Trends and issues in philippine education

Outcome-based
standards
Vanessa Dawn F. Tortocion
Discussant
What is Outcome-Based Education?
Outcome-based education or outcomes-based education
(OBE) is an educational theory that bases each
part of an educational system around goals
(outcomes).
Outcome-Based Education means clearly focusing
and organizing everything in an educational
system around what is essential for all students
to be able to do successfully at the end of their
learning experiences.
OBE as an approach
What are Outcomes?
In education, outcomes are viewed as the
learning results that students are expected to
demonstrate across the curriculum. Hence,
outcomes in education may vary in terms of levels
or forms. According to Killen (2000), some
outcomes are expected to be demonstrated at a
course level (subject-related academic outcomes),
and some are at the program and institutional
levels (cross-discipline outcomes). However,
according to Spady (1994, p. 49), the most
important form of outcomes with which other forms
or levels of outcomes should be aligned are those
that reflect real life roles that learners will perform
the moment they exit the education system – these
are called " culminating outcomes.‟
 The design down principle is like a top-down approach
of formulating and stating outcomes. The culminating
outcomes should be stated first, followed by some enabling
outcomes (program level), then by some discrete outcomes
that are measured in terms of specific learning tasks (course
level).
Implications to Learning Assessment Practices
The following summarizes the shifts of assessment practices
moving from the traditional practices to OBE practices:
Paradigm Shift 1: Teacher-Centered to Learner-Centered Approach
Assessment in outcome-based education require a shift in
mindset of educators and educational leaders. The shift
requires a turnaround of approach from teacher-centered to
learner-centered education (Bresciani, 2012; Bresciani et al.,
2009; Ramoroka, 2006; Nieburh, 1996).
Paradigm Shift 2: Being Outcomes-Minded
Needless to say, in outcome-based education
framework everything should be based on outcomes.
Thus, assessment methods and techniques should
be consistent with the stated outcomes of education.
According to Bresciani (2006), outcome-based
assessment is a systematic and intentional process.
This means that the assessments used in this set-up
are deliberately designed and administered in pursuit
of outcomes attainment. Along with teaching and
learning activities, assessments used in OBE
classrooms should be constructively aligned with the
outcomes that are expected to be successfully
demonstrated at specific stages and curricular levels
(Biggs, 2011; Biggs & Tang, 2007).
Spady (1994) specified four operating
principles that will guide educators and
academic leaders in the implementation
of OBE. These are:
1.Clarity of focus
2.High expectations
3.Expanded Opportunity
4.Designing Down
Backward Design-Forward Implementation: Course Level
Outcomes and Assessments
 In response to the need for standardization of
education systems and processes, many higher
education institutions in the Philippines shifted
attention and efforts toward implementing Outcome-
Based Education (henceforth OBE) system on
school level. The shift to OBE has been propelled
predominantly because it is used as a framework by
international and local academic accreditation bodies
in school- and program-level surveillance, on which
many schools invest their efforts into. The
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) even
emphasized the need for the implementation of OBE
by issuing a memorandum order (CMO No. 46, s.
2012) entitled, “Policy- Standard to enhance quality
assurance in Philippine Higher Education through an
Outcomes-Based and Typology Based QA”.
• The Enhanced BEC, more popularly
known as the K to 12 Curriculum of the
DepEd, introduced content standards,
performance standards, and
competencies in the K to 12 Curriculum
Guide (CG).
• The Technical Education Skills
Development Authority (TESDA) use
Competency Standards in its Training
Regulations long before CHED talked
about OBE and before DepEd
introduced its K to 12 standards and
competencies.
 In other countries, the implementation of OBE
has seen mixed results. Its application on the basic
education systems in some areas of the United States,
Australia, and South Africa have been perceived as
failures, where it was rescinded shortly after its
implementation (Donnelly 2007; Lui and Shum 2012).
In Australia, the implementation of OBE was seen as
one of the reasons for the resignation of secondary
school teachers. These teachers thought that OBE was
detrimental to education (Fetherston and Lummis
2012). In addition to these, OBE is perceived to set
unreasonable learning outcomes and place extra
burden on limited school resources and workload of
education staff (Donnelly 2007; Lui and Shum 2012). In
contrast, its implementation in higher education is more
successful, especially in the fields of medicine (Harden
2009), veterinary medicine (Davis 2015), information
technology (Lansari et al. 2007), and even in
managerial accounting (Lui and Shum 2012).
 In the Philippines, there are some studies that
document the implementation of OBE and their initial
effects. Some studies discussed the experiences of
entire higher education institutions (HEI) (Llanes
2014; De Guzman et al. 2017), while some studies
focused on the application of OBE to specific
subjects such as engineering (Borsoto et al. 2014;
Laguador and Dotong 2014), health education (Sana
et al. 2015), and industrial psychology (Espiritu and
Budhrani 2015). A common finding in these studies is
a positive initial experience with OBE, though
problems, such as the lack of knowledge of the
nuances of its operations, remain.
 In a study “The Implementation of Outcome-
Based Education: The Case of the University of
Perpetual Help System DALTA Las Piñas
Campus”, it was stated that Although OBE has
been advocated for over 60 years and was
revived in the 1980s by Spady, it received strong
negative feedback from educators, parents and
students. One such feedback was on teaching to
pre-determined learning outcomeswhich are
“overly specifiable, observable, quantifiable and
so narrow that they can be limiting rather than
liberating, which may result in the rigidification of
teaching, reductionism, reification, fractionation,
serendipity and may fail to achieve the kind of
learning and education that it purports to
promote.” (Hill, 2012; Tam, 2014).
 Young & Allais (2012) reasoned that although learning
outcomes were claimed to establish comparable
qualifications standards across countries and improve
the quality of education, they can be subject to varying
interpretations and thus, could not be generalized across
different programs, disciplines or subject areas. Issues
associated with OBE include how to define and assess
abstract conceptualizations such as humanism, altruism,
commitment and the like and how to promote excellence
when performances that are “good enough” are
acceptable descriptions of competence. (Morcke et al,
n.d.). Lastly, the study of Sin (2013) highlighted the
limited relevance of learning outcomes to students.
 The findings of Ortega and Ortega-de la Cruz (2016)
on Educators› Attitude towards OBE Approach in English
Second Language Learning showed that the
respondents have a positive attitude towards OBE, in
terms of their knowledge, belief, feelings, acceptance
level and readiness in handling and facilitating an
English Second Language class. Most respondents
believed that OBE would allow them to be more flexible
in employing a variety of teaching methods in an ESL
class.
The findings in the study of Hood (1999) on
Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Implementation of OBE
in South Africa concluded that the attitudes,
perceptions, and feelings of competence of teachers
will either aid or hinder a successful implementation of
OBE. The results might indicate that unless significant
changes in teacher attitudes towards OBE are
developed through appropriate interventions, its
implementation could encounter serious problems.
 Borsoto, et al (2014) in their study on the Status of
Implementation and Usefulness of Outcomes-Based
Education in the Engineering department of an Asian
university proposed that practice, seminars, the intensive
orientation of syllabus and assessment procedure and
conducting field trip and training enhance and improve the
knowledge and skills of the students.
On the other hand, a study conducted by Akhmadeeva,
Hindy and Sparrey (2013) on Overcoming Obstacles to
Implementing an OBE Education Model: Traditional versus
Transformational OBE, class size, expectations of learner
characteristics and reality, teaching practice and evaluation,
and student motivation were the most commonly discussed
and reported challenges of the teachers in the OBE
implementation.
Thank you!