Dr. Ethel Agnes Pascua- Valenzuela serves as the Advisor of ASEAN on the Future of Education ASCC Research and Development Platform.
She was the first female Director of the SEAMEO Secretariat, which serves as the executive arm of the SEAMEO Council of Ministers of Education from 11 member states that make up SEAMEO. Since Dr Ethel Valenzuela joined the SEAMEO Secretariat, she oversaw the implementation of SEAMEO College projects with ADB; SEA PLM- the first regional assessment of grade 5 learners in reading, writing, mathematics literacy as well as global citizenship and SEAMEO Inter-centre collaboration activities and UNESCO-SEAMEO projects.
She represented SEAMEO in the UNESCO HIgh Level Steering Committee, Sherpa and Education 2030 SDG Steering Committee. She is a advisory board member of UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) and UNESCO ISCED-T.
When the pandemic broke in, she has introduced a wide range of COVID-19 responses of the organization including the development and rolling off the SEAMEO Webinar Series, SEAMEO COVID -19 Accessible and Responsive Education Support (CARES) Programme and SEAMEO Border Schools Project aligning its actions to the UNESCO Global Education Coalition for COVID-19 Response and Toolkit for Remote Teaching and Learning to name a few.
Prior to joining SEAMEO, Dr Valenzuela also served in the Philippines as Commissioner of UNESCO National Commission (2003-2010) and played an integral role in the ratification of UNESCO Mutual Recognition of Higher Education Degrees, Studies and Certificates (2003) as well as in the drafting of the TOKYO Convention for the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications (2011). She served as Director IV of the Commission on Higher Education for Office of Student Services and Director III of the International Affairs Services. An accomplished academic and writer, Dr Valenzuela led SEAMEO researches on K to 12 Toolkit, Regional Comparison of K to 12 Systems in Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia Teaching Competency Standards, Education For All Assessment of the Philippines, ESD Toolkit, UNESCO Toolkit for the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications and Toolkit for National Information Centre to name a few and two Outstanding EIU Best Case Studies from UNESCO APCEIU on Peace Education and Literacy.
As a passionate educator, Dr Valenzuela also serves as Professorial Lecturer at the Department of Educational Leadership and Professional Services, College of Education, University of the Philippines -Diliman Philippines since 2006.
