EDUC 215 - The Teaching Profession

ABSTRACTION

The Historical Foundation of Education

Ancient Period

The history of civilization started in the Middle East about 3000 BCE, whereas the
North China civilization began about a millennium and a half later.
The Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations flourished almost simultaneously
during the first civilizational phase (3000–1500 BCE). Although these civilizations
differed, they shared monumental literary achievements. The need for the
perpetuation of these highly developed civilizations made writing and formal
education indispensable.
Egyptians developed two types of formal schools for privileged youth under the
supervision of governmental officials and priests: one for scribes and the other for
priest trainees. At the age of 5, pupils entered the writing school and continued
their studies in reading and writing until the age of 16 or 17. At the age of 13 or
14 the schoolboys were also given practical training in offices for which they were
being prepared. Priesthood training began at the temple college, which boys
entered at the age of 17; the length of training depending upon the requirements
for various priestly offices. It is not clear whether or not the practical
sciences constituted a part of the systematically organized curriculum of the
temple college.
The priests in Mesopotamia dominated the intellectual and educational domain
as well as the applied. The centre of intellectual activity and training was
the library, which was usually housed in a temple under the supervision of
influential priests. Methods of teaching and learning were memorization, oral
repetition, copying models, and individual instruction. It is believed that the exact
copying of scripts was the hardest and most strenuous and served as the test of
excellence in learning. The period of education was long and rigorous, and
discipline was harsh.

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In North China, the civilization of which began with the emergence of

the Shang era, complex educational practices were in effect at a very early date.
In fact, every important foundation of the formation of modern Chinese character
was already established, to a great extent, more than 3,000 years ago. Chinese
ancient formal education was distinguished by its markedly secular and moral
character. Its paramount purpose was to develop a sense of moral sensitivity and
duty toward people and the state. Even in the early civilizational stage,
harmonious human relations, rituals, and music formed the curriculum.
Religion was the mainspring of all activities in ancient India. It was of an all-
absorbing interest and embraced not only prayer and worship but
also philosophy, morality, law, and government as well. Religion saturated
educational ideals too, and the study of Vedic literature was indispensable to
higher castes. The stages of instruction were very well defined. During the first
period, the child received elementary education at home. The beginning
of secondary education and formal schooling was marked by a ritual known as
the upanayana, or thread ceremony, which was restricted to boys only and was
more or less compulsory for boys of the three higher castes. The Brahman boys
had this ceremony at the age of 8, the Kshatriya boys at the age of 11, and the
Vaishya boys at the age of 12. The boy would leave his father’s house and enter
his preceptor’s ashrama, a home situated amid sylvan surroundings.
The acarya would treat him as his own child, give him free education, and not
charge anything for his boarding and lodging. The pupil had to tend the sacrificial
fires, do the household work of his preceptor, and look after his cattle.
Ancient Israel first experienced a type of education that was essentially familial;
that is to say, the mother taught the very young and the girls, while the father
assumed the responsibility of providing moral, religious, and handcraft instruction
for the growing sons. This characteristic remained in Jewish education, for the
relation of teacher to pupil was always expressed in terms of parenthood and
filiation. Education, furthermore, was rigid and exacting; the Hebrew
word musar signifies at the same time education and corporal punishment.

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In Ancient Greece, schools had begun to appear in those early centuries,

probably on eastern Mediterranean models run by private teachers. The earliest
references are, however, more recent. Herodotus mentions schools dating from
496 BCE and Pausanias from 491 BCE. The term used is didaskaleion (“a place
for instruction”), while the generic term scholē, meaning leisure—a reference to
schooling being the preserve of the wealthier sector—was also coming into use.
There was no single institution; rather, each activity was carried out in a separate
place. The young boy of privileged rank would be taken by a kind of chaperone,
the paidagōgos, who was generally a respected slave within the parents’
household. The elements of literacy were taught by the writing master, known as
a grammatistes, the child learning his letters and numbers by scratching them on
a wax-coated wooden tablet with a stylus. More advanced formal literacy, chiefly
in a study of the poets, playwrights, and historians, was given by
the grammatikos, although this was restricted to the genuinely leisured.
Supremely important was instruction in the mythopoeic legends of Hesiod and
Homer, given by the lyre-playing kitharistes. In addition, all boys had to be
instructed in physical and military activities in the wrestling school, known as the
palaestra, itself part of the more comprehensive institution of the gymnasium.
The moral aspect of education was not neglected. The Athenian ideal was that of
the kalos k’agathos, the “wise and good” man. The teachers were as much
preoccupied with overseeing the child’s good conduct and the formation of his
character as with directing his progress in the various subjects taught
him. Poetry served to transmit all the traditional wisdom, which combined two
currents: the ethic of the citizen expressed in the moralizing elegies of the 6th-
century lawmaker Solon and the old Homeric ideal of the value of competition
and heroic exploit. But this ideal equilibrium between the education of the body
and that of the mind was interrupted before long as a result on the one hand of
the development of professional sports and the exigencies of its specialization
and on the other by the development of the strictly intellectual disciplines, which
had made great progress since the time of the first philosophers of the 5th
century BCE.

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For additional reading:

Encyclopedia Britannica. “Education - Education in the Earliest Civilizations.”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/education. “

What Is the Ancient Education System and Its Development? - Quora.” Accessed
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-Ancient-education-system-and-its-
development.

Middle/Medieval Period
The education system of Middle Ages was highly influenced by the Church. Basic
course of study used to contain Latin language, grammar, logic, rhetoric,
philosophy, astrology, music and mathematics. Scholars, monks and bishops
used ancient writings from Roman and Greek resources to teach their students
while most of the educational courses were mostly based on superstitions and
beliefs. Students often learned more when they directly came in contact with
trappers, hunters, poachers and serfs as they could offer practical knowledge.
While medieval students often belonged to upper class, they were used to sit
together on the floor. They used bones or ivory stylus. They used to scrawl notes
on wax coated wooden blocks. By its influence, the Church made it important for
knights and members of nobility to learn and those knights who couldn’t read or
write were looked down upon. This was very important for them to know how to
read because all knights were supposed to understand and follow the code of
chivalry as proposed by the clergy and Church.
Education in The Middle Ages was a difficult task because of the tumultuous
times. Frequent wars and battles often disturbed monasteries and cathedral
schools and halted studies. However, most of the times, the monasteries and
cathedral schools succeeded in reemerging themselves.
Children were taught in schools of monks and at the age of 14-15, they were
announced as scholars.

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Some of them could opt for higher studies in cathedral schools and universities
under the management of prestigious bishops. Any student who could prove that
he knew arts well was announced as Master of Arts. Students had the choice to
learn theology, medicine or philosophy and after mastering any of these subjects
they were declared doctors.
Before attaining mastership, a student was required to attain baccalaureate which
was considered as the first step towards becoming a master of a subject. A
student could attain baccalaureate by following the course which was known as
quadrivium. It included preliminary understanding of geometry, geography,
arithmetic, natural history, astronomy and music.
However, very few used to opt for education to get a degree. This was due to the
fact that the basic means of living were either fighting or working as a peasant.
Members of nobility often preferred to learn fighting skills over arts and
mathematics while peasants and serfs had no use of higher education. Those
who studied in monasteries often became monks and they worked for preserving
Roman and Greek texts and they wrote new books. Mastership was necessary
for a person to be able to teach at a university in The Middle Ages.
Under the feudal system of The Middle Ages, women had little or no chance of
attaining education. Education was rare for serfs and peasants and it was
impossible for a girl or woman from a peasant background to learn reading and
writing.
However, girls of upper class were given benefits of education in a few cases.
There were certain obligations for women of nobility which required them to be
literate. However, the course of education for women was very limited and it was
controlled by the Church.
The general feeling was that women were secondary and they needed to serve
and remain under protection of men. Whatever education a woman could attain
was designed to help her in becoming a good wife and mother in future.
Some scholars of medieval world advocated that women “be raised on sacred
teachings.” In order to become a nun, education was necessary for a girl;
however, married life and children were the primary goals of most of the girls
during the medieval times.

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For Additional Readings:

History Learning Site. “Medieval Education.”
https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval-england/medieval-education/.

Spartacus Educational. “Education in the Middle Ages.” https://spartacus-

educational.com/YALDeducation.htm.

Renaissance Period
The Renaissance created an educational revolution by adopting a classical
curriculum for its Latin schools. This happened in Italy in the fifteenth century and
in the rest of Europe in the sixteenth century. Renaissance Latin schoolmasters
discarded the medieval curriculum, with a handful of exceptions at the primary
school level, in favor of the works of Virgil, Cicero, Terence, Julius Caesar (c.
100–44 B.C.E.), and other ancient authors. Most were Latin; Greek authors were
introduced as teachers of Greek became available. These ancient authors taught
grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy, which together
comprised the studia humanitatis (humanistic studies) based on the standard
ancient authors in Latin and, to some extent, in Greek. The classical humanistic
curriculum remained the core of Latin education for the elite of Europe well into
the twentieth century.
The Latin that Renaissance students learned was very different from the clear
and functional but seldom elegant medieval Latin. Renaissance students learned
to write Latin in the ornate and complex style of Cicero, as found in his Epistolae
ad familiares (Letters to friends) and his speeches, which had been unavailable in
the Middle Ages. Humanist pedagogues sought guidance on ancient education
from the Institutio oratoria (Institutes of oratory) of the Roman teacher of rhetoric
Quintilian (c. 35–100 C.E.). Italy adopted the classical Latin curriculum in the
fifteenth century, and the rest of Europe followed in the sixteenth.

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The Renaissance humanistic curriculum promised more than learning to read and
write like the ancients. Italian and northern European humanists argued in a
series of pedagogical treatises that reading the classics would teach boys, and a
few girls, wisdom as well as eloquence. The classics would inspire readers to live
honorably and well. If well instructed, they would do what was morally right and
would be loyal to family, city, and country. The goal was humanitas, the
knowledge of how to live as cultivated, educated members of society.
However, the Renaissance humanists papered over a basic contradiction.
Western European Christianity viewed salvation after death as the ultimate goal
of life. But ancient pagan authors as Cicero, Terence, and Virgil did not teach
readers to love enemy and neighbor and to seek union with God. The texts of
ancient Greek and Rome emphasized education for this life. They endorsed
worldly ambition so long as it was achieved by legitimate means, and they
featured acts judged sinful by European Christians. Nevertheless, Renaissance
educators convinced themselves that the classics and Christian doctrine taught
an identical morality of honesty, self-sacrifice for the common good,
perseverance, and family and civic responsibility. The restoration of the pagan
classics inserted a secularism into European schooling that never disappeared,
however much Catholic teaching orders and Protestant schoolmasters
emphasized religious doctrine and practice.
From the Renaissance onward, the classical secondary school was the center of
European elite education. Educational leaders and probably the majority of
society believed that learning ancient languages and literatures offered examples
of the highest human culture in the original language, developed mental discipline,
and imparted good moral and civic values.

For Additional Reading:

Scribd. “The Renaissance Period in Education | Humanism | Renaissance.”
https://www.scribd.com/document/319201226/The-Renaissance-Period-in-
Education.

The Great Courses Daily. “The Italian Renaissance - The Education and Learning
During the Renaissance,” December 15, 2016.
https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/education-in-the-renaissance/.

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Modern/Contemporary Period
The two World Wars weakened the military and political might of the larger
European powers. Their replacement by “superpowers” whose influence did not
depend directly on territorial acquisition and whose ideologies were essentially
equalitarian helped to liquidate colonialism. As new independent countries
emerged in Africa and Asia and the needs and powers of a “third world” caused a
shift in international thinking, education was seen to be both an instrument of
national development and a means of crossing national and cultural barriers. One
consequence of this was a great increase in the quantity of education provided.
Attempts were made to eradicate illiteracy, and colleges and schools were built
everywhere.
The growing affluence of masses of the population in high-income areas in North
America and Europe brought about, particularly after World War II, a tremendous
demand for secondary and higher education. Most children stayed at school until
16, 17, or even 18 years of age, and a substantial fraction spent at least two
years at college. The number of universities in many countries doubled or trebled
between 1950 and 1970, and the elaboration of the tertiary level continued
thereafter.
This growth was sustained partly by the industrial requirements of modern
scientific technology. New methods, processes, and machines were continually
introduced. Old skills became irrelevant; new industries sprang up. In addition,
the amount of scientific—as distinct from merely technical—knowledge grew
continually. Researchers, skilled workers, and high-level professionals were
increasingly in demand. The processing of information underwent revolutionary
change. The educational response was mainly to develop technical colleges, to
promote adult education at all levels, to turn attention to part-time and evening
courses, and to provide more training and education within the industrial
enterprises themselves.

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The attempt to apply scientific method to the study of education dates back to the
German philosopher Johann Friedrich Herbart, who called for the application
of psychology to the art of teaching. But not until the end of the 19th century,
when the German psychologist Wilhelm Max Wundt established the first
psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879, were serious efforts
made to separate psychology from philosophy. Wundt’s monumental Principles of
Physiological Psychology (1874) had significant effects on education in the 20th
century.
William James, often considered the father of American psychology of education,
began about 1874 to lay the groundwork for his psychophysiological laboratory,
which was officially founded at Harvard University in 1891. In 1878 he
established the first course in psychology in the United States, and in 1890 he
published his famous The Principles of Psychology, in which he argued that the
purpose of education is to organize the child’s powers of conduct so as to fit him
to his social and physical environment. Interests must be awakened and
broadened as the natural starting points of instruction.
James’s Principles and Talks to Teachers on Psychology cast aside the older
notions of psychology in favour of an essentially behaviourist outlook. They asked
the teacher to help educate heroic individuals who would project daring visions of
the future and work courageously to realize them.
James’s student Edward L. Thorndike is credited with the introduction of
modern educational psychology, with the publication of Educational
Psychology in 1903. Thorndike attempted to apply the methods of exact science
to the practice of psychology. James and Thorndike, together with the American
philosopher John Dewey, helped to clear away many of the fantastic notions
once held about the successive steps involved in the development of mental
functions from birth to maturity.
Interest in the work of Sigmund Freud and the psychoanalytic image of the child
in the 1920s, as well as attempts to apply psychology to national training and
education tasks in the 1940s and ’50s, stimulated the development of educational
psychology, and the field became recognized as a major source for educational
theory. Eminent researchers in the field advanced knowledge of behaviour
modification, child development, and motivation. They studied learning
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theories ranging from classical and instrumental conditioning and technical

models to social theories and open humanistic varieties. Besides the specific
applications of measurement, counseling, and clinical psychology, psychology
contributed to education through studies of cognition, information processing, the
technology of instruction, and learning styles. After much controversy about
nature versus nurture and about qualitative versus quantitative methods, Jungian,
phenomenological, and ethnographic methods took their place alongside
psychobiological explanations to help educationists understand the place
of heredity, general environment, and school in development and learning.
The relationship between educational theory and other fields of study became
increasingly close. Social science was used to study interactions and speech to
discover what was actually happening in a classroom. Philosophy of science led
educational theorists to attempt to understand paradigmatic shifts in knowledge.
The critical literature of the 1960s and ’70s attacked all institutions as conveyors
of the motives and economic interests of the dominant class. Both social
philosophy and critical sociology continued to elaborate the themes of social
control and oppression as embedded in educational institutions. In a world of
social as well as intellectual change, there were necessarily
new ethical questions—such as those dealing with abortion, biological
experimentation, and child rights—which placed new demands on education and
required new methods of teaching.

For Additional Readings:

Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS). “Our History.”

https://classicalchristian.org/our-history/.

ResearchGate. “(PDF) Education in the Modern Period.”

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329059137_ Education_
in_the_Modern_Period.

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Philippine Education System

Pre-colonial period
During the pre-colonial period, most children were provided with solely vocational
training, which was supervised by parents, tribal tutors or those assigned for
specific, specialized roles within their communities (for example, the babaylan). In
most communities, stories, songs, poetry, dances, medicinal practices and advice
regarding all sorts of community life issues were passed from generation to
generation mostly through oral tradition. Some communities utilised a writing
system known as baybayin, whose use was wide and varied, though there are
other syllabaries used throughout the archipelago.

For Additional Readings:

Teacher Arzadon. “Education Precolonial Period.” Education, 01:44:33 UTC.

https://www.slideshare.net/tchrched/education-precolonial-period.

TeacherPH. “A History of the System of Education in the Philippines,” December

16, 2014. https://www.teacherph.com/history-system-education-philippines/.

Spanish period
Formal education was brought to the Philippines by the Spaniards, which was
conducted mostly by religious orders. Upon learning the local languages and
writing systems, they began teaching Christianity, the Spanish language, and
Spanish culture. These religious orders opened the first schools and universities
as early as the 16th century. Spanish missionaries established schools
immediately after reaching the islands. The Augustinians opened a parochial
school in Cebu in 1565. The Franciscans, took to the task of improving literacy in
1577, aside from the teaching of new industrial and agricultural techniques. The
Jesuits followed in 1581, as well as the Dominicans in 1587, setting up a school
in Bataan. The church and the school cooperated to ensure that Christian villages
had schools for students to attend.

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Schools for boys and for girls were then opened. Colegios were opened for boys,
ostensibly the equivalent to present day senior high schools. The Universidad de
San Ignacio, founded in Manila by the Jesuits in 1589 was the first colegio.
Eventually, it was incorporated into the University of Santo Tomas, College of
Medicine and Pharmacology following the suppression of the Jesuits. Girls had
two types of schools - the beaterio, a school meant to prepare them for the
convent, and another, meant to prepare them for secular womanhood.
The Spanish also introduced printing presses to produce books in Spanish and
Tagalog, sometimes using baybayin. The first book printed in the Philippines
dates back to 1590. It was a Chinese language version of Doctrina Christiana.
Spanish and Tagalog versions, in both Latin script and the locally used baybayin
script, were later printed in 1593. In 1610, Tomas Pinpin, a Filipino printer, writer
and publisher, who is sometimes referred to as the "Patriarch of Filipino Printing",
wrote his famous "Librong Pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang Uicang
Castilla", which was meant to help Filipinos learn the Spanish language.
The Educational Decree of 1863 provided a free public education system in the
Philippines, managed by the government. The decree mandated the
establishment of at least one primary school for boys and one for girls in each
town under the responsibility of the municipal government, and the establishment
of a normal school for male teachers under the supervision of the Jesuits.
Primary education was also declared free and available to every Filipino,
regardless of race or social class. Contrary to what the propaganda of the
Spanish-American War tried to depict, they were not religious schools; rather,
they are schools that were established, supported, and maintained by the
Spanish government.
After the implementation of the decree, the number of schools and students
increased steadily. In 1866, the total population of the Philippines was 4,411,261.
The total number of public schools for boys was 841, and the number of public
schools for girls was 833. The total number of children attending those schools
was 135,098 for boys, and 95,260 for girls. In 1892, the number of schools had
increased to 2,137, of which 1,087 were for boys, and 1,050 for girls. By 1898,
enrollment in schools at all levels exceeded 200,000 students.

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Among those who benefited from the free public education system were a
burgeoning group of Filipino intellectuals: the Ilustrados ('enlightened ones'),
some of whom included José Rizal, Graciano López Jaena, Marcelo H. del Pilar,
Mariano Ponce, and Antonio Luna--all of whom played vital roles in the
Propaganda Movement that ultimately inspired the founding of the Katipunan.

For Additional Readings:

Teacher Arzadon. “Education Precolonial Period.” Education, 01:44:33 UTC.

https://www.slideshare.net/tchrched/education-precolonial-period.

TeacherPH. “A History of the System of Education in the Philippines,” December

16, 2014. https://www.teacherph.com/history-system-education-philippines/.

American period
About a year after having secured Manila, the Americans were keen to open up
seven schools with army servicemen teaching with army command-selected
books and supplies. In the same year, 1899, more schools were opened, this
time, with 24 English-language teachers and 4500 students.
A highly centralised, experimental public school system was installed in 1901 by
the Philippine Commission and legislated by Act No. 74. The law exposed a
severe shortage of qualified teachers, brought about by large enrollment numbers
in schools. As a result, the Philippine Commission authorized the Secretary of
Public Instruction to bring more than 1,000 teachers from the United States, who
were called the Thomasites, to the Philippines between 1901 and 1902. These
teachers were scattered throughout the islands to establish barangay schools.
The same law established the Philippine Normal School (now the Philippine
Normal University) to train aspiring Filipino teachers.
The high school system was supported by provincial governments and included
special educational institutions, schools of arts and trades, an agricultural school,
and commerce and marine institutes, which were established in 1902 by the
Philippine Commission.

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Several other laws were passed throughout the period. In 1902, Act No. 372
authorised the opening of provincial high schools. 1908 marked the year when
Act No. 1870 initiated the opening of the University of the Philippines, now the
country's national university.
The emergence of high school education in the Philippines, however, did not
occur until 1910. It was borne out of rising numbers in enrollment, widespread
economic depression, and a growing demand by big businesses and
technological advances in factories and the emergence of electrification for
skilled workers. In order to meet this new job demand, high schools were created
and the curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare
students for professional white collar or skilled blue collar work. This proved to be
beneficial for both the employer and the employee; the investment in human
capital caused employees to become more efficient, which lowered costs for the
employer, and skilled employees received a higher wage than those employees
with just primary educational attainment.
However, a steady increase in enrollment in schools appeared to have hindered
any revisions to then-implemented experimental educational system. Act No.
1381, also known as Gabaldon Law, was passed in 1907, which provided a fund
of a million pesos for construction of concrete school buildings and is one of
many attempts by the government to meet this demand. In line as well with the
Filipinization policy of the government, the Reorganization Act of 1916 provided
that all department secretaries except the Secretary of Public Instruction must be
a natural-born Filipino.
A series of revisions (in terms of content, length, and focus) to the curriculum
began in 1924, the year the Monroe Survey Commission released its findings.
After having convened in the period from 1906 to 1918, what was simply an
advisory committee on textbooks was officiated in 1921 as the Board on
Textbooks through Act No. 2957. The Board was faced with difficulties, however,
even up to the 1940s, but because financial problems hindered the possibility of
newer adaptations of books.

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Post-Colonial Period
In 1947, after the United States relinquished all its authority over the Philippines,
President Manuel Roxas issued Executive Order No. 94 which renamed
Department of Instruction into Department of Education. During this period, the
regulation and supervision of public and private schools belonged to the Bureau
of Public and Private Schools.
In 1972, the Department of Education became the Department of Education and
Culture (DECS) under Proclamation 1081, which was signed by President
Ferdinand Marcos. On September 24, 1972, by Presidential Decree No. 1, DECS
was decentralized with decision-making shared among its thirteen regional
offices. Following a referendum of all barangays in the Philippines from January
10-15, 1973, President Marcos ratified the 1973 Constitution by Proclamation
1102 on January 17, 1973. The 1973 Constitution set out the three fundamental
aims of education in the Philippines: to foster love of country; to teach the duties
of citizenship; and to develop moral character, self-discipline, and scientific,
technological and vocational efficiency.
In 1978, by the Presidential Decree No. 1397, DECS became the Ministry of
Education and Culture. The Education Act of 1982 provided for an integrated
system of education covering both formal and non-formal education at all levels.
Section 29 of the act sought to upgrade educational institutions' standards to
achieve "quality education" through voluntary accreditation for schools, colleges,
and universities. Section 16 and Section 17 upgraded the obligations and
qualifications required for teachers and administrators. Section 41 provided for
government financial assistance to private schools. This act also created the
Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports.
A new constitution was ratified on February 2, 1987, and entered into force of
February 11. Section 3, Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution contains the ten
fundamental aims of education in the Philippines. Section 2(2), Article XIV of the
1987 Constitution made elementary school compulsory for all children. In 1987,
the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports became again the DECS under
Executive Order No. 117. The structure of DECS as embodied in the order
remained practically unchanged until 1994.

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On May 26, 1988, the Congress of the Philippines enacted the Republic Act 6655
or the Free Public Secondary Education Act of 1988, which mandated free public
secondary education commencing in the school year 1988-1989.On February 3,
1992, the Congress enacted Republic Act 7323, which provided that students
aged 15 to 25 may be employed during their Christmas vacation and summer
vacation with a salary not lower than the minimum wage--with 60% of the wage
paid by the employer and 40% by the government.
The Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) report of 1991
recommended the division of DECS into three parts. On May 18, 1994, the
Congress passed Republic Act 7722 or the Higher Education Act of 1994,
creating the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), which assumed the
functions of the Bureau of Higher Education and supervised tertiary degree
programs. On August 25, 1994, the Congress passed Republic Act 7796 or the
Technical Education and Skills Development Act of 199, creating the Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which absorbed the
Bureau of Technical-Vocational Education as well as the National Manpower and
Youth Council, and began to supervise non-degree technical-vocational
programs. DECS retained responsibility for all elementary and secondary
education. This threefold division became known as the "trifocal system of
education" in the Philippines.
In August 2001, Republic Act 9155, otherwise called the Governance of Basic
Education Act, was passed. This act changed the name of DECS to the current
Department of Education (DepEd) and redefined the role of field offices (regional
offices, division offices, district offices and schools). The act provided the overall
framework for school empowerment by strengthening the leadership roles of
headmasters and fostering transparency and local accountability for school
administrations. The goal of basic education was to provide the school age
population and young adults with skills, knowledge, and values to become caring,
self-reliant, productive, and patriotic citizens. In 2005, the Philippines spent about
US$138 per pupil, compared to US$3,728 in Japan, US$1,582 in Singapore and
US$852 in Thailand.

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In 2006, the Education for All (EFA) 2015 National Action Plan was implemented.
It states: " The central goal is to provide basic competencies to everyone, and to
achieve functional literacy for all. Ensuring that every Filipino has the basic
competencies is equivalent to providing all Filipinos with the basic learning needs,
or enabling all Filipinos to be functionally literate."
In terms of secondary level education, all children aged twelve to fifteen, are
sought to be on track to completing the schooling cycle with satisfactory
achievement levels at every year. In January 2009, the Department of Education
signed a memorandum of agreement with the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) to seal $86 million assistance to Philippine
education, particularly the access to quality education in the Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and the Western and Central Mindanao regions.

Recent years

In 2010, then-Senator Benigno Aquino III expressed his desire to implement the
K-12 basic education cycle to increase the number of years of compulsory
education to thirteen years. According to him, this will "give everyone an equal
chance to succeed" and "have quality education and profitable jobs". After further
consultations and studies, the government under President Aquino formally
adopted the K-6-4-2 basic education system--one year of kindergarten, six years
of elementary education, four years of junior high school education and two years
of senior high school education. Kindergarten was formally made compulsory by
virtue of the Kindergarten Education Act of 2012, while the further twelve years
were officially put into law by virtue of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.
Although DepEd has already implemented the K-12 Program since SY 2011-
2012, it was still enacted into law to guarantee its continuity in the succeeding
years.

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 EDUC 215 - The Teaching Profession

The former system of basic education in the Philippines consists of one-year

preschool education, six-year elementary education and four-year high school
education. Although public preschool, elementary and high school education are
provided free, only primary education is stipulated as compulsory according to
the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Pre-primary education caters to children aged
five. A child aged six may enter elementary schools with, or without pre-primary
education. Following on from primary education is four-years of secondary
education, which can theoretically be further divided into three years of lower
secondary and one year of upper secondary education. Ideally, a child enters
secondary education at the age of 12. After completing their secondary education,
students may progress to a technical education and skills development to earn a
certificate or a diploma within one to three years, depending on the skill. Students
also have the option to enrol in higher education programmes to earn a
baccalaureate degree.

For Additional Reading:

Teacher Arzadon. “Education Precolonial Period.” Education, 01:44:33 UTC.

https://www.slideshare.net/tchrched/education-precolonial-period.

TeacherPH. “A History of the System of Education in the Philippines,” December

16, 2014. https://www.teacherph.com/history-system-education-philippines/.

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