army, but now it is widely used in our society and
organizations. This is an acronym that describes a world which is volatile, uncertain, complex, and
ambiguous. What does this imply to us educators, then? How do these words affect our work as a teacher
and our organization as a whole?
Volatility entails to a high level of instability and change. That’s why if we say that a situation is
volatile, it always indicates a negative connotation since they defy our need for control. However, volatility
has also a positive impact, especially in our educational system. Because of these changing of perspectives
and patterns of teaching and learning, it brought about unexpected opportunities for innovation.
Technologically speaking, we teachers are being challenged by the Department of Education to further
our strategies and techniques to deliver our services effectively and efficiently to our learners using media
and technology platforms. Because of this sudden change in our educational scheme, we are expected to
break up our existing patterns and routines in teaching and to embrace and open the space for novelty.
Uncertainty is our next word. This refers to events, in which we don’t have enough information
to predict their outcomes. In uncertain situations, we cannot make proper plans in achieving our goals.
That’s because we don’t know and even understand what will happen next. During the COVID-19
pandemic, the Department of Education struggled to resolve the problem on what measures to
implement to make education go on despite the threat of the virus. Deciding for solutions to it is a difficult
task for our educational leaders since they cannot predict what solutions will be effective and how will
they affect the department. Thus, being a good decision-maker and excellent planner is very important to
survive in this uncertain world.
Complexity describes a situation or environment that consists of a large, interconnected parts
that interacts with each other. Our DepEd organization consists of many interconnected systems.
Sometimes it becomes hard to control because of the different behaviors interacting with each other.
That’s why it’s important to have a future-oriented mindset and innovativeness to be able to figure out
how to engage with these complexities regarding our work as teachers. And this requires the capacity to
sense, shape and seize new opportunities.
Ambiguity means there is a lack of clarity especially in the interpretation of a given situation. It
might be that the situation is unclear, incoherent, or even contradictory. This may lead to misreading
situations or difficulty in properly distinguishing threat from opportunities. As teachers, then, we must
possess a high level of awareness, creativity, and reflection to be able to identify proper ways to interpret
situations even how ambiguous it is.
We, teachers might feel afraid or confused in this current VUCA world, but then, as the molders
of our future generation, we must become dynamic and flexible in accepting change in our educational
system. We must be able to assess situations well and monitor both the internal and external environment
of our organization.
As educators and agents of change, let’s not limit ourselves with what we can do. We can always
harness and improve our potentials to survive in this VUCA World.