Gatchalian hails Marcos admin's push for quality teacher education

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has lauded the Marcos administration’s commitment to provide quality teacher education and training as part of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, refers to the full implementation of the Excellence in Teacher Education Act or Republic Act (RA) No. 11713, which was signed into law last year, and was highlighted in PDP 2023-2028.

The law revamps the Teacher Education Council (TEC) by strengthening the coordination between the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

Under the law, the TEC is mandated to set basic requirements for teacher education programs and ensure the coherence of teacher education and training from pre-service to in-service.

Gatchalian emphasized the role of the teacher as the most crucial factor in education.

He lamented, however, the poor performance of Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) over the past years.

From 2014 to 2022, the average passing rate for LET takers at the elementary level was only 34 percent. At the secondary level, the average passing rate for the same period was only 40 percent.

The World Bank's (WB) Philippines Public Education Expenditure Tracking and Quantitative Service Delivery Study (PETS-QSDS) also showed that elementary and high school teachers in the country are inadequately trained to teach considerable portions of the K to 12 curriculum.

With the exception of English elementary teachers, the average elementary or high school teacher could correctly answer fewer than half of questions on subject content tests.

Gatchalian, who is also the co-chairperson of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), assured that further reforms in the county’s education sector would be pursued.

The EDCOM II, which was created by Republic Act No. 11899, or the Second Congressional Commission on Education Act, is mandated to conduct a national assessment to evaluate the Philippine education sector’s performance.

The EDCOM II will also recommend transformative, concrete, and targeted reforms to make the Philippines globally competitive in both education and labor markets.