Philippine Basic Education

This blog started about two years ago. Since then, it has received over 800,000 pageviews, mostly coming from readers in the Philippines. During these past two years, the blog went through research studies on factors affecting education. It should now be clear that poverty is high on the list in terms of challenges as well as effects on learning outcomes. Next to poverty and this should not be a surprise, one important factor in education is the teacher. Copied from ncsuteamone's " Maybe Teachers do Need More Pay? " Teacher quality is decided by how society treats the profession. There is ample research that shows why teachers salaries play a major role in educating children. There is a lot of noise clouding education reform so it is only necessary to make this point louder and clearer. Quality education is not possible if teachers are treated without respect. A teacher cannot possibly dedicate fully his or her attention to students if day to day survival remains an...

This post provides an overview of several articles in this blog that relate Diane Ravitch's Reign of Error  to problems and solutions in Philippine basic education. Reign of Error  specifically refers to the US educational system, but there should be no doubt that there is likewise a reign of error over Philippine basic education. It is true that there are differences. Ravitch, for example, emphasizes that there have been significant progress in US basic education. Public schools in the states have indeed gone a long way and there are indeed programs that work. In the Philippines, there are isolated bright spots but the overall picture is dramatically bleaker. The United States is likewise so much richer in resources while the Philippines does not really have that much. The Philippines can not afford to waste both time and resources. It is therefore more important that the vision and reform to solve problems in basic education are both grounded on solid evidence. Ravitch's cal...

This blog started in April 2012. In less than a year, it has over 200,000 page views. Google shows that this blog appears near the top of the list on search pages that use keywords related to basic education especially in the Philippines. In fact, most of the visits, now totaling more than 100,000 are from the Philippines: Recently, this blog was submitted to Teach100 , a resource that helps educators find the most relevant education blogs across the world wide web. Teach100 is a service provided by the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California . This blog did not make it to the top ten, of course: This blog, Philippine Basic Education, however, managed to land in the upper half of the entire list. Teach100 currently has reviewed 217 education blogs. The criteria used by Teach100 in ranking education involve four different parts as shown in the four separate columns above. Forty percent is determined by the social activity (this is measured by num...

Only 8 members (mostly members of the Makabayan Coalition) of the Philippine House of Representatives voiced their opposition to DepEd's K to 12. With the approval of K to 12 by the House, the bill is now in front of the Senate. Judging from the overwhelming support of Congressmen, it is highly likely that the bill will likewise breeze through the Senate. This blog shares some of the sentiments of the eight representatives of the Philippine people who opposed K to 12. Their reasons, which range from a lack of prioritization and false promises to a dearth of research evidence, are some of the important points that have been raised in this blog. It is therefore clear that the proposed DepEd K to 12 curriculum does not really address problems currently faced by basic education in the Philippines. Since K to 12 does not offer the solutions, this blog will continue to share information, resources and perspectives on how to improve Philippine basic education. Since May of this yea...

First Overview. The articles posted in this blog in the past month covered a wide range of issues regarding DepEd's K to 12. By now, it should be obvious that criticisms against DepEd's K to 12 do not merely claim that the program is bound to fail. Instead, much of the criticism points to the fact that DepEd's K to 12 is simply wrong. These criticisms should not be regarded as mere refusal to change, but informed voices showing that DepEd's K to 12 is the wrong way for the Philippine government to take. Here are the recent posts in this blog grouped according to their main message: 1. Teachers , Teachers, TEACHERS! DepEd's K to 12 is a case of misplaced priorities. The new curriculum assumes that both length and content of basic education are the main determinants of the quality of basic education. DepEd's K to 12 focuses on the how, when and what should be taught inside the classrooms. Teachers are therefore regarded as mere channels for K to 12, not act...

Eighty posts are now on this site. And it all started with First Things First: A Commentary on DepEd's K +12 . This article, first published in Philippine Star, was my attempt to examine the elements introduced by the new K to 12 curriculum of the Department of Education of the Philippines. To aid the readers of this blog, it is perhaps time to collate these posts and to summarize the key messages. This blog describes Finland's approach in Solving the Problems of Philippine Basic Education . The article describes briefly the important elements of Finland's education reform and provides links to videos like " Highly Educated Teachers: The Key to Success ". Teachers are indeed on the front line. And in the Philippines, it is disconcerting that a columnist and former politician would even remark, " The parents have spoken. The program has started. Teachers should now accept the program ," while a more thoughtful  comment from a former DepEd regional offici...