Theme: "Celebrating Diversity Through the Performance of Talents and Skills for
Sustainable Inclusive Education.”
BEAUTY IN DIVERSITY: CHAMPIONING INCLUSIVITY AND SURMOUNTING
PEDAGOGICAL ADVERSITY
by: Micah D. Tan
To the well-respected board of the adjudicators, to my equally capable competitors,
teacher-coaches, students, gentle ladies & men, and to everyone who are here, good morning!
What is diversity? Is there really a beauty on it? Is this even worth celebrating? These are
the questions that reverberated in the corners of my psyche; until, I have realized that a rainbow
will not be appreciated with only one color—and this speaks diversity, and this speaks a lot of
beauty. Truly, it is the diversity of rainbow’s colors that symbolizes pulchritude—and that makes
it even beautiful!
Today, I will be talking about the concepts of diversity, inclusivity, and adversity; and
how these three themes are associated with one another and can be intertwined as one.
First, diversity. Teaching to engage diversity, to include all learners, and to seek equity is
essential for preparing civically engaged adults and for creating a campus and society that
recognizes the contributions of all people. Teaching for diversity refers to acknowledging a range
of differences in the classroom. Teaching for inclusion signifies embracing difference. Teaching
for equity allows the differences to transform the way we think, teach, learn and act such that all
experiences and ways of being are handled with fairness and justice.
Second, inclusivity. Inclusive teaching strategies are intended to ensure that all students
feel supported such that they freely learn and explore new ideas, feel safe to express their views
in a civil manner, and respected as individuals and members of groups. Intentionally
incorporating inclusive teaching strategies helps students view themselves as people who belong
to the community of learners in a classroom and in the academe as a whole.
The National Festival of Talents (NFOT) is an annual event where the top talents of the
country from elementary to high school gather for friendly competition across a range of activities
in music, the performing arts and technical-vocational skills, and this year's theme is “Celebrating
Diversity through the performance of Talents and Skills for Sustainable inclusive Education” where the
various rich cultures of the Philippines took center stage. As what the Department of Education
implies that, “As an academic institution, is not only highlighting the academic excellence of our
learners but also their skills and talents.” Indeed, with these statements of DepEd, we can truly
say that education promotes the relevance of diversity and inclusivity not only in the four corners
of the classroom but even more so if the learners are not anymore residing within the walls of the
academe. It is through diversity and inclusion that improve teaching and learning. People learn
and enrich their abilities to think critically and creatively as they engage in conversations across
difference, especially when all learners’ abilities and attributes and embraced.
Third, adversity. As defined by Merriam-Websters Dictionary, this literally means
“turned against" and figuratively "hostile or unfavorable." When things seem against you —
circumstances or a stroke of bad luck — you are facing adversity. Sometimes people use a form
of the phrase "turning adversity into opportunity." This refers to the ability of some people or
companies to take a bad situation and make it into a successful one. As to the context of adversity
in the field of education, the one that can be considered as its greatest pedagogical adversity is
how education was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted to learning losses to all
learning areas—and termed as COVID-19 slide. After years of hiatus because of the pandemic,
finally, schools and the DepEd in general, are slowly trying to fix everything up and organizing
such as National Festival of Talents (NFOT), not only to showcase learners’ academic and skill
performances, but even highlighting the concept of resiliency—that no matter how difficult the
situation is, or how many times we fall, we will still rise to the occasion!
Now, how are these three terminologies relative with one another? It is through diversity
and inclusion that we can achieve sustainable education for all and even hurdle any pedagogical
setbacks in the equation. Truly, education is a basic human right—and every learner should be
able to receive the best education each one deserves! Let us all celebrate the concept of diversity,
and let us embrace the importance of inclusivity—from here, any educational adversity will truly
be converted into a great opportunity to live, to influence, and to be prolific! Thank you so for
listening, and may educating the mind of every child be in the paramount of our priority!
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