Challenges to the education system? Hindi Na Bago 'Yan! With Lorina Calingasan

In 2021, three different multi-country student assessments observed how poor the learning results were for the Philippines. The World Bank ran the Philippines among the countries with unacceptably poor school climate, or 80% of Filipino school children not knowing what they should know. The Philippine government through the Department of Education cried foul, citing outdated metrics, the use of old data, and unfollowed protocol on information release. But the metrics only confirmed what we already know, that our education system has been languishing due to corruption and neglect. After that, the global pandemic that has forced education delivery to move online. In this episode, we unpack some of the most basic issues in our country's education today, because the sorry state of education in the country. The lack of government attention to education. The country's slow education ranking? It's not about you. Hi, I'm Lee Candidario. I'm Aaron Malieri. And I'm Veckel Porja. And this is podcasts. Conversations and Philippine history, politics, and so on. Dahil dun sa intronili, na lala ko yung July 2021 wrap-up natin, when it was still wrap-up. So when we talked about Lilling Breones and her tantrum, when the World Bank released that ranking. Imagine, instead of being proactive about the issue, most of the concern that the Philippines was not informed about their rankings beforehand. Breones was adamant that the World Bank inflicted harm on the Philippine government. In fairness to Mansoor World Bank, they admitted some lapses, then, and they apologized. But what I didn't know was the fact that the date of the death of our country is in 2019. So when we talked about the date of the date, but if the latest date is made, I mean, with the pandemic raging, the ranking of the Philippines, will there be a difference? Actually, no. The pandemic has magnified some of the most pressing social issues that have been made in education. Canaman, for this episode of "Indina Baguayan," pag usapa natin ang education in the Philippines. We interviewed Dr. Lorena Kalingasan of the University of the Philippines' Dileman College of Education and formerly the principal of the UP Integrated School to talk about some of the most pressing issues of Philippine education today. Ang unang tinan ang natin kay teacher Lorena, ano ang masasabinya sa development ng Philippine Education. Ang development ang natin educational system ay very colonial, it's influenced mostly by the Americans. Even the term K212, that's very American. Yung use ng medium of instruction na initial English, bago siya naging mother tongue, is only because of K212. So it makes a bend for so long, we have been using English as the medium of instruction. So, talagang colonial, na colonial, ah, ah, influenza, mero o nang ating educational system and we can also see the very centralized system where in all policies, including the curriculum, must emanate from the depth-ed central office and it was implemented in different regions. And because of that centralized system, very annoying, very hierarchical, because it is not easy to move the regions if there is no memo guiding the central office. So, if you want to revise or contextualize the curriculum, it's like you have a signal on it, before you move or before you move it. Even principles, right? You have to have a lot of power, because it's the type of memo guiding the central office. So, that's the development of the educational system specifically on basic education. So, that's the centralized and metro hierarchical. So, the colonial roots of the Philippine education are the basic education and in terms of widening access to it, it's very easy when it comes to American people. Prior to the 20th century, there were also some examples. There were some esponials on the degree of 1863, but you know, in terms of wider access, there were more attributes in the United States. I think there was a point from the centralized system of education, which also had roots in the American occupation. To a certain extent, we were able to see in the tight control of Americans, in the education, through the control of who teaches and what is being taught. Of course, these are the thermocytes. The roots were recruited from the United States and made in the Philippines at the Barcon USS Thomas, which is why they were called "tomocytes". From there, there were some examples of high schools, and as we all know, the University of the Philippines was in 1908. It was a very important point in the education of the Philippines. We don't just say this because we are from UP, but actually, we recognize its colonial roots. In our episode, we judge a bin alles on political dynasties, which is the role of UP as the school where future leaders of the country were trained, where these students could get a colonial education, then they can go back to their provinces and quite laterally become leaders. So, when Dr. Kalingasan, when teacher Lorena mentioned the colonial education, this is the way it is. This is the central dynasties of the English language. But I emphasized the centralised and hierarchical system of education, which is why it's called teacher Lorena. What I'm saying is that teachers, principals, are very dependent on memos. If you don't have memos, then you don't have to do that. What do you mean by "dependencies" or "ignificiencies"? We're talking about the Filipino education. And it also manifests in a lot of ways, not only in policies, but also in content. What I'm saying is that I have a lot of content discussions that are not just about teachers, but also the good separatical tests. If we don't agree with our teachers, that's when they're at a district or division level. So, imagine that it's just about content. What's the administration of human resources, the physical plant, the instruction? What's the problem? And there's no hope, because there's only one way to navigate the path of the teacher. So, if we're talking about that, but for now, we're talking about teacher Lorena, the Filipino education, and the international standards of rankings. I'm sure that the international assessments will be a part of our team. If you are familiar with it, the trends in international math and science study and the PISA, the program for international student assessment. So, we're talking about the test of our students, but unfortunately, our results are just the same. So, we're talking about grades 8, and the PISA is grade 9, 15-year-olds. So, the subjects are science, math, and reading. And unfortunately, our assessment is below the mean. It's the same. We're not talking about the international standards. So, this quality education in the PISA is a very challenging educational system. Because we're talking about the ability of students. I think that the quality education for all, because it's not possible for the quality education to be selected by the students. We can see several levels of inequities, like geography. Of course, the majority of the students are in the same place. There are no resources, no teachers, no building. So, the quality education of the students. So, geography, whether in the types. Of course, we have a notion of private school, as well as public school, which is also a kind of inequity. So, even if it's a quality education, even if it's a public school, it's not a private school. I think it's a very pressing challenge. The text book, the materials that we saw, na tekseborin. wukos weather those use in face-to-face and the modules that were produced while we are on remote or flexible learning, ay midjo may problema, diba mababang kalidad ng module ng nasulat. Mababa dahil, may misconception, malimale, may mga stereo typing na nangyayare, alam natan ang learning ay nangyayare, sa tulong ng mga materials na ito o sa tulong ng mga text box at modules na ito. Paya challengea dahil, ka ilang ang mga itama ang mga ito. But there are other challenges that have been very constant like class size, teacher quality, how teachers are licensed, and the way we qualify teachers, sigurayon ng mga important challenges ng educational system napot. Namang damo ko yung mga inequities na na damangit naladina. Bilang producto ako ng public education mo la-kinder hanggang university. Tapos na turudin ako sa isam private high school. So ibang ibatalaga experience at nakita ko first hand. When I was in grade school, mga taontalaga na kulang yung text box ko. Tipong tatlo lang amal ko ako sa isang taon out of what 11 or 12 text box yata. Tapos, yung ibang text box para ang mag-gayiraman kami ng kaklasiko. And then ang high school na man, experience ko na 60 kami sa isang classroom na napakali id. En laki ko diba. And imagine in high school ng total population at 10,000 at my 45 sections per year level. So ang iraptopan ako mga totos sa ganoong contextor. And I admit this was like decades ago, but it is very telling of the disparity between public and private schools. Kamano. In the highly centralized education system, one would expect na siguruna man may tight quality control on materials. And it would be easy to correct wrong information on them. Pero lumalabas na taramak parin yung mga malimali at outdated ng mga materials na pinapagamit sa mga astrojante. Sa siguruna man din natin kailang yung emphasized how important this is. Kasi itong podcast nga natin. Aibin o natin diba para talang makatulong sa potatama ng mga malisamang history textbooks. Kaya lang, history is but one of the multiple subjects in school. Kano yung subject? Hmm, exactly. So yung textbooks nga din o, I remember yung isang webinar nakinandak ni Dr. Maria Serenat-Yokno, to culdunsel study nila on textbooks. At lumabas na napakaramitalagang factual errors at iba pang urin ng madame sila ka na identifay na errors na. So abang inaway naka-bother kasi nga shempre, ito yung minsan talagang pinahanguhan ng tinuturo sa mga public schools. So kung malimali mga nang textbooks. Kung maayos na mga lecture at teacher training at capable sila to correct these errors, okay na din sana, pero nabangkit dinit teacher lurina na may problema sa licensing ng teachers. Very content-based ang let or yung licensure examination for teachers. Ang balitakoren sa mga kaybigan natin ng let, may mga tanung talaga na very knowledge-based. And yet, walaang tamang sa God. Dawa, I mean based on their knowledge, walaang tamang sa God. So, bakit tinitest ang knowledge, hindi badapat mga skills ang tinitest kapag may licensing like pedagogy lalong nat mga teachers sila. And you know, let's say they pass and become teachers. We know what awaits them. A lifetime of service and sacrifice, talagang alam naman natin na bak-breaking work ang pag-tuturo lalong sa public schools system. Kasi yung roka pag-guru ka. Nika lang-guru, nika lang mag-guturo. And these what teacher durina tells us about these experiences. I think I will be sharing what my students, who are teachers, no? Experience. Atong online learning. Ang dami, dami, dami, dami, nilang ginagawa. Ang dami, daming forms, nilang kailang is-submit. And they were even requested to answer modules. Para sabi ko. Anong module ang sinasa-gutanin yung. So, impala itong mga teachers, may sarilisilang module na sinasa-gutan. At isina sabit sa depth. So, hali ba wa. Anong ginawamon itong week na ito. Anong napan sinmo-salarning. Yung mga ganon, no? Paraang surveyin syano. And then ang nakakatawan ito, the teachers were allowed to copy answers from each other. Paraang osiguro, para hindi nasilama burden. Pwede nang mga mga pyanalang kayo ng mga sagotin yung. But they were required to submit these forms. At the time, ang kailangan nilanggawan, ay magprepere ng lesson nila for their class. So, yung sinabi ko sa kanil bakit hindi makita ng depth ed. Sorry sa depth ed ano. Nga ang kailangan panahon ng teachers, ay railin yung materialis nila. Itaamak yung mga mali na nasa module. Diba. Maghanap ng iba pang materialis na poeding gamiten. Hindi yung kung anoanong mga forms. Ang kailangan nilang isabmi. There are clerical, administrative tasks that teachers are required to do. Hindi naman sila mga hindi kasi, nga evaluate sila according to the forms that they have submitted. Kasi paraang ano yun, a-complishment nila. Kapag guru ka sa public school, talaga ng pinagdadaanan mo lahat yan ano. Lahat ng clerical work. Reporting about learnings. Imagin, hindi ka naman ng toturo. Kailangan mo ng airport yung itin ng rumo sa higher ups. Hindi lang yung siya impre mga sujanti mo, e-kailangan mo rin alagaan at supportan. Yung kaya, napapaisipo ko minsan. It is so unfair to call teachers, na second parents. Kasi paraang may expectation, you should make sacrifices talaga to your own detriment para lang supportahan yung mga sujanti mo. Sa mantalang kung sa patang supportan ang pamalahan mo sa patalisan ng gampanan, yung responsabilidad mo bilang guru. And to think teachers have to do all this sa harap ng pandemia halimbawa tito sa contexto natin. So tinanong natin si teacher lurina. Kung ano ang mga challenges ng pandemia at ng online learning. Ato ang sabi ng? Shempre yung COVID, napuer sa tayo ng online learning. Diba. Amatagal na itong ano yan. Amatagal ng paraang sinusubukan, pero ang COVID lang talaga ang nagpuer sa sa atin nagumamit ng technology. Shempre ang mga teachers, sindi naman ready for that. We were not trained how to yung zoom. Yung mga gano, no? Chaka yung mga learning management system. Exept for private schools na naminigay nasilan o ng tablet at nat time. Dahil ng pinabilis ng COVID, ang paggamit natin ang pag-shift natin to remote learning, some of the teachers were caught and aware. Nakimdita laga sila ready. Ang isang challenge sa teacher is paanumo, ided attorney, kung ano yung kailangan lang nga skills sa subject mo. Kasi wala nang face-to-face, so napuer sa yung mga teachers na sige, look at our subject and then, ano lang skills ang kailangan natin na ituro. Given your subject, ano lang talaga ang basic nakailangan mo ituro. Shempre wala na dapach ang memory, recitation yung mga ganuno, hindi nasha, anti nasha skills na kailangan. Paan yung mga yun, ano yung mga relevant skills like decision making, problem solving, adaptability, so yung mga ifo-focus na skills, given your subjects. And then ang isapa, ang mga teachers, I think they were also forced to program their lessons weekly. Kasi diba dati ang tingi natin sa school year, I by quarter. Diba, by quarter, toos met periodic exam or quarterly exam. Pero ngayon, weekly mo shatiting nane. Paano mo itchachap yung lesson mo weekly, ano ang accomplishment mo for the week, ano ang assignment mo sa sojante for this week. So parang, yung ano, yung time, tiniting nangayon ng mga teachers, at hindi na yung quarterly. Ay pangatlo, yung assessment, periodic test paba, shempre hindi nga, ano parang mahirap nang magbigay ng periodic test. So ang tanong, ano ang alternative assessment ang gagamitin mo. So it really, yung online learning has changed the way we assess. Kasi mahirap na yung pencil and paper assessment. Shepere ang teacher, ka ilang ang dinteti, hindi pweding na i-1 sa paggamit ng technology, ang karamihan sa mga matatandang teachers, if I may say, na hindi, nakaagapay, dito sa technology. Ang hindi hing anang tulong, nila nang tulong, ay yung mga batang teachers. Ito naman mga batang teachers, na doblay yung load nila, kasi sila yung nag-encode ng grade, nung mga matatandang teachers. So ka ilangan mag-adap, ka laga ang teacher, dito sa online learning na ito. Ang challenge naman dito sa online learning na ito, ay. Shempre, ano ang gadget nagagamit ng teacher, meron ba siyang Internet Connectivity sa teacher lang muna, kapos pupunta ngayon tayo sa mga estudjante ganun deno. Ano ang gaganiten nilang gadget meron din basilang Internet Connectivity. at kung sila ay on their own, kasi independent learning nareng ngayon ang at-state. Diba para ang the students have to learn on their own, walang teacher eh. Aralin mo yung nakalagay sa kanware work-sheet tapos on your own, kung may tanong kalang sa hakalang pwede mag tanong sa teacher. Kung walang mag support sa estudjante habang sya na sabaha yad dinagawanya ang module. So, panang yan matututunan ang isang material, so which is also a problem kasi ng ang study ng World Bank, yung mga magulang na walang educational attainment at a certain level, hindi nila kaya magtulungan yung anak nila. So, walang natutunan yung anak kasi, hindi nga masuparvais, kasi hindi namin alam kung ano yung leson ng bata. So, household support ay isarim challenge, kasi nga ang nangyara yung mga nasa-specifika lina sa lower socio-economic status, ay may rungding mga magulang na hindi-educated at a certain level. Kaya hindi nila nasuportahan ang kanilang mga anak. Teachers had to scramble to level up agad agad. So, kelangan yung rethink yung education natin asa-hole. Weekly na ang tingin sa lesons, ang assessment, hindi na memory-based, kasi madalina ay Google lang sa God. Pero, pinakatumatak sa akin dito sa nabanggit ni teacher lurina, ay yung mga teacher na hindi techie. Burden ng kabata ang teachers na tulungan, yung mga nakakatan ang teachers, nasa-mabay sa teknolohyas, so para silang sandwich generation. Ya, and I mean, sa teachers ya, no. And although we say na yung mga students ngayon, medyo mga digital natives na sila, I don't think that applies evenly to all Filipinos. I mean, it's one thing to use a cell phone, to go online on Facebook, or to play mobile legends, like ito. But online learning requires access to online tools na ma-arinkay nangan muna ng mamasar ng sujante. At, siya-mpare no, ang pinakamalak ni yung mga sa pin dito. May computers ba, may internet ba, may pambayat ba ng koreante. Independent learning, pero siya yung tutulong sa mga sujante. Atan a-katakot pa dito ano, yung sujante, haya anong mga explore online on their own. So sa dami ng basura sa internet, ang daming danger na ma-expose ang mga sujante sa problematic online content, is sa ito sa mga advocasis ni teacher lurina. Bila ang sangguro. It is what's yet to say about this. May studies na mapapatu na ina, ang intent din ng mga bata, bastagaling sa internet ko tan ko. Aitru, reliable. Para ang bastagaling, ay galing sa internet, paniniwala an, agad nila. So meron ganong misconception. So ka ilangantalagang maging, I think the skill of critical thinking and evaluating online information has to be taught and it should be taught explicitly. Hindi tuturuan mutalagapan ang meron silang hands on nakanoare. Ito. Fake news ito. Pano mo e-evaluating ito. Bakit ito reliable. Bakit ito hindi reliable. Ka ilangang meron silang ano. Ano bata. Hands on experience. Hindi pweding step one, step two, ganito ang gawin mo. Ka ilangang actual, para makita nila at my experience nila. Kung pa ano talaga mag-evaluate ng online information. Event teachers. Ka ilangang turuan ito, dahil silaiproon din sa fake news. We know that sa social studies, di ba ang dami, daming kumalat na fake news, historical, negative historical revisionism. Na ang punut dolo lang na ito ay critical thinking. Maniniwala kabas sa walang basihan. Maniniwala kabas sa ang basihan ay hindi reliable. Kiktok ang basihan, di ba? Hindi ayon sa sinabi ng mga historiang. Siguruma itagdagkunaran ang ano ng cyberbullying and mental health. Napansindin kasi natin na during the time of COVID-19 and online learning, mas dumame ang nakakaranas ng depression, dekanatko para. Hindi nila maintindahan ang sarili nila, di ba para ang daming pressure. Wala naman ginaagawa, pero ang feeling nila pagod na pagod yon. So, the OHS to come in para ang di ba? Paano tutulungan ang mga estojante to take care of their mental health. Asaik from fake news, sa toa reng mental health issues na rabang gita-teacher durina very isolating ang online learning, kasi wala kang socialization, kung so speak from experience about these billon ng isang gururina. Kasi kapag-teacher ka, naka-classica online, naka-usap mo mga black squares sa screen. So, talaga ng nakaka-depres, naka-inaway nakaka elinit. But I think the situation is somehow changing nasa filipinas, kasi balitang balita na yung pagbukas na mga schools pa unty-unty at ang usapa nga yon ay hybrid learning. Kung mag-aamay online, pero may face-to-face component na din. But sa harap ng lahat ng challenges na ito sa dokaswan sa atin, sahtong ayon kasi election, and our candidates, well at least some candidates, are outlining their education agenda. So, we asked teacher durina to comment on this and this is what she has to say. We know that in the next school year, we might transition to hybrid learning. So, yung susunod na presidente, na ay intindihan niya kung anoong mga preparation ang gagawin for hybrid learning. Paano niya to ay implement? Kasi, indi ito bero, it's a very complex thing, di ba? And hybrid learning may be different in different regions. Kay lang ang malaman ng presidente na one size does not fit all. Iba iba sya, iba iba syang por masiguro. I would also like to look at the president's choice of the Deped Secretary. Kay lang ang magaling yung pipili ng Deped Secretary. Na, na yung intindihan talaga ang edukaswan na ito. Kasi, mahalaga yung role ng Deped Secretary kasi envisions the vision of the president for education. Paano niya ng lalagyan ng concreteong steps and concreteong demonstration. Itong mga naein vision ito ng isang presiden, o ng magiging presidente. When it comes to budget, tama na manata asan ang budget ng edukaswan, at kay lang hilingin natin o, sa bihin natin edaman natin sa susunod na presidente ang masmatas na budget. Pero higit dito ay the spending of that budget. Kasi ang nadirinig ko yan, di ba akala natin? Walang pera ang edukaswan. Pero nung nang report sila. Under-spending, merong under-spending. So ba bakit ganon? Nakukulang ng textbook, nakukulang ng teachers. Pero may under-spending debt. So given the increase in budget, kay lang ang debed secretary, we'll know how to spend them. And how to spend them well. And maybe the last thing is how will the president ensure kathulat ng anong sinabiko that certain departments have to work together for education. Paanan natin may ensure that certain departments have to work together for education. One size does not fit all, Sabi ng arti-teacherlorina. Kay lang ang alang susunod na presidente, yung particularities ng context ng bawaat komunidad. And kay lang ang masmatas na budget sa edukaswan. Di ba? No brainer na manyan. Di ba nga sabi ng UNESCO, da pa at 6% ng national budget ang nakalahan sa edukaswan. Ako gusto ko rin nung nga banggit na teacherlorina, na hindi lang sa usapinang pera. Usapin din sya ng paggasta ng pera. Kasi nga, amalala ang corruption. At dapat efficient ang pan-allocate, sa kusa ang akupunta yung pera para sa na inilalaan para sa edukaswan. Ako naman gusto ko yung pagtingin sa education as a whole of government approach. Hindi lang siya debt ed, dapat ang generin ang mga LGU, ang DOH, ang DSTB, yung DSTB, at iba pang mgaahan sya ng pahalahan. Kumbaga, dapat maalo ka yung burden nasin asalo ng mga guruk. Hindi lang siya dapat ang concern sa welfare ng mga istujaante. And moving forward, we are hopeful na ang susunut natin pese dente ay alam at aware sa mga usaping ito. Saningin na kapag turu na. para ng experience sa talaga kung paano ang magturo. We need a precedent with a clear education agenda para masiguro yung equitable access sa quality education. And that's it for this episode of "Indina Bagoyan". Salamat kaay, Dr. Lorena kalingasan for her in-size. And if you want to listen to our full interview with Lorena, nasa web site natin yan, bisitahan lang ang podcast.org. And if you want more of podcasts, check out our older seasons and episodes in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and core at iba bang streaming platforms at nasa YouTube din kami. And if you want to continue the conversation, visit our social media pages. We are active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. So, kithakit susunud na episode, stay safe and as always, have a good day.