The K to 12 curriculum
MINI CRITIQUE
By Isagani Cruz | Updated January 12, 2012 - 12:00am
Let us continue our discussion of the major features of the K to 12 curriculum.
In addition to being research-based, the new curriculum is decongested. One of the original reasons of the government for adding two years to our basic education is that Filipino students are forced to study in 10 years what students in other countries study in 12. While it is true that there are extraordinary Filipinos that do not need 12 years, as proven by their excelling in universities both here and abroad, most of our students are like students in other countries who need more time to prepare for productive adult life.
Students will no longer need to cram everything into ten years. In technical terms, this means that the minimum learning competencies or standards (what students know and what they are able to do with what they know) will be fewer per year in the K to 12 curriculum than in the current 10-year curriculum.
Last week, I mentioned two effects of this decongesting. First, Grade 1 classes will last much shorter next year than they do this year. Second, instead of having MAPEH for only three years in elementary school (starting only in Grade 4), students will now have MAPEH for the whole six years, thus spreading three years’ worth of study into six or halving what needs to be learned each year.
At the same time, the K to 12 curriculum is enhanced. That does not refer to the addition of new subjects directly related to employment. What it refers to is the way the existing subjects will be taught. Modern theories and techniques, more attuned to what has been called the new generation of “digital natives,” will be used in the new curriculum.
Actually, earlier than the K to 12 program, DepEd started updating the way students are taught, by introducing Understanding by Design (UBD), an unfortunately much-misunderstood curriculum planning tool. (In the Philippines, UBD is used to prepare lesson plans, which is not what it is good for, according to its original American designers, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. See ubdexchange.org.)
Another feature of the new curriculum concerns English, Filipino, and our various mother tongues. In earlier centuries, language training involved only four skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing), but in the late 20th century, a modern one (viewing) was added. DepEd already included viewing in the curriculum some time ago, but in the K to 12 curriculum, viewing takes a much larger role. The reason should be obvious: today’s youth spend quite a bit of time viewing images on television and pages on the Web.
One of the features of the new curriculum that I personally disapprove of (but since I am no longer an Undersecretary in DepEd, I cannot do much about it) is the downgrading of literature as a language learning resource. According to DepEd, the new curriculum features a “more proportionate distribution of informational and literary texts in Languages.” This means, in practice, that there will be fewer literary texts read by Filipino students from Kindergarten to Grade 10. (Do not worry, my dear literature teachers, literature is a major subject in the proposed curriculum for Senior High School.)
A selling point of K to 12 is the assurance that graduates of Senior High School will be able to work immediately, even before or without seeking a college degree. The new curriculum has Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) and elective subjects that will enable students to obtain Certificates of Competency (COC) or National Certificates Level 1 or 2. COCs and NCs, handed out by TESDA today, are credentials that people earn in order to be employed by companies. At the end of Senior High School, a student will have not only a high school diploma needed for further studies, but also one or more certificates needed for immediate employment.
The new curriculum recognizes “the role of co-curricular activities and community service in the holistic development of children.” This means that students will not limit their learning to the classroom. Instead, they will be asked to learn from their communities outside campus. College students are familiar with this way of learning by doing; most of them render community service or undergo On-the-Job Training (OJT). Students in Senior High School will be given a similar opportunity to do OJT, internship, or apprenticeship.
Senior High School (Grades 11 and 12, or New High School Fifth Year and Sixth Year) will be the main vehicle for preparing students for work immediately after graduation. “In Grades 11 and 12,” says DepEd, “a student will go through a core of academic subjects and elective subjects of his/her choice.” Those electives will give students enough training for entrepreneurship or employment; those that have decided to go to college rather than work will take electives to prepare them for higher education.
In addition to these features are those I discussed last week, namely, the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction and as a separate subject, and the spiral approach.
These, then, are the main features of the K to 12 curriculum: research-based, decongested, enhanced, viewing-related, informational, employment-ready, community-related, elective-rich, multilingual, and spiralled. (To be continued)