Teachers take crash course on new curriculum

BAGUIO CITY—Teachers who will take part in the K to 12 program without substantial teaching assistance have been trained in “creative tutoring.”

Recently, more than a thousand teachers from the Cordillera underwent familiarization training in the new program at the University of the Cordilleras (UC) in preparation for the school opening this month.

Rosalinda Tavara, Cordillera supervisor for Filipino of the Department of Education (DepEd), said the teachers were given a crash course on the new curriculum and were provided with teaching strategies and teaching competency exercises.

Tavara said the teachers were also shown models of teaching methodologies they can use given expected problems.

The teaching modules, which the agency made available this school year, only cover the first and second grading period of the new Grade 7, said Angelita Ngao-i, Deped-Kalinga division supervisor.

“The modules for the third and fourth grading period [for Grade 7] are not yet available, but we were told that it would be sent [in August].

K to 12 is challenging, pero maganda siya (but it is good),” she said.

“With or without materials the teachers can teach. (The lesson) will not be textbook-centered. The teachers will focus on the students. They will be taught how to analyze and [make creative decisions],” said Dean Norma Maria Rutab of the UC College of Teacher Education.

Rutab said some teachers earlier expressed apprehension that the extended period for basic education would not succeed. “But after the training … they have become advocates.”

In the City of San Fernando in Pampanga, 7,700 Central Luzon public school teachers indicated they were “100-percent ready,” according to Isabelita Borres, the DepEd’s Central Luzon director.

The government said the new basic education program intended to “provide sufficient time for the mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle level skills development, employment and entrepreneurship.”

Borres said Grade 1 teachers were equipped to teach in the mother tongue of the students.

She said enrollment for grade school in Central Luzon had reached 1.197 million, adding that over 100,000 students were expected to finish the first six years of the K to 12 program in 2018, while 125,000 others were expected to complete junior high school by the same period.

“Although senior high school is mandatory, there is democracy in our engagement with parents. You are not on the losing end because the last two years of high school, which are devoted for technical or vocational training, are free for students,” Borres said.

Lora Yusi, spokesperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), said public and private colleges and universities should anticipate a slump in enrollment in 2018 when the junior high school students entered the two-year senior level.

A technical team of CHEd is holding consultations on the proposal to reduce college from four to three years by lessening units from 63 to 36.

Before 2018, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) is expected to integrate its courses in senior high school.

Tesda will issue national certifications to graduates to enable them to land jobs.

The DepEd runs 23 technical-vocational schools in Central Luzon and three have been selected to be part of the K to 12 program: Angeles City Trade School, Bataan School of Fisheries and Balagtas Agricultural schools. Reports by Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon