Sailing With K-12
The K-12 rationale is to align Philippine Basic Education Curriculum to the world standards. This is done by adding two years of senior high school to the old four year secondary education to enable them to get employable skills with diploma and another year for mandated kindergarten. It cannot be denied that right now we are facing a great challenge in the implementation of the K-12 curriculum. Many have stressed the impact of the curriculum to the economy and to the enhancement of our educational system. Many have also expounded on its consequence on tertiary education like decreasing of staffs and faculty members.
For the teachers in the basic education, we understand the predicaments of the teachers in the colleges and universities. In fact, we firmly believe that, if we would really like to be competent and competitive globally, tertiary education should be strengthened. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) must see to it that our universities are recognized internationally. DepEd is offering a financial scheme with them to utilize existing facilities along with teaching and nonteaching staff to offset the transition period, the reduction in enrolment in colleges, universities and TechnicalVocational Institutions. But what does this really mean to us, teachers in basic education? We are lucky in the basic education because we are not affected by the layoff. But this could also mean a total adjustment and change for us. We need to be fully equipped with knowledge and skills in implementing the K-12 curriculum by attending seminars and trainings. We need to be creative in crafting and delivering our lessons since the government couldn’t immediately provide the books and the materials needed for the new curriculum. Teacher educators like other would-be change agents must take some initiative themselves. This issue is not new to us, thinking that the future of these children lies on us, what we can do is to reflect on how we can make the lives and learning of these children more fruitful and meaningful during their stay with us.
This transition in education that we are undergoing right now can be compared to what Jean Paul Sartre, a French philosopher, said about what man is when he is born. “Man is incomplete when he is born.” So, the vision and mission of man is to fill in what is missing despite of challenges and hindrances. God did it this way to challenge man to keep on searching for what is missing so that when he finds the missing piece, only then can he live a meaningful life. Likewise, we keep on innovating our curriculum. It may not be perfect at first and there may be lots of questions and obstacles but in due time, this hopefully yields better results in the curriculum, in the education, in the employment, in the lives of individuals and in the country as a whole.