A Whole Effort for the Whole Child: How REX is leading the Whole Child Initiative in the Philippines

Ensuring a young learner’s future success is not defined solely by where and who they grew up with. A child’s upbringing is not defined by their circumstances, but by the conscious choices that those who support them make. What does it take to foster a learning environment that supports young learners? It takes action, and a deep sense of responsibility rooted in community support.

In the Philippines, education is considered as a cornerstone of helping the national economy thrive in a fast-paced world that demands new perspectives to answer the challenges and recognize the opportunities that today’s realities serve. We live in spaces with so many diverse aspects that each contribute to how we look at ourselves and decide what to do in life, with the world out there. This is why it is important to build our capacities from multiple perspectives: to shape our intellectual, social, physical, emotional, artistic, and creative potentials. What does this mean for our young learners?

Shaped by the rapid advances in global industry and technology, young learners today have more privilege in terms of access to vast troves of information, all available at the touch of a button or the tap of a screen. However, digital connectedness and well-being are not really adequate measures of whether a child is learning and is steadily becoming independent, able to expand their own imagination, and always hungry to learn by both doing and taking apart what they already learned to make something new.

The 21st century is an age of connectedness and speed, a time when technology and industry are seamlessly bound to make the world a better place, and transform how we live. With this in mind, what we need is a whole new approach to the ways with which we go about with education, how we prepare them for success in life.

The Whole Child Initiative is a philosophy centered on holistic practices and methods that develops and prepares students by attending to a learner’s multifaceted needs: not just the academic aspect, but also, and more importantly, a learner’s psycho-social and emotional development. By considering the learner as an individual within a community, the Whole Child Initiative creates a bond between teachers, schools, parents, and the entire community, fostering awareness and openness to help shape and sustain learning environments into safe spaces for growth, learning, and the fulfillment of every child’s potential for success.

Through its critical thinking and inquiry-based methodology, the Whole Child Initiative aims to provide a well-rounded education, geared especially toward young learners. It is through this core concept of a well-rounded education that the Whole Child Initiative strives to help young learners become successful in later life without unnecessarily straining or pressuring them to merely excel in academics, given how academic excellence in itself is not an adequate measure of a happy and fulfilling life.

As a holistic approach, the Whole Child Initiative is guided by human values that have a universal resonance: compassion and peace. The campaign for the Whole Child commits itself to uplift all learners and help transform how we experience education into something that they could cherish and look back with gratitude, one that they will keep and treasure for a lifetime.

For over 69 years, REX has continuously evolved as the leading learning solutions provider in the Philippines. REX envisions a bright future for every Filipino learner, a future where they may reach for their dreams and become whole and joyful persons ready to contribute to society, committed to helping build the nation forward.

At REX, everything is done to nurture and serve, for the child (“Para sa Bata”). From publishing superior learning materials, to providing ISO-certified printing services, to holding relevant professional development seminars for educators and school administrators, all these works are part of the vision of the Whole Child: a child who’s safe, healthy, challenged, supported, and engaged.

REX is the premiere Philippine partner of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the main international organization campaigning for the Whole Child Approach. The REX and ASCD’s partnership has helped introduce and widen the acceptance of holistic learning strategies for next-gen education in the Philippines, all aligned with the country’s current transition to fully implementing K-12 education policies, as well as the new General Education Curriculum (GEC).

To learn more about REX’s leading efforts towards creating sustainable learning environments for the Whole Child, read about their work here: //www.rexpublishing.com.ph/whole-child-initiative/