Jame Bryan Batara

Refreshing his profession in social psychology, Jame Bryan Batara joined the MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Post-Secondary program after developing a deep appreciation for diversity through his community-focused teaching. He now teaches at Alexander College, integrating his social psychology expertise with his post-secondary and curriculum design training.

Both in the Philippines and in Canada, Jame created psychoeducational programs for the communities in need. He taught as an associate professor but also worked directly with those communities. Eventually, in his teaching career, Jame felt called to deepen his understanding of diversity and its connection to teaching and learning. That is when he came to SFU’s Faculty of Education. 

A Highlight from the Program

The program stood out as unique to Jame because of the diversity of his class. There were people coming from a variety of disciplines and cultures.

“Whenever we had discussions and debates, everyone could draw on their own unique perspectives. They would share insights from their different backgrounds and disciplines.”

Biggest Takeaway 

For Jame, an essential takeaway from the program was the importance of collaboration. The program gave him the opportunity to practice implementing the key factors of collaboration that he was learning. 

“Collaboration has been one of the things that I have been doing since I learned it from the program. The program taught me that more collaboration leads to better solutions, better communication and better management of people.”

Community Environment

Today, Jame considers his cohort from the program as his family. Despite completing the program, they continue to stay in touch. Their experience in the program together has helped them beyond the program as they continue to collaborate and help one another.

“We help each other when we have some problems or challenges in our own curriculum and in our own teaching fields. That's what I appreciate, the program transcends what we learned in the classroom, and it moves on with us even if we're done the program.”

New Perspective

The program shifted Jame’s perspective to realize that teaching is a social and cultural space. It inspired him to adjust the way he designs curriculum to empower each of his students’ unique perspectives.  

“I want to help them transition from just learning the concepts and theories to applying it in their own narratives. I want to make sure that I emphasize the transformative goal of education.”

Advice for Future Students 

"I advise future students to embrace the diversity in the program ... We had people coming from a variety of disciplines and cultures ... My classmate, whose expertise is in English teaching and learning, helped us with problems about language and communication barriers."