Vol. 17 no.2 64 Evaluation of the College of Teacher Education Curricular Programs: Toward Curriculum Innovation Wenny M. Caseros College of Teacher Education Abstract Curriculum evaluation is a systematic process of inquiry which aims to determine whether the curricular program meets its goals. This study aimed to describe the BEED and BSE programs specifically on their alignment based on the CHED and PAFTE-prescribed new teacher education curriculum that is reflective of the National Competency-based Teacher Standards. This also aimed at identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the existing curricula. The qualitative method was employed in this study. It was revealed that the BEED and BSE programs satisfactorily follow the general and professional education courses set by CHED and PAFTE. Thirty to forty-five percent of the prescribed content or major courses of the BSE programs major in English, Filipino, Social Studies, Mathematics and MAPEH were not present in the existing curricula. For the BEED General Education, only the content courses of English do not jibe with the standards. The existing curricula strictly follow the general and professional education standards. The weakness is on the mismatch between the existing curricula and the standards of CHED and PAFTE in terms of the major or content courses.Thus, a revision of the existing curricula is needed. 1. Introduction The central task of schools is to provide educational services that will lead to the development of human potentials. The schools will be able to perform this task creditably only to the extent that they provide relevant and adequate learning experiences for students. These learning experiences are generally referred to as the curriculum (Aquino, 1998). Curriculum is a crucial factor in the teaching-learning process. Most of the traditional ideas view it as a written document or plan of action in accomplishing goals which can be a degree program, a syllabus, a learning package or a lesson (Bago, 2001).
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Vol. 17 no.2 64
Evaluation of the College of Teacher Education Curricular Programs: Toward Curriculum Innovation
Wenny M. CaserosCollege of Teacher Education
Abstract
Curriculum evaluation is a systematic process of inquiry which aims todeterminewhether thecurricularprogrammeets itsgoals.Thisstudyaimed todescribe the BEED and BSE programs specifically on their alignment basedon the CHED and PAFTE-prescribed new teacher education curriculum thatis reflective of the National Competency-based Teacher Standards. This alsoaimedatidentifyingthestrengthsandweaknessesoftheexistingcurricula.Thequalitativemethodwasemployed in thisstudy. Itwas revealed that theBEEDandBSEprogramssatisfactorily follow thegeneralandprofessionaleducationcoursessetbyCHEDandPAFTE.Thirtytoforty-fivepercentoftheprescribedcontentormajorcoursesoftheBSEprogramsmajorinEnglish,Filipino,SocialStudies,Mathematics andMAPEHwere not present in the existing curricula.For theBEEDGeneralEducation, only the content courses ofEnglish do notjibe with the standards. The existing curricula strictly follow the general andprofessional education standards. The weakness is on the mismatch betweenthe existing curricula and the standards ofCHEDandPAFTE in terms of themajor or content courses.Thus, a revision of the existing curricula is needed.
1. Introduction
Thecentraltaskofschoolsistoprovideeducationalservicesthatwillleadtothedevelopmentofhumanpotentials.Theschoolswill be able to perform this task creditably only to the extentthat they provide relevant and adequate learning experiences forstudents.Theselearningexperiencesaregenerallyreferredtoasthecurriculum(Aquino,1998).
Curriculum is a crucial factor in the teaching-learningprocess.Mostofthetraditionalideasviewitasawrittendocumentor plan of action in accomplishing goals which can be a degreeprogram,asyllabus,alearningpackageoralesson(Bago,2001).
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outside the classroom which are planned and enacted by the teacher, and also learned by the students. In other words, curriculum isconcerned with what the learners should learn and complementarily withwhattheschoolshouldprovide. TheprimarygoalofanyschoollikeLaSalleUniversityistoprovideitsstudentswithameaningfulandlife-longlearning.Torealizethis,theschool’scurriculumhastobecarefullyandthoroughlyplanned, implementedandevaluated.Planning, implementingandevaluatingarethethreeimportantprocesses/phasesofcurriculumdevelopment.Ifthesearegivendueattention,theschoolwillbeabletorespondeffectivelytothechangingneedsandconditionsofthelearnersandofthenationaswell.
Itisinthispremise,thattheresearcherwouldliketoconductanevaluationofthecurricularprogramsoftheCollegeofTeacherEducation to determine whether the curriculum as designed and implementedisalignedbasedontheCHED&PAFTE-prescribednew teacher education curriculum. The results of this study willserve as basis for making decisions related to program designs,practicesandpolicies.Similarlythisendeavorwillleadtocurriculuminnovationswhichwilleventuallyendtothedevelopmentofthefullpotentialofthelearners.
Curriculum evaluation is a systematic process of inquirywhich aims to determine whether the curricular program is meeting itsgoalsthatis, todeterminewhetherthemeasureforagivensetof instructional inputs match the intended or specified outcomes(Bago, 2001). In addition, Glass and Worthem (in Bilbao et.al2008) stress that curriculum evaluation is a process of obtaininginformation for judging the worth of an educationalprogram,product,procedure,educationalobjectivesorthepotentialutilityofalternativeapproachesdesignedtoattainspecifiedobjectives.
Bago(2001)positedthatevaluationcanbehumanisticand
However,theprogressivists’viewpointasespousedbyMarshandWillis (inBilbao et.al,2008)stresses that curriculum ismore thanawritten document for it includes all the experiences inside and
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scientific. Evaluation which is based on humanistic approach isgoal-freewhilethescientificapproachispurpose-driven.Thisstudywilladopt thescientificapproachofevaluation.Theobjectivesofevaluationaretodeterminethescope(programeffectiveness),timing(impact),method(qualitative),level(school)andthepersonnelinvolved(teachers,administration,students,committees).
Programevaluationentailstheassessmentoftheeffectivenessofthecurricularprogramasimplemented.Thisrequirestheanalysisofthedifferentcomponentsoftheeducationalsystem(input,processandoutput)thatimpactoncurriculumimplementation.Inputsrefertostudentandteacherprofilesandphysicalresources inventories.The instructional processes pertain to the teaching methods andstrategies as well as the management processes such as leadership and communication either constrain or promote the implementation ofthecurriculum.Thequalityoftheinteractionbetweentheinputand process determines to a large extent the success or failureof the curriculum to produce the desired results or outcomes.
Moreover,anotherevaluationmodelwasdevelopedin1960bytheStandfordUniversity’steamheadedbyAlbertHumprey(inFriesner, 2000) for large organizations to determine the strategicfit between an organization's internal, distinctive capabilities andexternal possibilities and to prioritize actions. SWOT stands forStrengths,Weaknesses,OpportunitiesandThreats.
Strengthsarepositiveinternalcharacteristicsoftheexternalenvironmentthathasthepotentialtohelptheorganizationachieveor exceed its strategic goals. On the other hand, weaknesses are internalcharacteristicsthatmightinhibitorrestricttheorganization’sperformance. Opportunities are external characteristics thathave the potential to help the organization achieve or exceed itsstrategicgoals.Incontrary,threatsareexternalcharacteristicsthatmay prevent the organization from achieving its strategic goals.
Theabove-mentioned literaturesprovided the researcheraframeworkinevaluatingtheCollegeofTeacherEducationCurricular
This research adopted theSWOTmodel in evaluating theCollege of Teacher Education curricular programs. This modelprovided direction in identifying the strengths, weaknesses,opportunitiesandthreatsoftheexistingcurriculaoftheCollegeofTeacherEducationaftertheywerereviewedandevaluatedagainsttheCHEDandPAFTEstandards. This study reviewed or evaluated the TeacherEducation curricular programs. It specifically evaluated theBEE General Education Curriculum. The BEE major inSpecial Education and Pre-School were not included. Forthe BSE programs, only the BSE major in English, Filipino,Social Studies, Mathematics, and MAPEH were evaluated.
Further,thisstudymadeuseoftheSWOTanalysis.However,in this study only the strengths and weaknesses of the existingcurriculumwereidentified.
Teachers.Alignedcurriculumwillprovidetheteacherscleardirectionintheperformanceoftheirwork.Theywilldefinitelyknowthe“what”and“how”ofteaching.Inaddition,bettercommunicationand collaboration among teachers will be enhanced.
Administrators.Resultsofthisstudywillgivethemrelevantinformationastotheeffectivenessofthecurricularprograms.Thiswillprovidetheminsightwhetherthecurricularprogramsarestillresponsive to the changing needs and conditions of the learners.
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2. Method ThisqualitativestudyemployedtheSWOTevaluationmodel.Thismade use of theCHED andPAFTE-prescribed new teachereducationcurriculumthatisreflectiveoftheNational-BasedTeacherStandardsasbasisinexaminingtheexistingBEEandBSEcurriculaoftheCollegeofTeacherEducationofLaSalleUniversity,OzamizCity.
Therevieworevaluationwasdonethroughafocusedgroupdiscussionamongthestakeholders.Thestakeholders included theDeanandAssistantDeanoftheCollegeofEducation,theIQAMODirector,CollegeSubjectcoordinatorsandtheirfaculty,Principalsand subject coordinators and some faculty of selected public andprivateschools,alumni,andeducationstudentsintheirrespectivefield of specialization. Based on the data gathered, curricularinnovationwasdesigned.
The general education courses shall follow the existingrequirementsof63unitsdistributedas follows;English (9units),Filipino (9 units), Literature (6 units), Mathematics (6 units),Natural Sciences (6 units),Humanities (6 units), Social Sciences(12 units), Information Communications Technology (3 units),MandatedsubjectssuchasRizalStudiesandPhilippineHistory(6units)(CHEDMemorandumNo.59series1996).
TheBEEandBSEprogramsfollowtheexistingrequirementsof the general education courses except that it exceeded 3 unitsbecauseofHealth1.TheevaluationcommitteerecommendedthatHealth1willbedeletedbecauseitscontentisa
Theprofessionaleducationcoursesrepresentthecomponentofthecurriculumthataimstodeveloptherangeofknowledgeandskillsneededinthepracticeoftheteachingprofession.Therequiredunitsofprofessionaleducationcoursesare54fortheBEEand51fortheBSE.Theseincludetheoryandconcepts(12units),methodsandstrategies(27fortheBEEand24fortheBSE),fieldstudycourses(12units)andspecialtopics(3units).TheBEEandBSEprogramsstrictlyfollowtheprofessionaleducationrequirements.Thecontentof the professional education courses were aligned based on thestandardssetbytheCommissiononHigherEducation(CHED)andthePhilippineAssociationofTeacherEducation(PAFTE).
ContentCourses/Specialization
FortheBEEprogram,allstudentshavetocomplete57unitsofcontentcoursesthatcorrespondtothevariouslearningareasintheelementaryeducationcurriculum.Thesecourses,whichare inaddition to the General Education requirements, are distributed as follows; Science (12 units),Mathematics (12 units), English (12units),Filipino(6units),SocialStudies(6units),Music,Arts,andPhysical Education (3 units), Home Economics and LivelihoodEducation(3units)andValuesEducation(3units).
The existingBEEd curriculum follows the content courserequirements except for English. The present English contentcourses are English 4n (Children’s Literature), English 3e(Listening,SpeakingandGrammar),English21(IntensiveEnglish)and English 20 (Campus Journalism).Of the coursesmentioned,CampusJournalismandChildren’sLiteraturearenotprescribed.
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Thus,theevaluationcommitteedecidedtoreplacethem.ItwasfurthersuggestedthatCampusJournalismshallbereplacedwithProfessionalandScientificWriting,English3eshallbechangedtoListeningandSpeakingSkills,andEnglish21shallbechangedtoEnglish for Teachers. However, the committee insisted to retainChildren’s Literature because of its relevance in the teaching ofelementary pupils.
FortheBSEprogram,allstudentshavetocomplete60unitsof content courses in oneof the following areas of specializationor majors; English, Filipino, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry,Biology,SocialStudies,Music,Arts,PhysicalandHealthEducation,Values Education, and Technology and Livelihood Education.
Major in English. The evaluation committee found thatnine (9) or 45% of the courses as recommended by CHED andPAFTE are not present in the existing BSE Major in Englishcurriculum. These courses are The Teaching of Speaking,The Teaching of Listening and Reading, Language Research,Remedial Instruction in English, English for Specific Purposes,Speech and Stage Arts, Introduction to Stylistics, Translationand Editing of Text, and Language and Literature Assessment. The committee agreed that the courses in the existingcurriculum which are not aligned with the standards shall be changed to incorporate the courses mentioned in the preceding paragraph. TheysuggestedthatEnglish3e(InteractiveEnglish)shallbechangedtoTheTeachingofListeningandReading,English37(PhonologyandPhonetics)toPhonologyandTheTeachingofSpeaking,English7n(FundamentalsofEnglishforTeachers)toEnglishforSpecificPurposes,English17(PublicSpeaking)toSpeechandStageArts,English 5a (EffectiveWriting) toLanguageResearch,English 21(Intensive English) to Remedial Instruction in English, English30 (Preparation of Instructional Materials and Technology andLanguage Testing) to Preparation of Instructional Materials andTechnology andLanguage andLiteratureAssessment,English 15(AdvancedGrammarandComposition)toIntroductiontoStylistics
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andEnglish5n(TheNovel)toTranslationandEditingofText. MajorinFilipino.Itwasalsodiscoveredbytheevaluationcommitteethateight(8)or40%ofthecontentcoursesforFilipinoarenotpresentintheexistingcurriculum.TheseareAngFilipinosaKurikulumngBatayangEdukasyon,IstrukturangWikangFilipino,Pagtuturo at Pagtataya sa Pakikinig at Pagsasalita, Pagtuturo at PagtatayasaPagbasaatPagsulat,IntroduksyonsaPanaliksik:Wikaat Panitikan, Panunuring Pampanitikan, Pagtuturo at Pagtataya sa Panitikan,atPanitikanngmgaUmuunladnaBansa.
The committee further examined the existing curriculumand recommended that the following subjects shall be deleted;Pagtuturong Filipino saIba’tibangDisiplina,Balarila, Retorika,Filipino bilangPangalawangWika, Maunladna Filipino, DulangFilipino,ParaanatPamaraanngPagtuturongFilipinoandKritisismo.The Filipino teachers commented that there is an overlapping ofcontentofthefollowingsubjects,thustheyagreedthatthosecoursesshallbedeletedandbereplacedbythecoursesprescribedbyCHEDandPAFTE.
Major in Social Studies. It was found by the evaluationcommittee that the existing Social Studies curriculum does not contain six (6) or 30% of the courses mandated by CHED andPAFTE.These are theTeachingApproaches in Secondary SocialStudies, Scientific Reasoning and Critical Thinking, ProductionofSocialStudies InstructionalMaterials,EconomicPlanningandStrategy, Building Bridges Across the Social Science Disciplines, andAssessmentandEvaluationintheSocialSciences.
To integrate the courses enumerated in the precedingparagraph, the committee further scrutinized the curriculum andrecommended that some subjects shall be fused like History 2(PhilippineNationalism)withHistory1(PhilippineHistory:RootsandDevelopment), SocStud 4 (Fundamentals of Sociology)withSocStud 3(Cultural Anthropology)and the course title shall bechangedtoSocio-CulturalAnthropology,SocStud5(Introductionto
MajorinMathematics.Asrevealedintheevaluation,eight(8)or40%ofthecontentcoursesasprescribedbyCHEDandPAFTEare not present in the existing Mathematics curriculum. Thesesubjects areNumberTheory,ElementaryStatistics,MathematicalInvestigationsandModeling/ProblemSolving,ActionResearchinmathematics,ModernGeometry,SeminaronTechnologyinMath,and Abstract Algebra.
The committee agreed that the descriptive titles of thefollowingMathematicssubjectsshallbechangedtoincorporatetheabove-mentionedsubjects.ItwassuggestedthatMath3E(SeminarinProblemSolvinginMath)shallbechangedtoProblemSolvinginMath/Modeling,Math14(PlaneTrigonometry)toPlaneandModernGeometry, Math 4c (Probability and Statistics) to ElementaryStatistics and Probability,Math 3c (Mathematics of Investments)willbefusedwithMath1E(FundamentalsofMathematics).
Moreover, the committee recommended that Math 10(Differential Equation) andMath 15 (ComplexVariable) will bedeletedbecausetheircontentsarerepetitionsofotherMathsubjects.Thus,thefollowingsubjects;NumberTheory,AbstractAlgebra,andAdvancedStatisticsshallbeaddedintheexistingcurriculum.
To include the prescribed content courses,Music 2 (Phil.
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MusicandTeachingStrategiesinMusic),Music3(AppliedMusic),andMusic5(FoundationsofRhythm)aretobedeletedwhileHealth4(ConsumerHealthandDrugEducation),Health6(SchoolHealthEducation and Applied Nutrition) and Health 7 (EnvironmentalHealth)willbefusedtogetherunderanewdescriptivetitlewhichisPersonal,Community,andEnvironmentalHealthasstipulatedintheCHEDandPAFTEmanual.
OtherRequiredSubjects
Aside from the general, professional, and content/majorcourses,thefollowingaretheotherrequiredcoursesintheexistingcurriculum:NSTP1 and 2 (National ServiceTraining 1&2), PE1(PhysicalFitness),PE2(RhythmicActivities),PE3(Individual/DualGames& Sports) and PE4 (TeamSports/Games).The universityhas also its own requirements such as Reed 1,2,3& 4 (SalvationHistory, Christology, Ecclesiology and Sacraments and BasicChristianMorality respectively), InfoTech2 (Integrated SoftwareApplication,English1E(EnglishBasic),Educ9a&11(ObservationandParticipation)andLETReview.
After reviewing the content of InfoTech2, the evaluationcommittee recommended that itwill be omitted because someofits topics are not useful in the field of teaching. However, someof its relevant topicswill be integrated to Educ 3B (EducationalTechnology 2). The LET Review will be renamed to EdCoAp(CompetencyAppraisal).
AfterthethoroughreviewoftheexistingcurriculumagainstthestandardssetbytheCHEDandPAFTE,thecommitteeexaminedthe sequenceof the subjects as to their relatednessanddegreeofdifficulty.
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StrengthsandWeaknessesoftheExistingCurricula
Strengths.TheexistingTeacherEducationcurriculumboththeBEEDandBSEDprogramshavesatisfactorilymettheCHEDrequirementsonthegeneralandprofessionaleducationcourses.Theschool even goes beyond the requirements by offering additionalcourses like English Basic, Observation and Participation, andLETreviewwhicharenecessaryinthedevelopmentoftheTeacherEducation students.
Weakness. The BEE and BSE programs do not strictlyfollowtheCHEDPAFTErequirementspertainingtothecontentormajorcourses.Asrevealedintheevaluation,30to45percentoftheprescribed content courses are missing in the existing curriculum. Thisfurthershowsthatthecurriculumisnotreviewedorupdatedregularly.Thus,failuretoconductaregularreviewofthecurriculumcanhindertherealizationofthecollege’sgoalsandobjectives.
OpportunityandThreat
Opportunity. The weakness or limitation of the existingcurriculumwillprovidethecollegeanopportunitytogrowandprogress.Iftheweaknessesareappropriatelyrespondedbasedontheneedsoftheoutsideenvironment,thecollegewillimproveandbecomecompetitive.
Threat.Iftheweaknesseswillnotberespondedappropriatelybasedonthedemandsofthemodernsociety,thenthecollegewillpossibly be out weighted by its competitors.
4. Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations
This studyaimed todescribe theBEEandBSEprogramsspecifically on their alignment based on the CHED and PAFTE-prescribednewteachereducationcurriculumthatisreflectiveoftheNationalCompetency-basedTeacherStandards.Thisalsoaimedat
The research design used was qualitative. An evaluationoftheexistingcurriculawasdonethroughfocusedgroupdiscussion of the stakeholders based on the CHED and PAFTEstandards. The strengths and weaknesses of the curricula wereidentifiedbasedontheevaluationdone.Resultsofthestudyservedasbasesindesigningcurricularinnovation.
Thefollowingarethesignificantfindingsofthestudy:
1. The BEE and BSE programs satisfactorily follow thegeneralandprofessionaleducationcoursessetbyCHEDandPAFTE.
2.Thirty to forty-fivepercentof theprescribedcontentormajor courses of the BSE programs major in English, Filipino,Social Studies, Mathematics and MAPEH were not present inthe existing curricula. For the BEE General Education, onlythe content courses of English do not jibe with the standards.
3. The strength of the existing curricula is they strictlyfollow the general and professional education standards. BesidestheygobeyondtheCHEDandPAFTErequirementsbyincludingcourseswhicharerelevanttothechangingneedsandconditionsofthe learners. On the other hand, their weakness is on the mismatch between the existing curricula and the standards of CHED andPAFTEintermsofthemajororcontentcourses.
2.Aregularorayearlyrevieworevaluationofthecurriculumis needed tomake itmore responsive to the interests, needs andproblemsofthelearnersandtoprovidetheteacherscleardirectionastothe“what”and“how”oftheirwork.
