Quality Education

Queenie E. Butalid-
Reporter
ISSUE:

• It is uncommon to hear college teachers

decry the quality of students that come to
them. They lament the students’ inability to
construct a correct sentence, much less a
paragraph. Private schools have been
assailed as profit-making institutions
turning out half-baked graduates who later
become part of the nation’s educated
unemployed. All these are indications of
the poor quality of education.
Reports from MDG....
• There is a continuing decline of the
Philippine education as stated in the
Millennium Development Goal Report
(2015)
• There are multiple factors which have led to low
educational standards. Studies and fact-finding
commissions have shown that the deteriorating
quality of education is due to the low government
budget for education; poor quality of teachers;
poor management of schools; poor school
facilities such as laboratory and library facilities;
poor learning environment; the content of the
curriculum; inadequate books and science
equipment; the poor method of instruction;
shortages of classrooms; and others.
A closer look at the definition of
Quality Education....
• Quality education is not an easy
concept to qualify.
• Quality determines how much and
how well children learn and the extent
to which their education translates
into a range of personal, social and
developmental benefits.
• Quality education is an international
agenda.
• Quality education enables people to
develop all of their attributes and
skills to achieve their potential as
human beings and members of
society
• In the words of the Delors Commission
(UNESCO, 1996): “Education is at the
heart of both personal and community
development; its mission is to enable each
of us, without exception, to develop all our
talents to the full and to realize our creative
potential, including responsibility for our
own lives and achievement of our personal
aims.”
• Quality education is a human right
and a public good.
• Governments and other public
authorities should ensure that a
quality education service is available
freely to all citizens from early
childhood into adulthood.
• Quality education provides the
foundation for equity in society.
• Quality education is one of the most
basic public services. It not only
enlightens but also empowers
citizens and enables them to
contribute to the maximum extent
possible to the social and economic
development of their communities.
• Every child has the fundamental right
to quality education – one that helps
them acquire basic literacy and
numeracy, enjoy learning without
fear, and feel valued and included,
irrespective of where they come from.
therefore.....
Six basic elements that influence
the quality of education.
1) The teacher and teaching methods

• The teacher is perhaps the most important factor in the quality of

education. Is he/she a trained teacher? Personally suited? Does
he/she use teaching methods that permit the pupils to participate
actively? Do the teaching methods even out the different starting
points of the students, including gender?

• Has the teacher access to the teaching material needed to satisfy the
requirements of the curriculum? Is the teacher present in the
classroom when he/she is supposed to be?

• Teachers who cannot survive on their wages will become less

motivated and have frequent absences. If it takes them two to three
hours to get to school, they will have less time for preparation.
2) Educational content

• Are the curriculum and the teaching

material relevant? Are basic literacy and
numeracy skills sufficiently emphasized?

• Does the curriculum also highlight basic

skills such as hygiene, nutrition,
knowledge about HIV/AIDS, conflict work,
gender equality or other important national
and international issues?
3) Learning environment

• Is the learning environment healthy,

secure, protective, inspiring and adapted
for both girls and boys? Is there an
inclusive learning environment also for
minorities or pupils with disabilities? Do
the pupils learn to respect each other and
the surrounding natural environment?

• Do the teachers cooperate to ensure a

sound learning environment? Do they
punish the pupils? Are parents and the
surrounding community included so as to
ensure that the school is a welcoming
place to be?
4) School management

• Is the school well run? Does it adhere to

national guidelines? Is the school day well
organized? Is the administration of the school
transparent so that everyone can see how
funding and other resources are deployed?

• Do teachers have clear parameters for how

they should teach and treat pupils and
(female) colleagues? Do headteachers and
the school board treat teachers with respect?
5) Preconditions for pupils

• What experiences do pupils bring with

them to school? Has the pupil been
exposed to special challenges such as
natural disasters, abuse, child labour or
AIDS? Has the pupil grown up in an
environment where girls and boys have
equal opportunities?

• How dissimilar is the language used at

school to the one spoken at home? Are
pupils hungry when they arrive at school?
Do any suffer from chronic diseases? Do
they have a long way to school and what is
this like?
• 6) Funding and organization

• Funding and organization are two

important requisites for all six key
elements and they are mainly a
national responsibility. A school that
is not granted adequate funding and
has no clear guidelines will not be
able to ensure quality.
 Ways Policy Makers Can
Improve the Quality of
Education
• Acknowledge and address overcrowding.
• Make funding schools a priority.
• Address the school to out-of-school
pipeline.
• Raise standards for teachers.
• Put classroom-running and curriculum-
building decisions in the hands of the
community.
Education reform in the
Philippines aims for better quality
and more access
• The Philippine education system has evolved
over hundreds of years of colonial occupation,
first by Spain and then by the US, through martial
law and the people’s power revolution that
brought democracy to the sprawling archipelago.
The education sector’s development has mirrored
the changes in the country’s administration.
• Today the focus is on expanding
access and ensuring more Filipinos
receive a decent basic education, as
a means of reducing poverty and
improving national competitiveness.
The World Bank notes that in other
countries such initiatives have
brought “large economic benefits”.
• The K-12 reform was introduced in
2016 and funding was increased,
easing concerns that its
implementation would be hindered by
limited resources and winning over
new President Rodrigo Duterte, who
was initially sceptical about the plan.
• Despite these successes and President
Duterte’s commitment to socio-economic
issues as his policy priorities, the
education system continues to struggle
with deep inequalities. Quality also
remains a concern. Addressing these
problems will require a continued
commitment to increased funding for
education, and an efficient mechanism to
ensure the money is spent in the most
effective manner.
System
• The Philippines has a vibrant and diverse
education system, with the government,
assisted by the private sector, providing a
wide range of education from early years
up to college and university across the
archipelago. The Department of Education
(DepEd) oversees the provision of basic
education. The private sector includes
kindergartens, international schools and
religious schools. In 2015/16 there were
14.9m children enrolled at primary school
and 6.01m at secondary level.
K-12 Implementation
• Three years since the Enhanced
Basic Education Act (EBEA, known
as the K-12 law) was signed, the
Philippines has finally embarked on
its most ground-breaking change to
the schooling system in decades, the
K-12 reform.
• K-12 extends compulsory schooling
to grades 11 and 12, adding two
years to secondary school, and
makes secondary education
compulsory. Prior to its
implementation, the Philippines was
the only country in Asia, and one of
only a few in the world, to have a
basic education system of just 10
years.
• The EBEA also mandated kindergarten as the
start of compulsory formal education, while the
Kindergarten Act of 2012 made pre-school free. In
August 2016, 1.5m Filipino children attended 11th
grade, with senior school students choosing
between four tracks through the system:
academic, technical-vocational, sports or the arts.
Much of the opposition to the initiative, which
triggered five separate petitions to the Supreme
Court, centred on whether the country’s teachers,
schools and administration were in a position to
implement the reform.
• President Duterte expressed
scepticism about the programme
before he was elected, but changed
his mind in May 2016 after a
delegation from DepEd told him that
the change was necessary, as
Filipino students were falling behind
their neighbours.
• Indeed, increased spending on basic
education – including an expanded
Alternative Learning System (ALS) –
is a centrepiece of the new
president’s 10-point socio-economic
agenda. President Duterte insists that
the development of the Philippines’
human capital is a priority of his
administration.
• Building on existing programmes, the
education secretary, Leonor Briones, said
that the Duterte administration’s education
policy intends to ensure that the country
provides a quality education that is
accessible to all and relevant to the needs
of the nation. Filipinos should also find
education “truly liberating” through the
development of critical thinking skills and
an appreciation of culture and the arts.
10-Point Plan
• The shift to K-12 began under President Duterte’s
predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, who approached
education as an investment in Filipinos, and offered a 10-
point plan for improving education as part of his election
campaign. As well as K-12, the 10 fixes included pre-
schooling for all, technical-vocational training as an
alternative in senior high school, working with local
governments to build new schools, proficiency in science
and maths, and working with private schools as “essential
partners” in basic education. The plan is to expand the
Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private
Education, supporting as many as 1m students at private
high schools through the Education Service Contracting
Scheme.

• Education For All

 1. Education For All
• The government set four key objectives for
the EFA initiative: providing education
options for all out-of-school adults and
young people; eliminating drop-outs and
repetition during the first three years of
school; encouraging the completion of a full
cycle of basic schooling to a satisfactory
level at every grade by all Filipino children;
and committing to the attainment of basic
education competencies for everyone.
 2. World Bank Assessment
• The World Bank estimates that public spending
increased by 60% in real terms between 2010 and
2015, helping finance infrastructure improvements
and provide the means to hire more teachers. As
a result, between 2010 and 2013 the student-to-
teacher ratio in public high schools fell from 38:1
to 29:1, while the student-to-classroom ratio
dropped from 64:1 to 47:1. However, “despite
impressive recent increases, the Philippines still
spends less on education than many
neighbouring and middle-income countries,” the
study noted. “Recent analysis has confirmed the
need for more spending to meet national
education norms and standards.”
 3. Early Encouragement
• Situation in kindergartens had
improved, with a more localised
curriculum, the construction of clean,
safe and child-friendly classrooms, and
closer cooperation with the community.
Children were developing a love of
reading, while teachers’ skills had been
enhanced via use of technology and the
adoption of more effective teaching
strategies.
 4. Raising Standards
• Much of the official discussion on K-12 centres on
the need to raise standards, improve teacher
quality and encourage completion of basic
schooling. The drop-out rate has remained high,
and data from the “Functional Literacy, Education
and Mass Media Survey” produced by the
Philippine Statistics Authority, shows that around
4m children and young people were out of school
in 2013, while as of April 2016, 16.6m Filipinos –
or 39% of the workforce – had not completed basic
education.
 5. Regional Inequalities
• “Many schools, particularly in urban areas, have insufficient
and poor quality facilities and a shortage of teachers,” the
report said.
• The report found that although city schools received higher
funding, their pupils tended to do less well in national tests
than their rural peers. The report cited insufficient
infrastructure to cope with the larger student bodies at urban
schools and higher rates of teacher absences as reasons for
this.
• “Operational funding still falls short of the amounts that
schools need to pay bills, undertake basic repairs, and
provide the day-to-day materials their students need. And
there is rarely anything left over to fund school-level
initiatives to improve student learning achievement.”
6. Allocation Of Funds
• The Duterte administration is planning to
introduce a series of financial management
reforms to improve education outcomes,
including: enhanced leadership supervision and
oversight over finance, administration and
procurement; the creation of an education
programme delivery unit to monitor budget
execution and intervene to ensure funds move
smoothly to where they are needed; a financial
management information system to track budget
spending in real time; and a more proactive
approach to spending.
7. Teaching Standards
• DepEd has introduced a number of
measures to improve the standard of
teaching, revising professional
benchmarks and providing more on-
the-job training. It has also made a
concerted effort to attract the
brightest and the best by raising
compensation and making the
selection process more competitive.
 8. Meeting National Needs
• The government insists that the education
system must be more appropriate to the
needs of the country, including its
economy. The aim is to improve students’
abilities in science and technology, and
nurture critical thinking, creativity and
entrepreneurial spirit, as well as to
encourage them to support the wider
community, especially those on the
margins.
 9. Higher Education
• The Philippines is one of the few countries where
the number of private higher education institutions
and students enrolled there is greater than in the
state sector.
• National government spending on the tertiary
education segment has risen in recent years, but
at 12.2% of the sector budget, spending remains
below the international benchmark of 15-20%.
The 2017 allocation reflects a government
decision to scrap tuition fees at all state
universities and colleges. However, students will
still need to pay their living expenses with grants
and other forms of aid available to those from low-
income families.
10. Quality Of Instruction
• Despite the size of the higher education
sector, the quality of instruction remains
low, according to the Asian Development
Bank (ADB). In professional board
examinations, for instance, median pass
rates between 2005 and 2015 ranged from
34% to 43%. The ADB also noted a
“worrisome preponderance” within both the
state and private sector of institutions with
a pass rate of zero, “indicative of a large
number of low-quality higher education
institutions.”
• “CHED has instituted a vertical/horizontal
typology approach to assess the quality of
higher educational institutions,” Caroline
Marian Enriquez, president of Our Lady of
Fatima University, told OBG. “However,
given that the current university landscape
is composed of over 2000 institutions of
very uneven quality, some of the standards
may be too stringent or not applicable to
the core competencies of certain
institutions.”
• The government has been trying to
rationalise the state sector by putting a halt
to the establishment of new course
programmes by state universities and local
colleges that do not meet the standards
set by CHED, by encouraging
rationalisation and hopefully reducing
course duplication. It is also trying to raise
standards through the introduction of
quality institutional sustainability
assessment
On the final note.....
• The Philippines has embarked on
education reforms that it considers crucial
to its economic development, bringing its
school system into line with international
standards and seeking to open up its
higher education sector to more people,
while supporting Reserach & Development
that will raise its academic profile and bring
lasting benefits to the country.
Thank You

Kingsoft Office