DepEd leads final consultation on educational qualifications framework
Published Sep 22, 2018 11:52 am
By Merlina Hernando-Malipot
In line with its efforts to provide better opportunities for Filipinos through quality assurance of qualifications, the Department of Education (DepEd) hosted the final leg of the consultation for the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF).
Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones during a press briefing at Camp Karingal in Quezon City Tuesday. (ALVIN KASIBAN / MANILA BULLETIN)
As part of the PQF-National Coordinating Council (PQF-NCC), the DepEd spearheaded the National Capital Region (NCR) leg of the nationwide public consultation on the draft PQF IRR, held at the Unilab-Bayanihan Center in Pasig City.
Representatives and officials from concerned agencies that form the PQF-NCC including DepEd, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), as well as stakeholders, gathered to review and discuss the draft IRR of Republic Act (RA) 10968 otherwise known as the PQF Act.
The RA 10968 mandates the PQF to “adopt national standards and levels of learning outcomes of education; support the development and maintenance of pathways and equivalencies that enable access to qualifications, and assist individuals to move easily and readily between the different education and training sectors, and between these sectors and the labor market; and align domestic qualification standards with international qualifications framework.”
“As may be gleaned from the Act, the PQF is a system whereby qualifications attained through education, training, work, and other sources of lifelong learning, are recognized and assigned specific qualification levels described in terms of knowledge, skills and values, application, and degree of independence,” said DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones, who is also the chair of the PQF-NCC.
Briones also underscored how the PQF “will lead to better opportunities to Filipinos” as it provides predictability and quality assurance of qualifications. “It will facilitate recognition of skills and competencies acquired not only from formal education and training, but also from non-formal and informal settings as well, thereby increasing their value. With sufficient industry linkages, the PQF can facilitate the matching of education and skills to job requirements,” she added.
Likewise, Briones also called for generating greater public awareness of the PQF. “This means we need to have better communication strategies, products, and approaches to popularize PQF concepts and gain public traction,” she said. “We should take advantage of the PQF IRR processes to facilitate the information drive,” she added.
DepEd Undersecretary and chief of staff Nepomuceno Malaluan also delivered a synthesis of the discussions and presented ways forward including the consolidation and finalization of the draft IRR. He took into consideration the inputs from the earlier legs of the national consultation from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao led by DOLE and PRC; CHED, and TESDA, respectively.
Also present in the consultation were representatives from the academe and non-profit sectors including the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), Magna Anima Teachers’ College, Action for Economic Reforms (AER), the Asia Foundation, Public Service Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM).
Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones during a press briefing at Camp Karingal in Quezon City Tuesday. (ALVIN KASIBAN / MANILA BULLETIN)
As part of the PQF-National Coordinating Council (PQF-NCC), the DepEd spearheaded the National Capital Region (NCR) leg of the nationwide public consultation on the draft PQF IRR, held at the Unilab-Bayanihan Center in Pasig City.
Representatives and officials from concerned agencies that form the PQF-NCC including DepEd, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), as well as stakeholders, gathered to review and discuss the draft IRR of Republic Act (RA) 10968 otherwise known as the PQF Act.
The RA 10968 mandates the PQF to “adopt national standards and levels of learning outcomes of education; support the development and maintenance of pathways and equivalencies that enable access to qualifications, and assist individuals to move easily and readily between the different education and training sectors, and between these sectors and the labor market; and align domestic qualification standards with international qualifications framework.”
“As may be gleaned from the Act, the PQF is a system whereby qualifications attained through education, training, work, and other sources of lifelong learning, are recognized and assigned specific qualification levels described in terms of knowledge, skills and values, application, and degree of independence,” said DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones, who is also the chair of the PQF-NCC.
Briones also underscored how the PQF “will lead to better opportunities to Filipinos” as it provides predictability and quality assurance of qualifications. “It will facilitate recognition of skills and competencies acquired not only from formal education and training, but also from non-formal and informal settings as well, thereby increasing their value. With sufficient industry linkages, the PQF can facilitate the matching of education and skills to job requirements,” she added.
Likewise, Briones also called for generating greater public awareness of the PQF. “This means we need to have better communication strategies, products, and approaches to popularize PQF concepts and gain public traction,” she said. “We should take advantage of the PQF IRR processes to facilitate the information drive,” she added.
DepEd Undersecretary and chief of staff Nepomuceno Malaluan also delivered a synthesis of the discussions and presented ways forward including the consolidation and finalization of the draft IRR. He took into consideration the inputs from the earlier legs of the national consultation from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao led by DOLE and PRC; CHED, and TESDA, respectively.
Also present in the consultation were representatives from the academe and non-profit sectors including the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), Magna Anima Teachers’ College, Action for Economic Reforms (AER), the Asia Foundation, Public Service Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), and Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM).