RESEARCH FOR CURRICULUM

DEVELOPMENT

Submitted By:

JOSHUA R. SANCHEZ

Submitted to:

Dr. Christy Gutierrez Atienza

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 Pre Spanish Curriculum

 Spanish Devised Curriculum

 American Devised Curriculum

 Curriculum during Commonwealth

 Japanese Devised Curriculum

 Curriculum during Liberation Period

 Curriculum during the Phil Republic

 Curriculum in the New Society

 Philippine Basic Education Curriculum

OVERVIEW

Education in the Philippines has undergone several stages of development from the pre-Spanish
times to the present. As early as in pre-Magellanic times, education was informal, unstructured,
and devoid of methods. Children were provided more vocational training and less academics (3
Rs) by their parents and in the houses of tribal tutors.

According to researches published on the historical foundation of the Philippine curriculum, it is

said that the development of the curriculum in the history of the Philippines depends on five
motives: Religion, Political, Utilitarian, Mass Education and Excellence in Education. In meeting
the needs of the society, education serves as focus of emphases/priorities of the leadership at
certain periods/epochs in our national struggle as a race.

In this research we will be able to see and appreciate the stages of development and evolution of
the curriculum in the Philippines.

PRE-SPANISH CURRICULUM

The education of pre-Spanish time in the Philippines was informal and unstructured. The fathers
taught their sons how to look for food and other means of livelihood. The mothers taught their
girls to do the household chores. This education basically prepared their children to became good
husband and wives.

Early Filipino ancestors valued education very much. Filipino men and women knows how to
read and write using their own native alphabet called alibata. The alibata was composed of 17
symbols representing the letters of the alphabet. Among these seventeen symbols were three
vowels and fourteen consonants.

Before the coming of the Spaniards, the Filipinos possessed a culture of their own. They had
contacts with other foreign people from Arabia, India, China, Indo-China and Borneo.

The diaries of Fr. Chirino attest to the historical facts that “the inhabitants were civilized people,
possessing their system of writing, laws and moral standards in a well organized system of
government
They did not have an organized system of education. There was no formal education during this
period. Parents are the teacher. One of the purpose of education during their time was for
survival. Their father teach their son to hunt animals, fishing, agriculture and other economic
activities

They have the code of Kalantiao and Maragtas – their belief in the Bathala, the solidarity of
family, the modesty of the women, the children’s obedience and respect for their elders and in
the valour of the men.
SPANISH CURRICULUM

When the Spanish first arrived in the Philippines, education of the indigenous people was mainly
viewed as the duty of religious organizations. Parish friars put forth great effort to teach the
indigenous people to read believing that literacy was the key to better lifestyles.

Spanish education played a major role in the transformation of education in the Philippines, the
European system of education was introduced to the archipelago. Primary schools, colleges, and
universities were established in our country by the missionaries.

The principal aim of Spain in the Philippines during their regime was to make the native
Filipinos obedient and God-fearing Christians. For this reason, religion was a compulsory subject
at all levels – from primary schools to universities.
The first schools were the parochial schools opened by the missionaries in their parishes. In
addition to religion, the native children in these schools were taught reading, writing, arithmetic,
and some vocational and practical art subjects.

Later on, colleges for boys and girls were opened by the missionaries. These colleges were the
equivalent of our high schools today. The subjects taught to the students included history, Latin,
geography, mathematics, and philosophy.

There was no co-education during the Spanish times. Boys and girls studied in separate schools.

University education was started in the Philippines during the early part of the 17th century.
Originally, the colleges and universities were open only to the Spaniards and those with Spanish
blood (mestizos).

It was only during the 19th century that these universities began accepting native Filipinos. It is
interesting to note that for nearly 300 years, education in the Philippines was the primary
responsibility of the Catholic Church. The missionaries established the schools, provided the
teachers and facilities, and decided what should be taught. It was only in the last half of the 19th
century that the government took an active part in promoting education in the colony. In 1863, a
royal decree called for the establishment of a public school system in the colony
AMERICAN DEVISED CURRICULUM

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.

In January 1901, free primary education was provided and a school for Filipino teachers was
established. It called for the recruitment of trained teachers in America. It abolished compulsory
religious instruction.

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.

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.

the American – devised curriculum as dominated with the motive of conquering Filipino’s not
only physically but also intellectually.

The United States had a different approach dictated by what the Americans considered to be their
principal goal in coming to the Philippines – “to educate and to train in the science of self-
government.”

Consequently, it was not surprising that the United States considered educating the Filipinos as
one of its top priorities in the Philippines. Even while US troops were consolidating their
foothold in Manila in 1898, schools were already opened in the city. But unlike the Spaniards
who neglected to propagate their language, the Americans made it a point to teach English to the
Filipinos. The American soldiers were the first teachers of the Filipinos.
the public school system established and headed by the American until 1935 was to train the
Filipinos after the American culture and way of life

Every child from age 4 was required to register in schools located in their town or province, the
students were given free school materials. There were three levels of education during the
American period, the elementary level consisted of four primary years and 3 intermediate years
The secondary or high school level, consisted of four years and the third was the college or
tertiary level.

Religion was not part of the curriculum of the schools as it had been during the Spanish period.
The curriculum was based on the ideals and traditions of America and hierarchy of values
CURRICULUM DURING COMMONWEALTH

Education continued to receive from the Commonwealth government the same attention that the
Americans gave it. President Quezon created the National Council of Education in 1936 as an
advisory body on educational matters. The council made important recommendations to further
improve the educational system in the Philippines. Most of these recommendations were
accepted and carried out by the government.

Under the Commonwealth, vocational and adult education were given emphasis.

It was also during the Commonwealth regime that an organized effort to develop a common
national language was started in compliance with the mandate of the 1935 constitution.

To help counteract the American cultural influence among the Filipinos, President Quezon
greatly encouraged the revival of native culture as well as desirable Filipino values.

And to help strengthen the moral fibers of the Filipinos and to foster a love of the country
especially among the youth, President Quezon issued his famous Code of Ethics which was
required to be taught in all schools.

In 1940, several changes were made in the Philippine educational system by virtue of the
Educational Act of 1940. Under this law, the elementary course was reduced from 7 years to 6
years. The minimum age for admission to Grade I was raised to 7. The school calendar was also
changed so instead of the school year from June to March, it was changed to July to April.
JAPANESE DEVISED CURRICULUM

During the Japanese invasion, the formal

education experienced total disruption not only
because of war but also because educational
facilities were destroyed.

Japanese introduced changes in the curriculum

by including Nippongo and abolishing English
as a medium of instruction and as a subject.
All textbooks were censored and revised.

Japanese educational policies were embodied in the Military Order No. 2.

Filipinos has not much enthusiasm in returning to school because the Filipinos as a whole were
suspicious of the Japanese intention and second, children focused on helping their parents tide
over the difficult times. Even though the Japanese allowed to continue using English as the
medium of instruction in teaching, Niponggo was later injected to be studied in schools including
elementary schools.

Japanese culture and language were included in the Civil Service exams

This abrupt transition of learning from English to Niponggo caused damage in the sense of
national consciousness because the Filipinos don’t have their own knowledge. They are learning
another countries’ language while destroying the main variations of their country’s languages.
Instead of learning their own language, Filipinos were forced to learn the others’ that causes
them to forget their own. Realization of New Order and promote friendly relations between
Japan and the Philippines to the farthest extent

Spanish reign for 300 years, Americans for 50 years, Japanese for about four years

It is thus not surprising that despite the measure they had instituted, the Japanese failed to
succeed in transforming the values and attitudes of the people inline with their vision of the
NEW ORDER.

A contributory factor was widely reported brutalities that ushered in the Japanese occupation that
the Filipinos did not experience with the same degree during the American period
Filipino educational leaders tried to develop a curriculum based on the characteristics and needs
of the Filipino children and on the needs, problems and resources of the community. However,
their effort remained in the ideational stage.

Cecilio Putong later became the DEPED Secretary, Dr Vitaliano Bernardino, former Philippine
Undersecretary of Education.
CURRICULUM DURING LIBERATION PERIOD

In 1945, during the liberation period, steps were taken to improve the curriculum existing before
the war.

Some steps taken were to restore Grade VII, to abolish the double-single session and most
especially, to adopt the modern trends in education taken from the United States. The school
curriculum remained basically the same as before and was still subject-centered.
CURRICULUM DURING THE PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC

Great experiments in the community school idea and the use vernacular in the first two grades of
the primary schools as the medium of instruction were some of them.

An experiment worth mentioning that led to a change in the Philippine educational philosophy
was that of school and community collaboration pioneered by Jose V. Aguilar. It is a source of
gratification also to note that our schools are increasingly using instructional materials that are
Philippine- oriented.

This policy been formulated by our educational leaders, the most recent example of which being
Department Memorandum No. 30, 1966. This particular memorandum sets the order of priority
in the purchase of books for use in our schools as follows:

Books which are contributions to Philippine Literature. Books on character education and other
library materials. Library equipment and permanent features.

The Educational
Development Decree of
1972 by president
Ferdinand Marcos made
the education relevant to
the needs of changing
world or the new society.
Marcos convert Ilocos
Norte Institute of
Technology into a state
college to be known as
Mariano Marcos Memorial College of Science and Technology, Presidential decree 614 Section
4 stated that

CURRICULUM DURING NEW SOCIETY

The emphasis of the New Society is on moral values, relevance, proper methods of teaching,
retraining of teachers, vocational and technical education, bilingualism, national consciousness
and cultural values. To guarantee that the educational system would be relevant and responsive
to the challenges and requirements of national, provincial and local development.

Section 29 of act sought to upgrade education institutions’ standards to achieve quality

education, through voluntary accreditation for schools, colleges, and universities.

• Section 16 and 17 upgraded the obligations and qualifications required for teachers and
administrators.

• Section 41 provided for government financial assistance to private schools.

Plans and Steps for Education Decree of 1972

 Teaching of land agrarian reform and cooperatives

 Requirement of family planning and Philippine Constitution as compulsory subjects in

collegiate

 Mandatory use of textbooks authored/published by Filipinos in elementary and secondary:

except for specialized and technical courses in college such as medicine

 Requirement to take the National College Entrance Exam for applications

 Improve collegiate curriculum by opening manpower training centers

 Alien schools have to follow Basic education Curriculum of DepEd and may not be solely
owned by aliens

 Develop high-level professions that will provide leadership for the nation and advance
knowledge through research

 Respond effectively to the changing needs and conditions of the nation through a system of
educational planning and evaluation

Educational Development Decree has formulated a ten-year program based on:

 Improvement of curricular programs and quality of instruction at all levels by upgrading

physical facilities

 Adopting cost-saving instructional technology and training and retaining of teachers and
administrators

 Upgrading of academic standards through accreditation schemes, admissions testing and

guidance counselling

 Democratization of access to education by financial assistance to poor but deserving students

 Skills training programs for out of school youth and a continuing educational program for
illiterate adults.
REFERENCES

https://prezi.com/ewfyjy3zzqbv/pre-spanish-education/

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

https://www.scribd.com/presentation/341732773/American-Devised-Curriculum-by-
Fraulo-Fer-D-Marcelo-LPT

https://www.slideshare.net/msk1r1ko/miaropedjap