Despite the poor performance of Filipino students in recent international large-scale assessments, the Department of Education (DepEd) reiterated its commitment to ensure the provision of quality education for all Filipino learners.
“Indeed, these are challenging times as we still confront the ongoing pandemic amid our efforts to attain quality education,” DepEd said in a statement issued by its Office of the Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction.
In the recent publication of the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the Philippines ranked last among 58 countries in an assessment for Grade 4 mathematics and sciences.
Despite the results, DepEd welcomed the insights of TIMSS 2019. This, the agency said, will help in “furthering our efforts to raise the quality of education in the country.”
The TIMSS 2019 assessed a sample size of Grade 4 students of participating countries in mathematics and science, as well as context questionnaires. “We reiterate that our participation or re-participation in these international assessments indicates a step forward towards addressing curriculum and learning gaps in the country’s basic education,” DepEd said.
DepEd noted that the Philippines’ participation in the 2019 TIMSS is the first after a 16-year absence since 2003. “We value the immense data it can offer on the current mathematics and science literacy of our learners,” the agency noted.
The results of the TIMSS, DepEd added, also “contextualize and widen our understanding of home and school environment, education composition and resources, school climate, teacher professional development, and job satisfaction, among others.”
DepEd maintained that its standing policy is to translate these international assessments into “concrete and implementable actions that can have a direct impact on our learners' achievements and teachers' improvements.”
While it has to prioritize its COVID-19 response this year, DepEd said that it did not lose sight of its mission of “Sulong EduKalidad” or the campaign launched to attain quality education.
“With these assessments as guides, and with the help of supportive stakeholders, we will continue to pursue reforms and interventions in curriculum upgrading, teacher development, and learning environment improvement,” DepEd said.
The Regional Report of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics 2019 (SEA-PLM 2019) released early this month pointed out a “small or limited to modest” number of Grade 5 children in the Philippines were above or progressing towards achieving the expected levels of proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics at the end of primary education.
The SEA-PLM 2019 was developed to assist countries across Southeast Asia to “better measure and understand learning outcomes” in reading, writing, mathematics, and global citizenship of Grade 5 learners.
Likewise, the Filipino students also showed poor performance in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) with the Philippines scoring 353 in Mathematics, 357 in Science, and 340 in Reading which were all below the average of participating Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
The Philippines joined PISA for the first time in 2018. PISA is a computer-based test which measures the performance of 15-year-old students in mathematics, science, and reading conducted by the OECD. DepEd is set to join another round of PISA in 2022.
Despite the unfavorable results of these international studies and assessments, DepEd maintained that these are needed to “know we are.”
It also expressed optimism that these results will definitely help in the education reform towards quality education. “We can definitely recover and bounce back if we get our act together as one for the future of this country, and our children,” it added.