This document analyzes and compares the basic education systems of the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Australia. It finds that the Philippines has the shortest duration of basic education at 10 years. It also has larger class sizes and lower performance on international assessments than these other countries. The document recommends extending basic education to 12 years, reducing class sizes, improving curriculum alignment and skills development, strengthening the teaching of learning strategies and ICT, and better aligning assessment to the curriculum for the Philippines to improve its education system.

1. 1
Analysis of the Basic Education of
the Philippines:
Implications for the K to 12
Education Program
January 2012
Dr. Carlo Magno
De La Salle University, Manila
SEAMEO INNOTECH Fellow

2. 2
Integrated Report
The Assessment
Research Centre and The
University of Melbourne
compared the Philippine
BEC in the areas of
English, Mathematics,
and Science across
Thailand, Vietnam, and
New South Wales (NSW)
in Australia.
SEAMEO-INNOTECH
report:
Philippines’
BEC is compared
with Brunei
Darussalam, Malaysia,
and
Singapore

3. 3
 Figure 1. Curriculum and Outcomes. Taken from
Esther Care and Patrick Griffin, Curriculum
Comparison Study for the Philippines Basic Education
Sector.
 By optimizing the human skills, national outcomes are
optimized as well (Barro, 2001).

4. 4
Duration of Basic and Pre-University Education
in Selected Asian Countries
Age
Country 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Philippines(current) Preschool PrimaryEducation Highschool
BruneiDarussalam K PrimaryEducation Highschool
Malaysia Preschool PrimaryEducation Highschool
Singapore Preschool PrimaryEducation Highschool
Vietnam Pre-primaryeducation PrimaryEducation Intermediate Secondary
Thailand Preschool ElementarySchool SecondarySchool
NSWAustralia Preschool PrimaryEducation Highschool

5. 5
Present status
 The Philippines has the least number of years spent for
studying and training for basic education (Brunei
Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and
Vietnam, to name a few, spends around 13 years to
complete the basic education program).
 The 10 year program in the Philippines’ basic education
resulted to consistent low levels of performance in the
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey
(TIMSS) and the National Achievement Test (NAT).
 The present educational system is also faced with increasing
dropout rates and graduates having weak chances of getting
better jobs because of their lack of occupational skills.

6. 6
Areas of comparison
Aims of Education
Progression, Structure,
and Organization
Teacher-pupil ratio
Medium of Instruction
Curriculum Structure and Design
Time allotment
Alignment
Curriculum Skills and Content:
English,
mathematics,
Science, ICT, and
other subject areas.
Assessment

7. 7
Aims of Education
The aim of education in the
Philippines focuses on functional
literacy. The country also aims to
strengthen manpower for national
development.
Brunei Darussalam
emphasized in their new
educational goal the needs of
the industry in providing skills
and knowledge without
ignoring their values.
In Malaysia, education
focuses in achieving a
national identity.
Singapore delivers learning in
many aspects that includes literacy,
numeracy, bilingualism, sciences,
humanities, aesthetics, PE, and
CME.
Thailand aims to develop
individual in four fundamental
principles: Wisdom, thinking,
mind, and morality.
Vietnam emphasizes on training
individuals to be ready for work.

8. Progression, Structure,
Alignment, and Organization
 A test is given at the end of lower
primary (end of year 3) and at the end of
the upper primary (year 6).
 Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,
Vietnam, and NSW Australia have
differentiated programs at the start of the
upper secondary level (years 11-12)
where students are classified according
to their interests, and abilities.
8

9. Teacher-Pupil Ratio
9
Preschool Primary Secondary
Brunei
Darussalam
1:20 1:12 1:11
Malaysia 1:25 1:19 1:19
Philippines 1:20 1:36 1:38
Singapore Depending on
the school
1:20 1:20

10. Medium of Instruction
 The medium of instruction in most
countries is bilingual/multilingual
except for Australia and Thailand.
 English and mother tongue are used
as mediums of instruction in most
countries.
10

11. Curriculum Structure and
Design
 Philippines: RBEC (primary),
Backward design (secondary)
 Brunei Darussalam: SPN-21
 Malaysia: Standards-based curriculum
 Vietnam: National Curriculum of Basic
Education
 Thailand: Education Development
Plan
11

12. Time Allotment
 The Philippines has the largest time allotment for
English, science, mathematics, social studies, and
home economics and livelihood education (HELE).
 Malaysia has the largest time on teaching mother
tongue.
 Singapore has the largest time on music, arts, and
physical education.
 The Philippines have the lowest time spent for these
subjects and it is integrated.
 Thailand has the largest time on work-oriented
subjects (practical skills and experiences for career
preparation.
 Vietnam has the largest time on Vietnamese
language.
12

13. Core Subjects
13
Table 4
Intended Cognitive Skills in the Final Year of Primary School Curricula
Bloom’s
Verbs
Philippines % Thailand % Philippines %
Creating 0 0 15.8
Evaluating 5 0.05 6.31
Analysing 1.6 14.28 36.8
Applying 45.7 38 15.5
Understan
ding
44 28.57 0
Remembe
ring
3.3 14.28 0
N=59 N=19 N=19

14. Core Subjects
 Mathematics
 The development of understanding on whole
numbers follows a similar pattern with other
countries.
 The teaching of the number system in the
Philippines is introduced at an early year.
 There is no guide for teachers about the
variation in the increase in the difficulty of
problems in this area.
 Algebra is only introduced in the Philippines
by year 7 and continuous to year 8 then
again on year 10.
14

15. Core Subjects
 Science
 The science concepts, principles, laws, models and
theories in the primary years are well developed and
well chosen.
 The curriculum is coherent and developmental
showing clear progression.
 However, the curriculum lacks opportunities to use
science skills to support learners to solve problems,
question, critique, analyze, and evaluate scientific
claims.
 The content covered in the curriculum is heavier than
the coverage in the other countries
15

16. Assessment
 In the Philippines’ educational curriculum, assessment is
specified under three levels: Classroom assessment,
national examinations, and large scale surveys of student
achievement.
 The classroom assessment in the Philippines is carried out
mostly for the purpose of grading students. The teachers
need to use assessment to further help students learn by
providing descriptive feedback and not just limited to
grading.
 Local examinations are also provided in the Philippines.
Students are provided with the scores but not with detailed
feedback.
16

17. 17
Discussion and
Policy
Recommendations:
12 key areas

18. 18
1. Extend the years of basic
education through the K-12
program.
The entire duration of time spent for
teaching and learning in the Philippines is
10 years which is the shortest

19. 19
2. Provide a mechanism to
decrease the teacher-pupil ratio
through alternative delivery modes.
The Philippines have the most number of
students for every one teacher from year 1
to year 10.

20. 20
3. Align the progression of skills
through a spiral curriculum.
The progression and sequence of learning
in the basic education curriculum is not
continuous.

21. 21
4. Movement from content to
deepening of skills in the teaching
of subject areas.
The skills emphasized in the curriculum
are very theoretical and content- driven
especially in the mathematics, science,
social studies, history, and other subject
areas.

22. 22
5. Develop students skills further
through specialized tracks in years
11-12.
Specialized tracks in the upper secondary
years (year 11-12) give students in other
countries an advantage for developing
further skills for higher education.

23. 23
6. Define teaching and emphasize
teaching students’ ways to learn.
The Philippine curriculum has limited
specification on how instruction is
delivered and the teaching of learning
strategies.

24. 24
7. Strengthen ICT integration in the
Basic Education Curriculum.
The Philippines does not have a strong
curricular program on Information and
Communications Technology.

25. 25
8. Beyond teacher training, the
assessment of learning needs to be
aligned with the curriculum.
National Assessment is administered to
students in the Philippines only to rank
the best performing and lowest
performing schools

26. 26
9. Improvement in education is
continuously made based on
international benchmarks.
Countries in Asia are able to make
improvements in their curriculum by
surveying if their educational performance
is meeting international standards.

27. 27
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