Polytechnic University of the Philippines COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Mabini Campus, Sta. Mesa, Manila

Term Paper

K-TO-12 PROGRAM

Prepared to:Dr. Rovelina B. Jacolbia M.E.D.

Prepared by:Lovely Saira N. Piad

BBTE III-1D

August 23, 2012

INTRODUCTION

This June 2012 Grade 1 pupils will be taught in their mother tongues, and high school

freshmen will be given technical and vocational courses. And they will all take two years longer

to complete secondary school, the first batch under the Kindergarten-to-12th Grade (K-to-12)

basic education program launched last month. And as a proven boost to school learning,

preschoolers nationwide will go through a

year of kindergarten.

The K-to-12 model will overhaul the current 10-year basic education cycle — six years

of elementary and four years of high school — by adding two years of senior high school, to

align our school system with the global 12-year standard. Prior to K-to-12, the Philippines was

the only country in Asia and one of only three countries — together with Djibouti and Angola of

Africa — that still had a 10-year basic education cycle. Other countries even have 13 or 14 years

of basic and pre-university education. 

In implementing this campaign promise of President Benigno Aquino III, the Department

of Education has underscored the need to address the country’s poor quality of basic education,

as reflected in the low scores in national achievement test and international assessment exams.

Notably, the passing rates for Grade 6 and high school in the National Achievement Test in

2009-2010 were 69.21 percent and

46.38 percent, respectively.

In his presentation on K-to-12 to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry

board in January, Elvin Ivan Uy, K-to-12 Program Coordinator of DepED, blamed this poor

achievement in basic competencies on lack of instruction time. DepEd said K-to-12 will

decongest academic workload to give students more time to master competencies and skills.

However, a 2010 study entitled “Length of School Cycle and the ‘Quality’ of Education”

by retired UP Professor and former Deputy Minister of Education Abraham Felipe and Fund for

Assistance to Private Education Executive Director Carolina Porio, asserts that there is no

correlation between the length of the school cycle and the quality of education.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV cited the report in Senate Resolution 499, which he filed in

May, directing the Senate Committee on Education and other pertinent Senate committees to

probe K-to-12.

The Felipe-Porio study argues that longer education cycles do not necessarily result in

better international math and science test scores. It noted that “some countries with the same or

shorter school cycle garnered the highest scores while those implementing the K-to-12 model or

more years of schooling got lower scores than the Philippines.”

For example, Singapore scored the highest compared with countries with longer high

school cycles, it cited. The study further warns: “if the plan is hastily adopted, pretty soon the

problem would be how to cut short a poor quality 12-year cycle.” In arguing for SR 499 last

June, Trillanes labeled the adaptation of the K-to-12 system a “big, costly and potentially

disastrous” experiment that will worsen the existing problems facing the education sector.

Based on figures from DepEd cited in the K-to-12 Policy Brief from Senate, the country

is in short of 152,569 classrooms, 103,599 teachers, 95.6 million books and 13.2 million seats,

and an estimated P150 billion will be needed to close these gaps in basic education.

With an additional two years of high school, the DepEd estimates that P43.7 billion will

be needed to provide new classrooms, chairs, textbooks, and water and sanitation facilities, while

P17.2 billion is needed to hire teachers and for maintenance and other operating expenses. For

mandatory kindergarten, the government will have to spend P27.1 billion, from SY 2011 to

2015. 

Exactly the point of Senator Edgardo J. Angara, who chairs the Senate Committee on

Science and Technology. Last month he said more comprehensive reforms, such as improving

the curriculum, enhancing training and addressing infrastructure gaps quickly and sustainably,

are needed on top of teacher K-to-12.

Former University of the Philippines president Angara was also disappointed over figures

in the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) article, “Worrisome Trends Towards

Deterioration of Our Human Capital. It said the number of college graduates “has not risen fast

enough” in the last decade. Information from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies

blamed low spending on state colleges

and universities.

NSCB noted that from academic year 2000-2001 to AY 2009-2010, college graduates

increased only 2.9 percent a year average. And those who took science education, teacher

training, engineering and technology declined as a percentage of all graduates, from 31.3 percent

in AY 2000-2001 to 22 percent in 2009-2010. Thus, Angara stresses, “while K+12 is in itself

significant, it is only one step among the many that we as a country will need to undertake.”

Indeed, K-to-12 is just one among countless recommendations in the Education Reform

Roadmap drafted by the Presidential Task Force on Education under former Ateneo de Manila

president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, and handed to President Aquino by his predecessor during their

limousine ride from Malacañang to his inauguration on June 30, 2010.

Plainly, it will take more than 12 years to make the Filipino smarter.

(Ric Saludo’s colleague Pia Rufino at www.manilatimes.net)

IMPRESSION

K-to-12 Program? I first heard about this program when I was searching for my speech

in one of our subjects last semester. This program is inclined with the Public-Private Partnership

Program of President Benigno Aquino III. Honestly, I was against to K-to-1 because for

me it will be just an additional expense for the parents and at the same time for the government.

Yes, I know that K-to-12 will help our economy but it is not right to use young human resources.

I believe that those graduates of K-to-12 programs should be at school after graduating from high

school instead of working. It is still the right of the youth to be enrolled in the tertiary level. But

this was just at first.

K-to-12 is actually good. This program will enable are college graduate to be credited as

a professional globally. I heard that nowadays, that the professional here in our country are not

treated outside the country as a professional. The program will also help our country to produce

a lot of human resource (I hope that the government is also ready to give those human resource a

work). K-to-12 will also help us to level up the educational system of our country. Level up –

because we are one of those few countries that offer a ten year basic curriculum instead of 12 to

14 years.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

Practical Arts was the Revised Secondary Program of 1973. This program includes

Business and Distributive Arts, Industrial Arts, Homemaking Arts, Agricultural Arts and

Fishery Arts.

Practical Arts is a part of the required basic education program for all students in the

secondary level from first year through fourth year. Its concern was to provide work

experiences that develop in the student the knowledge, appreciation, skills and desirable work

habits essential for effective daily living and for meeting the responsibilities of citizenship in a

democratic society. It envisions exposing the first year and second year high school students to

at least three of its components depending on the resources and facilities of the school and

economic needs of the community. At the end of the second year, the student shall have selected

one of the Practical Arts components in which he is particularly interested and in which he will

get further training during the third year and fourth year to make him useful member of his

family and to gain employment after high school graduation.

In the light of the functions and objectives of secondary education as stated in the

Department Order No. 20, s. 1973, and considering the aims of the educational system as

provided for Presidential Decree No. 6-A, otherwise known as the Educational Act of 1982, and

in the Philippine Constitution, Practical Arts should enable the student to:

Gain knowledge of the various occupational opportunities in order to make a wise choice

of a vocation or career;

Acquire knowledge of the material, tools, equipment, processes, products quality

standards and skills involved in the various occupations;

Make intelligent decisions regarding the use and conservation of human and material

resources;

Develop occupational skills or proficiency essential for entrance employment;

Develop love and appreciation for work;

Develop desirable attitudes and values which will contribute to effective personal, family,

and community living.

After a decade, Practical Arts and Home Economics was implemented as a Program for

Decentralized Education and Development (PRODED) under the MECS Memo No. 58, s 1985

which pertains to the New Secondary Education Curriculum, although it was been implemented,

still, it is a try-out program under the MECS Memo No. 58, s. 1985.

Few more years after, under the Secondary Education Development Program (SEDP),

DECS Order No. 11, s. 1989 was implemented. This order changed Practical Arts and Home

Technology to Technology and Home Economics (THE) as a response to the needs and

conditions of the country the objectives of the THE are:

To develop knowledge and skills, values and attitudes; and

To provide classroom and practical work experiences.

THE under the National Secondary Education Curriculum (NSEC) is offered for 480

minutes time allotment per week (8 hours/week) still containing the same four major learning

areas. It is an exploratory course in the first and second years in high school. In the last two

years in high school, a course is offered to specialize.

Entrepreneurship is the core of THE. While learning the different theories and

principles of simple business management, the principles and concepts in agriculture, industrial

arts and home economics are also applied.

SEPD was implemented in the country for 12 years.

The House of Representatives made an integrated act to integrate IT education into the

Public Elementary and Secondary Curricula and Appropriating Funds which specifically stated

in Section 2, the declaration of Policy that it should be the policy of the state in the public school

system of the country. Likewise, the state shall encourage the use of Information Technology

and its various components.

In conformity to the act made by the House of Representatives, the Philippine

Commission on Educational Reforms, created on December 7, 1998 through Executive Order

No. 46, recommended the adoption of the restructured Basic Education Curriculum and its

implementation starting 2002. The 2002 Basic Education Curriculum is a restructing and not a

sweeping change of the elementary and secondary curricula (New Elementary and Secondary

Curriculum – implemented in 1983 and 1989 respectively).

Technology and Livelihood Education’s function is to enhance and complement the

learning competencies of the life skills training and career enhancement program of the

curriculum particularly in developing leadership potentials, building desirable work values and

character and improving technical and functional skills in Home Economics, Agriculture and

Fishery Arts, Entrepreneurship and Computer Education.

As I observe in the historical development, the common thing is that the course or the

program shall provide the students the skills, knowledge and experiences needed to be

applied at work.

AREAS IN THE TLE K-TO-12 PROGRAM

Technology and Livelihood Education and technical – vocational specializations,

consistent with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority training regulations

(TESDA), will start at grade 7.

TLE subjects such as Information and Communication Technology, Agriculture,

Home Economics, Industrial Arts and Entrepreneurship are exploratory in in grade 7 and

grade 8.

Schools shall have the option to choose at least eight from the 24 TLE specializations to

be offered. The courses that will be offered should be based on the local industry demands

capability of the school and shall be expanded due to the demand and requirements of the local.

DIFFERENCE IN THE TEACHING OF THE TLE K-TO-12

CURRICULUM TO THE PREVIOUS ONE

The TLE courses thought in the k-to-12 curriculum is most likely the same as the

previous curriculum. But in the present case TLE will be more exploratory, more skills will be

acquired and more knowledge. The students are free to choose whatever course he/she wants to

take depending upon his/her interest. In K-to-12, the government wants to avoid the number of

drop-outs in every school.

The facilitator/21st century teachers should be more flexible and more knowledgeable

about the trends. The 21st classroom will be learner centered – so everything should be

understood and clear to the learner before proceeding to the next topic/lesson.

The teachers should not let the learners stock into the four walls of the classroom – the

teacher should let the students to experience everything and let the student explore.

K-to-12 program is a challenge to each and every one of us --- to the government,

teachers, parents and most especially to the learners.