MANILA, Philippines — Students have difficulty learning under the old curriculum, according to a study conducted by an organization tasked with reviewing the K-12 program.
This problem forces them to finish school “without the required skills and knowledge to succeed in further education or employment.”
These findings were presented by Dr. Pam Robertson, deputy director of the Assessment, Curriculum and Technology Research Centre (ACTRC) to the Senate on Wednesday.
She showed the results to the Senate Committee on Basic Education during its hearing on implementing the Matatag Curriculum.
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“The key finding of our curriculum review was that teachers were having difficulty implementing the previous curriculum, and the students were having difficulty learning it,” Robertson reported.
“That led to problems for Philippine society because students were leaving school without the required skills and knowledge to succeed at further education or employment.”
‘Three thousand different things’
Robertson explained that one of the key findings of the study was that the old curriculum had “many learning competencies” and that students were expected to absorb a staggering “three thousand different things in a year.”
She noted this also affected the teachers tasked with covering these lessons for learners.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who heads the committee, gave his feedback on the presentation.
“Basically, the main takeaway is number one: Too many competencies in our old curriculum. Because it’s too many competencies, our teachers are not teaching all of them, or they do not finish in one school year,” he said.
“That leads to number two: Our learners are not ready because not all the competencies are taught to them,” he added.
“When they jump to the next grade level, they’re not ready to take on the subjects. That also eats up the teacher’s time in the next grade level. The problem now cascades the whole process.”
Robertson agreed with Gatchalian’s views.