CLEAR QUALIFICATIONS STANDARDS LEAD TO BETTER JOB OPPORTUNITIES

MELBA M. SAMPANG

Establishing transparent levels attained through education, training, work, and other sources of lifelong learning leads to quality job opportunities for Filipinos.

This was according to Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones, when she convened the agencies mandated to issue the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 10968 or the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF) Act recently.

She said the law will standardize and make transparent the process of recognizing qualifications, provide for equivalencies and credit transfers, and facilitate flexible learning pathways across education, training and work.

She said it will also expand the recognition of qualifications acquired through experience, non-formal instruction and settings.

As presently formulated, the PQF has eight qualifications levels (Level 1 to Level II which systematically describe qualifications in terms of knowledge, skills and values, application, and degree of independence.

The PQF will lead to better opportunities because it provides predictability, comparability and quality assurance of qualifications. It will facilitate recognition of skills and competencies acquired outside formal education and training, thereby increasing their value. With sufficient industry linkages, the PQF can facilitate the matching of education and skills to job requirements.

However, according to Secretary Briones, there is a challenge of making PQF more relevant to all Filipinos, in an economy with a large informal sector and characterized by geographic imbalances.

She said one way to make PQF more relevant is to maximize it as a platform for coordination among the government, industry and education (GIE) sectors. This GIE coordination should take up broad concerns, not just to develop the supply side which is human resources, but also the demand side, which is the development and creation of quality jobs.

The PQF Act that was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on January 16, 2018 gives sufficient bases for GIE coordination. Section 7 provides for participation of the industry sector to align educational outcomes with industry requirements. Section 11 provides for the identification of priority sectors. Section 12 provides for support of other government agencies, and Section 8 requires DOLE to provide labor market information to inform the prioritization of learning standards development.

Briones said the PQF system can be made more relevant by making it a platform for institutionalized GIE coordination, working towards coherent strategies in human resource development, employment, industrial policy, and national development.

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The author is Teacher III at Porac Model Community High School, Porac, Pampanga