PHILIPPINES – PREAMBLE

A Study of the Philippine Value Education Program

By: Quisumbing, Lourdes R.
(1986-1993)

I. The Philippine Experience in Value Development

 After EDSA I Revolution, the Aquino government realized that rebuilding a nation was more
difficult than ousting a dictator.

 A social revolution was required to guide the country through its transition to re-establish
democratic institutions, freedom, and dignity for the Filipino people.

 Thus, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) identified “Social Transformation
through Education” as its priority and began a Value Education Program for all levels of the school
system.
Values education is the process by which values, attitudes, and habits are
formed as the learner interacts with the environment under the guidance of a
teacher. Studying values will not necessarily influence behavior. Behavior can
only be influenced when a value is experienced and a commitment is made to
it in belief and attitude.

 Situation:
o A continuing upsurge of crime, violence, and corruption is causing public alarm in the
Philippines.
o Concerned citizens are demanding government action against the breakdown of morality.

 Response:
o The Moral Recovery Program by Sen. Leticia Ramos-Shahani was submitted to the Senate in
1988.
o The DECS Value Education Program (1988)
o Both programs emphasized social reform through the inner transformation of the
individual.
A. Problems and Issues
 Instituting values education in a multicultural and pluralistic society is a controversial issue.
o Geography: 3 large islands – Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
o Language groups: 8 major language groups; 100 minor languages and dialects
o Religious groups: Catholics (majority), Protestant groups, local Christian Churches,
Muslim groups.
o Culturally: 100 other cultural communities.
 o Interestingly, there are recognizable values, beliefs, and attitudes that bind all
these Filipino people together.
 Designing a common values education framework acceptable to these groups and mindful of
their cultural, linguistic, and religious.
 The framework had to be flexible enough to allow differences in priorities, expression, and
behavior.
 Programme activities had to strengthen commonalities and mutual acceptance.
 Teaching desirable values and responsible behavior requires educating the whole society – a
fact that may overwhelm educators and discourage them.
 And integrating values education into the school system has been controversial because
religious, moral, and spiritual values are thought to arise as a result of free choice,
acceptance, and internalization by an individual.

B. Early Efforts in the Field of Religious, Ethical, and Moral Education

 Early 20th Century:

o Ethical and moral values were emphasized in public elementary schools through
activities that taught “good manners”, “right conduct” and “character building.”
o In public high schools, values education was part of the curriculum.
o In 1974, the concept of integrating values into Social Studies was adopted but not
systematically implemented.
o In accordance with the separation of Church and State (1935 Phil. Constitution), the
Philippine educational authorities took care not to include the teaching of religion in
public schools or allow public school teachers to teach religion outside regular class
classes.
o However, catechism classes were allowed once a week for about 40 minutes after the
regular class day.
o Most of the participating students were from Catholic schools or colleges.
o Private Catholic schools and colleges included religion in the curriculum from
kindergarten to college.
o Protestant schools emphasized Bible study
o Muslim school (madaris), located mostly in the south, taught the Koran.
o The 1987 Constitution:
 Provides for national religious instruction during regular class hours.
 The choice of the particular religion to be taught is left to the parents.
 While teachers are to be provided by the religious authorities concerned.
o Other groups that mold desirable values and behavior were;
 Boys Scouts/Girl Scouts
 Human rights advocates
 UNESCO Associated Schools and clubs and local organizations.

C. Official Policies on Moral Education in the National Education System

 The 1935 Philippine Constitution contains the first official policy statement on values
education:
All educational institutions shall aim to develop moral
character, personal discipline, civic conscience, and vocational
efficiency, and teach duties of citizenship (Art. XIV, Sec. 8).

 The 1973 Constitution made the following additions:

All educational institutions shall aim to inculcate love of

country, teach the duties of citizenship and develop moral
character, personal discipline and scientific, technological and
vocational efficiency (Art. XIV, Sec. 4)

 The present 1987 Constitution starts with a Preamble clearly affirming religious, spiritual,
and moral values:

We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of

Almighty God in order to build a just and humane society and
establish a government that will embody our ideals and
aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop
our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the
blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law
and regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equity, and peace,
do ordain and promulgate this constitution.

o The following Articles likewise emphasize moral and spiritual

values:

The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-

building and shall promote and protect their physical, moral,
spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being. It shall inculcate in
the youth: patriotism and nationalism, and encourage their
involvement in public and civic affairs (Art. II, Sec. 13).

The State shall give priority to education, science and

technology, arts, culture, and sports to foster patriotism and
nationalism, accelerate social progress, and promote total
human liberation and development (Art. II, Sec 2).
All educational institutions shall inculcate patriotism and
nationalism, foster love of humanity, respect of human rights,
appreciation of the role of national heroes in the historical
development of the country, teach the rights and duties of
citizenship, strengthen ethical and spiritual values, develop
moral character and personal discipline, encourage critical and
creative thinking, broaden scientific and technological
knowledge, and promote vocational efficiency (Art. II, Sec. 2).
 oThe expressed intent to develop an enlightened nationalistic, creative, productive, and
disciplined citizenry, with strong ethical and spiritual values, calls educators to
consider values education as an integral part of the curriculum.
D. Introducing Values Education into the School System

1. Preparation for Launching the Values Education Program

 The cooperation of experts, Educators, government officials, staff in the DECS, and other
agencies was crucial in the preparation and presentation of the VEP to educators and
administrators from public and private schools and universities who attended the 1986
and 1987 Congresses of Educators held in Baguio City.

 The Theme: “Social Transformation through Education” and “Education for National
Unity and Progress.”

o Workshops and activities were used to promote acceptance of VE as an essential

part of the school curriculum.

 The 1988 Educators Congress theme “Education for National Unity, Peace and Progress”
further underscored the role of values education in forming a peaceful society and
progressive nation.

2. DECS Order No. 6 of 1988: Values Education for the Filipino.

 Immediately following the presentation of the President of the Philippines, Corazon C.

Aquino, on Jan. 25, 1988, DECS Order No. 6 was issued by then DECS Secretary
Lourdes Quisumbing.
 It called for strengthening the moral fiber of the Filipino people by implementing the new
DECS Values Education Programme.
 To ensure the program’s implementation, it was essential to design a framework to guide
teachers.
 The outline does not prescribe or impose values; nor does it claim to be complete or
exhaustive.
 It is merely a list of virtues adaptable to varying situations which it is hoped the learner
will internalize and practice.
 Teachers may use the values framework to help identify and choose which values to
emphasize, reinforce or change when it is perceived necessary and beneficial to do so.

II. Primary Goals and Objectives

 Primary Goal of VEP at all three levels of the school system:

“Development of a person committed to building a

free, democratic, peaceful and progressive nation.”
 Objectives: To develop Filipinos who possess the following values and traits:

1. Self-actualization, people imbued with a sense of human dignity.

2. A sense of responsibility for community and environment, self-disciplined.
3. Productivity, contributory to the economic security and development of the family and
nation.
4. A deep sense of nationalism, commitment to the progress of the nation, and global
solidarity.
5. An abiding faith in God and spirituality.

A. General Guidelines

 The value education program and its activities must:

1. Be oriented towards the whole learner (whole person).

2. Consider the unique role of the family in personal development and integration into
society and the nation.
3. Recognize and emphasize the role of teachers, who themselves, must possess a
proper sense of values and respect for the person of the student.
 A primary vehicle for developing values in young people are role models.
 Therefore, the example a teacher sets is an important and critical component in any strategy
to reform curricula.
 Teachers are the role models young people encounter every day.
 The values framework takes into account the individual and social nature of human beings.
 All values are related to the core values of human dignity.
 Developing values in an individual is a process that can be viewed in three stages:
o Cognitive:
 People perceive what is desirable or right.
o Affective:
 Seek and cherish what they perceive as desirable and right.
o Behavioral:
 Behave in accordance with these perceptions.
o This process is influenced by the person’s environment (family, school, social
groups, institutions, neighborhood, nation, and world community).
o The values framework provides parameters for developing programs at national,
regional, district, and school levels.
o The values, teaching, and learning context will vary in each situation.

o Responsibility for deciding priorities and strategies rests with the leadership at each
level.
 1. Three Schools of Thought:
o Three schools of thought underlie value development:

a) Learning theorist or behaviorists view:

o Moral behavior is the result of three sorts of mechanisms:
 reinforcement and rewards
 punishment or threat of it
 modeling or imitation
o this is related to Skinner’s patterns of behavior modification through
reinforcement; the works of Sears, Bandura, and Eysenck provide examples of
this theory.

b) The cognitive developmentalists’ view:

o Value development is an active, dynamic, and constructive process:
 The individual is able to act according to moral principles because he
understands and agrees with them.
o The works of Piaget, Kohlberg, Turiel, and Gessel provide examples of this view.
c) The psychoanalyst’s view:
o Value development is conforming to cultural standards through the internalization
of emotional experiences and the simultaneous formulation of conscience.
o Freud and Erickson’s works provide examples of this thought.

III. Implementing Values Education in Elementary Schools

 The aim of values education at the primary level is to prepare a child for becoming an enlightened,
disciplined, self-reliant, productive, nationalistic, and God-fearing Filipino citizen.

 The program aims to develop a child who is:

 Integrally developed – heart, head, hands, and body
 Imbued with a sense of responsibility towards others and the community.
 Active, creative, and self-reliant
 Aware of national identity and the need for national loyalty, national unity, and pride.
 God-loving, with an abiding faith in God.

 The teacher is the main factor in infusing desirable attitudes and habits in the child, either through
direct or indirect teaching.
VALUE OBJECTIVES FOR ELEMENTARY GRADES

Core/Related Value Instructional Objectives

I. Human dignity

Show concern for the improvement of health and

A. Health
well-being of oneself and other
Demonstrate awareness and a positive attitude
1. Physical Fitness
toward keeping fit
2. Cleanliness Demonstrate clean habits
3. Environment Awareness of pollution’s ill effects
Appreciate the beauty of the natural environment
4. Beauty
through the senses
5. Art Demonstrate creativity in activities
Demonstrate intellectual curiosity and respect for
B. Truth
evidence in decision-making.
Apply research skills to:
 Counteract misconception
1. Knowledge
 Distinguish truth from falsehood
 Distinguish facts from opinion
Demonstrate creative and critical thinking skills,
2. Creative thinking
e.g. recycling used materials into useful things.
Demonstrate self-esteem, honesty/dignity, and
C. Love
personal discipline
1. Integrity/honesty Demonstrate interest in eliminating dishonesty
Demonstrate the willpower to impose on oneself
2. Personal discipline
appropriate behavior,
Show faith in God; calmness in crisis; active but
3. Spirituality
non-violent
4. Faith in God Aware of Supreme Being
Demonstrate commitment to upholding the
D. Social Responsibility
common interest
1. Mutual respect Appreciate shared feelings
Communicate one’s feelings towards others in
2. Concern for others
constructive ways
3. Responsible parenthood Understand the concepts of family planning
4. Fidelity Demonstrate trust and confidence among friends
Appreciative of basic freedoms and their
limitation:
 Freedom of expression
5. Freedom
 Freedom from want
 Freedom from fear
 Freedom of religion
Appreciates:
 Equal rights, responsibilities, and
6. Equality opportunities
 The right to life
 The right to liberty
 7. Popular Participation Interest in the shaping of the Filipino nation
Analyses cases of deprivation of basic needs in
8. Social justice
the school and community
9. Peace Appreciate peace
10. Non-violence Demonstrate calmness and sobriety
Demonstrate self-reliance and responsibility
E. Economic efficiency
toward one’s country
Conserve resources; planning and managing
1. Thrift
one’s personal resources
2. Work ethic Show desirable attitudes toward work
Show self-confidence in performing assigned
3. Self-reliance
tasks
Demonstrate creativity in producing finished
4. Productivity
products
Apply scientific/technical skills in producing
5. Science and technology
tools/equipment
Show awareness of the values for
6. Entrepreneurship
entrepreneurship
Demonstrate loyalty, unity, and pride in one’s
F. Nationalism and Patriotism
country
1. Common destiny/loyalty to Show pride in Filipino heritage
country/civic consciousness Appreciate national symbols
(Bayanihan)
Appreciate the lives, struggles, and deeds of
2. Esteem of national heroes
outstanding citizens
Participate in group activities toward a common
3. commitment
goal
Show awareness of the culture and lifestyle of
4. international understanding
different countries

A. Integrating Values Education into a Learning Area

 Since values education is integrated into different curricula at the elementary school level,
specific value objectives must be identified.
 Teaching about values should be interwoven with the subject matter and integrated skillfully
into the activities of the lesson until the objective is achieved or a certain appreciation level is
reached.
 Then, the development of appropriate behavior will take place when provided with
opportunities where the value can be practiced.
 Arranging objectives in a sequence from cognitive to affective, and finally to active behavior
is important to ensure the program’s success.
 This means that the child must understand the value before appreciating or believing in it.
 Then the child must be given opportunities to practice it until the value has been internalized
and the child’s behavior reflects it in a consistent manner.
 Only then can the value become a virtue and transform the child’s character.
  Developing a value directly is based on the belief that every lesson in any subject area can be
used in teaching values.
 Knowledge and skills subjects are the starting points for appreciation.

B. Approaches and Strategies for Values Development

 Both direct and indirect strategies are being used in values development
 Inculcation can be done consciously or unconsciously through modeling, persuasion,
reinforcement, or role-play.

C. Evaluation of Results

 The best proof that a child has recognized, appreciated, and internalized a value is that it is
evident in his/her daily conduct.

 The best ways to evaluate tis are:

1. Through self-assessment, students report on their behavior using checklists and attitude
scales.
2. Through another person’s independent assessment of the student’s behavior in anecdotal
reports.

 One must remember that the evaluation of values education poses a difficulty since the
results are intangible and cannot be measured quantitively.

IV. Implementing Values Education in Secondary Schools

 In 1989/90 secondary schools began offering values education as a separate subject in response to
the clamor from Philippine society to strengthen the moral fibre of the nation through the
education of its youth.

 As early as 1982, studies were conducted to determine society’s perceptions of the secondary
education program
 In 1983, after two for a, one in Manila attended by national leaders and the other in Batulao,
Batangas, attended by regional leaders, it was recommended that values education be taught as
a separate subject.

 As preparations for the new high school curriculum were going on, a draft of the values education
subject was developed, reviewed, and refined in collaboration with experts from various fields.
 The values education framework was presented at the National Educators Congress in 1986 and
1987 for further review and validation.
 On January 1988, it was formally launched with the DECS Order No. 6, s. 1988.

 Thus, in June 1989, values education was taught as a separate subject for the first time.
 o These early classes were taught only to first-year students.
o In the following year, the Values Education Program was expanded to include second-
year students.
o After four years, values education was offered to all four years of secondary school.

 In DECS Order No. 11, 1989, the following references were made concerning the implementation
of values education:
o Item 2 states that the focus of the New Secondary Education Curriculum (NSEC) under
the Secondary Education Development Program (SEDP) is on content, process,
productivity, and technology.
o Item 3 states that Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga (Values Education) is one of the eight
subject areas.

 Enclosure No. 1 of DECS Order No. 11 of 1989 makes a reference to the values education
framework and lists the objectives of the NSEC as follows:

1. To develop an enlightened commitment to national ideals by cherishing, preserving, and

developing moral, spiritual, and socio-cultural values.

2. To obtain knowledge and to form attitudes for understanding the nature and purpose of
man, and therefore one’s self, one’s own people, and other races, thereby promoting a
keen sense of family, national and international community.

3. To develop skills in higher intellectual operations, complex comprehension, and critical

thinking so as to be able to respond creatively to life situations.

4. To acquire skills, knowledge and information and a set of work ethics essential for
making an intelligent choice of occupation, career or specialized training.

5. To heighten one’s appreciation for the arts and sciences as a means of self-fulfillment and
for promoting the welfare of others.

 Enclosure No. 2 points out the offering of values education as a separate subject area and
recommends values development to be integrated into all subject areas.

o Item 10 emphasizes critical thinking to promote creativity and productivity.

 It describes Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga (values education) as the cognitive

base of values development being integrated into all subject areas.

 Values education aims to develop skills for rational thinking and judgments,
makes use of the experiential approach, and revolves around four concepts:
 - Pagpapahalga sa sarili (valuing self)
- Pakikipagkapwa (valuing others)
- Pagkamambansa (valuing one’s own country)
- Pagkamaka-Diyos (valuing God)

 The medium of instruction for teaching values education is bilingual (English or

Filipino).
 In some areas, local dialects are used for instruction.
 “Values education I” is taught for 45 minutes daily.

A. Evaluating Student Progress

 DECS Order No. 52 of 1989, System of Rating and Reporting a Student’s Progress,
prescribes a new system of evaluating students in congruence with the NSEC.

 Enclosure No. 1 to DECS Order No. 52, of 1989, Item 8, states that the grade in values
education will reflect both knowledge and skills acquisition and behavior.
o This is based on values education which aims to develop skills for rational thinking
and judgment in order to affect behavior change in a student through experiential
learning (DECS Order No. 11 of 1989).

 Initially, encouraging amounts of feedback reached the Bureau of Secondary Education and
helped reinforce value education efforts throughout the country.

 But since developing values, attitudes and proper behavior does not happen overnight, more
time and support are needed for values education to be successful.

 It is felt that amy plans to make values education optional in the third and fourth years may
negate whatever gains have been made during the first few years of the SEPD
implementation.

 Some people believe that there is a need to re-think this position before a decision is made
and a new DECS Order issued.
Curriculum.
V. Values Education at the Tertiary Level

 The Department of Education did not issue any specific ruling on teaching values education in
tertiary level institutions except in the new Bachelor of Secondary Education (B.S.Ed.).
 The Bachelor of Secondary Education degree in Values Education degree in Values Education
(BSE_VE) and Undergraduate Special Certificate in Values Education are offered as pre-service
training for prospective teachers (PNU).
  At the graduate level, a Master of Arts in Education with a specialization in Values Education,
eventually leading to a Ph.D. program was opened in response to the demand for specialists in
the subject.

 The curriculum was started in November 1987 and was patterned after the DECS curriculum for
teacher education (DECS Order No. 37, s. 1986) with major modification for alignment with
other existing BSE programs at PNU.

 A content review was conducted five years after implementation.

 Based on the results, revisions were made and a new program was implemented in June 1993.
 The goal of these revisions is to produce teachers who value building a humane nation
(makatao), nationalism (makabansa), and love God (maka-Diyos).

 The course areas for developing teacher competency are:

1. Formation courses that emphasize self-concept development. Values Education courses 1

to 3 (F VE 1-3)
2. Transformation courses that focus on how to ingrain community responsibility and global
solidarity in students (F VE 4-8)
3. Methodology courses for deepening a sense of service and commitment to teaching while
developing teaching skills. Tradition, experiential, participatory, and transpersonal teaching
strategies, research, and evaluation are emphasized (F VE 9-13).

 The medium if an instruction for these courses follows PNU’s bilingual policy.
 In certain courses, Filipino is used while in more technical courses English is used.

 The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) supports teaching religion as a
regular subject in schools and having campus ministries in both private and public universities
for the spiritual formation of the students.
 The CEAP Colloquium on the Ministry of teaching is a special training program designed to
mold teachers committed to transforming Philippine society according to the Gospel values of
truth, justice, freedom, and love.

 The Association of Christian Schools and Colleges (ASCS) likewise considers moral and
spiritual education essential in the education of the Filipino professional.

VI. A Wide Gap Between Knowledge and the Actual Practice of Values

A. Orientation Workshops for Administrators, Trainers, and Teachers.

 Educational leaders soon realized that values education had been handled as just another subject
and taught as information.
 They discovered that to bridge the gap between knowledge and behavior, the teaching of values
must involve total-person learning experiences for every student:
 o The mind and heart of the learner needs to be actively involved in the learning.
 Thus, weeklong live-in reorientation workshops provided administrators and secondary school
teachers with an experiential perspective on how teachers could better handle value education.

The Total Person Experiential Learning (TPEL) Process:

1. The Journey into One’s Self:
o The seven-day live-in series of learning activities start with an experiential journey
“into one’s innermost self”.
o This inward journey is not a memory-recall or life-history analysis but a reliving
experience that encompasses emotional overtones and undertones.
o Many participants admit that this total-person reflection is worth adopting as a
lifetime habit.

2. My Family: Where My Roots and My Wings Grow

o On the second day, participants go deeper into their innermost selves but this time in
the context of their families.
o They discover “the roots of their being.”
o They realize that their family relationships have had a tremendous influence on the
development of their personhood, be it positive or negative.
“I am, and am still becoming who I am, because of those who have loved
me as well as because of those who have refused to love me.”

“My family as the roots of my being, also provides me with the needed
wings for further becoming what I can be.”

3. The teacher is the Most Crucial Instrument of Learning

o The 3rd day’s activities are highlighted by insights on the valuing process
as the “heart” of education.
o The 1st insight is the crucial role that values play in all decisions made in
the course of a day.
o Awareness comes that a truly good, wise, and therefore, practical decision must
always rely on the valuing process.
o The summary insight of the day is that the teacher is the most important agent of
social transformation.

 it is the teacher who facilitates the formation of correct decision-making

habits among students.

o A significant corollary is the realization that feelings, especially those of self-worth

are an integral part of the valuing process that results in correct decision-making.
 4. The Wonderful Gift of Sexuality

o The 4th day moves into another area of the self, the area of sexuality.
o They discover that there is still much to know and appreciate about human sexuality.
o Although they are made aware that their inhibitions may not be overcome, after
reflection on the activity, they understand, if not appreciate, the sexuality behavior of
youth today.
o At the day’s end, human sexuality will have been integrated with the spiritual.

5. What Values Integration Really Is

o On the 5th-day participants experience the valuing process itself, with explicit stress
on the person’s innate capacity to effectively undertake the valuing process.
o The whole day is spent integrating the total person decision-making process with the
internal and external worlds of each participant.

6. TPEL Can Be Used in the Classroom Right Away

o The 6th day situates the experience within the context of Philippine society.
o The question is: having had initial experience of what values education should really
be, how practical an approach is it?
o At the close of the day, the pros and cons of introducing the total-person experiential
learning (TPEL) process in teaching values are deliberated upon by participants.
o What has been a consistent and pervasive insight of participants is that one leaves
the experience with a deeper appreciation of faith.
o Those who have been teaching Christian Living courses see the need to anchor on
experiences.
o These insights also shared by Muslim participants.

B. Development and Preparation of Values Education

 In preparation for the implementation of the VEP, instructional materials were developed for
teachers and students.
 During the first year of implementation, the high school used the DECS Values Education
Framework: Education for the Filipino as its initial sourcebook.
 This was accompanied by Building a People, Building a Nation: A Moral Recovery Program,
a report submitted by Senator Shahani to the Senate Committee on Education, and Culture and to
the Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Development on 9 May 1988.
 It was approved by DECS Instructional Materials Council on 21 October 1988 for use as
supplementary material.
  Suggested strategies for change from the report are:
1. The Filipinization of the entire educational system
2. The offering of values formation in the school curriculum
3. Teaching pride in being a Filipino and inculcating love for things Filipino
4. Instill national pride through literature

 The report recommended that religion classes be more concrete and socially relevant, integrated
with daily situations, and that religious movements go beyond spiritual activities and reach out to
the poor and needy.
 The DECS Instructional Materials Council chose the Maryknoll workshops.
o Their sourcebook, entitled, God’s Wonderful Gift to Me:Myself, provides the student
with ideas, concepts, and processes for the valuing process.
o With the teacher’s help, the student begins to acquire the skills for value-based decision
making.
 Private schools developed their own materials.
 A private publisher has been commissioned by DECS to finalize a teacher’s manual and student
sourcebook for fourth-year high school classes.

VII. The Aftermath

 It is now time to take the first steps toward a serious evaluation of the program.

A. Initial Observations from Administrators

 After formal and informal exchanges with different publics, DECS values education officials
decided that the National Values Education Program (NVEP) has been successfully launched
because of the following FACTORS:

1. There was public recognition of the need of change in the values and behavior of
Philippine society as a whole.
2. The NVEP used a nationwide approach, involving different sectors of the academe and
other groups, resulting in wide acceptance and support.
3. Related programs such as peace education, human rights advocacy, moral recovery,
ministry of teaching, environmental education helped to strengthen the values education
program.
4. Values education enjoyed business and NGO support, as well as general acceptance by
parents.
5. Teacher-training institutions responded by introducing values education in their
undergraduate and graduate curricula.
6. Values education orientation workshops created awareness, appreciate,on and
commitment in administrators, trainers
 7. Consultations and dialogues among religious and civic groups showed a climate of
openness, tolerance, and mutual understanding, leading to cooperation.

 Factors found to have constrained or obstructed the full implementation of NVEP are:
1. The values framework lent itself to several interpretations, eliciting resistance from some
groups.
2. Some thought traditions culture was being threatened by modernizing values or values
changes.
3. Contemporary models for youth were lacking.
4. The NVEP called for a massive training or retraining of teachers which was difficult to
do.
5. Instructional materials were too few or inadequate.
6. There were no clear measures to determine the effectiveness of the NVEP.
7. There were few empirical studies on values education.

B. The Perceptions of Those Who Teach Values Education

 A study of the perceptions of values education teachers towards the NVEP, conducted by the
PNU Research Centre in 1992 in eight regions of the country revealed the following:

1. The NVEP curriculum is well accepted by values education teachers themselves.
2. Values education as a separate subject was appreciated by students who found it both
useful and enjoyable.
3. The NVEP desired competencies were clearly understood and perceived as useful by
teachers in their lesson development.
4. Values education teachers felt confident in teaching the subject.
5. The PNU-ACES (Affective Cognitive experiences for Self-Direction) approach to
teaching values education was well accepted and used, although there was a need to give
training in other values education strategies.
6. Values education teachers recognize that teaching values are different from teaching
other subjects due to its highly personal nature and experiential process.
7. Administrators were generally supportive of the need for better training and more
effective teaching approaches and were sensitive to student welfare.
8. The forty-minute allotted to values education was found to be too short to enable the
teacher to achieve the lesson’s objectives.
9. The distinction between religious instruction and values education was not clear.
10. Teachers lacked competence in the evaluation of values learned.
11. Some teachers believed they were competent enough to use Filipino for values education
lessons despite their difficulty with the Filipino language.
12. There was an inadequate number of instructional materials such as sourcebook and
audio-visual aids.

 The following recommendations are worth noting:

 1. The mass training period was not enough to equip teachers with the level of competence
needed for effective values education teaching, especially in the use of strategies to
facilitate group activities and in the skill of evaluating affective development and
behavior. Hence, Inservice follow-up should be carried out at the division or provincial
level.
2. Interschool teaching demonstrations and observations may help to enhance the teaching
skills of values education teachers.
3. Micro-training should be carried out in schools where there are well trained values
education coordinators, to serve as “clinics” for beginning or inexperienced values
teachers.
4. Supervisors should be flexible enough to allow the teachers to adjust the time and carry
over to the next day what they consider appropriate or necessary.
5. Teachers should be given further orientation on the content and methodology of the
moral and spiritual dimensions of the program, as distinguished from instruction in a
specific religion, although these may be complementary and interrelated.
6. The use of Filipino is recommended for the development of national unity.
7. The DECS-BEE should closely examine the findings reported from each region to
identify regional needs and attend to them.
8. There is a need for administrative and budgetary support for the program.
9. A similar survey should be conducted in private schools to further determine the needs
and effectiveness of the program.

VIII. The Task Ahead

 Before taking the necessary steps to improve the values education program, certain major issues,
problems, questions, and difficulties must be faced.

A. Problems at the School Level

1. Values education teachers are not sufficiently prepared.

2. Values education teachers are not always role models.
3. What is taught in school is often not consistent with what is observed outside the school; at
home, in the media, and in the community.
4. Instructional materials are not adequate.
5. Some sectors and leaders have a lukewarm attitude towards the effectiveness of values
education program in schools.

B. Recommendations

1. There is a need to consolidate the efforts of all sectors of society to sustain the program. This can
be done by systematic and well-planned social mobilization and advocacy campaign.
2. A careful review of the program should be carried out to ensure relevance to the cultural needs of
Filipino individual and nation.
 3. The preparation, production, and publication of appropriate instructional materials should receive
priority support.
4. The training and retraining of teachers in value education for personal and professional growth
are indispensable to the program.
5. Careful monitoring, follow-up and documentation are recommended.
6. Evaluation of outcomes should be the subject of serious, scientific study.

IX. Conclusion

 Social transformation begins with the inner transformation of the individual.

 A revolution of the mind, heart, and will of the Filipino people can only happen through the process
of education.
“The time has come to construe development first and foremost
in terms of the social and spiritual progress of mankind. The only
real progress is moral progress, all the rest being no more than a
prerequisite means to that end. Either we advance towards
tolerance or we plunge first into the abyss.” (Alexander N.
Yakoviev’s Article, “Tolerance and Hatred”).

 Fundamental concepts of morality and spirituality, virtue, positive, creative and constructive
attitudes can be planted, nourished and enriched be a conscious, well-maintained and systematic
values education program in our schools and in the learning environment of society as a whole.

 We will have to continue to teach children:

1. Respect for their own dignity and that of others

2. Awareness of the goodness each one has inside
3. Confidence in the future
4. Love for one’s country and cultural heritage
5. Appreciation for others
6. Tolerance of differences
7. Human right and fundamental freedom
8. Love for nature
9. Faith in the spiritual and supernatural.