Education and Philippine Government

PROJECT
IN
ENGLISH
(1st Quarter)

An Educational Article for the 21st century
Title of the Article:
Center to give research support for K to 12
Author :
Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Article :
Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell and Philippine education officials opened recently the Assessment, Curriculum and Technology Research Centre (ACTRC).
Located at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Education building in Diliman, Quezon City, the facility will focus on research in support of the Philippines’ implementation of the K to 12 program, which is covered by a law recently signed by President Aquino.
Tweddell, Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Commission on Higher Education Commissioner Cynthia Bautista, UP president Alfredo Pascual, other education officials and members of the academe attended ACTRC’s opening.
The Australian government gave the P150-million grant for the establishment of the center in support of the country’s basic education reform program.
ACTRC will focus on curriculum development, school assessment and the application of technology in upgrading the education system.
“Australia strongly supports the Philippine government’s efforts in implementing the
K to 12 program. Investing in a quality education system will provide better opportunities for all and a pathway out of poverty for the most disadvantaged,” Tweddell said in a statement.
ACTRC will bring together the Philippines’ and Australia’s top research institutions—the UP College of Education and the University of Melbourne’s Assessment Research Centre— in “grounded research and evaluation activities in the areas of assessment, curriculum and technology as they relate to the implementation of the Philippine government’s K to 12 program.”
Through grant-funding, the Australian Agency for International Development would support the center’s first three years of operation, the Australian embassy said.
“Australia shares the Philippine government’s vision that K to 12, if implemented well, will bring the Philippines’ school system closer to international standards. The interaction of curriculum, assessment and the use of technology are important facets of a successful education program,” Tweddell said.
“The curriculum is the blueprint of an education system. Assessment provides a picture of where we are in that blueprint today. Technology enables the curriculum to respond to the needs of the 21st century,” he added.
K to 12 is the Aquino administration’s flagship education reform program that aims to improve the quality of Philippine high school graduates by spreading the clogged 10-year curriculum over 12 years.
In essence, the program hopes to give Filipino youth longer time to learn and prepare for life after basic education, whether they hope to go on to college or find employment after graduating from high school.
“The University of Melbourne and its Graduate School of Education is proud to be associated with this major initiative to inform the Philippines’ education and research communities. The center will provide an opportunity to put into practice evidence-based research outcomes through its collaborative activities with the Philippines’ Department of Education,” said Professor Field Rickards, dean of the Graduate School of Education of the University of Melbourne.
UP College of Education dean Rosario Alonzo said the facility and the collaboration it allowed would help promote the professional development of the UP faculty.
“This is crucial to the university’s (UP) fulfillment of its mandate as a research university,” she said.

A. Summary of the Article

The article discussed how the Australian Government supports the implementation of the K to 12 Program here in the Philippines. It is also written how they believe that the new curriculon that was founded by the current administration will make the Philippines educational system closer to the international standards.

B. Words that I have learned from the article

Academe - The academic environment or community; academia.

Assessment - The evaluation or estimation of the nature, quality, or ability of someone or something: "the assessment of educational needs".

Collaboration - The action of working with someone to produce or create something.

Crucial - Decisive or critical, esp. in the success or failure of something.

Curriculum - The subjects comprising a course of study in a school or college.

Facets - A particular aspect or feature of something.

Implementation - the act of accomplishing some aim or executing some order

C. Ideas I have learned about the article

At first i thought that K to 12 program was a bad idea, because it prolongs the years of study of students like me and making it a little much of a burden to my parents because of the added budget for the tuition but when i read articles pertaining to K to 12 implementation such as the likes of this one I simply realize that it isnt such a bad thing after all. I mean 2 years of added time is just a little sacrifice of what can be a result of a better future plus when you know that there are countries, like Australia, that are willing to support us on this kinds of program makes us a little more confident with ourselves that we can be more of a competative player in the international playfield when it comes to education.

D. Comments about the article

The article was really informative. For me, reading this article changed my point of view on K to 12 program and it also boosted my morale when i read the line “Australia shares the Philippine government’s vision that K to 12, if implemented well, will bring the Philippines’ school system closer to international standards.” because it gave me a heads up of what can be my potential in the future.

E. Resources

Site link: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/412557/center-to-give-research-support-for-k-to-12#ixzz2blPK2DsX