May 12 reflection

May 12,2012 Refection

Enhancement of the Basic Education Curriculum

Enhancement of the basic education curriculum is the central focus of K to12. It offers areas of specialization or electives such as science and technology, music and arts, agriculture and fisheries, sports, business and entrepreneurship, etc., and subjects for advanced placement for Senior High School.

          This program is a collaboration and concerted efforts among agencies such as, TESDA, DOLE, CHED, TEIs, NGOs, PBED, and other stakeholders is undertaken to ensure adequacy of inputs.

          Moreover, the change is two-fold: curriculum enhancement and transition management starting from SY 2011-2012 to SY 2017-2018.

          So, with the above changes of the curriculum it is right and proper to further share the concept behind the innovation of the Philippine educational System the Enhanced K to12 Basic Education Program, and to know also the various reasons why every Filipino should all work together to embark on this program.

 The new curricula for kindergarten and Grade 1—which integrate the learners’ first language (or L1) as subject and medium of instruction—have yet to be finalized and pretested by planners. Teachers are being herded by the hundreds into weeklong camps only to be trained haphazardly by instructors who are mostly unfamiliar with MTBMLE (Mother Tongue-Based Multi-Lingual Education) concepts. Materials in the local languages are being produced, graded according to levels of difficulty and evaluated for quality, again without benefit of pretesting. No systematic assessment and evaluation of the programs in the so-called 921 MTBMLE pioneer schools have been undertaken.

DepEd is risking far too much in this haphazard approach to implementing MTBMLE. Teachers are not being given enough time to learn their own L1, particularly for literacy, much less learn how to teach in the L1. Teachers who think that they are implementing MLE may not be doing much different from what they did previously. They need to be retrained entirely, and that takes time.

Materials preparation requires a minimum of one year and should be developed with the community, not just with DepEd teachers. If they do not have sufficient materials, they will not be able to implement well and will not achieve the desired outcomes.

One plausible reason for the grueling schedule that DepEd has imposed on itself in implementing L1-based instruction nationwide may be the desire of the Aquino administration to demonstrate tangible change within its short political term of office.

Helen Pinnock of Save the Children, UK explains: “For governments which are likely only to be in power for one or two terms, arguments about the long-term efficiency savings which [MTBMLE] can produce through reduced dropout and repetition may not be particularly relevant. Similarly, recent evidence that children need at least six years of good quality [MTBMLE] before they can use second language for academic learning is not going to be palatable to government leaders faced with such short time scales for action. Even where all the factors work in support of [MTBMLE], this crucial factor of government’s need to demonstrate change and achievement in education in a short political term of office may lead to focus on early exit [MTBMLE], which transfers learners from mother tongue instruction to the second language within three or four years.”

Now we are expecting in all Public Schools as well as Republic act 10157 or the kindergarten law this School year a drastic improvement in literacy among the youth and first year high school students for school year 2012-2013  will be taught using the new K to 12 curriculum. Luistro shares the hope of many education reform advocates that this time around, the incoming grade schoolers and high school freshmen will find going to school “a fresh, enjoyable, dynamic, and learner-centered” experience.

Luistro said the shift to a 12-year basic education cycle is really not the most notable feature of K to 12. “The real revolution in education is to make the curriculum so attractive, enjoyable and a real learning experience for the students,” he pointed out. He added that being learner-centered, the K to 12 curriculum seeks to deviate from current teaching strategies that are heavy on memorization but put very little emphasis on critical thinking.

From what I understand, the K to 12 curriculum is still in the process of evolving. There are still quite a few issues that need to be threshed out. One of them, of course, is the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction during the early years of schooling.

So now let us empower the pupils and students how to get involved in the K to 12 curriculum and embrace the change for quality education, for the development of skills and competencies relevant to job market, and for specialization in Science and Technology, Arts, Technical Education and Sports.