K12 Chapter 2 RRL

1.
K-12 CURRICULUM
1.1. BACKGROUND
Prior to the implementation of the K-12 curriculum, the Philippines had been the last Asian
country to still have a 10-year basic education program, until Republic Act No. 10533 was passed
in 2013, officially marking the beginning of the K-12 curriculum. In 2012, President Benigno
Aquino III compared the 10-year curriculum to “force feeding” and stated that the students lacked
the ability to fully process and absorb the knowledge taught to them due to the limited time they
are given in their education. Several flaws were also seen to arise from the 10-year basic
education program: poor quality of education, as shown by the low achievement scores of Filipino
students in TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and NAT (National
Achievement Test); lack of subjects with practical application (SEAMEO INNOTECH, 2012); and
lastly, no global recognition because of the determined education requirements from some
international countries (CIIT College of Arts and Technology, 2015). The 10-year curriculum was
then changed to find a solution for these problems and thus the K-12 curriculum was implemented,
as the 12-year program was the most suitable period for learning and was recognized as the
standard for every student and professional worldwide according to ICEF Inc. in 2017.
1.2. DEFINITION
Masayoshi defines the K-12 program as "a comprehensive reform of its basic education",
referring to the curriculum the Philippines had before the implementation of K-12. He words it as
such as the K-12 program was implemented in the first place to further improve on the previous
10-year curriculum and to amend the problems that arose from it. The K-12 program consists of
13 years of education in total, which are then divided into four key stages: Kindergarten to Grade
3, Grade 4 to 6, Grade 7 to 10 (junior high school), and lastly, Grade 11 to 12 (senior high school)
(Official Gazette, 2013). The subjects covered in each stage are designed to be taught in a
chronological order from the most basic concepts up to more complex concepts, which guarentee
mastery in the knowledge and skills of students once they are done in each stage. The subjects
covered by K-12 fall under 3 categories: core subjects, applied subjects, and specialized subjects.
Core subjects are subjects that are not track-specific and will be taken by all students regardless
of their chosen tracks or strands. Applied subjects, like core subjects, are to be taken by all
students, but the difference is that these are focused on applications of subjects that are unique
to only one track or strand. Specialized subjects are subjects that are specific to the track or strand
that a student chooses, much like subjects college students take, though less complicated.
1.3. TRACKS AND STRANDS

The implementation of the K-12 program effectively adds two more years of education to
the curriculum, Grades 11 and 12, or better known as Senior High School. In Senior High School,
students are given the freedom to choose a track with specializations that suit their career
interests best. There are 4 tracks overall that students may choose from: Technical-Vocational
Livelihood (TVL) track, Arts and Design track, Sports Track, and Academic Track. According to
an article in University of Santo Tomas, There are two strands under the TVL track, and those are
TVL-HE (Home Economics), which aims to develop students' skills for projects relating to
livelihood at their homes; and TVL-ICT (Information and Communication Technology), which aims
to develop students' technology-related skills (citation, citation). The Arts and Design track is for
students with creative pursuits, it consists of various multimedia forms therefore allowing the
students to explore their interests in different fields relating to art such as photography,
architecture, animation, photography, and many others (CIIT College of Arts and Technology,
2018). The Sports track focuses not only on physical activities but also on subjects related to
officiating and coaching, safety and first aid, basic principles in physical education and recreation,
and cognitive development in sports leadership and management (Edukasyon, n.d.). Lastly, the
Academic track is divided into four strands: Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics
(STEM), Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences
(HUMSS), and General Academic Strand (GAS). The General Academic Strand is the one strand
that does not particularly specialize in anything, so students who have not yet decided on a career
path may find that this is the best option to take for them. Students have the freedom to choose
electives from the other academic strands in this track.
1.4. AIMS
The K-12 Program was implemented by the Department of Education in the Philippines
for the purpose of reforming the ten-year basic education cycle and further improving the global
competency and competitiveness of the Filipino students nationwide (Department of Education;
Masayoshi, 2013). It aims to produce students that are more competent for them to be able to
compete on an equal level worldwide. Lacorte reports that the P-Noy administration believed that
a change in the past curriculum, including two additional years to it, would solve the problem past
students had with regards to global competency. They also believed that the two years of Senior
High School allows the students to have more time to choose a career most suitable for their skills
and to prepare them further for their chosen career paths through the specialized subjects unique
to the track and strand they take, giving them the opportunity to have mastery in certain concepts
and skills that the 10-year curriculum lacked in giving. From the government's perception, the
implementation of K-12 is caused by the need to address the problems the past curriculum had
and to make the Filipino students globally competitive.
1.5. CHALLENGES OF K-12

One of the major aims of the K-12 curriculum's implementation is to improve mastery of
the subject matters relevant to the students' respective strands or courses. According to Fioriello,
however, most educational institutions tend to add other lessons of their own thus in that sense,
rendering the K-12 program useless. The K-12 program also paves a way for large companies
and corporations to take advantage of the influx of new graduates desperate for jobs. Most people
who have graduated or choose to pursue college degrees either have difficulty getting hired by
companies who prefer cheap labor or benefit more than SHS graduates which just makes it all
the more evident that SHS graduates, especially those who can't afford to go to college, are more
easily exploited.
1.6. ARGUMENTS
There have been many arguments surrounding the K-12 curriculum, even before it was
fully established nationwide. Most question its necessity in the first place, but many arguments
have equally countered those and provided proof that the curriculum isn't a complete waste of
time and money. In 2010, Isagani Cruz wrote an article covering the arguable pros and cons of
the K-12 program, saying that majority of the arguments pro K-12 come from the government and
high-positioned members of the academe, while the con arguments come from financially
challenged people. The pro arguments circle around K-12 providing what the 10-year curriculum
failed to give, such as an adequate amount of time for teaching and learning, global competency
and recognition, and enough preparation for a career without having to go to college. The con
arguments cover two finance-related problems such as families having more expenses for a
curriculum that is only plausibly necessary, and DepEd not having enough money to support K-
12 seeing as they lacked funds even for the 10-year curriculum. Another con argument says that
DepEd should give more focus on fixing the subjects under the 10-year curriculum instead of
having additional ones, as the problem seemed to have been mainly content and not the length
of education. Cruz writes as an afterword in his article that rebuttals against the K-12 must be
presented and worded more constructively, and while that may be true, the points made are all
still valid.

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1.

1.3. TRACKS AND STRANDS

1.5. CHALLENGES OF K-12

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