The Pangasinan State University- Bayambang Campus (formerly known as Bayambang Normal School in 1922, renamed Pangasinan Normal School in 1948 then morphed into Central Luzon State College in 1969) is the university’s Teacher Education front liner and lead campus designed to produce basic education teachers. The Campus earned the status through many years of hard work and dedicated service which brought sterling outcomes in both Bachelor of Secondary and Elementary Education as its flagship programs.
To bootstrap itself into new horizon, the campus teacher education program undertook a milestone journey in 2016 towards Southeast Asia Student Pre-Service Teacher Exchange or SEA-Teacher Program. This program is a brainchild of Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization or SEAMEO to provide international exposure and learning experiences among pre-service teaching students in their respective fields, making them globally competitive and culturally grounded as they share and learn best practices of the teacher education institution they are assigned to be trained. On its third year, the campus also hosts international students from ASEAN-member universities for them to gain exposure of the Philippine culture and academic related activities.
Being an original Normal School, Bayambang Campus is one among the Ten (10) Normal Schools in the Philippines also known as the 3NS or the National Network of Normal Schools. The 3NS leads and commits in advancing the nation’s teacher education-related development programs and projects on research, learning and training in order to improve teacher quality in particular and the country’s educational system in general. Bayambang Campus also participates in Erasmus Mundus Scholarship program, an enabling practice teaching student exchange program which provide unique learning opportunities among the participants as they are exposed to diversified learning environment. Scholars are pre-service teacher education students sent to undertake their off-campus practice teaching in another member university. Through this, they gain learning from exposure to various culture and educational context that enrich their experiences to become culturally-sensitive teachers in the future. Since 2012, PSU Bayambang caters to scholars from other Normal Schools as it serves as training institution for them.
Together with other members of the 3NS, breakthrough initiatives are being thrust into the pre-service teacher education curriculum leading to improved student performance. It ventured into innovations in terms of curriculum development through a process called Curriculum Quality Audit, a systematic and evidence-based process wherein the curriculum is subjected to review and inspection against the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers and its alignment with the Policies, Standards and Guidelines set by the Commission on Higher Education or CHEd. It also beefed up or enhanced its curriculum by means of offering relevant courses beyond than what the standard has set –a mechanism to ascertain that graduates will obtain maximum learning and training at Bayambang Campus, making them succeed in the real world of work.
Per the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) data, the Campus is a consistent producer of graduates who are landing in the national Board Topnotchers list and with passing percentage very much above the national cut off. In 2016, Teacher Education programs of Bayambang was given recognition by the CHEd as Center of Excellence. It also maintains the highest level of accreditation (Level 4-Phase II) for the said programs awarded by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines, Inc. These are solid testament for the campus’ continuous demonstration of superb performance in the areas of instruction, research and publication, extension and linkages and institutional qualification galvanized by the university’s well-established quality assurance.
According to the campus tracer study, its graduates are hired as professional teachers, head teachers, principal, executive officers and even agency leaders, locally and internationally and give their attribution to the Campus for their successful career.
Cognizant of its mandate, the Campus continues to commit itself to remain as one of the country’s vibrant source of quality trained teachers who have the key responsibility of shaping the country’s future.