MODULE 1
EDUCATIONAL REFORMS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Introduction
The Philippine education system
has evolved over hundreds of years of
colonial occupation, first by Spain and
then by the US, through martial law
and the people’s power revolution that
brought democracy to the sprawling
archipelago. The education sector’s
development has mirrored the changes
in the country’s administration. Today
the focus is on expanding access and
ensuring more Filipinos receive a
decent basic education, as a means of
reducing poverty and improving
national competitiveness. The World
Bank notes that in other countries
such initiatives have brought “large
economic benefits”. The K-12 reform was introduced in 2016 and
funding was increased, easing concerns that its implementation would
be hindered by limited resources and winning over new President
Rodrigo Duterte, who was initially sceptical about the plan.
Despite these successes and President Duterte’s commitment to
socio-economic issues as his policy priorities, the education system
continues to struggle with deep inequalities. Quality also remains a
concern. Addressing these problems will require a continued
commitment to increased funding for education, and an efficient
mechanism to ensure the money is spent in the most effective manner.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module, you should be able to:
1. discuss the importance of educational reforms;
2. explain how does the educational system in the Philippines
work; and
3. conform with the main goal of the Education Reform Act.
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Learning Content
Why is education reform important?
The purpose of educational reforms is to
transform school structures with the aim of
raising the quality of education in a
country. Educational reforms deserve a
holistic examination of their reasons, objectives,
application and results generated, by those
within the school systems where they are
implemented.
What are the two major changes in the Philippine educational
system?
Reforms from basic to tertiary level have been constantly shaping
the state of Philippine education. To date, two of the most significant
educational reforms in the country are the continued implementation
of the K to 12 Program and the free higher education.
What were the education reforms of 1977?
The public debate culminated into the Educational Reform of
1977, which aimed at providing nine years of compulsory basic
education, among its other features. The government further
formulated national development plans to address other educational
needs of the newly-independent country.
How does the education system in the Philippines work?
By law, education is compulsory for thirteen years (kindergarten
and grades 1–12) and is grouped into three levels:
elementary school (kindergarten–grade 6), junior high school (grades
7–10), and senior high school (grades 11–12). ...
System
The Philippines has a vibrant and diverse education system, with
the government, assisted by the private sector, providing a wide range
of education from early years up to college and university across the
archipelago. The Department of Education (DepEd) oversees the
provision of basic education. The private sector includes kindergartens,
international schools and religious schools. In 2015/16 there were
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14.9m children enrolled at primary school and 6.01m at secondary
level.
History
Today’s system has been shaped by the Philippines’ colonial and
post-war history. Under the Spanish, education was largely provided by
missionaries and the study of religion was compulsory, but most
Filipinos were not included. It was only in the 19th century that they
were able to attend the universities that had been established two
centuries earlier, and it was only when the US took control of the
Philippines in 1898 that consideration was given to non-religious
education, English-language teaching and free primary school
education for all.
The country was ill-prepared for the sudden expansion of
education and did not have enough teachers to meet the new demand,
so the colonial authorities established a teacher-training school and
brought in 1000 teachers from the US to provide training. An emphasis
on vocational and adult education was introduced in the early 20th
century, while bilingual teaching – with math, science and literature
taught in English – was introduced under Ferdinand Marcos in 1974.
The commitment to a bilingual education and universal access was
enshrined in the 1987 constitution.
K-12 Implementation
Three years since the Enhanced Basic
Education Act (EBEA, known as the K-12 law) was
signed, the Philippines has finally embarked on its
most ground-breaking change to the schooling
system in decades, the K-12 reform.
K-12 extends compulsory schooling to grades 11 and 12, adding
two years to secondary school, and makes secondary education
compulsory. Prior to its implementation, the Philippines was the only
country in Asia, and one of only a few in the world, to have a basic
education system of just 10 years. The EBEA also mandated
kindergarten as the start of compulsory formal education, while the
Kindergarten Act of 2012 made pre-school free. In August 2016, 1.5m
Filipino children attended 11th grade, with senior school students
choosing between four tracks through the system: academic, technical-
vocational, sports or the arts. Much of the opposition to the initiative,
which triggered five separate petitions to the Supreme Court, centered
on whether the country’s teachers, schools and administration were in
a position to implement the reform. President Duterte expressed
scepticism about the program before he was elected, but changed his
mind in May 2016 after a delegation from DepEd told him that the
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change was necessary, as Filipino students were falling behind their
neighbors.
Indeed, increased spending on basic education – including an
expanded Alternative Learning System (ALS) – is a centerpiece of the
new president’s 10-point socio-economic agenda. President Duterte
insists that the development of the Philippines’ human capital is a
priority of his administration. Building on existing programs, the
education secretary, Leonor Briones, said that the Duterte
administration’s education policy intends to ensure that the country
provides a quality education that is accessible to all and relevant to the
needs of the nation. Filipinos should also find education “truly
liberating” through the development of critical thinking skills and an
appreciation of culture and the arts.
10-Point Plan
The shift to K-12 began under President Duterte’s predecessor,
Benigno Aquino III, who approached education as an investment in
Filipinos, and offered a 10-point plan for improving education as part
of his election campaign. As well as K-12, the 10 fixes included pre-
schooling for all, technical-vocational training as an alternative in
senior high school, working with local governments to build new
schools, proficiency in science and math, and working with private
schools as “essential partners” in basic education. The plan is to expand
the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private
Education, supporting as many as 1M students at private high schools
through the Education Service Contracting Scheme.
Education For All
In 2015 the Education for All (EFA) initiative included provisions
to ensure all Filipinos were able to achieve what UNESCO calls
“functional literacy”, the ability to read, write and do calculations at a
level that is sufficient for the country in which a particular person lives.
Further supporting the K-12 reform, the government set four key
objectives for the EFA initiative: providing education options for all out-
of-school adults and young people; eliminating drop-outs and repetition
during the first three years of school; encouraging the completion of a
full cycle of basic schooling to a satisfactory level at every grade by all
Filipino children; and committing to the attainment of basic education
competencies for everyone.
In fact, recognition of the need to move towards K-12 was evident
much earlier. In 2005 the government promised, under the Basic
Education Reform Agenda, to remove all hurdles limiting access to and
delivery of basic education, whether regulatory, structural, financial or
institutional. The policy involved five key thrusts: school-based
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management; the development of teacher education; national learning
strategies; quality assurance and accountability; and changes to the
administration of DepEd, using the latest technology to ensure more
effective use of resources, whether staff or funds.
World Bank Assessment
In June 2016 the World Bank published its assessment on the
Philippines reform of basic education, “Assessing Basic Education
Service Delivery”, noting that reforms were now backed with a
substantial increase in funding, after years of underinvestment
exacerbated by average population growth in excess of 2%.
The World Bank estimates that public spending increased by 60%
in real terms between 2010 and 2015, helping finance infrastructure
improvements and provide the means to hire more teachers. As a result,
between 2010 and 2013 the student-to-teacher ratio in public high
schools fell from 38:1 to 29:1, while the student-to-classroom ratio
dropped from 64:1 to 47:1. However, “despite impressive recent
increases, the Philippines still spends less on education than many
neighboring and middle-income countries,” the study noted. “Recent
analysis has confirmed the need for more spending to meet national
education norms and standards.”
The World Bank study was commissioned by DepEd to assess
how the public budget was being used, in order for funds to be allocated
more efficiently and effectively. It tracked 80% of the government’s
national education budget, as well as spending by local authorities, in
the last quarter of 2014.
In a separate report looking at the EFA initiative, UNESCO noted
that even though the largest portion of the Philippine budget had
consistently been devoted to education, in percentage terms this fell
short of international standards, with the state spending only 2.6% of
GDP on the sector in 2011.
That figure has risen over the past few years to an expected 3.5%
in 2017, but the Philippines continues to spend far less on education
as a proportion of GDP than many of its neighbours. Both Vietnam and
South Korea, which have some of the world’s best-performing schools
according to international benchmarks, spend 5% of GDP on education.
Early Encouragement
DepEd itself assessed the implementation of K-12 at a January
2017 conference with stakeholders including government officials,
school administrators and teachers.
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Among the encouraging news, it found that the situation in
kindergartens had improved, with a more localized curriculum, the
construction of clean, safe and child-friendly classrooms, and closer
cooperation with the community. Children were developing a love of
reading, while teachers’ skills had been enhanced via use of technology
and the adoption of more effective teaching strategies.
For grades one to six, best practice included a curriculum more
suited to the needs of Christian and Muslim pupils, closer cooperation
with indigenous communities, the provision of self-paced learning
materials, catch-up programmes at all levels and the introduction of
Learning Action Cell sessions for teachers’ professional development.
DepEd noted that in schools that had adopted these practices
enrolment rose and the drop-out rate fell. Minority groups were also
more confident, with Muslim children having the opportunity to learn
Arabic.
Junior high schools also focused on programs to reduce the drop-
out rate and nurture continued learning, including the use of ALS
through a virtual classroom, a basic literacy program for adults, and
scholarships for adult learners and students with special needs.
Schools reported increased enrolment and participation, along with
rising community awareness. Teacher competency also improved with
training in new learning strategies focused on real-world application.
In senior high schools, where the full roll-out of grade 12 is now
taking place, DepEd said that the policy has been largely successful,
noting the transfer of junior high school teachers to fill vacancies, and
improved cooperation both between local and national government, and
with the private sector on the provision of facilities, including
classrooms and dormitories for pupils living in remote areas. A large
percentage of those enrolled in private schools received vouchers, with
scholarships also available.
Raising Standards
Much of the official discussion on K-12 centres on the need to
raise standards, improve teacher quality and encourage completion of
basic schooling. The drop-out rate has remained high, and data from
the “Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey” produced
by the Philippine Statistics Authority, shows that around 4m children
and young people were out of school in 2013, while as of April 2016,
16.6m Filipinos – or 39% of the workforce – had not completed basic
education. The World Bank noted continuing problems with access and
inequality. The report found that only 53% of the poorest 20% of
households sent their children to high school, while 81% of the
wealthiest families did so. To address the problem, the government aims
to incentivize attendance, extend school feeding programs and expand
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programs under the ALS, a “second chance” designed to ensure more
Filipinos complete their basic education. President Duterte has
indicated that an enhanced ALS – better targeted with wider coverage,
more partnerships and approaches that meet learners’ needs – will be
one of his administration’s major legacies.
Regional Inequalities
The World Bank also found differences in allocations to education
in different regions at the level of both national and local government.
While both have responsibility for funding education, the World Bank
estimates the local contribution, which is funded by property taxes, has
been declining since 2006. Currently, more than 90% of school funding
originates from the national government, with the proposed allocation
to DepEd at P569.1bn ($12bn) in 2017, compared with P431.5bn
($9.1bn) in 2016. Most goes towards teachers’ salaries, but a significant
amount funds financial assistance programs for children from low-
income families. Regional disparities in funding levels do not
necessarily correspond directly with outcomes. The report found that
although city schools received higher funding, their pupils tended to do
less well in national tests than their rural peers. The report cited
insufficient infrastructure to cope with the larger student bodies at
urban schools and higher rates of teacher absences as reasons for this.
“Many schools, particularly in urban areas, have insufficient and
poor quality facilities and a shortage of teachers,” the report said.
“Operational funding still falls short of the amounts that schools need
to pay bills, undertake basic repairs, and provide the day-to-day
materials their students need. And there is rarely anything left over to
fund school-level initiatives to improve student learning achievement.”
Allocation Of Funds
More effective targeting of funds to the areas of greatest need is
therefore a priority alongside an overall increase in budget allocations.
Briones told the Education Summit in November 2016 there is “a need
for a drastic improvement in absorptive capacity”. The Duterte
administration is planning to introduce a series of financial
management reforms to improve education outcomes, including:
enhanced leadership supervision and oversight over finance,
administration and procurement; the creation of an education program
delivery unit to monitor budget execution and intervene to ensure funds
move smoothly to where they are needed; a financial management
information system to track budget spending in real time; and a more
proactive approach to spending.
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Teaching Standards
In recent years DepEd has introduced a number of measures to
improve the standard of teaching, revising professional benchmarks
and providing more on-the-job training. It has also made a concerted
effort to attract the brightest and the best by raising compensation and
making the selection process more competitive. In the past, teaching
was poorly paid and often seen as the fall-back course for university
applicants who did not get onto their preferred course. Studies found
teacher knowledge in both elementary and high school was low, and
that the professional development programs were insufficient.
Civil society is also helping. Non-profit organization Philippine
Business for Education launched the Scholarships in Teacher
Education Program to Upgrade Teacher Quality in the Philippines
(STEPUP), which is funded by Australian Aid, in 2015. The idea is to
encourage the country’s best-performing college graduates and
professionals to join the profession, with the aim of producing 1000
high-quality teachers for the public school system by 2019. Accepting
candidates up to the age of 45, STEPUP covers full tuition fees and
offers a range of benefits for participants. In return, successful
applicants must work with DepEd for three years. The organization
offers a similar scheme to encourage the best high school seniors to
pursue degrees in education, majoring in subjects including math and
English. The Philippines has not participated in an international survey
of school performance since a 2003 study showed only one-third of
children in elementary and secondary school were able to reach the
lowest international benchmark in math. It also revealed stark
differences in performance between children from low-and high-income
families. While that makes it hard to get a sense of how well the
country’s children are doing relative to their peers in region, results in
national tests remain patchy. At elementary school, the average score
rose to 69.97% in 2013/14, but slipped back to 69.1% in 2014/15. The
government targeted a score of 77% in 2016. A similar trend is evident
at the secondary level, where the average score edged up to 53.77% in
2013/14 before dropping back to 49.48% in 2014/15. In 2016 the
target was 65%. National results also show that pupils in urban schools
do not perform as well as those in rural areas, according to the World
Bank. The average score in the 2014 grade six exam was 66% in city
schools and 75% in those outside urban areas, even though the former
tended to have larger revenues.
Meeting National Needs
The government insists that the education system must be more
appropriate to the needs of the country, including its economy. The aim
is to improve students’ abilities in science and technology, and nurture
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critical thinking, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as to
encourage them to support the wider community, especially those on
the margins. Sex education, along with awareness of the issues
surrounding teenage pregnancy and the dangers of drugs (from grade
four), will be strengthened, and there will be a special emphasis on the
environment, climate change and disaster preparedness in a country
that has frequently endured earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and
severe weather. To achieve these goals, the government is overhauling
the curriculum to establish a “spiral” approach, which is designed to
challenge and stimulate pupils so that they develop critical thinking
skills. DepEd consulted industry during the development of the new
curriculum, although the final design was the work of DepEd alone.
Those learning science under the spiral approach, for example, learn
general science, biology, chemistry and physics on a per quarter basis.
The basics are taught in grade seven, with more complicated theories
added as pupils progress through subsequent grades.
Higher Education
The Philippines is one of the few countries
where the number of private higher education
institutions and students enrolled there is greater
than in the state sector. Leading private universities,
such as the University of Santo Tomas, were established hundreds of
years before their public sector counterparts – although Filipinos were
not allowed to attend until the 19th century – while the University of
the Philippines, the archipelago’s leading state university, was set up in
1908, when the country was under US control.
National government spending on the tertiary education segment
has risen in recent years, but at 12.2% of the sector budget, spending
remains below the international benchmark of 15-20%. The 2017
allocation reflects a government decision to scrap tuition fees at all state
universities and colleges. However, students will still need to pay their
living expenses with grants and other forms of aid available to those
from low-income families.
“In the short term, this will incrementally improve enrolment
rates, and will help free up financial resources for other college
expenses and needs of the students,” Patricia Licuanan, chair of the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED), said in a statement after the
budget was passed in December. “From a wider perspective, this
amount will eventually increase the available income of families.”
The Philippine higher education system is managed by CHED and
the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
The country’s 228 state universities and colleges, which had 1.88m
students in the 2015/16 academic year, are operated and subsidized
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by the government, with each university run by a board of regents and
a board of trustees supervised by the chair of CHED. Local government
units can also establish local universities. The state universities and
colleges have a total of 454 satellite campuses, according to CHED.
The 1706 private universities and colleges, which have a total of
2.22m students, are generally much smaller, are governed under the
Corporation Code and can be non-profit religious institutions or for-
profit secular colleges. The greatest density of higher education
institutions is in the south of the largest island of Luzon, including
Manila. In 2015/16, 26% of students (1.07m) were enrolled in business-
related courses, followed by 19% (791,000) studying education and
teaching, and 13% (517,000) on courses in engineering and technology.
Quality Of Instruction
Despite the size of the higher
education sector, the quality of
instruction remains low, according
to the Asian Development Bank
(ADB). In professional board
examinations, for instance, median
pass rates between 2005 and 2015
ranged from 34% to 43%. The ADB
also noted a “worrisome
preponderance” within both the state and private sector of institutions
with a pass rate of zero, “indicative of a large number of low-quality
higher education institutions.”
“CHED has instituted a vertical/horizontal typology approach to assess
the quality of higher educational institutions,” Caroline Marian
Enriquez, president of Our Lady of Fatima University, told OBG.
“However, given that the current university landscape is composed of
over 2000 institutions of very uneven quality, some of the standards
may be too stringent or not applicable to the core competencies of
certain institutions.”
The government has been trying to rationalize the state sector by
putting a halt to the establishment of new course programs by state
universities and local colleges that do not meet the standards set by
CHED, by encouraging rationalization and hopefully reducing course
duplication. It is also trying to raise standards through the introduction
of quality institutional sustainability assessment.
“For the government to truly improve the quality assurance system of
education, it should provide strong data on the performance of schools.
Once analysis is provided on the 10 best- or worst-performing schools,
the market will be able to decide based on this information,” Chito
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Salazar, president and CEO of Phinma Education, told OBG
PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK: In addition, the
government has enhanced the Philippine Qualifications Framework
(PQF) to put it in line with the ASEAN Qualifications Reference
Framework and ensure academic programs meet international
standards. “The PQF can significantly reduce jobs-skills mismatch. It
can also boost international confidence among Filipino workers by
making them more competitive and employable,” Senator Joel
Villanueva, a former TESDA director-general, said in August 2016 (see
analysis). The government is committed to creating a system that is
more aligned to 21st century needs, positioning higher education as an
accelerator for innovation and inclusive development. It is encouraging
cooperation between academia and industry, supporting the
professional development of teaching and research staff who want to
complete their doctorate, and promoting research cooperation between
institutions and across borders. Already, courses in subjects including
meteorology, business analytics and naval architecture have been
developed with industry, and a degree in health informatics is under
development.
Reference/s
The Dynamics of Educational Reforms in the Philippine ... - ERIC
https://files.eric.ed.gov
AB de Guzman · 2003 · Cited by 42 — The Dynamics of Educational Reforms in the
Philippine. Basic and Higher Education Sectors. Allan B. de Guzman. University of
Santo Tomas. Philippines.
Program and Reform of Philippine Basic Education - Institute ...
http://www.ide.go.jp
A Tale of Two Education Reforms - Philippine Basic Education
https://www.philippinesbasiceducation.us › 2012/07 › t...
ON THE MANY EDUCATIONAL REFORMS IN THE ...
https://www.researchgate.net › publication › 337608764_...
The dynamics of educational reforms in the Philippine basic ...
https://www.researchgate.net › publication › 225743106_...
Bringing Governance Back into Education Reforms
https://journals.openedition.org › irpp
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ACTIVITIES
Answer the following questions brief and concise.
1. Is education reform important?
Explain your answer.
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2. What is the role of TESDA in
K to 12 curriculum?
_____________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. How will K to 12 program affects
college curriculum?
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_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
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SELF-CHECK No. 1
Name: _____________________________Course/Yr. & Sec. ____________
Instructor: ________________________ Date: _________________________
Direction: Match Column A with Column B.
Column A Column B
_____ 1. It extends compulsory schooling to
A. 2016
grades 11 and 12, adding two years B. Education for All
to secondary school, and makes C. World Bank
secondary education compulsory. D. STEPUP
_____ 2. It is a program or center piece of the E. 2015
new president’s 10-point socio- F. Philippine
economic agenda. Qualification
_____ 3. This measure ensure academic Framework
programs meet international G. Asian
standards and can significantly Development
reduce jobs-skills mismatch. Bank
H. CHED & DepEd
_____ 4. The commitment to a bilingual
I. TESDA & CHED
education and universal access was
J. education reform
enshrined in this Constitution.
K. innovation
_____ 5. A program use to ensure all Filipinos L. Bangko Sentral ng
were able to achieve what UNESCO Pilipinas
calls “functional literacy”. M. 1987
_____ 6. The purpose of this reform is to N. K to 12 Program
transform school structures with the O. Alternative
aim of raising the quality Learning System
of education in a country. P. TESDA Abot
_____ 7. In this year that this educational Lahat
reform was introduced which
require a continued commitment to
increased funding for education.
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_____ 8. The Philippine higher education
system is managed by this two
educational institutions.
_____ 9. A financial institution that found
differences in allocations to
education in different regions at the
level of both national and local
government.
_____ 10. A program which is funded by
Australian Aid, in 2015 wherein the
idea is to encourage the country’s
best-performing college graduates
and professionals to join the
profession.
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