Abridged Concept Paper in Reviewing the SHS Curriculum as Enacted and Assessed by Private SHS Institutions

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by Gina Lapaza-Montalan, P.h.D.
Consultant, PEAC SHS InSeT Program
Academic Vice President, Ateneo de Davao University

 

The Department of Education officially launched on August 10, 2023, the revised K to 10 curriculum – the MATATAG K to 10.  This is set to be gradually implemented starting SY2024-2025 with the Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 4, and Grade 7.[1]

In the country’s Basic Education program, it is identified that a basic education completer is a learner who has successfully attained the learning outcomes of the program that has mandatory K to 12 levels, wherein the K is the kindergarten level that facilitates the readiness of the learner to proceed to the elementary level – from Grade 1 to Grade 6, which also facilitates the learner’s preparation to proceed to the Junior High School level – from Grade 7 to Grade 10.  Learners who have completed the Grade 10 level move up to Senior High School to complete their Basic Education program [2]

Given the features of the K to 10 MATATAG curriculum, namely: focus on foundational skills for balanced cognitive demands, reduced learning areas for decongested curricula, strengthened peace education, intensified values education, clearer articulation of 21st-century skills, and on a par with international standards [3], and the scaffolding of competency development as designed in our Basic Education program, it is expected that the changes made in the K to 10 curriculum become one of the references in reviewing the SHS curriculum.

In reviewing a curriculum, it is imperative to give attention to how it was originally planned (intended curriculum), how it is enacted or implemented, and how it is assessed (assessed curriculum), thus, giving importance to how they interact with one another.[4]   The Department of Education informed the general public during the launching of the revised K to 10 curriculum (K to 10 MATATAG curriculum) that the SHS curriculum is currently being reviewed and will be unveiled sometime in 2024 [5].

The private SHS institutions, being regulated by the Department of Education, are one with the public SHS in enacting and assessing the SHS intended curriculum guided by the Curriculum Guides that were distributed by the Department of Education.  To statistically represent the population of SHS institutions in the process of reviewing the SHS curriculum and in recognition of the necessity of collaboration of private schools with public schools towards quality education [6], the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) is set to assist the Department of Education in reviewing the SHS curriculum.

The PEAC will conduct a review of the SHS curriculum with the private SHS institutions in the country, which shall be statistically represented by school respondents that shall be selected through stratified proportionate sampling based on the classification of private schools.  The school managers, particularly the SHS program Track heads, and SHS teachers of the core subjects as well as the applied and specialized subjects, shall be subjected to a Focus Group Discussion (FGD).  While their respective selected students shall also go through a Focus Group Discussion, their respective classes shall also be performing the researcher-developed intra-, multi-, and inter-disciplinal performance tasks to measure the extent of attainment of the SHS Learning Outcomes. There will be also a Key Informant Interview that will be conducted with selected authorities whose current functions are related to the four exits of the K to 12 program to gather feedback on their observations of the SHS curriculum by track and strands vis-à-vis the expected competencies of students after completing the SHS program or the Basic Education Program.  Apart from all these, the attainability of the SHS curriculum within the specified time frame and its responsiveness to the demands of the four (4) exits of the K to 12 program as defined by the government through the Department of Education [7] shall be also looked into.  All these, along with the focus questions of each area to be subjected in the review, are mapped out in Table 1 on the following page.

The study is proposed to commence from March to April of 2024 and is expected to provide recommendations in framing an improved SHS curriculum that is responsive to the demands of the pathways or exits as desired by students.  The recommendations shall be centered on the following to assist the Department of Education in improving the SHS curriculum of the country:

 

  1. set of subjects that:
  • are relevant and responsive to the current demands of the exits for SHS students as per pathways defined by the government through the Department of Education, and
  • can be realistically completed within the planned time frame,
  1. implementation guide in teaching the subjects and an in-service training program for teachers to ensure the proper implementation of the improved SHS curriculum, and
  2. assessment guide that ensures measuring the extent of student’s attainment of the subject’s learning targets (Course Learning Outcomes), pathway’s learning outcomes, and the SHS program learning outcomes.