The Curriculum Summit

On Nov. 15, I convened a Curriculum Summit at the Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education (FUSE) in Manila. Present were Senate and Congress legislators, DepEd officials (led by Sec. Armin Luistro), CHED commissioners and officials (led by Chair Patricia Licuanan), TESDA officials, presidents of public and private schools, business executives, and education gurus.

Before the three-hour session, I asked the participants to indicate their preference among the various ways of adding two years to the basic education cycle. After the session, I asked them again where they thought the years should be added in the cycle. During the session, they discussed the pros and cons of each option, as well as other education issues.

Before the session, 25.6% of the participants thought a Grade 7 and a 5th year high school (HS) should be inserted into the cycle. After the discussions, 31.6% preferred this option. This is the option preferred by President Aquino. We can expect DepEd to implement this option, although the results of the Summit might make the President change his mind, since 68.4% of our top educators and policy makers do not agree with this course of action.

Before the session, 20.9% thought that basic education should remain exactly as it is today, but the two-year Pre-University proposed by the Presidential Task Force on Education (PFTE) should be instituted. After the session, only 13.2% preferred this option. After listening to the arguments against the PTFE proposal, educators realized that there were better options.

Before the session, 18.6% thought that the two years should be added at the end of the basic education cycle, but with 5th year and 6th year HS having different curriculums for those going to college and those working full-time after HS. After the session, 15.8% preferred this option. Although some changed their minds, this was still considered a better option than the Pre-University,

Before the session, 9.3% thought that the present Kindergarten should be transformed into Grade 1 (thus automatically instituting a 7-year elementary cycle) and a 5th year HS should be added at the end of the cycle. After the session, 13.2% thought that this was a good option. Aquino’s plan actually provides for this option; he wants Kindergarten to become Grade 1 and a real pre-school instituted prior to what we now call pre-school. Aquino, however, does not want an extra year added after HS but before it (called a bridge between elementary school and HS). Clearly, the bridging program needs to be rethought.

Before the session, 7.0% thought that there should be two kinds of HS students. One kind should be given diplomas after Grade 10; these students are those that will work immediately after HS. The other kind should not be given diplomas but should be made to go to 5th year and 6th year HS; these students are those that will go on to college. After the session, 7.9% agreed with this proposal (not a significant change of opinion).

Before the session, 7.0% thought that everyone should go through the same 5th year and 6th year HS, whether they are college-bound or not. After the session, only 2.6% still thought so, showing clearly that there is little reason to extend the basic education cycle if no streaming is done.

Before the session, 11.6% had other ideas. After the session, 15.8% still did not like any of the other options. Some were actually against adding years; these are now beating a dead horse, because Aquino has made it clear that he will add two years. Some wanted more than two additional years. Some wanted Ordinary Level (O) and Advanced Level (A) exams, British style.

There were a number of lessons learned during the Curriculum Summit. The most obvious is that, with discussion, people’s minds change. An implication of this is that there is a need for even more discussion. If people can change their minds after three hours, think of how much clearer the options would be if we had three days to really consider all their implications.

In fact, most of the participants asked for another session, but since I organized the Summit only on my own private initiative (with financial help from FUSE, which waived the rental fee for its conference room and paid for the snacks), I hope I need not have to host the next one. CHED, DepEd, TESDA, the Presidential Assistant for Education, or the education committees of the Senate or Congress can easily and officially convene Curriculum Summit II.

The Summit also discussed the subjects that should be but are not in the Basic Education Curriculum, whether there should still be General Education in college, the trifocal structure, and other issues. (To be continued)

TEACHING TIP OF THE WEEK: An excellent collection of research-based and practical teaching tips for college teachers is that of the Office of Educational Development of the University of California at Berkeley (teaching.berkeley.edu). The collection is based on the bible for teachers by Barbara Gross Davis entitled Tools for Teaching (1993; 2nd edition, 2009).

Here’s a teaching tip from Berkeley: “At the start of each class, ask someone in the class to summarize what happened in the last session.”