I WAS triggered to write another article about Senior High School (SHS) in the Philippines because of a Facebook post. The post encouraged SHS students not to take their subjects seriously because anyway they won’t be credited in College. This view reflects the so many confusions students, parents, and even teachers have about SHS. Apparently, they have not read the pertinent provisions of RA 10533 or the Expanded Basic Ed Law. At the very least they, probably, were not given orientation by whoever should have been responsible to inform them about the basic facts about the SHS program.
So let’s explore some of the gray areas of this so-called “controversial SHS.” For this column let us talk about a rather common discussion point: who is qualified to teach SHS?
At the time of the implementation of SHS, and in fact even up to this point, no teacher is “strictly speaking” organically trained to teach SHS. On the one hand are graduates of the Bachelor of Second Education program (in whatever field of concentration). On the other hand are specialists in their field with no units or training in Education. The Secondary Education majors presumably know the methods of teaching but apparently they were trained for Junior High School. It is also a given fact that Secondary Education graduates, unless they have graduate studies, have limitations in terms of content.
Let’s have quick examples. Ordinarily, only an Accounting graduate or someone who has a background in the field can teach Fundamentals of ABM 1 and 2 which are practically elementary and intermediate Accounting respectively. A BSEd major in History graduate practically lacks the needed preparation to teach Intro to Philosophy of the Human Person. The closest a History major can teach is Understanding, Culture, Society, and Politics (UCSP). Still, I am even convinced that a limited concentration in social studies is insufficient a credential to teach UCSP. A review of the UCSP curriculum would tell you that a sufficient grasp of theories in Sociology and Political Science are needed. To insist that anyone can just teach the subject would surely be disastrous.
Precisely RA 10533 provides a broad range of options. It includes though not limited to providing retooling and teacher training, hiring specialists or even allowing “practitioners” in the field to teach specialized subjects.
Schools therefore are necessitated to recruit and hire non-Education majors or graduates. Another option is the transfer of some College instructors especially those who are not tenured to SHS. A PRC license in education (LPT) is not a requirement to teach in the tertiary level. In the case of private schools, the Manual of Regulation for Private Schools is very clear that a relevant master’s degree is what’s needed to teach in College. Given the differences in qualification between teachers in the secondary and tertiary schools, RA 10533 provides a five-year grace period, from the time of his hiring, for a SHS teacher to pass the LET. Part-time teachers, especially practitioners, are actually not required get a license in Education.
It is understandable why it is not easy for a teacher who came from College to teach SHS which operates within the framework of basic education. We are not saying that such a teacher cannot teach. We simply have to embrace a number of realities, which among others include both calibration and adjustment on the part of the teacher.
The foregoing discussion should serve as a reminder that among other top priorities in SHS is the lesson content. It is therefore important for administrators not to “overemphasize” style and fashion in lesson delivery, which are basically more relevant in GS and JHS. If one reflects on the spirit of the new educational system, it is clear that SHS is intended to prepare students for their desired specialization. We are not saying that teaching methods should be disregarded. But if in the process we de-emphasize the mastery of the content in favor of the manner of lesson delivery, then I dare say that the whole philosophy behind SHS is defeated.
We can only be hopeful that specialization plus a good training in instructional development would result to a well-equipped and effective SHS teacher.
True, SHS is part of basic education. Let us not forget however that it is also the last stage before College. What is the role and function of SHS in relation to College? This being said, shouldn’t teachers in SHS also calibrate their content and method in view of their students’ inevitable movement to the university?
The answer will be in the next column.