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Analysis of the Basic Education of the Philippines: Implications for the K to 12 Education Program

January 2012Dr. Carlo MagnoDe La Salle University, ManilaSEAMEO INNOTECH Fellow

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Integrated Report

The Assessment Research Centre and The University of Melbourne compared the Philippine

BEC in the areas of English, Mathematics,

and Science across Thailand, Vietnam, and

New South Wales (NSW) in Australia.

SEAMEO-INNOTECH report:

Philippines’ BEC is compared

with Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia,

and Singapore

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Figure 1. Curriculum and Outcomes. Taken from Esther Care and Patrick Griffin, Curriculum Comparison Study for the Philippines Basic Education Sector.

By optimizing the human skills, national outcomes are optimized as well (Barro, 2001).

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Duration of Basic and Pre-University Education in Selected Asian Countries

Age Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Philippines (current) Preschool Primary Education High school Brunei Darussalam K Primary Education High school Malaysia Preschool Primary Education High school Singapore Preschool Primary Education High school Vietnam Pre-primary education Primary Education Intermediate Secondary Thailand Preschool Elementary School Secondary School NSW Australia Preschool Primary Education High school

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Present status

The Philippines has the least number of years spent for studying and training for basic education (Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and Vietnam, to name a few, spends around 13 years to complete the basic education program).

The 10 year program in the Philippines’ basic education resulted to consistent low levels of performance in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) and the National Achievement Test (NAT).

The present educational system is also faced with increasing dropout rates and graduates having weak chances of getting better jobs because of their lack of occupational skills.

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Areas of comparison

Aims of Education

Progression, Structure, and Organization

Teacher-pupil ratio

Medium of Instruction

Curriculum Structure and Design

Time allotment

Alignment

Curriculum Skills and Content: English,

mathematics, Science, ICT, and

other subject areas.

Assessment

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Aims of Education

The aim of education in the Philippines focuses on functional literacy. The country also aims to strengthen manpower for national development.

Brunei Darussalam emphasized in their new educational goal the needs of the industry in providing skills and knowledge without ignoring their values.

In Malaysia, education focuses in achieving a national identity.

Singapore delivers learning in many aspects that includes literacy, numeracy, bilingualism, sciences, humanities, aesthetics, PE, and CME.

Thailand aims to develop individual in four fundamental principles: Wisdom, thinking, mind, and morality.

Vietnam emphasizes on training individuals to be ready for work.

Progression, Structure, Alignment, and Organization A test is given at the end of lower

primary (end of year 3) and at the end of the upper primary (year 6).

Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and NSW Australia have differentiated programs at the start of the upper secondary level (years 11-12) where students are classified according to their interests, and abilities.

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Teacher-Pupil Ratio

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Preschool Primary Secondary

Brunei Darussalam

1:20 1:12 1:11

Malaysia 1:25 1:19 1:19

Philippines 1:20 1:36 1:38

Singapore Depending on the school

1:20 1:20

Medium of Instruction

The medium of instruction in most countries is bilingual/multilingual except for Australia and Thailand.

English and mother tongue are used as mediums of instruction in most countries.

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Curriculum Structure and Design

Philippines: RBEC (primary), Backward design (secondary)

Brunei Darussalam: SPN-21 Malaysia: Standards-based curriculum Vietnam: National Curriculum of Basic

Education Thailand: Education Development

Plan

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Time Allotment The Philippines has the largest time allotment for

English, science, mathematics, social studies, and home economics and livelihood education (HELE).

Malaysia has the largest time on teaching mother tongue.

Singapore has the largest time on music, arts, and physical education.

The Philippines have the lowest time spent for these subjects and it is integrated.

Thailand has the largest time on work-oriented subjects (practical skills and experiences for career preparation.

Vietnam has the largest time on Vietnamese language.12

Core Subjects

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Table 4Intended Cognitive Skills in the Final Year of Primary School Curricula

Bloom’s Verbs

Philippines % Thailand % Philippines %

Creating 0 0 15.8

Evaluating 5 0.05 6.31

Analysing 1.6 14.28 36.8

Applying 45.7 38 15.5

Understanding

44 28.57 0

Remembering

3.3 14.28 0

N=59 N=19 N=19

Core Subjects

Mathematics The development of understanding on whole

numbers follows a similar pattern with other countries.

The teaching of the number system in the Philippines is introduced at an early year.

There is no guide for teachers about the variation in the increase in the difficulty of problems in this area.

Algebra is only introduced in the Philippines by year 7 and continuous to year 8 then again on year 10.

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Core Subjects

Science The science concepts, principles, laws, models and

theories in the primary years are well developed and well chosen.

The curriculum is coherent and developmental showing clear progression.

However, the curriculum lacks opportunities to use science skills to support learners to solve problems, question, critique, analyze, and evaluate scientific claims.

The content covered in the curriculum is heavier than the coverage in the other countries

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Assessment In the Philippines’ educational curriculum, assessment is

specified under three levels: Classroom assessment, national examinations, and large scale surveys of student achievement.

The classroom assessment in the Philippines is carried out mostly for the purpose of grading students. The teachers need to use assessment to further help students learn by providing descriptive feedback and not just limited to grading.

Local examinations are also provided in the Philippines. Students are provided with the scores but not with detailed feedback.

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Discussion and Policy Recommendations:12 key areas

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1. Extend the years of basic education through the K-12 program.

The entire duration of time spent for teaching and learning in the Philippines is 10 years which is the shortest

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2. Provide a mechanism to decrease the teacher-pupil ratio through alternative delivery modes.

The Philippines have the most number of students for every one teacher from year 1 to year 10.

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3. Align the progression of skills through a spiral curriculum.

The progression and sequence of learning in the basic education curriculum is not continuous.

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4. Movement from content to deepening of skills in the teaching of subject areas.

The skills emphasized in the curriculum are very theoretical and content- driven especially in the mathematics, science, social studies, history, and other subject areas.

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5. Develop students skills further through specialized tracks in years 11-12.

Specialized tracks in the upper secondary years (year 11-12) give students in other countries an advantage for developing further skills for higher education.

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6. Define teaching and emphasize teaching students’ ways to learn.

The Philippine curriculum has limited specification on how instruction is delivered and the teaching of learning strategies.

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7. Strengthen ICT integration in the Basic Education Curriculum.

The Philippines does not have a strong curricular program on Information and Communications Technology.

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8. Beyond teacher training, the assessment of learning needs to be aligned with the curriculum.

National Assessment is administered to students in the Philippines only to rank the best performing and lowest performing schools

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9. Improvement in education is continuously made based on international benchmarks.

Countries in Asia are able to make improvements in their curriculum by surveying if their educational performance is meeting international standards.

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The end