This document provides information about the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCS) in the Philippines. It discusses:
1. The background and rationale for developing the MELCS due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting education for millions of learners.
2. The process undertaken by the Department of Education to identify the MELCS through a review of the curriculum to determine essential competencies, resulting in a reduction of competencies by 60%.
3. Guidance on how to unpack the MELCS into learning objectives by considering alignment to standards, prerequisite skills, and logical sequencing of objectives.
This document provides information about the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCS) in the Philippines. It discusses:
1. The background and rationale for developing the MELCS due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting education for millions of learners.
2. The process undertaken by the Department of Education to identify the MELCS through a review of the curriculum to determine essential competencies, resulting in a reduction of competencies by 60%.
3. Guidance on how to unpack the MELCS into learning objectives by considering alignment to standards, prerequisite skills, and logical sequencing of objectives.
This document provides information about the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCS) in the Philippines. It discusses:
1. The background and rationale for developing the MELCS due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting education for millions of learners.
2. The process undertaken by the Department of Education to identify the MELCS through a review of the curriculum to determine essential competencies, resulting in a reduction of competencies by 60%.
3. Guidance on how to unpack the MELCS into learning objectives by considering alignment to standards, prerequisite skills, and logical sequencing of objectives.
COMPETENCIES (MELCS) Resource Speaker: Renan L. Marigosio MODULE 2: MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCIES (MELCS) OBJECTIVES :
1. EXPLAIN THE BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE
MELCS 2. UNPACK THE MELCS 3. COMBINE RELATED COMPETENCIES INTO LEARNING OBJECTIVES LESSON 1. RATIONALE, BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT OF MELCS • Rationale • The current global health crisis poses a profound impact on the basic education system, as approximately 87% of the world’s student population, or 1.5 billion learners, have been affected by school closures (UNESCO, 2020). While interim distance and remote learning programs are being put in place in many locations, the most marginalized, poverty stricken and vulnerable children are also the most disadvantaged. • In the Philippines, ensuring the welfare of more than 27 million learners in basic education alone requires indomitable commitment especially amidst this crisis. However, UNESCO reiterates its stand in spite of the circumstances: “Education cannot wait. If learning stops, we will lose human capital.” • The Department of Education affirms its commitment to sustaining the delivery of quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating Philippine basic education services anchored on the Sulong Edukalidad framework. It will continue to strive to produce holistic Filipino learners with 21st century skills. Consequently, the Bureau of Curriculum Development ensures that learning standards are relevant and flexible to address the complex, disruptive, volatile, and ambiguous impact of COVID-19 in the Philippines particularly in the basic education sector. • Working on the said premise, the Department came up with the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs) to be used nationwide by field implementers for SY 2020-2021. The release of the MELCs is not just a response to addressing the challenges of the current pandemic but is also part of the Department’s long-term response to the call of SDG4 to develop resilient education systems, most especially during emergencies. • The MELCs can be used under similar circumstances as a mechanism to ensure education continuity (curriculum dimension). However, releasing the MELCs does not downplay the standards set by the K to 12 curriculum guides. Rather, they serve as one of the guides for teachers as they address the instructional needs of learners while ensuring that curriculum standards are maintained and achieved. BACKGROUND ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE MELCS • The Department, through the Bureau of Curriculum Development–Curriculum Standards Development Division, in collaboration with the Assessment Curriculum and Technology Research Centre (ACTRC), started working on the identification of essential learning competencies in the middle of 2019 as part of its review of the intended curriculum. Bureau specialists, academic experts, and field implementers worked together to reach a consensus regarding the criteria to be used and mechanisms to adopt in determining these competencies. • Initiated by Secretary Leonor Magtolis-Briones, the K to 12 curriculum review is not just meant to fulfill one of the provisions of Republic Act 105333 to review the curriculum, but is also part of her continuing commitment to ensure quality, relevant, and liberating education. • After the four phases of curriculum review are completed, the Secretary will convene the Curriculum Consultative Committee to present the findings as provided for in Section 6 of the same Republic Act. The review focused on articulation within and across learning areas and grade levels, which led to the identification of gaps, issues, and concerns. Moreover, areas for improvement that would enhance the learning engagement, experience, and outcomes were identified and consequent solutions were recommended. RESULTS OF THE REVIEW FROM THE WORKSHOP SERIES PROVIDED AN OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICULATION OF LEARNING COMPETENCIES IN EACH LEARNING AREA. SPECIFICALLY, THE REVIEW COVERED THE FOLLOWING: • Mapping of the essential and desirable learning competencies within the curriculum; • Identification of prerequisite knowledge and skills needed to prepare students for essential learning competencies; and • Analysis of the interconnectedness of prerequisite knowledge and skills among the learning competencies for each subject area. • Essential Learning Competencies were defined as what the students need, considered in the teaching-learning process to build skills to equip learners for subsequent grade levels and consequently, for lifelong learning. On the other hand, desirable learning competencies were defined as what may enhance education but may not be necessary in building foundational skills. CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCY 1.it is aligned with national, state, and/or Learning competency standards/ frameworks (e.g., scientifically- is ESSENTIAL if… literate Filipinos) 2. it connects the content to higher concepts across content areas 3. it is applicable to real-life situations 4. it would be important for students to acquire the competency after s/he left that particular grade level 5. it would not be expected that most students would learn this through their parents/communities if not taught at school FROM LCS TO MELCS • As the Department anticipates the challenges in employing various schemes in the delivery of the learning standards due to COVID-19, the number of the identified essential learning competencies per quarter were further reduced, thus the term “most essential learning competencies.” • The descriptor – ENDURANCE – was the primary determining factor in determining the criteria for the selection of the Most Essential Learning Competencies. A learning competency is considered enduring if it remains with learners long after a test or unit of study is completed or if it is useful beyond a single test or unit of study. Examples of such learning competencies include research skills, reading comprehension, writing, map reading, and hypothesis testing, which are essential in many professions and in everyday life The K to 12 Curriculum has been updated to 5,689 MELCs from the original 14,171, or a reduction by 60%. • In this process the decision whether a learning competency is to be retained, merged, dropped, or rephrased. As a general rule, a learning competency is retained if it satisfies the endurance criterion which greatly contributes to life-long learning and is a prerequisite skill to the next grade level. Two or more learning competencies are merged or clustered if they have the same objective or learning intention and can therefore be combined into one comprehensive learning competency. However, learning competencies are removed/dropped due to the following reasons: • They are too specific (and the articulation is similar to that of a learning objective). • They are deemed appropriate to be introduced in an earlier quarter or grade level or moved to a later quarter or grade level. • They are recurring. • They are subsumed in another learning competency. • Finally, a learning competency is rephrased to be more concise EXAMINE THE EXAMPLES THAT FOLLOW: • The content and performance standards are directly lifted from the curriculum guides. Its inclusion is to emphasize that the identification of MELCs is anchored on the prescribed standards and not a departure from the standards-based basic education curriculum. Thus, teachers are encouraged to refer to the 2016 Curriculum Guides in unpacking the MELCs. • Field implementers and private schools are encouraged to contextualize the most essential learning competencies in order to accommodate the varying contexts of learners, teachers, learning environment and support structures considering both the content and performance standards. It is advantageous for students to learn the concepts and skills in the MELCs through meaningful activities and scenarios relatable to them and within the context of the students’ own environment. The MELCs are implementable as long as the designed activities also teach the procedures and processes on how and when to apply those knowledge and skills in a given context. With these, Filipino learners are guaranteed relevant and quality basic education despite the current health crisis. UNPACKING AND COMBINING THE MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCIES (MELCS) • In unpacking the MELCs into learning objectives, you need to consider the following: • Alignment on the Content and Performance Standards - The MELCs are not a departure from the standards-based design, which is one of the main features of the K to 12 Curriculum. In fact, there are no MELCs without the content and performance standards. • Prerequisite knowledge and skills - It is worth noting that the identified MELCs cater to higher order cognitive demands. As such, lower cognitive demand may be considered first in creating learning objectives. This ensures that prerequisite knowledge and skills that would enable the achievement of MELCs, and eventually the content and performance standards, are addressed. • Logical sequence of learning objectives - Since the intention of unpacking the MELCs is to provide systematic learning experiences forlearners, it is incumbent that the unpacked learning objectives follow a logical sequence. MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCIES (MELCS) GRADE 7-FILIPINO HOW TO UNPACK THE LEARNING COMPETENCIES • Step 1. Identify the target skills and pre-requisite skills • Example: MELCs – Filipino Grade 7 • Nasusuri ang dokyu-film batay sa mga pamantayang ibinigay ng guro VERB /PANDIWA BLOOMS TAXONOMY MELCs- Filipino Grade 7 Nasusuri ang dokyu-film batay sa mga pamantayang ibinigay ng guro Verb/Pandiwa Step 2: Identify the content/s and pre-requisite content/s • Nasusuri ang dokyu-film batay sa pamantayang ibinigay ng guro Verb/Pandiwa Noun/Pangngalan Noun/Pangngalan
Step 3: Unpacking Proper
Pre-requisites skills + Remembering (Knowledge) + Content Nakikilala ang kahulugan at mga elemento ng dokyu-film Pre-requisites skills + Understanding(Pang-unawa) + Content Naipaliliwanag ang mga element ng dokyu-film • Pre-requisites skills + Content ( second Noun) 3. Naiisa-isa ang mga pamantayang ibinigay ng guro sa pagsusuri ng dokyu-film Noun /Pangngalan
4. Nasasagot ang mga tanong batay sa pinanood na dokyu-film
5. Nasusuri ang dokyu-film batay sa pamantayang ibinigay ng
guro UNPACKING THE MELC`S MELCs-Grade 7-Filipino Sample Learning Objectives • Nakikilala ang kahulugan at mga elemento Nasusuri ang dokyu-film dokyu-film sa mga ibinigay na • Naipaliliwanag ang mga element ng dokyu- pamantayan film ( Filipino7Q1) • Naiisa-isa ang mga pamantayang ibinigay guro sa pagsusuri ng dokyu-film • Nasasagot ang mga tanong batay sa pinanood na dokyu-film CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLES: COMBINING THE MELCS • The MELCs could likewise be combined to observe efficiency in the development of learning resources, which include but are not limited to SLMs, textbooks, teacher’s guides, activity sheets, and television and radio scripts. Since MELCs in each learning area are all interrelated and anchored on the content and performance standards, combining at least two MELCs will allow teachers to effectively design instructional resources without veering away from the standards prescribed by the curriculum. In combining MELCs, field implementers should take note of the following criteria: • ● Commonality of content, topic, or theme - MELCs to be combined should show commonality and relatedness in content, topic, or theme. This ensures that essential content and topic will not be watered down. • ● Alignment with the Content and Performance Standards - Just like in the unpacking of MELCs, combining two or more should aid in the achievement of the content and performance standards. To reiterate, MELCs are not a departure from the standards-based design of the curriculum. LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLE: END OF MODULE 2