ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY

GLENN B. RUSIANA, MAED Doctor of Educational Management DEM 207 Administrative Policy

What is K to 12?
K to 12 simply means Kindergarten to Grade 12. Before the K to 12 program, the Philippines is implementing a 10-year basic education system with six years of elementary education and four years of high school education. In the new K to 12 program of the Department of Education, there will be a mandatory Kindergarten, six years of elementary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school.

In a nutshell, the K to 12 basic education program is a decongested education system with a learner-centered curriculum producing globally competitive graduates.

Five Key Benefits of the K to 12 Basic Education Program 1. It will produce globally competitive graduates

The K to 12 program answers the need for a 12-year education system which is at par with international standards such as the Washington Accord and the Bologna Accord. Graduates of the K to 12 program will be perceived with increased competency and have better global opportunities. I am not really sure what the Washington and Bologna Accord have to do with basic education. These are agreement between countries on higher education. The Washington Accord is for engineering: "The Washington Accord signed in 1989 was the first - it recognises substantial equivalence in the accreditation of qualifications in professional engineering, normally of four years duration." For the Bologna Accord CNN writes: "Forty European countries have committed to simplifying and standardizing their graduate and postgraduate education systems under an agreement called the Bologna Accord. The voluntary agreement is designed to synchronize the structure and standards of courses, making it easier for participants to move easily between European universities and business schools." There is no international standard for basic education. K to 12 has nothing to do with the standards set by both Washington and Bologna agreements. These are for higher education.

2. Students will learn more easily The improved basic education curriculum is decongested and focused. Students will have more time learning core academic areas thus ensuring better comprehension. Also, pupils from Grade 3 and below will be thought in their mother tongue to ensure better understanding of basic concepts. Merely changing the curriculum does not guarantee that students will learn more easily. The new curriculum carries shorter instructional hours and now includes mother tongue instruction in addition to Filipino and English. At the heart of curriculum reform is the teacher, which this new program has ignored. Kindergarten teaching has been delegated to volunteers who are paid 3000 pesos a month.

3. Students will be free to pursue their passion

The new curriculum will be learner-centered. Students will be allowed to choose elective subjects and specializations which they really want. The students will love learning more and will grow to their full potential. Whether the students want to be professionals, businessmen, artists or athletes, theirs skills and talents will be honed and nurtured. Basic education, elementary and high school, is expected for all. In fact, it is compulsory in other countries. Basic means essential and it is not a matter of choice. Pursuing one's passion is already a matter of either vocational or higher education.

4. There will be savings on college tuition fees Grade 11 and 12 takes the form of a two-year college education. In a public school, this is tuition-free. In effect, the number of year of college courses will decrease because of redundancies. Those who will pursue college will have fewer years to pay for. Graduates will also receive training certifications, which reduces the need to study a vocational course. College education is very different from education in high school. There may be a repetition in subjects but the environment and pace are not the same as in high school. If there is indeed an equivalence then higher education institutions in the Philippines are not doing their job properly. 5. It will reduce unemployment rate and improve the economy With the increased competence and workmanship due to TESDA-like trainingand college-like education included in the new curriculum, the graduates will become highly employable, reducing the rate of unemployment in the Philippines. Those who are passionate about starting businesses will be enabled to open more job opportunities. One must look at the reasons behind unemployment. Unemployment is not solely decided by the labor market. And the same is true for the economy. Starting businesses require not only a passion but more importantly, capital. The K to 12 basic education program aims not only to produce better graduates but also to improve the quality of life of the country as a whole. What is asked from us as Filipino citizens is that we support the program in whatever ways we can, share the information to others and, most of all, believe in the success of this program. The government must be the first one to show its full support for the program by first funding appropriately and adequately the kindergarten portion of the new curriculum.

What is K to 12? K to 12 simply means Kindergarten to Grade 12. Before the K to 12 program, the Philippines is implementing a 10-year basic education system with six years of elementary education and four years of high school education. In the new K to 12 program of the Department of Education, there will be a mandatory Kindergarten, six years of elementary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school. This is a standard description of DepEd K to 12. It correctly uses the phrase "K to 12". In a nutshell, the K to 12 basic education program is a decongested education system with a learner-centered curriculum producing globally competitive graduates. This sentence carries DepEd's buzzwords "decongested", "learner-centered", and "globally competitive" Five Key Benefits of the K to 12 Basic Education Program The following are the standard selling points of the new curriculum. 1. It will produce globally competitive graduates The K to 12 program answers the need for a 12-year education system which is at par with international standards such as the Washington Accord and the Bologna Accord. Graduates of the K to 12 program will be perceived with increased competency and have better global opportunities. I am not really sure what the Washington and Bologna Accord have to do with basic education. These are agreement between countries on higher education. The Washington Accord is for engineering: "The Washington Accord signed in 1989 was the first - it recognises substantial equivalence in the accreditation of qualifications in professional engineering, normally of four years duration." For the Bologna Accord CNN writes: "Forty European countries have committed to simplifying and standardizing their graduate and post-graduate education systems under an agreement called the Bologna Accord. The voluntary agreement is designed to synchronize the structure and standards of courses, making it easier for participants to move easily between European universities and business schools." There is no international standard for basic education. K to 12 has nothing to do with the standards set by both Washington and Bologna agreements. These are for higher education. 2. Students will learn more easily The improved basic education curriculum is decongested and focused. Students will have more time learning core academic areas thus ensuring better comprehension. Also, pupils from Grade 3 and below will be thought in their mother tongue to ensure better understanding of basic concepts. Merely changing the curriculum does not guarantee that students will learn more easily. The new curriculum carries shorter instructional hours and now includes mother tongue instruction in addition to Filipino and English. At the heart of curriculum reform is the teacher, which this new program has ignored. Kindergarten teaching has been delegated to volunteers who are paid 3000 pesos a month. 3. Students will be free to pursue their passion The new curriculum will be learner-centered. Students will be allowed to choose elective subjects and specializations which they really want. The students will love learning more and will grow to their full potential. Whether the students want to be professionals, businessmen, artists or athletes, theirs skills and talents will be honed and nurtured. Basic education, elementary and high school, is expected for all. In fact, it is compulsory in other countries. Basic means essential and it is not a matter of choice. Pursuing one's passion is already a matter of either vocational or higher education. 4. There will be savings on college tuition fees Grade 11 and 12 takes the form of a two-year college education. In a public school, this is tuition-free. In effect, the number of year of college courses will decrease because of redundancies. Those who will pursue college will have fewer years to pay for. Graduates will also receive training certifications, which reduces the need to study a vocational course. College education is very different from education in high school. There may be a repetition in subjects but the environment and pace are not the same as in high school. If there is indeed an equivalence then higher education institutions in the Philippines are not doing their job properly.

Emerging Development and Issues

The proposed K plus 12 curriculum has various components. It is useful to look at each component in deciding whether it helps address the pressing problems Philippine basic education presently faces: (1) Kindergarten: This addresses the problems. Early childhood learning when done properly does provide a head start for elementary schools. Kindergarten prepares the child emotionally, physically and mentally for grade school. (2) No formal subject of science in K to Grade II: This is a waste of a great opportunity. Science education in early childhood is cheap. It does not require elaborate laboratories or equipment. Young children, in addition, are naturally inquisitive and the years of kinder to grade II are excellent for introduction of basic scientific curiosity and methods. Only having science as a formal subject can ensure that science will indeed be covered. (3) Use of mother tongue as medium of instruction: This is very expensive. It requires competent teachers who can teach math and science using the mother tongue. There is no objection that the mother tongue must be taught as a subject in elementary schools since this allows a smoother transition from home to school. The question of what medium should be used in instruction is separate. One medium of instruction can unite the nation. English is the best option since course materials especially from the internet are usually in English. In this respect, Singapore is a good example to follow.

(4) Spiral curriculum: This type of teaching is highly applicable to elementary schools where both science and math are still treated as general approaches. In high school, both math and science diverge into separate disciplines. A spiral curriculum in high school will require teachers with knowledge in all these areas at a sufficient level. These required teachers are not going to be available in numbers so this program will be poorly implemented. A layered curriculum, on the other hand, is easier to implement biology is taught in one year, chemistry in the next, physics is usually the last. In this manner, a high school can operate with a chemistry teacher, a physics teacher and a biology teacher, and each one need not be a master of all three disciplines.
(5) Discovery-based learning: This type of learning requires longer hours and fails without sufficient guidance (see An Analysis of the Failure of Electronic Media and Discovery Based Learning,Clark, et al. (2009). The ideal is a mix between traditional and inquiry based methods. This is usually achieved in the sciences by having separate lecture and laboratory components. Guidance is provided during lectures and students work on their own or as a group in the laboratory. (6) Last but not the least (in fact, this point is crucial), the proposed K plus 12 curriculum also involves short school hours. This seems to be an attempt to enable multiple shifts in the schools. This goes against decongesting the curriculum. It likewise does not make it worthwhile for schoolchildren especially those who have to travel far to attend school. This also opens opportunities for child labor as well as greater environmental (outside of school) influences on children education. Elementary schools in the US are full day so that students do have time to cover the material and, at the same time, it allows parents to work and be more productive. A full day in school means less television, less video games, less time on the streets, and less other activities that do not contribute to a sound education of the young.

EMERGING DEVELOPMENT AND ISSUES

K 12
Pasi Sahlberg, a reform expert from Finland's Ministry of Education, wrote an editorial months ago on the Washington Post (What the US can't learn from Finland). He cited three reasons why it would be difficult for the United States to emulate what Finland has accomplished in its basic education. And at the heart of these reasons is not a curriculum, not a teaching style, not the content or method of teaching. Instead, it is equity.
First, it begins with total commitment to the following:
Funding of schools Well-being of children Education as a human right

Education in Finland is free from preschool to university. By not providing adequate funds for education, the above will not be met. Second, "school autonomy and teacher professionalism are often mentioned as the dominant factors explaining strong educational performance in Finland. The school is the main author of curricula. And the teacher is the sole authority monitoring the progress of students."

 "Finland is home to such a coherent national system of teacher education. And unlike in the United States, teaching is one of the top career choices among young Finns. Teachers in Finland are highly regarded professionals akin to medical doctors and lawyers. There are eight universities educating teachers in Finland, and all their programs have the same high academic standards. Furthermore, a research-based masters degree is the minimum requirement to teach in Finland." Third, teaching inside Finland's classrooms is no different from good and quality teaching in any other classroom in any other country. It is not so much about Finnish innovations in classroom instruction or state-of-the-art technology. There is conservatism in Finnish schools.

 "....Finland has created an inspiring and respectful environment in which teachers work. All teachers are required to have higher academic degrees that guarantee both high-level pedagogical skills and subject knowledge. Parents and authorities regard teachers with the same confidence they do medical doctors. Indeed, Finns trust public schools more than any other public institution, except the police. The fact that teachers in Finland work as autonomous professionals and play a key role in curriculum planning and assessing student learning attracts some of the most able and talented young Finns into teaching careers." -Pasi Sahlberg

 "....How can we attract and retain good teachers in basic education? Besides raising their salaries and restoring their professional pride, we should also upgrade the normal schools and colleges of education: these are our primary fields of recruitment. Pero tila mababa rin ang kalidad ng mga ito. UP professors have complained that the knowledge levels of BSE degree holders who are taking graduate courses is pathetic. They seem to have mastered the techniques of teaching but not the subjects they are supposed to teach...." Francisco Nemenzo Jr., former president, University of the Philippines

Deped Spiral Curiculum

 "American schools follow a "spiral curriculum" in mathematics; that is, they spend such a substantial proportion of time on review each year that only limited progress can be made with new material. American students who perform poorly in arithmetic are subject to a special form of the spiral curriculum, which might be termed the circular curriculum": they repeat arithmetic over and over until they stop studying math" (Gamoran, 2001, p. 138)"

 A spiral curriculum runs a smorgasbord of math topics by students each year, the idea being that they pick up a little more of each with every pass. In reality, the spin leaves many students and teachers in the dust. Ideally, the curriculum should cover fewer topics per year in more depth. Presently, teachers face having Grade 4 classes who still cannot add 567 + 942 nor multiply 7 x 8 because the Grade 1, 2, and 3 teachers were forced to spend so much time on graphing, polygons and circles, estimating quantity and size, geometrical transformations, 2D and 3D geometry and other material not required to make the next step, which is 732 x 34. And because elementary math fails to provide a solid foundation, many basically capable students simply give up when faced with the shock of high school algebra, which would be the doorway to advanced technical training at all levels. High school math teachers cannot make up Grades 1 to 7 while teaching Grade 8."

The DepEd has been using the terms "spiral curriculum" and "learnercentered" without providing details to the public what these really entail and require.

 A kindergarten classroom in the United States that is "learner-centered" is quite different from classrooms we went through when we were elementary school pupils. A classroom that is individualized and takes into account where each student is can no longer be just one room with desks arranged in rows. Instead, the room is divided into various stations, each one designed for a specific activity: a drawing section, a listening section with headphones, a reading section, a math corner, a discovery module, and a silent space where students could rest. In these "learner-centered" classrooms. It should be obvious that the size of the class (in terms of number of students) is limited, since these "independent" sections inside a room will require supervision or guidance. In a kindergarten classroom, the highest ratio for this to be feasible is about 12 pupils to one teacher. With 12 children, four could be working on one activity, which means each teacher could be supervising three different activities simultaneously. Having more than three requires too much multitasking on the part of the teacher.

SOME PROBLEMS AND ISSUES FOR STUDY

The following is the backpage of the Philippine Collegian Issue 3, Wednesday, 27 June 2012. The Philippine Collegian is the weekly newspaper of the students of the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

End