Basic Education Sector

Reform Agenda
(BESRA)
Prepared by: JOAN O. QUINIVISTA
Presenter
I. Introduction/Historical
Background:
The Philippine development and
poverty reduction strategy is
articulated in the Government’s
Medium –Term Development
Plan (MTPDP ) 2004-2010. It
gives high priority to achieving
universal basic education.

The country’s education strategy is
anchored on the National Education for
All (EFA) 2015 Plan and attainment of
the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) which aim to provide an
overarching policy framework for basic
education with a vision that all Filipinos
will acquire basic competencies.
 This particular challenges for basic
education have been acknowledge by
the country’s leaders and educators
and there have been important gains
made in the last decade.
Important initiatives on rationalization
were introduced by DepEd
administration following the passage of
the Governance of Basic Education Act
( Republic Act RA 9155) in 2001 with
its emphasis on its declaration that “
the school shall be the heart of the
formal education system.”
The reform proposal were progressively
refined and by 2005,there was widespread
consensus on the need for urgent sector-
wide strategies that would place schools
first and empower local communities to
take initiative to achieve school improvement.
This consensus was articulated as the
School First Initiative (SFI). The strategies
were in turn translated into policy actions
under the Government’s Basic Education
Reform Agenda ( BESRA ).
 DepEd Order on BESRA
 No. 23 s. 2010 ADOPTION OF THE BESRA IMPLEMENTATION
 ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN, 2010-2012: A BLUEPRINT
 FOR TRANSFORMING THE BASIC EDUCATION
 SUB-SECTOR

No. 87 s. 2009 CREATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOMENT (OD)
 AND LIVELIHOOD/TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL
 EDUCATION TECHNICAL WORKING GROUPS (TWGs)
 UNDER BESRA

 No. 34 s. 2009 MOVING FORWARD IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
BASIC EDUCATION REFORM AGENDA (BESRA)
 No. 16 s. 2008 COORDINATNG MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTING
 THE BASIC EDUCATION SECTOR REFORM AGENDA
 (BESRA)
 No. 69 s. 2007 COORDINATNG MECHANISMS FOR IMPLEMENTING
 ACTIONS UNDER THE BASIC EDUCATION SECTOR
REFORM AGENDA (BESRA)

 DepEd Memo on SBM

 No. 149 s. 2007 UTILIZING THE ACCREDITATION PROGRAM
 FOR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS (APPES)
 CRITERIA FOR PLANNING SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
 UNDER THE SCHOOL BASED MANAGEMENT (SBM)
II. What exactly is the Basic Education
Sector Reform Agenda or BESRA?

BESRA is a package of interrelated

policy actions intended to bring about
a fundamental change in how
education is delivered across the basic
education sector, and in how reforms
in the basic education sector are
planned and implemented.
The BESRA policy
actions are organized
under Five Key Reform
Thrusts ( KRTs ) that
focus on:
1.Strengthened School- Based
Management (SBM)
 The first KRT relates to the reform principle that the best people to
improve the quality of schools are the people most directly affected
by the school’s operations – namely the school heads, the teachers,
the students’ parents and others in the community.

Ex. Implementation of School and Annual

Improvement Plans
MOOE maintenance/ operation of
expenses based on needs
2. Improved teaching effectiveness
and teacher development
 The second KRT focuses on the important role of the teachers as driving force
in improving student learning and educational quality at the school level.

 Ex. Teachers’ in-service trainings, seminars

and scholarships.
National Competency Based Teachers
Standards or ( NCBTS )
application and implementation
3. Enhanced quality assurance through
standards and assessment.

 The third KRT is focused on ensuring wide social support for learning in schools.
People from all sectors of society play an important role not only in supporting the
work of the teachers, but also in supporting schools and all the curricular processes
that aim to promote student learning.

Ex. Brigada Eskwela, GPTCA, Brgy. RTA, Vendors,

Govt. Officials, Private sectors and NGOs
 4. Improved access and learning outcomes
through alternative learning, etc.
 The fourth KRT emphasizes the variety of educational experiences that can help
learners attain the learning goals. This includes having early childhood learning
experiences, alternative learning systems, and other varied learning experiences to
help students attain highest levels of learning.

Ex. Full implementation of RBEC instruction, learning

resources, curricular and extra curricular activities.
5. Institutionalized culture change in
the Dep.Ed
 The fifth KRT refers to the Department of Education’s institutional
culture to have a change from prescribing actions through orders
and memos to facilitating school initiatives and assuring quality.
Why is the BESRA a good reform
package?

Why BESRA is the promise of

redemption?
 According to Dr. Allan Bernardo, a professor of De La
Salle University in a Forum on Education about
BESRA’s Promise….. “There are many important
reasons why BESRA is a truly positive set of policy
reform initiatives.
 The most important reason is the Educational Philosophy
underlying the various components BESRA. All
components of the reform initiatives are intended to help
Filipino learners to attain higher levels of learning and
achievement. The higher levels of learning are defined in
terms of cognitive and affective knowledge in the major
learning areas that would allow the learner to effectively
participate in diverse and complex life situations beyond
the school and to continue life learning.”
 NINE POSITIVE QUALITIES
OF BESRA
 First,BESRA focuses on the improving student
learning processes and outcome.

 Second,BESRA affirms the need to employ diverse

approaches to facilitating learning in the classroom.

 Third, BESRA locates the reform interventions at the

level of the school and the classroom.
 Fourth, locating the reform initiatives at the school level
also creates stronger accountabilities to the community,
and allows for more responsive and more relevant
school programs.

 Fifth,BESRA recognizes the important role of teachers

and teacher development in improving student learning
outcomes.

 Sixth, BESRA builds on community-school

relationships, and aims to strengthen such relationships
by looking at the community as a resource for
improving schools, and by ensuring that schools are
accountable to the community.
 Seventh, BESRA reforms are based on previous
interventions that worked.

 Derived from pilot projects such as the Third Elementary

Education Project ( TEEP ), the Basic Education assistance
for Mindanao (BEAM) and the Strengthening
Implementation of Visayas Education (STRIVE) and other
reform initiatives.

 Eighth,the BESRA shifts the reform initiatives of the

DepEd from project approach to a more organic
approach.
 Finally, the BESRA reforms are truly
positive because BESRA is DepEd’s
reform initiative. It is not imposed by
an external agency, or some foreign-
assisted project. In developing the
specific components of BESRA, the DepEd
offices responsible undertook a most
extensive consultation with a wide range of
stakeholders within the DepEd and among the
various stakeholders of the Philippine Basic
Education Sector.
DepEd’s Achievements BESRA
focusing SBM

( SBM is the lynchpin of BESRA)

Lynchpin—means the one that serves

to hold together parts or elements that
exist or function as a unit.
 The adoption and Roll-Down of the
School- Based Management (SBM)
Framework and Standards for
implementation of a comprehensive SBM
at the regional, division and school level of
all schools in the Philippines.
The release of SBM grants in support
of activities that enhance learning, the
drilling of down of the MOOE to
schools to cash and related policies in
support of the school’s financial
accountability for the MOOE are also
notable.
There is evidence of general
awareness of SBM, with 80% - 90%
of schools and school heads having
been oriented to its practices have 3-
year School Improvement Plans and
have begun to mobilize stakeholders’
support or organized School
Governing Councils with
representatives from various sectors
in the community.
What is the governance framework of
School-Based Management?
 The Government has amended the education Ordinance to
implement in schools a participatory governance framework
with transparency and accountability. The Ordinance, which
came into force on January 1, 2005, gives legal backing to the
SBM governance framework. It provides for the establishment
of an Incorporated Management Committee (IMC) and sets out
its composition, operation, functions and powers so that
stakeholders can participate in school governance according to
the law. The direct participation of these key stakeholders in
school decision-making will enhance the transparency and
accountability of school governance, and the key stakeholders
should work together to set common goals and strengthen their
partnership to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning
of the school.
III Summary

 School– Based Management ( SBM ) is a key

component of the DepEd’s Basic Education
Sector Reform Agenda ( BESRA ) which is a
widely- accepted reform initiative which
recognizes that schools as they are the key
providers of education, should be able to
continuously improve by being empowered
to make informed and localized decisions
based on their own unique needs.
 The school heads and teachers are given the
chance to create linkages with the local
government and the private sector, which can
help improve local schools.
 IV Conclusions
 Theunderlying principle in SBM under BESRA is
that the people directly involved and affected by
the school operations are the best persons to
plan, manage and improve the school. So the
people involve must work hand in hand to reach
the goal to bring about positive change in the
form of governance and management of the
school to effect improvement in the quality of
education for the students. So, it is therefore very
important to create an environment where all the
people involved in the process NOT ONLY AGREE
BUT ALSO COMMIT TO MAKE THAT CHANGE
HAPPEN.
 “Change does not necessarily assure
progress, but progress implacably requires
change. Education is essential to change,
for education creates both new wants and
the ability to satisfy them.”

(Henry Steele Commager)

Thank You!