Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte on Monday, Jan. 30, revealed that the K-12 curriculum that aimed to equip Filipino senior high graduates with globally competitive skills failed in its promise to bring employment.
The official bared this during her presentation of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Basic Education Report (BER) 2023 at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City.
The agency is currently assessing the country’s K-12 curriculum.
“The K-12 curriculum promised to produce graduates that are employable. That promise remains a promise,” Duterte said.
“The ongoing review of the K-12 curriculum has revealed: that the Curriculum content is congested; that some prerequisites of identified essential learning competencies are missing or misplaced; and that a significant number of learning competencies cater to high cognitive demands,” she noted.
And while the work immersion program for Senior High School contributed to a passing rate of 90 percent in the National Certificate assessment administered by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), DepEd’s industry partners expressed concern “that the time allotment for work immersion is only for familiarization and not for actual skills acquisition.”
“Today, most Senior High School graduates find the need to pursue higher education in order to find employment. The National Senior High School tracer study conducted by the Bureau of Curriculum Development showed that 83 percent of the respondents pursued higher education while only a little over 10 percent of graduates were employed,” Duterte reported.
READ: VP Duterte urges businessmen: Hire K-12 graduates
The Vice President also took note of the “weak teaching methods” of the teachers in addressing 21st century skills, though she clarified this is not their fault but of the system.
Quoting a study done by the Research Center for Teacher Quality, the World Bank, and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the official said that teachers need “further support,” especially in teaching critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
“While critical thinking was the most evident in the curriculum, it was also the least taught to students by teachers. Instead, lessons leaned towards conceptual or content-based teaching. And lessons lacked in-depth processing to cultivate critical thinking and problem-solving,” she added.
As she recognized the “dedication, integrity, and the commitment” of teachers, Duterte also cited the “sad reality” that “the system has failed them.”
READ: What teachers expect from DepEd’s Basic Education Report 2023
The K-12 program, enacted by Congress during the Aquino administration, aimed to place the Philippine system of basic education at par with global practice of requiring 12 years of elementary, junior high school and senior high school.