Teachers cope with new curriculum with fewer subjects, DepEd says

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) says teachers are adapting to the new curriculum for students from kindergarten to grade 10.

DepEd Deputy Spokesperson Francis Cesar Bringas made the statement during the New Philippines Now public briefing.

“The only thing we noticed was that our teachers had difficulty getting to know the competencies at the beginning, so we significantly reduced the number of teachers,” Bringas said.

(From what we saw, our teachers initially struggled to become familiar with the different competencies because we had drastically reduced the number of competencies.)

“And of course, we will develop appropriate study materials that correspond to our revised curriculum,” she mentioned.

(And, of course, our production of appropriate educational materials that are appropriate for our revised curriculum.)

Bringas, however, said the problems only lasted for the first few weeks.

She said the difficulties were overcome with the support of DepEd offices and feedback.

Bringas added that weekly collaborative sessions were held where teachers discussed their experiences and the interventions they needed.

Under the new ‘Matatag’ curriculum, lessons from kindergarten to grade 10 focus on five core skills.

These skills are language, reading and literacy, mathematics, makabansa (nationalism), and good manners and proper conduct.

There are fewer of these subjects compared to the seven areas covered by the current curriculum.

Previous subjects include Native Language, Filipino, English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Music, Art, Physical Education and Health, and Values ​​Education.