TRENDS & ISSUES IN

PHILIPPINE
EDUCATION SYSTEM
 Trend & Issues

Issues as ideas, thoughts, and debates

centered on educational policy and
practices. Trends will refer to new, up-
and-coming, and popular educational
practices.
The educational system of the Philippines has been affected
immensely by the country's colonial history including the
Spanish period, American period, and Japanese rule and
occupation. Although having been significantly influenced by all
its colonizers with regard to the educational system, the most
influential and deep-rooted contributions arose during the
American occupation (1898); it was during this aforementioned
period that :

1. English was introduced as the primary language of instruction

2. A public education system was first established - a system
specifically patterned after the United States school system
and further administered by the newly established
Department of Instruction. Similar to the United States of
America, the Philippines has had an extensive and extremely
inclusive system of education including features such as
higher education.
 Issues in Philippine Education System
Quality of Education
In the year 2014, the National Achievement Test (NAT) and the
National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) results show that
there had been a decline in the quality of Philippine education at the
elementary and secondary levels. The students' performance in both
the 2014 NAT and NCAE were excessively below the target mean
score. Having said this, the poor quality of the Philippine educational
system is manifested in the comparison of completion rates between
highly urbanized city of Metro Manila, which is also happens to be not
only the country's capital but the largest metropolitan area in the
Philippines and other places in the country such as Mindanao and
Eastern Visayas. Although Manila is able to boast a primary school
completion rate of approximately 100 percent, other areas of the
nation, such as Eastern Visayas and Mindanao, hold primary school
completion rate of only 30 percent or even less. This kind of statistic
is no surprise to the education system in the Philippine context,
students who hail from Philippine urban areas have the financial
capacity to complete at the very least their primary school education.
 Issues in Philippine Education System

Budget for Education

Although it has been mandated by
the Philippine Constitution for the
government to allocate the highest
proportion of its government to
education, the Philippines remains
to have one of the lowest budget
allocations to education among
ASEAN countries.
 Issues in Philippine Education System

Affordability of Education
A big disparity in educational
achievements is evident across various
social groups. Socioeconomically
disadvantaged students otherwise known
as students who are members of high and
low-income poverty-stricken families,
have immensely higher drop-out rates in
the elementary level. Additionally, most
freshmen students at the tertiary level
come from relatively well-off families.
 Issues in Philippine Education System
Drop-out Rate (Out-of-school youth)
There is a graved need to address the alarming number of out-
of-school youth in the country. The Philippines overall has 1.4
million children who are out-of-school, according to UNESCO's
data, and is additionally the only ASEAN country that is included
in the top 5 countries with the highest number of out-of-school
youth. In 2012, the Department of Education showed data of a
6.38% drop-out rate in primary school and a 7.82% drop-out
rate in secondary school. Castro further stated that "the
increasing number of out-of-school children is being caused by
poverty. The price increases in prices of oil, electricity, rice,
water, and other basic commodities are further pushing the poor
into dire poverty." Subsequently, as more families become
poorer, the number of students enrolled in public schools
increases, especially in the high school level. In 2013, the
Department of Education estimated that there are 38, 503
elementary schools alongside 7,470 high schools.
 Issues in Philippine Education System

Mismatch
There is a large mismatch between
educational training and actual jobs. This
stands to be a major issue at the tertiary level
and it is furthermore the cause of the
continuation of a substantial amount of
educated yet unemployed or underemployed
people. According to 1-Ang Edukasyon Party-
list in the House of Representatives, the
number of educated unemployed reaches
around 600,000 per year. He refers to said
condition as the "education gap".
 Issues in Philippine Education System
Brain Drain
Brain Drain is a persistent problem evident in the
educational system of the Philippines due to the modern
phenomenon of globalization, with the number of
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who worked abroad
at any time during the period April to September 2014
was estimated at 2.3 million. This ongoing mass
emigration subsequently inducts an unparalleled brain
drain alongside grave economic implications.
Additionally, Philippine society hitherto is footing the bill
for the education of millions who successively spend
their more productive years abroad. Thus, the already
poor educational system of the Philippines indirectly
subsidizes the opulent economies who host the OFWs.
 Issues in Philippine Education System

Social Divide
There exists a problematic and distinct
social cleavage with regard to educational
opportunities in the country. Most modern
societies have encountered an equalizing
effect on the subject of education. This
aforementioned divide in the social
system has made education become part
of the institutional mechanism that
creates a division between the poor and
the rich.
 Issues in Philippine Education System
Lack of Facilities and Teacher Shortage in Public Schools
There are large-scale shortages of facilities across Philippine public schools -
these include classrooms, teachers, desks and chairs, textbooks, and audio-
video materials. According to 2003 Department of Education.  reportedly over
17 million students are enrolled in Philippine public schools, and at an annual
population growth rate of 2.3 per cent, about 1.7 million babies are born every
year which means that in a few years time, more individuals will assert
ownership over their share of the (limited) educational provisions. To sum it up,
there are too many students and too little resources. Albeit the claims the
government makes on increasing the allocated budget for education, there is a
prevalent difficulty the public school system faces with regard to shortages.
Furthermore, state universities and colleges gradually raise tuition so as to
have a means of purchasing facilities, thus making tertiary education difficult to
access or more often than not, inaccessible to the poor. However, it is worth
taking note of what the Aquino administration has done in its five years of
governance with regard to classroom-building - the number of classrooms built
from 2005 to the first half of the year 2010 has tripled. Additionally, the
number of classrooms that were put up from the year 2010 to February 2015
was recorded to be at 86,478, significantly exceeding the 17,305 classrooms
that were built from 2005 to 2010 and adequate enough to counterbalance the
66,800 classroom deficit in the year 2010.
 Issues in Philippine Education System
Issues regarding the K-12
There is dispute with regard to the quality of education provided by the
system. In the year 2014, the National Achievement Test (NAT) and the
National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) results show that there
had been a decline in the quality of Philippine education at the
elementary and secondary levels. The students' performance in both the
2014 NAT and NCAE were excessively below the target mean score.
Having said this, the poor quality of the Philippine educational system is
manifested in the comparison of completion rates between highly
urbanized city of Metro Manila, which is also happens to be not only the
country's capital but the largest metropolitan area in the Philippines and
other places in the country such as Mindanao and Eastern Visayas.
Although Manila is able to boast a primary school completion rate of
approximately 100 percent, other areas of the nation, such as Eastern
Visayas and Mindanao, hold primary school completion rate of only 30
percent or even less. This kind of statistic is no surprise to the education
system in the Philippine context, students who hail from Philippine urban
areas have the financial capacity to complete at the very least their
primary school education.
 Trends in the Education System
Self-Care
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other world
events, teachers and families may all be more
overwhelmed than ever. This year, as schools moved to
online learning and teachers scrambled to adjust their
curriculum, many teachers, students, and parents
gained new appreciation for the value of self-care.
While we don’t fully know what the 2020–2021 school
year will look like yet, it’s sure that taking care of your
overall health and well-being will be essential for
students, teachers, and parents alike.
 Trends in the Education System
Blended Learning
Blended learning is a school or classroom structure
in which students learn partially from direct teacher
instruction and partially in more self-directed
activities. This mixture might be perfect if students
are learning from both school and home next year. 
 Trends in the Education System
Personalized Learning
Over the past few years, personalized learning has
been on the rise. When school curriculum is
adaptive to a student’s unique needs, it’s more likely
to promote student progress because each child can
move at their right pace. Plus, adaptive software
programs allow teachers to use the same program
for all students in their classroom—including those
with learning disabilities.
 Trends in the Education System
STEAM Curriculum
You may be familiar with STEM (science, technology,
engineering, and math) curriculum and how it prepares
students to enter the workforce with practical, high-
demand skills. But adding the arts alongside these
subjects (thus creating STEAM: STEM plus arts) can
improve your students’ academic performance. For
example, adding art assignments to science and math
lessons can help low-achieving students understand
STEM subjects better. And it improves creativity—a
useful skill for any academic subject.
 Trends in the Education System
Genius Hour
Genius Hour is a fairly new educational technique
that allows students to work on self-paced and self-
chosen projects for an hour each day. This
encourages students to practice their creativity and
independent thinking skills, and they can also
develop a genuine love of learning. If you’re
looking for ways to improve student engagement in
your classroom, genius spaces may be a trend to
keep tabs on.
 Trends in the Education System
Digital Citizenship
For students, digital citizenship is defined as the
ability to use technology and the Internet both
effectively and appropriately. Good digital
citizenship is increasingly necessary, but as
assignments and lessons traditionally done in person
move online, students need the skills to develop a
healthy relationship with digital media
 Trends in the Education System
Bite-Sized Learning
Bite-sized learning is an educational technique that
provides students with brief, intensive activities that
target specific academic skills. In a 
guest post with Cambridge University Press, teacher
trainer Jade Blue describes it as an approach that
“takes into account the contemporary demands of
learner lifestyles that might hinder longer periods of
focused study and time spent in the classroom.”
 Trends in the Education System
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
Social-emotional learning continues to be an
important buzzword. When teachers take time to
nurture both a student’s educational and social-
emotional development, academic progress
improves and classroom behavioral issues diminish.
And with the COVID-19 crisis changing many
students’ lives in stressful ways, social-emotional
learning will continue to be a necessity for their
well-being.
 Trends in the Education System
Gamification
Gamification, a learning strategy that involves using
games and rewards to teach students, is a strategy with
plenty of both advocates and critics. Many rightly
discourage the use of external rewards for learning, but
others counter that when the games and rewards tap into a
child’s intrinsic motivation to learn—like rewarding a
child who completes a reading log with a chapter book of
their own, for example—the benefits can be profound.
Students who play gamified activities in class can learn to
value learning as its own reward and become active,
engaged learners over time
 Trends in the Education System
Experiential Learning
Experiential learning is a strategy that, according to
the UC Denver Experiential Learning Center, allows
students to develop knowledge and skills in a setting
outside of the classroom. For elementary students,
options for experiential learning may be limited. But
you can still make the most of this strategy by
taking students on field trips (virtual or otherwise)
and providing students with assignments that
encourage them to learn outside of school.