History, Nature and

Status of Multigrade
Program
Multi-grade schooling originated in
American one-room school houses during
the 1800's. In fact, the first government
schools in North America and Europe were
multigrade classes. With the rise of public
schooling in the 1900's, multi-grade
classrooms fell out of favor. However, multi-
grade schooling had a resurgence in the
1960s
Which country first used multi grade teaching?
Multi-grade instruction had a history of
hundreds of years in China and in
contemporary period it has been indispensable
for the implementation of the nine-year
compulsory education in remote mountainous
and grassland areas.
What is the importance of multi-grade classroom?
Several studies have found that multi-grade
classrooms improve personal and social
development. Students learn to work with a
wide age span. Cooperative learning and peer
tutoring helps sharpen social skills.
Independent work habits as well as greater
feelings of responsibility and self-esteem are
developed.
The first teachers in the Philippines
Thomasites. Volunteer American soldiers
became the first teachers of the Filipinos. Part
of their mission was to build classrooms in
every place where they were assigned
When was multi grade class introduced in the Philippines?
Although schools with one teacher handling
more than one grade have been common in the
Philippines since at least the 1920s, the formal
Multigrade Program in Philippine Education
(MPPE) was launched in 1993. DepEd also
launched the Multigrade Program in 1993 as
one of its major strategies to democratize
access to education. Multigrade schools are
located in isolated, underserved, and sparsely
populated areas.
 What is the multigrade class called in the Philippines?
In the Philippine public school system, classes with
two grade levels inside a single classroom and handled
by the same teacher are called combination classes.
Classes with three grade levels conducted in one
classroom and handled by a single teacher are called a
multigrade or multilevel class. In addition UNESCO
(2015, as cited in “ a Review of Current Situation and
Practices of Multigrade Schools in the Philippines”
2020) defined multigrade teaching as the teaching of
classes of learners who are not only from different
grade levels, but are also from diverse age group,
cultures and abilities.
How many multigrade schools are there in the Philippines?
Based on the 2019 A Review of Current
Situation and Practices of Multigrade Schools
in the Philippines, there are 8,379 multigrade
schools out of the 38,911 public schools in the
Philippines.
Why was multigrade classes created?
They are seen as an efficient means of
providing education in thinly populated rural
areas that have budgetary and staff
constraints. In many urban areas, multigrade
classes are part of experimental learning and
teaching programs which try to capture the
benefits of peer tutoring and independent
inquiry
Why multi grade classes exist in the Philippines?
Providing inclusive and equitable quality education for
all remains a critical concern for the Philippines.
Towards this end, Multigrade schools have been
established to bring education closer to school-age
children located in isolated, hard-to-reach,
underserved, and sparsely populated communities.
Similarly, Quality Indicator of Multigrade Instruction in
Southeast Asia (2012) Identified the following reasons
why Multigrade classes exist: (i) the provision of
complete education on access to services in rural,
thinly populated areas.
Secretary Armand Fabella
While DECS ”Department of Education, Culture
and Sports” (now DepEd) officials then had
always recognized the existence of multi grade
classes, it was only under the leadership of
Secretary Armand Fabella (1993-1994) that the
multi grade program was launched as a
systematic and viable means of meeting the
goal and providing education for all.
B. ROLES OF A MULTIGRADE TEACHER
A multi-grade teacher plays various roles as
she/he performs the tasks in handling students
with varied age level, developmental stages and
interests.
• Mono-grade teacher also called traditional
single-grade teaching.
Researcher
- She/he has to know the needs of the
community and must conduct studies on
strategies and techniques that promote
engagement and achievement in learning.
Facilitator
- The teacher should be familiar with his or
her pupils and their experiences to be able to
facilitate the class.
Community Liaison or Resource Person
Planner
- Appropriate planning by the teacher
will result in classes which are more productive
for the students and easier for them to follow.
Evaluator
The teacher ensures a good standard of education by keeping a
track of the learning of the students.
Material Designer
As she/he designs instructional materials suitable for the
learners in a multi-grade classroom.
Parent Trainer
As she/he trains volunteer-parents who help facilitate
the class.
Bases of multigrade
program in the
Philippines
Article XIV of the 1987 Philippine commission
Section 1. “the state shall protect and promote the
right of all citizens to quality education at all levels
and shall take appropriate steps to make education
accessible to all”.

Section 2.1 “The state shall, establish, maintain and

support a complete, educated and integrated system
of education relevant to the needs of the people and
society”.
The department of education issued the following memoranda with regard the
implementation of the multigrade classes in the Philippines
D.O #96 s. 1997, the following guidelines were stimulated
with regard to Multigrade Classes (MG).
(i) Protect and promote the right of all citizens to
accessible quality education at all levels.
(ii) Complete six (6) grade levels to children in the remote
barangays.
(iii) a multigrade class define as a class of 2 or more
grades under one teacher in a complete or incomplete
elementary school.
(iv) The class size is 8 to 35 pupils
(v) Construct of 3 room school building for MG classes
(vi) Class layout should provide for grouping or
regrouping.
(vii) The provision of textbooks and other resources.
(viii) Allocating teacher items and or assigning.
 International organization that
support the Multigrade program in the
Philippines
UNESCO
commits to the achievement of “full and equal
opportunities of education for all”.
MILLENIUM DEV GOAL
millennium development declaration in 2000
achievement universal primary education
EFA (Education for all)

Goal 2: states that “ensure that by 2015 all children,

particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances
and those belonging to ethic minorities, have access
to and are able to complete primary education that
is free, compulsory and of good quality.
Goal 6: “Improve all aspects of the quality of
education and ensure excellence of all so that
recognized and measure learning outcomes are
achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy
and life skills”.
 Underpinning philosophies
and Principles of Multigrade
teaching
To be more adaptive and active, multigrade teachers
must have understanding of epistemologies
underpinning multigrade teaching. Constructivist
educators focus on how students make sense if their
experiences and socially construct meanings.
• Multigrade teaching then implies that in
student – centered environment.
• Is best practiced in a setting where learners
can engage work together.
• Students can find learning meaningfully by
incorporating pedagogical methods .
 Study of Msimanga
1. The students are afforded opportunities for self–
directed learning.
2. Peer tutoring is property used
3. Learners are engaged in cooperative learning
4. Learner’s learning styles are recognized
5. The students are given opportunities to learn from
their families.
Multigrade teaching adheres to the following principles
1. Children are unique
2. Children can learn best from experience
3. Children can do and learn well from one another
4. The role of the teacher is to provide a conductive
learning environment
5. The curriculum must cater to varied interest,
abilities, and levels.
LESSON 2:
STATUS OF
MULTI-GRADE PROGRAM
A. Practices and Strategies in Implementing
Multigrade Instruction
SEAMEO INNOTECH conducted a workshop in
2010 to identify the quality indicators of
multigrade instruction in Southeast Asia
(SEAMEO-INNOTECH Research Updates, n.d.). The
participating countries were Cambodia, Indonesia
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-
Leste, and Vietnam. It was revealed that the
practices and strategies in Multigrade Instruction
varied in the following areas:
A. Organization - Students may be combined by
grade or based on their abilities or achievements

B. Teaching-learning process - It makes use of

teaching approaches and strategies
C. Learning environments and facilities - These
include setting spacious areas that can
accommodate mixed grade activities, having
learning centers and group task boards.
D. Curricular development and implementation -
Varied curricula may be used such as
prescribed national curricula, integration and
"jump jump" approaches, modular curricula,
localized curricula and needs- based curricula.
E. Teaching-learning materials --syllabi,
teachers' manuals, textbooks, self-instructional
and peer learning modules, and reference
materials; or teachers produce their own teaching-
learning materials.
F. Assessment - Assessment may be done by
the teacher (internal) or by the national
government (external).
 Status of Multigrade
Teaching in the Philippines
Department of Education, SEAMEO-INNOTECH
(Southeast Asian Ministers of Education,
Organization) and UNICEF (United Nation
International Children’s Emergency Fund) are the
three parties that reviewed the effectiveness of
the Multigrade Program for Education in the
Philippines (MPPE) in the year 2017.
a. The overall quality of the implementation of
MPPE demonstrates evidence of partial to
adequate compliance of different program
components with existing policies;

b. In the following areas, there was adequate

compliance: organization of the classroom, class
programs, capacity building and hiring of teachers
and movement of staff;
c. Appropriate classroom organizations have been
implemented in terms of class size and grade
combinations, adherence to appropriate class
schedules, active participation in training
programs and are managed and operated by
qualified teaching staff.
d. The following challenges hinder full compliance
with existing policies: (i) Combining Kindergarten
class with levels of upper grade; (ii) Lack of training
in contextualizing teaching and learning materials,
especially in the absence of MTB-MLE resources; (iii)
Lack of multigrade teacher preparation, non-
inclusion of multigrade teaching in Teacher Induction
Programs prior to multigrade setting deployment; (iv)
Fast multigrade teacher turn-over.
e. Partial compliance with the following, namely:
school facilities, basic classroom features,
teacher incentives, resources for teaching and
learning, including MTB-MLE resources; allocation
of funds.
Furthermore, it was found out that multigrade
schools became an essential means for the
government to provide opportunities for young
children from marginalized communities to access
quality education.

78.71% were found in rural areas while 4.06%

were situated in coastal areas, riversides and
small islands.
90.6% of the pupils are indigent and recipients of
the "4Ps" cash assistance program for poor, 55.75
% are wasted or malnourished, 36.95% are
indigenous, 32.29% over-aged, 19.72% child
laborers, 19.06% have disabilities, 5.75%
abandoned children, 2.41% homeless ir displaced,
1.55% chronically ill, 1.55% abused, 0.64 are
pupils that are conflict with the law at an early
age, 0.49% are street children.
Also found out that the schools were in remote
areas (47.07%), a few in disaster-affected (5.98%)
or armed-conflict areas (5.63%).
Positive Outcome/Advantages
and Drawback/challenges of
multi-grade Class
1. Positive outcome/advantages
a. It can develop independent learning.
b. It makes use of pupil-centered teaching approaches.
c. Materials revision is easier.
d. It increases pupil interaction.
e. Students advance at their own pace.
f. It utilizes the concept of monitoring and peer tutoring.
g. It support group learning.
2. Drawback/challenges
a. If multigrade program are not supported,
there is a possibility of low student achievement in
multigrade school.
b. Multigrade teaching requires more time and
organizational skills from teachers.
c. Teacher require intensive training with
special emphasis on teaching materials.
d. Student often have to work independently.
 SEAMEO (“Quality Indicators of
Multigrade Instruction in Southeast Asia”)
suggestion to overcome the multigrade
instruction in southeast Asia.
1. Changing Perception Among Stakeholder
Challenges:
• There is lack of recognition, interest in, and
intervention in multigrade instruction by government,
community members, and other stakeholders.
What can be done:
a. Campaign to raise awareness and support
among stakeholders/
b. Present best practices and the advantages
of multigrade teaching with the help of the media.
2. National- and Local-Level Management, monitoring, and
evaluation.
Challenges:
• Multigrade school are not properly considered in
strategic planning ,monitoring, and assessment.
what can be done:
a. Consider multigrade classes in educational
planning.
b. Incorporate multigrade instruction in teacher
education curriculum.
c. Perform daily multigrade monitoring and
assessment of instruction.
d. Conduct forums where issues are addressed.
3. Learning Environment and Resources
Challenges:
• Some multigrade classes lack fund and resources.
What can be done:
a. Organize partners for the construction and
enhancement of environments, building, facilities, facilities and
materials.
b. Make curricula contextualized and localized.
c. Create a system for teachers and schools to
exchange locally produced multigrade materials.
d. Encourage the society to support multigrade system.
4. Instructional Techniques and Teacher Support.
Challenges:
• Multigrade teaching needs to provide quality instruction.
What can be done:
a. Give pre- and in-service training and do inter-school visits.
b. Establish legislation addressing the wages and working
conditions of multigrade educators. Incentives for multigrade
teachers must be given.
c. Teacher recruitment based on localization laws and
reassignment should be done only after three years.
d. Conduct capacity building for teachers and
administrators.
5. Assessing Student Performance.
Challenge:
• Evaluation does not reflect the performance of
the students, given the unique circumstances surrounding
multigrade teaching.
the following steps can be taken:
a. National test provided to assess student
success should understand the learning background.
b. Different modalities of evaluation should be
used.
Group
Member:
1
• Acelar, Issa Grace L
• Adlaon, Gauvin
• Aglutay, Bengielyn
• Abdullah, Monaida
• Abdulla, Norhan
• Abian, Shem Magne
• Sancho, BJ Rafael