EDAM 514: Curriculum Development

Re public of the Philippines

SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Teacher Education
GRADUATE PROGRAM
Lucban, Quezon

A Course Requirement Submitted to

DR. MARIFE S. MAGPANTAY
of the Graduate Program
of the Southern Luzon State University
Lucban, Quezon

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements

of the Course EDAM 514:
Curriculum Development

by

MARGARITA ANN A. VIÑAS

Master of Arts in Education
Major in Educational Management

28 September 2019
1 Margarita Ann A. Viñas
MAEd– Educational Management Student
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Reflection Paper No. 1

Re-engineering early childhood education for
lifelong independence

Any education system around the world advocates the call for a lifelong

learning; whereas every child has an access to both formal and informal learning

opportunities throughout people's lives in order to foster the continuous

development and improvement of the knowledge and skills needed for

employment and personal fulfillment. Hence, aside from teaching them lifelong

learning, to give children the opportunity to become successful in life, we also

have to teach them independence.

The article presented entitled “re-engineering childhood education for

lifelong independence” talks about how Montessori method prepares children to

become independent and empowered members of the society.

Montessori according to literature is a method of education that is based on

self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori

classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom

and the highly trained teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process.

Children work in groups and individually to discover and explore knowledge of the

world and to develop their maximum potential. Montessori classrooms are

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beautifully crafted environments designed to meet the needs of children in a

specific age range. Dr. Maria Montessori discovered that experiential learning in

this type of classroom led to a deeper understanding of language, mathematics,

science, music, social interactions and much more. Most Montessori classrooms

are secular in nature, although the Montessori educational method can be

integrated successfully into a faith-based program. Every material in a Montessori

classroom supports an aspect of child development, creating a match between the

child’s natural interests and the available activities. Children can learn through

their own experience and at their own pace. They can respond at any moment to

the natural curiosities that exist in all humans and build a solid foundation for life-

long learning.

In the Philippine setting, the implementation of K to 12 curriculum was

inspired by this context of Montessori method. In fact, one of the salient features of

K to 12 Curriculum is the Strengthening Early Childhood Education where every

Filipino child now has access to early childhood education through Universal

Kindergarten. At 5 years old, children start schooling and are given the means to

slowly adjust to formal education. Research shows that children who underwent

Kindergarten have better completion rates than those who did not. Children who

complete a standards-based Kindergarten program are better prepared, for

primary education. Education for children in the early years lays the foundation for

lifelong learning and for the total development of a child. The early years of a

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human being, from 0 to 6 years, are the most critical period when the brain grows

to at least 60-70 percent of adult size. In Kindergarten, students learn the

alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors through games, songs, and dances, in

their Mother Tongue.

In the article, the author featured Thea Balbutin and revealed how she work

independently in a classroom environment that is prepared and well-organized for

the independent learning opportunities of the children. The author shows how

cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains of the child were developed through

providing them independence to learn.

According to Smartkidsschool.com, teaching a child to become

independent is tantamount to giving them opportunity to become successful in life.

Teaching the children to become independent enables them to gain first hand

knowledge. When children gain the chance to do things on their own, they are

most likely to learn things efficiently. It is because they got to learn through trial

and error. It also enhances children’s self-esteem. Children feel self worth

whenever they got to accomplish things on their own. They become more

confident in facing challenges, which is important in preparing them for real life

trials. Moreover, they tend to have better social life.Third, it prepares children to

handle failure and stress. Practicing children to handle stress is easy, if they have

the chance to become independent. Let them feel bad when they failed in

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accomplishing something. Eventually, they will learn to take negative feelings

lightly. Just be there to advice, whenever they need to vent out stress.And lastly, it

gives them the opportunity to choose what will make them happy. Children need to

practice to take choices. To develop their emotional maturity, they have to learn

how to decide on their own.

As a preschool teacher, I was bounded by this idea of teaching my learners

to become independent learners. Applying the K to 12 curriculum which features

schedule for independent and collaborative work for the learners enable them to

learn the realities of life. They were in school not only to be fed with academic stuff

coming from the teachers and from the books, but more importantly coming from

the discoveries and experiences they have. As John Dewey advocates on learning

by doing and David Kolb on experiential learning, it is only through independence

children got to enhance their skills, learn right and wrong, develop their

personality, and take decisions. To learn the ways of life, children need to

experience life. This way, they will grow up strong, ready to take on life

challenges, emotionally secured, and happy.

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Reflection Paper No. 2

Are School Graduates Achieving the 21st Century
Education?

Education is at the heart of both personal and community development; its

mission is to enable each of us, without exception, to develop all our talents to the

full and to realize our creative potential, including responsibility for our own lives

and achievement of personal aims. Jacques Delors (Delors, 1996). This context

gave us the view of a wide horizon that education can give to every individual.

The article entitled “Are school graduates achieving the 21st century

education?” gave us a realization of how effective our education system right

now. Since we are now living in this globally and digitally interconnected world

where all learners, from cradle to career, need new skills and knowledge to

succeed, how sure are we that we are enable to prepare them for success in

school, work, life, and opportunities to learn? How sure are we that they will leave

a school powered by 21st-century skills?

Education in the 21st century is becoming increasingly important to ensure

students have skills in learning and innovation, use of information technology and

media, and can work and survive by utilizing life skills. As a first step, the

implementation of 21st-century education concept can be applied to curriculum

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structure consisting of compulsory subjects aimed at achieving the competence of

learning and innovation skills and technology and information media skills. While

the supporting subject group is directed to achieve the competence of life and

career skills. All subjects are a derivation of the 3R core subjects of reading,

writing, and arithmetic. Based on the above description, it can be concluded that

the needs of 21st century skills include (1) having life planning, (2) flexibility and

adaptability, (3) initiative and self-management, (4) entrepreneurship, (5) social

and cultural interaction, (6) productivity and accountability, (7) leadership, and

responsibility, (8) critical thinking, creative and innovative, (9) problem solving,

(10) communication, (11) collaborative and teamwork, (12) life and (13) digital

literacy.

Every nation today is in one form of competition or the other with the rest of

the world, and one of the key indicators of a country’s capacity to compete is

found in the knowledge, skills, and competencies possessed by the citizenry. An

array of studies (Kennedy, 1997; Burns, 2011) assume that good teaching

depends largely on the teachers' ability to correctly present the content. The

studies notes that good teaching depends largely on the ability to keep students

orderly and attentive, and that the method by which one teaches a subject itself

conveys important information to students about the subject matter. However,

Blaschke (2012) notes that Educators today should be more concerned about

developing lifelong learners who can survive and thrive in a global knowledge

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economy. learners who have the capability to effectively and creatively apply skills

and competencies to new situations in an ever-changing, complex world

But aside from the aforementioned ideas on how to offer 21 st century

education, the article presented also argued that to achieve 21st century

education, we must invest first with quality preschool education. Perhaps this was

also the reason why compulsory universal kindergarten was included in the salient

features of K to 12 Curriculum in the Philippines. While preparing 21st century

education in preschool, this must be coupled with the four pillars to learning or

education which are learning to be, learning to know, learning to be, and learning

to live together. Learning to Be involves activities that foster personal development

(body, mind and spirit) and contribute to creativity, personal discovery and an

appreciation of the inherent value provided by these pursuits. Learning to Know

helps with the knowledge and information needed to work in a globalized,

information society and knowledge economy, and the tools for learning how to

learn and to independently acquire knowledge. Learning to do describes putting

knowledge and learning into practice innovatively through (1)Skill development

and (2)Practical know-how, (3)Development of competence, (4)Life skills,

(5)Personal qualities, (6)Aptitudes and (7)Attitudes. And learning to Live Together

involves the development of social skills and values such as (1)respect and

concern for others, (2)social and inter-personal skills and (3)an appreciation of the

diversity of the World.

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I believe that learning in the 21st century goes beyond the conventional

pedagogy of education where rote learnings confined only in the four corners of

the classroom. As time pass by, radical reform engulfed the system of our

educational landscape especially in the advent of technological advancement. The

given article accentuates the four pillars of learning as the fundamental principles

in reshaping 21st century education. It is a holistic approach in education where

learning focuses not only on the cognitive aspect of the learner but the entirety of

his whole being. Learning how to learn is essential for every individual in order to

fully grasp the idea of something. It is not based merely on factual knowledge

underneath the cover of every textbook but the most important point is how to use

those knowledge for the betterment of our society and the world in general.

As an educator, we have the biggest role in nation building because we

help in nurturing the future leaders of our society. We cannot build the nation for

our youth for we are teachers, but we can build the youth for our nation. The four

pillars of learning serves as our guiding principles in making our classroom

strategies and techniques to make learners fully equipped with necessary

knowledge, skills, and values for the world of work. Eventually, every educational

institution will produce an all-rounded individual with spiritual, moral, social and

cultural awareness as global citizens.

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There are many aspects to consider in the 21st century education. In terms

of technology, not all schools in the Philippines are fortunate enough to have

access in electricity, network and internet connectivity. Thus, making it hard to

make learners relate to global perspective. However, it is a challenge for the 21 st

century educators to cope with this barriers, finding every possible means and

provide necessary adjustments through contextualization, localization, and

indigenization.

One of my significant learning in this article is that true education means

developing not only the cognitive phase of an individual but also the moral spiritual

and social aspect. 21st century education builds new concept of learning breaking

boundaries of conventional learning to provide new generation of learners the so

called “millennials” a suitable learning environment for them.

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Article
Reality Behind the Implementation of K to 12
Curriculum in the Philippines

A curriculum is considered as the “heart” of any learning institution which

means that schools or universities cannot exist without a curriculum. With its

importance in formal education, the curriculum has become a dynamic process

due to the changes that occur in our society. Therefore, in its broadest sense,

curriculum refers to the “total learning experiences of individuals not only in school

but society as well”. Curriculum development on the other hand is the process of

selecting, organizing, executing and evaluating learning experiences on the basis

of the needs, abilities, and interests of learners and the nature of the society or

community. Curriculum development has a broad scope because it is not only

about the school, the learners, and the teachers. It is also about the development

of society in general. In today’s knowledge economy, curriculum development

plays a vital role in improving the economy of a country. It also provides answers

or solutions to the world’s pressing conditions and problems, such as environment,

politics, socio-economics, and other issues of poverty, climate change, and

sustainable development.

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The Philippine education system had undergone a major transformation for

the last decade. This is a major renovation in the existing number of years in both

educational and instructional time. The implementation of the K-12 Program is

perhaps one of the biggest changes that had shaken the whole Philippine

education system. With the move, there are many flaws identified that hinders us

from becoming even more competitive globally. The K to 12 Program covers

Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (six years of primary education, four

years of Junior High School, and two years of Senior High School [SHS]) to

provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners,

and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development,

employment, and entrepreneurship.

Long before the K to 12 curriculum was implemented, the Philippines has

the Basic Education Curriculum (BEC Curriculum) made into the system as early

as 2002. The Department of Education claimed that this curriculum is a product of

16 years of research based on different stakeholders’ round table discussion.

Based on the Department Order No. 25, s. 2002, this curriculum focuses on the

basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, science and patriotism. Values is integral to

all the subject areas that teach students to be ready for lifelong learning. It seeks

to address the inability of students to read with comprehension at grade 3 and

worse, at grade 6. Integrative and interactive teaching-learning approaches are

even stressed. These are characterized by group learning and sharing of

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knowledge and experiences between teachers, between teachers and students,

and among students. However, there is no clear enclosure on the role of learner-

centered approaches that the term learner is not yet made into account as it is just

recently introduced in the K12 curriculum.

Several reasons were already published online on why there is a need to

shift in the K to 12 curriculum aside from the need to address learner-

centeredness. According to K12 Philippines, some explanations to the shift were

as follows: 1) because Philippines is the only country in Asia with 10 years of basic

education; 2) the poor quality of education as revealed in the National

Achievement Test and Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMMS),

which seemed to be the reflection of the current quality of education in the country;

3) the prolific existence of non-practical subjects as exposed by SEAMEO

INNOTECH; 4) the graduates of basic education in the old curriculum are not

prepared in college education due to lack of practical application, which leads to

young investment in the labor force, and 5) Filipino professionals who have

finished a 10-year basic education may not be acknowledged in many parts of the

world. The discredit issue could be attributed to education requirements set by

some international accreditation agreements.

Perhaps one of the most difficult issues/problems that our fellowman is

facing abroad is when they want to practice their profession. Some countries

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require our citizen to study again as they don’t recognize our degrees. In some

cases, they are counting the number of years of our studies and compare it to their

educational system. In some cases, the degrees earned in our country needs to

apply for degree equivalency which is subject to their discretion or decision.

Perhaps the best contribution of K-12 to some extent is that no need to study to

cover the years that needs to be earned as it conforms to the international

standard. This is a major issue that will resolve and gained recognition for our

professionals locally and globally with this move.

At present, although Republic Act No. 10533 also known as the Enhanced

Basic Education K to 12 Curriculum is now fully implemented from Kindergarten to

Grade 12. But way back 2017 reports showed that there are some problems met

in connection with its implementation. These are the insufficient instructional

materials and there are no teacher’s manuals, some classrooms are already

congested or lack of available classroom for growing number of students, our

newly – hired teachers although many of them are highly knowledgeable in the

subject matter, but they need to develop their teaching skills, the different

pedagogical approaches.

The introduction of new grading system; classroom assessment, the new

way of selecting honor students; awards and recognition guidelines created

confusions and complaints from the parents. Some of them are still insisting the

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recent policy pertaining the giving of additional points for the extra and co –

curricular activities of their children, the students. Parents are not fully informed

and there are many questions arising in their mind that we need to address.

Another problem is the lack of available partners of the public schools that will

provide appropriate immersion program to our grade 12 students. It is necessary

that the school should have partnership in different industries related to the

courses offered and approved by high authority.

Another problem is the need of teachers to be trained on pedagogy,

educational research, measurement and evaluation and classroom management.

Basically, newly – hired teaching personnel are not actually BS Education

graduates. They only have four – year course diploma before being inducted into

service. Lack of competence is a serious concern that we must address

immediately. Nevertheless, many professionals were really attracted to the

positions offered by the DepEd considering the high salary offered to them. But

the problem is they do not know how to transfer the learning from them to their

respective students. Aside from this, some teachers also have low commitment;

they do not love their work and seriously not happy in their present situation.

For the meantime, we are doing our best to cope with our needs searching

some activities in LRMDS, educational websites and other supplementary books

that will help us to meet the needs of our learners. Schools administrators should

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guide them in choosing appropriate portals that can be accessed from the internet.

DepEd provides technical assistance to our teachers in looking for alternative or

remedy to their problems. All difficulties can be solved and eased its implications.

Schools must strengthen their partnerships with the private sectors, our

local industries. They will serve as venue of the immersion program of our senior

high school students as part of their requirement for graduation. Experiential

learning is really important for our students and this can be provided through

linkages, this must be enhanced by our school administrators.

Our teachers shall undergo in – service trainings, LAC sessions and

schools based seminars on pedagogical approaches to improve their teaching

skills. School administrators will facilitate periodic learning action cell activities to

further develop the skills of our teachers. Regular monitoring and evaluation also

help our teachers to improve their teaching performance and address their issues

and concerns.

After almost 7 years when K to 12 curriculum took effect, and after

gathering all the issues, concerns and problems met along with it implementation,

we can say that in the fiscal year 2019, K to 12 curriculum is almost at its finest

way gearing towards the achievement of its ultimate goal of providing holistic,

lifelong and 21st century education to its learners. Although there are still problems

when it comes to learning resources, there are still a need for total revisions of the

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congested curriculum guides in every learning area, there are still a need to

construct school buildings and laboratories, there are still a need to provide

trainings for the teachers and there are still a need for a rigid evaluation of the K to

12 curriculum implementation, but I can say that we already took off its wings and

now flying for its successful implementation.

Right now, we are just waiting for the first products of the K to12 curriculum.

We will see if K to 12 graduates were truly equipped with necessary skills,

knowledge and attitude, globally competitive, and now ready to face the

challenges of the real world. We are now waiting to reap the fruit of our undying

hope of uplifting and providing quality education to Filipino learners. We are now

waiting to see how K to 12 graduates move our nation towards a solid and

progressive Philippines.

Let’s see!

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MAEd– Educational Management Student