An advocacy group on Tuesday, June 11, called for swift action from Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte in setting up the Teacher Education Council (TEC) to enhance teaching quality in the country.

“We cannot afford any more delay in this matter,” Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) Executive Director Justine Raagas said in a statement.

As the country deals with a crisis in education, PBEd urged Duterte, as the chairperson of the TEC, to promptly appoint an executive director and other officials for the benefit of aspiring teachers.

READ: 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/5/29/ph-education-in-crisis-1

This, the group said, will eventually translate into “improvements for our learners in basic education.”

Citing Republic Act No. 11713 or the Excellence in Teacher Education Act, PBEd said the TEC is tasked with setting and mandating basic requirements for teachers’ education programs.

The law also requires the TEC to formulate a strategic plan to proactively develop Teacher Education Centers of Excellence across all regions in the country, PBEd said.

“It has been two years since the law was signed and a year since the implementing rules and regulations were published,” Raagas said.

“The enhancements proposed in the law have not been fully realized because officials have yet to be appointed to start the necessary work,” she added.

Crucial move

Raagas pointed out that the roles of teachers continue to evolve.

“We must look into the coherence of teacher education programs and the quality of teacher education institutions (TEIs) if we want to strengthen their competencies,” she said.

For PBEd, the operationalization of the TEC can also feed into the ongoing efforts of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) and the Research Institute for Teacher Quality in their profiling study on TEIs.

READ: 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/6/3/profiling-study-of-teacher-education-institutions-launched

PBEd noted that the “work could have begun sooner if officials of the supposedly enhanced TEC had been appointed.”

Teacher education

Citing the results of its study in 2023, PBEd noted that over half of all TEIs in the Philippines “performed below average” in the annual licensure exam for teachers, based on 12 years of data from the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

READ: 

https://mb.com.ph/2023/02/02/study-highlights-insufficient-preparation-for-future-filipino-teachers/

Moreover, the study classified only two percent of these institutions as "high-performing" with passing rates of at least 75 percent.

PBEd’s study also revealed that over 81 percent of Teacher Education Centers of Excellence and 91 percent of Centers of Development “were not achieving” high passing rates in licensure exams.

With all the challenges that need to be addressed to help improve teaching quality in the Philippines, PBEd underscored the importance of having a “well-established” organizational structure in the TEC.

For PBEd, improvements in the coordination between the PRC and TEIs can commence, including the alignment of the teacher education curriculum of CHED with the content of the Board for Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (BLEPT).

Meanwhile, PBEd also emphasized the law’s mandate to the PRC to release BLEPT examination questions and answers immediately after their administration, along with item analyses and test statistics to the Council.

PBEd said these released materials are vital for policy formulation, research, and examination feedback.

“The policy is already here. Any further delay in its full enforcement is causing our learners to miss out,” Raagas said.

“While we acknowledge the efforts of the administration to support our teachers, operationalizing the TEC is also a necessary step towards realizing the improvement of teacher education in the country,” she added.

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https://mb.com.ph/2024/6/6/why-investing-in-teacher-education-is-key-to-quality-learning