DepEd report 2023, a déjà vu!

“IHAVE heard this already, not once but many times before.” I told myself this while listening to the 2023 Department of Education (DepEd) Report by the secretary of the DepEd herself, who is also the honorable vice president (VP) of the Republic of the Philippines, her excellency, Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio. The rationale of her report is a response to “the momentum brought about by the UN Transforming Education Summit in September 2022.”

I do not see the need to go into the details of the national report of the previous heads of the DepEd to express my opinion because VP Sara Duterte’s report sounded like the previous reports made by her predecessors, but she gave it a different slant and several new ideas and recommendations.

One may argue that the report simply showed the key results areas, but just the same, it yielded the same unimpressive results.

I tried to understand the report from the lens of an academic, not as a bureaucrat or politician. Upon listening to the report, I was more distressed than consoled that ironically what is being studied in the graduate levels of universities does not contribute to the solid progress of national education.

I have the impression that there is a huge gap between what is taught in universities and the actual application of education.

The courage to think outside of the box and tread a different path is of the utmost significance. It is important to note that there were two huge blows that hit Philippine education during the pandemic: the first was when the Philippines ranked the lowest in core subjects per international assessment, and the exacerbation of the problem that led to high learning gaps in many students through the use of temporary modes of delivery, including the use of technology.

The report highlighted the perpetual problem of lack of available classrooms, the congested and content-based curriculum that fails to teach 21st century skills making students critical thinkers and problem-solvers, the endless training of teachers who until now utilize weak teaching methods, the integration of technology into classrooms and the curriculum, the need to capacitate teachers in utilizing technology for remote learning, maximizing the use of digital learning and the same litany of woes that is actually repetition of things past.

The term “new normal” became a buzzword during the pandemic. Many expected that schools would no longer go back to the old way of doing things. The insistence of the DepEd to go back to how things were can mean encountering the same old problems.

How I wished the report revolved around the more secure direction the Education department will take and its momentum in continuing to find new ways of doing things and raising the level of discourse in matters pertaining to old issues. It could mean the following:

Taking advantage of the positive contribution of the hybrid/hy-flex mode, which can solve the infinite problem of paucity of classrooms. To give a voice to those looking for scientific solutions like alternative systems of learning as well as flexible accreditation and recognition systems, which can already be institutionalized.

There were indeed many important lessons the education sector learned during the pandemic. May these precious lessons not all go down the drain. The pandemic has hastened the beneficial use of technology in education. How does the DepEd make use of this golden opportunity?

Ours is an educational system with a skewed fascination for quantity, not quality.

We equate quantity of topics with quality learning. Unfortunately, offering a congested curriculum and incalculable topics is like making our students drink from the fire hose.

Hopefully, learning will be focused on big ideas and concepts to avoid curriculum congestion. The primary goal of education should be the development and the deepening of student understanding.

Decades ago, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe explained, “A Big Idea refers to core concepts, principles, theories and processes that should serve as the focal point of curricula, instruction and assessment. Big Ideas reflect expert understanding and anchor the discourse, inquiries, discoveries and arguments in a field of study.” Rather than having a swarm of independent facts, information and concepts that are littered in a curriculum, there should be evident cohesion for meaning-making that assists the mind to achieve deeper understanding.

Not having the mastery of this process obstructs students from moving on to the next level — the higher order thinking skills. This is the antidote to the problem of cluttered and content-based curriculum. How solid is the evidence of having this solution in the overall map of the curriculum? How far is the scientific training of educators progressing to escape their weak teaching methods and embrace an innovative approach based on research and studies?

But we have to give credit where credit is due. Not everything that the DepEd has done failed. There are proofs of successes in enhancing our national education system.

Thanks to the hard work and innovative steps our department officials have taken. May these improvements spread far and wide, and continue uninterruptedly as they require breaking away from too much bureaucracy and politicking.

Lastly, I agree with certainty with what the honorable secretary mentioned that success in the mission of the department requires the support of the various sectors of society.

I have mentioned this before in this column when I said, “Quality of education can never be an independent enterprise.” Hopefully, the relatively fresh and young officials of the Department of Education will act with a sense of urgency to respond to the much-needed innovative education reforms on the services of the DepEd rather than just be content being cogs in a giant bureaucratic machine.

Jesus Jay Miranda, OP is an organization and leadership studies resource person. He teaches at the Graduate School of UST and the Department of Educational Leadership and Management of the Bro. Andrew Gonzalez, FSC– College of Education of De La Salle University-Manila. Contact him at jaymiranda.op@ust.edu.ph.