ACTRC is providing the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) technical assistance as they develop a streamlined K to 12 curriculum to be released in 2022. The collaboration began at the start of 2020 and is expected to continue until mid-2022. The technical assistance draws on the findings of the Curriculum Review Project and connects DepEd with international curriculum experts for consultation.
The work began in 2020 when DepEd staff from the Bureau of Curriculum Development and the Bureau of Learning Delivery worked with international experts to identify evidence-based frameworks detailing the development of foundational skills in literacy and numeracy for K-3 learners. These frameworks can be used to guide the refinement of the curriculum in the learning areas of Mother Tongue, Filipino, English and Mathematics.
Early in 2021, a series of workshops were held in which DepEd consulted with international and local experts on processes for curriculum and system improvements. As part of this workshop series, ACTRC staff presented a synthesis of ACTRC research, other Philippine research on curriculum and assessment, and the results of large-scale international assessments. These were then considered in light of DepEd’s own curriculum review. The DepEd review included over half a million survey responses from teachers on the implementation of the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCs), collected between December 2020 and March 2021. DepEd staff used these inputs to set priorities for change and map out the process that will be used to produce the 2022 curriculum.
Currently, ACTRC is providing ongoing technical assistance for the various teams working on the 2022 curriculum.
Technical support for curriculum improvement is supported by the Australian Government and implemented by ACTRC.