NTTCHP History

The history of health professions education in the Philippines commenced with the founding of the National Teacher Training Center for the Health Professions, University of the Philippines Manila in 1975. Before this period, the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM) conducted a series of “teaching institutes” on various topics related to medical education. Faculty members in the other health sciences discipline like dentistry and public health were also occasionally invited in these teaching institutes. Nursing, on the other hand, had its own series of activities to improve the instructional competence of its teachers since the discipline includes nursing education.

After UPCM faculty Dr. Corazon Paulino Gonzalez trained in the Regional Teacher Training Center (RTTC) in Sydney, Australia in 1974, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified a potential leader in the Philippines who could pioneer health professions education. WHO then commissioned RTTC faculty members Drs. R. Bandaranayake and F. Rundle on December 7-14, 1974 to conduct a feasibility study on the creation of a national teacher training center in the Philippines.

Within the next seven days, the two WHO consultants held a series of meetings with UPCM Dean Florentino B. Herrera, Secretary of the Department of Education and Culture Dr. J. Manuel, Secretary of the Department of Health Dr. C. Gatmaitan, Executive Director of the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges, Dr. Fernando S. Sanchez, other deans of the country’s big medical schools such as the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center, University of Santo Tomas, Manila Central University and the Far Eastern University. Representatives from the China Medical Board and the deans of the UP College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and the Institute of Public Health were likewise consulted. These individuals and the institutions they represented, together with the Board of Medical Education strongly recommended to UP President Salvador P. Lopez “the creation of a national teacher training center for the health sciences under the auspices of the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines.”

The University of the Philippines Board of Regents (BOR) founded the National Teacher Training Center for the Health Sciences (NTTCHS) on January 30, 1975. The center’s approved main activities were three-fold: teacher training, research and service along the topics of curriculum, teaching methods and evaluation in health education.4 The BOR also decided that the center would be headed by an Advisory Board composed of the following: 

1. Chairman: UP President 

2. Members are representatives from the: 

   • Department of Education 

   • Department of Health 

   • Association of Philippine Medical Colleges 

   • World Health Organization 

   • Health sciences sector 

3.  Ex-officio members include the: 

   • Dean of the UP College of Medicine 

   • Dean of the UP College of Education 

4. NTTCHP director

NTTCHP's first director was Dr. Corazon P. Gonzalez, a full-time faculty member from the Department of Physiology in UP College of Medicine (UPCM). She acted as executive director of the center while the UP president was represented by then UPCM dean Dr. Florentino B. Herrera. When UP Manila was reorganized into a health sciences center in 1977, Dr. Gonzalez reported directly to the UP Manila Chancellor. This set-up was followed until 1978. 

In another meeting on March 30, 1978, the BOR amended the structure of the center, where the advisory board was reorganized to be composed of the same members but with the director as chairman. During the same meeting, the BOR renamed the NTTCHS into the National Teacher Training Center for the Health Professions (NTTCHP).

From 1975 to 1980, NTTCHP followed the World Health Organization (WHO) network of teacher training centers around the world. Figure 1 presents this network of teacher training centers reflective of their governance and structures. The hub of all these centers is the Inter Regional Teacher Training Center (IRTTC), first established in the University of Illinois in Chicago in 1969. IRTTCs are responsible for:

1. The offering of a one-year graduate level program in HPEd in Chicago for 2 to 4 candidates nominated by the WHO, 

2. One 4-week seminar-workshop in Chicago for 12 to 14 persons from the participating regions, and

3. One 2-to-4-week workshop for 25 participants at the site of an established or potential regional center.

The first IRTTC in Chicago was given five years to train health professionals and, after which, more IRTTCs should be ready for creation. According to the WHO network of teacher training centers, the inter regional teacher training centers are tasked to train educational specialists and educational leaders in the health professions. The RTTCs, on the other hand, are tasked to train educational leaders who would organize another center for nation-wide operations. The NTTCs should train health professionals to become competent and effective teachers who may later be instrumental in the creation of units to promote HPEd in their respective institutions. These units include medical education units or their equivalents.

Still in accordance with the WHO network, IRTTCs are established institutions engaged in health professions education activities and should have satisfied the following criteria to get WHO recognitions: 

1. A sound record of producing teaching personnel of high quality, 

2. An enviable reputation, as assessed by highly qualified educators in the health professions, 

3. A wide scope of educational research and development activities, both in the institution itself, and in the immediate academic environment, 

4. A reputation for leadership in educational work, as well as the willingness, capacity and experience to accept and train students at advanced levels, 

5. Evidence of strength and continuity of working relationships with other agencies, 

6. A demonstrated willingness and capacity to serve as an international center for advanced training in educational science for the health fields, 

7. Such minimum institutional resources as full-time appointment of key staff, laboratories equipped for educational work, adequate library facilities and financial resources for the maintenance, expansion and renewal of all basic equipment, and 

8. The nucleus of full-time professional staff should include individuals specializing in such areas as (a) educational psychology, (b) educational sociology, (c) educational management, (d) curriculum evaluation and methods of measurement, and (e) instructional methods and additional supporting personnel. From the IRTTC in 1969 sprang eight regional teacher training centers. 

Table 1 presents these RTTCs and their respective locations. These were founded by WHO from 1971 to 1973. The RTTC in Sydney later recommended the establishment of the National Teacher Training Center for the Health Professions in the University of the Philippines Manila in 1975. As a new institution, NTTCHP in UP Manila was guided by the WHO, the Office of the Chancellor and the dean of the UP College of Medicine. 

From its founding year in 1975 until 1981, NTTCHP had conducted series of teacher training activities ranging from 2 days to 4 weeks. These were mostly in-service training seminars-workshops conducted on various topics, duration, venues and groups of health professionals. Aside from these activities, regular monthly seminars and the inter university workshops (IUWs) were also held during the year. The monthly seminars referred to 2-3 hour seminars held every last Mondays of each month from June to February of each academic year. The IUWs referred to four- to five-day seminar workshops on various topics conducted for HP teachers from various institutions. These were held twice a year, once in summer and another during the semester break.

Educational Services. Other than the regular teacher training programs, NTTCHP faculty also conducted seminars, workshops and conferences on various topics in HPEd. Requests from agencies were accommodated and these were reported as extension services of the center.

To supplement the teacher training and educational services, the World Health Organization merged the Self-Instructional Material Module Bank (SIMB) with NTTCHP and paved the way for the creation of the center’s Learning Resources Unit (LRU) in 1979. The new unit promoted the use of self-instructional materials in the teaching of HPEd. Sana (1996) presents the lists of teacher training programs, educational services and materials available at the LRU from 1975 to 1981.