philippine basic education

A blog that tackles issues on basic education (in the Philippines and the United States) including early childhood education, the teaching profession, math and science education, medium of instruction, poverty, and the role of research and higher education. ” Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations, produced by enthusiastic effort and infinite labor in every country of the world. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honor it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it to your children. Thus do we mortals achieve immortality in the permanent things which we create in common.” – Albert Einstein

Teacher Statistics for the Philippines

Courtesy of Dr. Jose Ramon G. Albert of the Philippines’ National Statistics Coordination Board, numbers describing the current situation of public school teachers have been collated and presented in one place, ” Are We Making it Easier for Our Teachers? ” The following are the tables:

These numbers do provide information on their own. But just in case the obvious is missed, here are the important take-home messages: Philippine public school teachers are overworked (based on high pupil: teacher ratio, teaching hours per day, and teaching hours per year). With long working hours and larger class sizes, teachers are unlikely to have the time, energy and opportunity for professional development and lesson plans especially when the curriculum is changing so often. Philippine public school teachers are underpaid.

Salaries are stagnant also do not go up appreciably with years of experience. Compared to Indonesia and Malaysia, the fraction of Philippine public school teachers under 40 years of age is much smaller. With a significant number retiring in the near future, this can be problematic. Graduation rates in teacher education are less than 20 percent and for those who graduate, only 20-30 percent pass the licensure exam. This means only 4-6 percent of students in teaching colleges qualify to practice the profession.

The faculty in teaching institutions lacks advanced degrees. Less than half of higher education faculty have degrees beyond the bachelors’ degree. Only about 10 percent holds a doctorate degree. Philippine public school teachers are leaving the country for better conditions and opportunities. Add to the above the high poverty incidence in the country and these factors alone can explain the current dismal state of basic education in the Philippines. Education reforms that might work must focus on these issues first.