The Importance Of Teacher Education

Situation Analysis
Teacher education is one of the professions mostly patronized worldwide due to high demand for teachers. Consequently, in the Asia- Pacific Region, in which the Philippines is a part, the Institute of Statistics (UIS) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has projected about the demand for primary teachers. According to this organization,

Recruitment of a total of 10.9 million primary teachers, to include 2.2 million new teaching positions, is needed in order to realize the universal primary education by 2020. A projected rise to 25.8 million of teachers by 2030 is expected (UNESCO-UIS, 2015)

But, the high demand for teachers should not be made a sacrificial venture in which quality
CHED, which was created trough Republic Act 7722, also known as Higher Education Act of 1994, monitors all programs of higher education, both private and public. Policies and standards govern the operation of teacher education as set in CHED Memoranda 30 series of 2004, and 52 series of 2007 with the aim of rationalizing the undergraduate teacher education in the country in order to keep pace with the demands of global competitiveness (CHED, 2013). PRC is in-charged with the regulation of all board programs through a licensing process. All teacher education graduates need to take the licensure examination called the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) as a means of establishing standards in the teaching profession. Article III, Section 13 of RA 7836 or the "Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of 1994” promulgates that valid certificate of registration and valid professional license are required before any person is allowed to practice as a professional teacher (PRC, 2014). The LET, was first administered in 1996 after the Civil Service Commission had transferred its regulatory responsibility to PRC (PRC, 2016). Licensure examination for teachers is conducted twice a year – first quarter (mostly done in January or March) and in the
It is because of its nature as a board program wherein graduates need to take and pass the LET in order to pursue a teaching job. Performance in LET became then as one of the tools for measuring the quality of a TEI, that is, the “alignment and consistency of the TEIs’ vision, mission and goals to the learning environment as demonstrated by exceptional learning and service outcomes” (CHED, 2014). The basis is the TEIs passing rate as compared to the national passing rate, and the rule is, the TEIs passing rate should be higher than the national passing rate in order to be classified as a performing institution. Unfortunately, from a study conducted by PBED (2014) on the Licensure Examination Performance of Teacher Education Institutions in the Philippines from October 2009-September 2013, six hundred one out of one thousand twenty five, (59%) TEIs for elementary and seven hundred ninety-six out of one thousand two hundred fifty nine (63%) TEIs for secondary had a performance below the national passing percentage. For this period, 65, 010 out of 124, 395 (52%) elementary examinees passed and 64, 149 out of 114, 692 (56%) secondary examinees passed the LET. Furthermore, an alarming number of TEIs in the country still perform poorly in the LET – 537 TEIs offering elementary and 774 TEIs offering secondary teacher education are below the average national test-taker