There are a lot of factors why Basic Education Curriculum needs a shifting into the

K-12 Curriculum. It needs change in order to cope with other countries as well as improved

and make adjustments in our education system. For instance, the poor quality performance

of the basic education system internationally proves that our curriculum needs a change.

It was also very evident in the past international exams where we finished at a dead end in

the subject Mathematics and also, the recent PISA result wherein we scored at the lowest

especially in Reading Comprehension for learners in 2018. Furthermore, the unpreparedness

and inexperience of teachers as well as high school graduates to be college-ready and equip

in entering the real world really shows that our education system must be reformed.

K-12 has its strengths and weaknesses. Let us start from the strength of this

curriculum. For me, K-12 is the key why I was at PNU. The K-12 curriculum helps me build

my future, it helps me enter as well as explore outside my box. It serves as a game-changer

in the life of many learners as we are the ones who became the first pioneer of this curriculum.

It helps me develop my competitiveness as well as prepare me in entering the college life. It

helps us become more adaptive and flexible despite these new and unpredictable setbacks

and obstacles. On the other hand, K-12 lacks of preparation in content and pedagogy. Since

I am from the countryside, I do not generalize that all schools aren’t prepared, but in my alma

mater, K-12 Curriculum is just like BEC, it just adds 2 more years of burden and hardship to

the part of my parent as well as for me. The teachers are not trained properly, poor application

and preparation for teaching and handling 21st century learners. Also, the infrastructures, it

wasn’t conducive and helpful in creating a more prepared and readily place of learning for

learners. In addition, for my personal experience, I graduated in the Academic Track with the

strand of Humanities and Social Sciences knowing that HUMSS graduates are the ones that

will take Education field yet, we are still clueless why this mismatch of taken strand and

course in SHS Strand and College degree. It is also pressuring the learners’ capability and

skill that greatly adds discouragement and mental exhaustion even though it prepares the

learners in the real world.

From my perspective, yes. The K-12 Curriculum features a lot of positive effects and

results. However, the content of the curriculum and the way teachers taught the lessons and

topic that was stated in the curriculum was a bit inconsistent for me. According to Ball et al.,

“we have developed a working definition of “mathematical knowledge for teaching.” By this
phrase, we mean the mathematical knowledge that teachers need to carry out their work as

teachers of mathematics. Obviously, teachers need to know the content they teach and that

students are expected to master. Similarly, researchers presented some findings why

Mathematics curriculum isn’t exactly what was implemented in the classroom;

(a) Developing or weak teaching skills and strategies, (b) the teacher found difficulty in

teaching hard subjects or contents and lack of time to tackle the content efficiently, (c)

unavailability or lack of instructional materials (Braza & Supapo, 2014). The teacher must be

familiar and knowledgeable in the content that he/she is going to teach. Given that the

curriculum guide will lead the teacher to the topics, the teachers play a vital role on how the

learners acquire knowledge. So, if the teacher didn’t teach the lesson well, then the

perception of the learner about the topic will also be vague and blurry.

Strong national government support will always be the key in improving the education

system because it has the power to implement what is needed. Knowledgeable, well-trained

teachers and effective educators as well as clear and precise curriculum are the best tool to

have in improving the mathematics teaching in the Philippines. I also agree with some

statements that increasing salaries of teachers can attract people to enter the field of

education and teach young intellectual minds. Yet, standards and criterion for teachers must

always achieved. At the end of the day, everyone should take part in improving and giving

quality education for everyone in order to have a better country and rising economy because

education is the key to success. This too shall pass and better leaders will arise.

REFERENCES/S:

Ball, D., Thames, M., & Phelps, G. (2013). CONTENT KNOWLEDGE FOR

TEACHING: WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL? Retrieved November 1, 2020, from

https://harringtonmath.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Content-knowledge-for-

teachers.pdf

Braza, M., & Supapo, S. (2014). Effective Solutions in the Implementation of the K

to12 Mathematics Curriculum [Ebook] (pp. 12-23). Retrieved November 1, 2020, from

https://www.researchgate.net/file.PostFileLoader.html?id=54be3908d4c118aa278b465b&a

ssetKey=AS:273675842981888@1442260813869