K to 12 offers fresh view of life after high school

(Third of a series)

Beyond changing labels, K to 12 is transforming teaching methods and providing fresh perspectives on life after high school.

From answering seatwork to doing scientific experiments with indigenous materials, from solving mathematical equations to drawing a butterfly on a Cartesian plane, from theories to job skills, these were among the innovations in the new curriculum observed by teachers interviewed by the Inquirer.

The K to 12 program calling for kindergarten, six years of elementary school, four years of junior high school and two years of senior high school was officially adopted last month when President Aquino signed the Enhanced Basic Education Act.

The law embraced the 12-year basic education program that is now the international norm and eschewed the 10-year cycle enforced in the country since the Commonwealth era. It was launched last year beginning with Grade 1 and Grade 7, the first year of junior high.

Already, the eye is on the two-year senior high school, or grades 11 and 12. Its completion could lead to a college or university degree or gainful employment in any of the vocational skills offered during the final two years of basic education.

Graduates of the program could acquire certificates of competencies to land them jobs as electricians, tailors or cooks or whatever it is that schools in a particular province require to help in its economic development efforts. Surfing, for example, in a surfers’ paradise like Siargao.

Subjects in both the junior and senior high schools are in the exploratory stages, at least in Gen. Pio del Pilar National High School in Makati City.

Allan Abrogar, a teacher in the public high school, said the facility offered courses in electricity, computer and drafting services. Female students have makeup, cooking and sewing, said Abrogar, who handles technology and livelihood education.

Starting Grade 9, students could choose a field of specialization and at Grade 11, a “career pathway,” which would allow them to get competency certificates from the Technical Skills and Development Authority. Other agencies, like the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts, and the Philippine Sports Commission could also issue certifications.

Shortages hobble the implementation of K to 12, as they had even in the old system.

Although education gets the biggest chunk of the national budget, Education Secretary Armin Luistro laments the perennial backlog in almost every department—from classrooms, to teachers, to desks and toilets—accounting for setbacks in attempts to raise the level of literacy of Filipinos.

The New York Times in 2009 cited a World Bank report that said the Philippines spent $138 per student per year. Thailand, it said, spent $853 per student, Singapore $1,800 and Japan $5,000. The figures remain relevant today.

Abrogar said lack of equipment was a challenge, but the school was pushing ahead.

“For learning to take place, teachers have to act and be resourceful,” he said.

In the drafting class at Gen. Pio del Pilar, students used long tables. Because there were not enough of them, boys and girls were divided and the scheduled one-hour session had to be extended to four hours per week to accommodate all students.

Abrogar said he had 28 to 32 students in each class.

In another public facility, Krus na Ligas High School in Quezon City, there was a mismatch in the delivery of materials, said its principal, Janet Dionio.

The school received modules on fisheries, but not only did these arrive late, the campus also does not have a fishpond, Dionio said.

Lilybeth Sagmaquen, the principal at Gen. Pio del Pilar, said the livelihood training offered to students should be based on the skills of the teachers, the locality and the needs of the industry.

‘Learning by doing’

In the enhanced program, teaching is more “student centered.”

“You don’t spoon-feed the students. The answers must come from them,” said Tomasa Maggay, a science teacher in the Makati City school.

The old curriculum was more focused on defining terms, identifying important scientists and memorizing the periodic table while K to 12 required teachers to facilitate activities for students to create their own learning, said Maggay.

“It’s learning by doing. Seeing is believing,” she said.

Indigenous materials like eggplants for the acids and bases topic were used in class as substitute for chemicals and scientific apparatus as suggested in the Teacher’s Guide that were handed to them during a seminar, she added.

But due to limited resources, the “one-is-to-one” rule  has not been followed. She handled 50 to 55 students per section. They were grouped into five or more depending on the availability of resources, Maggay said.

Spiral progression

The  discipline-based approach was used in teaching Science (General Science for first year, Biology for second year, Chemistry for third year, Physics for fourth year) and Math (Algebra I for first year high school, Algebra II for second year, Geometry for third year, Algebra and Trigonometry for fourth year) in Secondary Education Curriculum 2010, the former educational program.

K to 12 follows the spiral progression approach or from simple to complex, with previous knowledge as the starting point.

Rodora Domingo, a Math teacher at Krus Na Ligas, said the teachers struggled at first because they lacked materials and most of them had specializations, like Geometry or Algebra. Because of the new deal, teachers had to review and familiarize themselves with the other branches of mathematics.

The good thing is, students become well-rounded, she said, adding that K to 12 required activities involving arts, music and social studies.

Students’ verbal reasoning, analytical thinking and creativity were developed. They came up with drawings such as a butterfly when they discussed plotting points on a Cartesian plane.

In the old curriculum, the students would usually solve mathematical problems or do other seatwork, Domingo said.

Bernadette Eramiz-Dingal, a Grade 7 Filipino teacher, said the new curriculum was more fun and lighter for students. It focuses on developing students’ writing and reading with comprehension skills, narrowing to two the four competencies required by the old curriculum—listening, reading, writing and observing, Dingal said.

Aside from Ibong Adarna and other forms of Philippine literature, works of author Bob Ong and rapper Gloc-9 were also discussed in class. Because most of the materials used were current, the children enjoyed the subject and were encouraged to read, she added.

Old and new forms

English teacher Maria Teresa Valdez, on the other hand, incorporated lessons from the old curriculum and other books in the new program.

Valdez said she referred to the textbook, “The New Dimensions for Learning English” published by Rex Bookstore, because the organization of lessons there was more suited to her students than the sequence of topics in the K-to-12 guide.

“It starts with speech so the children get to enjoy it because it’s more on storytelling. After speech, reading and then grammar,” she added.

K to 12 immediately begins with subject-verb agreement. It was difficult for students who could not even differentiate nouns from verbs, she said.

Instead of following the DepEd’s Teacher’s Guide, Valdez started with the parts of speech, just like the old curriculum.

The trainers told the teachers they could complement the new curriculum and adjust according to the level of the student’s knowledge, she said.

Valdez also replaced some of the stories in the K-to-12 reading list like Manuel Arguilla’s “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” with “The Happiest Boy in the World” by Nick Joaquin.

Arguilla’s story was too long and complicated for Grade 7 students, she said. “They cannot relate to it.” Joaquin’s story, on the other hand, “was more parallel to the experiences of the students,” she added.

“Always consider your students first, let them be your guide,” Valdez said. “Do what you think will be best for the students. Don’t force yourself to follow what’s in the Teacher’s Guide.”

K to 12 presents “more advantages than disadvantages,” said Dionio. “The program itself is good but the problem is resources.”

She said that teachers had to surmount challenges to implement the new curriculum last year. Public high school teachers said they were given a five-day mass training seminar, with around 100 participants, on how to go about the new curriculum before the opening of classes.

Not enough classrooms

They were provided with a Teacher’s Guide and Learner’s Guide, which served as their reference because the modules for the different subjects came late.

Melvin Canlas, the property custodian at Gen. Pio del Pilar, said some of the instructional materials for the first and second grading periods were delivered in November and December while those for the third and fourth grading were handed over in February.

“The name of the game for the pilot implementation was resourcefulness,” said Dionio, the principal at Krus Na Ligas.

Dionio expressed fears that some public schools may not have enough room for students once Grade 11 is implemented.

By 2016, the population would increase by 25 percent because of the incoming Grade 11 students and would grow by 50 percent the following year, she projected.

Since 2001, Krus Na Ligas has been requesting the construction of additional classrooms.

“To make the problem worse, since we do not have enough space, classrooms were divided into two. Instead of having 45 to 50 in a standard classroom, we now have 90 to 100 students,” she said.

Last year, they had 2,092 students crammed in 19 classrooms.

The Department of Education received a budget increase for the implementation of  K to 12. But Dionio said the problem was “not funds but space.”

Despite this, the principal remained optimistic that their “hiling (request) powers” would work and they would have enough rooms in 2016, among many other things.