MANILA, Philippines – “Persistent poor results” in the Board Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (BLEPT) reflect a “misalignment” between the curriculum for aspiring teachers and what actually appears in the exam.
The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) stressed this finding in its Year Two Report, released on January 27, as it called for better coordination among government agencies and reforms in the teacher education curriculum.
EDCOM 2 said the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has failed to update the BLEPT to align with the policies, standards, and guidelines (PSGs) of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), which were updated back in 2017.
As an example, EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Yee pointed out that the revised CHED PSGs cover the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education program, but this program’s graduates end up being forced to take the licensure exam for Bachelor of Elementary Education graduates, because the PRC has not made adjustments.
“So ang question nga, sino mag-a-adjust (So the question is, who will adjust)?” Yee said in a Rappler Talk interview on Tuesday, January 28.
The EDCOM 2 executive director also recalled a conversation he had with a teacher during a Senate hearing.
“Sabi niya, ‘Sir, ako po ang inaral ko, Secondary Education, specializing in Physical Education…. Ang test ko, MAPE, may Music and Arts…. Sir, wala akong alam sa Music and Arts kasi PE ‘yung specialization ko,'” Yee recounted.
(The teacher said, “Sir, I studied Secondary Education, specializing in Physical Education. But my test covered MAPE, it included Music and Arts. Sir, I don’t know anything about Music and Arts because PE is my specialization.”)
“And so, marami bumabagsak sa licensure [exam] kasi hindi magkatugma ‘yung tinuro natin sa tinest natin…. We really need to improve coordination in teacher education kasi ang dehado, ‘yung teacher at ‘yung bata — they suffer every day,” added Yee.
(And so, many fail the licensure exam because what we taught them and what we included in the test do not match. We really need to improve coordination in teacher education because the ones on the losing end are the teachers and the students — they suffer every day.)
Improving coordination among agencies belonging to the Teacher Education Council (TEC) is key, but the EDCOM 2 report shows there has been little progress on this front despite the passage of the Excellence in Teacher Education Act or Republic Act No. 11713 in 2022.
The PRC and CHED are both part of the TEC, which is chaired by the Department of Education (DepEd). The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts are also members, along with representatives from the education sector.
Underperforming schools
Contributing to the problem are teacher education institutions (TEIs) or schools that are still operating despite “consistently poor” performance in the BLEPT.
EDCOM 2’s Year One Report, released in January 2024, cited PRC data showing that 77 higher education institutions offering Bachelor of Elementary Education and 105 offering Bachelor of Secondary Education maintained zero passing rates between 2012 and 2022.
“Left unchecked, underperforming TEIs produce graduates who either struggle to pass the licensure examinations or whose training quality is questioned due to low examination scores,” EDCOM 2 said in its new report.
In June 2024, CHED announced it would shut down schools’ underperforming and non-compliant teacher education programs. Criteria for evaluation include BLEPT performance, school leadership, faculty qualifications, curriculum, facilities, and learning resources.
CHED data as of December 2024 showed it has monitored a total of 169 TEIs with 389 programs combined. Nine of these programs have been closed, and the commission recommended phasing out 37 programs from 16 TEIs, mostly in Metro Manila.
Need to improve hiring
The misalignment extends to the classroom, as EDCOM 2 raised in 2024, with 62% of high school teachers teaching subjects outside their college major.
“On the ground, ‘yun yung sinasabi sa amin ng mga teachers. ‘Sir, how can I teach well? Filipino ‘yung inaral ko, pinapaturo sa akin Mathematics….’ Talagang walang mangyayari, kasi you cannot give what you do not have,” Yee told Rappler.
(On the ground, that’s what teachers tell us. “Sir, how can I teach well? I majored in Filipino, but they’re making me teach Mathematics.” It’s really fruitless, because you cannot give what you do not have.)
EDCOM 2 urged the DepEd and CHED to map out teacher supply and demand, and review hiring guidelines. This means assessing current teacher distribution, areas of specialization, and skills gaps, as well as making job postings specific to attract the right applicants.
“Ang ginagawa [ng DepEd] ngayon, ang pino-post niya [is a generic vacancy saying] ‘Teacher I.’ Hindi mo alam anong grade level tuturuan mo, hindi mo alam anong subject ang ituturo mo…. Kung sino ang highest [board exam] ranking, ‘yun ‘yung iha-hire. Eh what if iba pala ‘yung specialization niya?” Yee said.
(What the DepEd is doing now is it only posts a generic vacancy saying “Teacher I.” You don’t know what grade level you’ll be handling, you don’t know what subject you’ll be teaching. The applicant with the highest board exam ranking gets hired. But what if that teacher has a different specialization?)
You can access the full Year Two Report here. – Rappler.com
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