Educating teacher education

THERE is no logic in attributing the “poor” outcomes of basic education to “poor” teacher education. Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte bluntly admitted in the recent Basic Education Report that “the Filipino learners are not academically proficient.” While the passing rates in the Board Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (BLEPT) has been low, only the licensed professional teachers (LPT) are the ones qualified to teach, at least in government schools. But indeed, the performance of the graduates of the teacher education programs may need improvement.

Are there just too many aspiring teachers? For the past 10 years, the Professional Regulation Commission has conducted the BLEPT for 1,324,918 aspirants, where a total of 550,770 (41.57 percent) became LPT in secondary education, and where out of 905,717 aspirants a total of 388,184 (42.86 percent) became LPT in elementary education. The highest passing rate was in September 2021, when 57.76 percent and 55.96 percent passed in secondary and elementary education, respectively. The lowest was in March 2017, when only 25.46 percent and 10.39 percent passed in secondary and elementary education, respectively. The BLEPT remains the most populated board examination, with 331,861 recent examinees, followed by the licensure examinations for criminologists (75,402) and for nurses (34,632).

Did the teacher education program perform poorly? In the October 2022 BLEPT, almost 60 percent of the 2,157 schools scored below the national passing rate of 54.43 percent in elementary education. Almost 65 percent of the 2,157 schools generated lower than the national passing rate of 50.94 percent in secondary education.

Probably the most difficult

There are reasons the BLEPT is probably the most difficult board examination. Its coverage is wider than what one can imagine. Since the teachers cannot “pour from an empty cup,” the measure of the content knowledge in general education cuts across diverse subject areas that come from all domains of knowledge — all sciences; languages such as English and Filipino; all mathematics; social sciences, including history and current events; literature; and everything past and present, from the visible to the invisible, between the deep oceans and the galaxy. In professional education, it covers the growth and development of a unique human person across civilizations where the pedagogical, curricular and instructional science, art and principles apply appropriately, followed by a multitude of assessment and evaluation. Complicating the coverage further is the ethical, sociocultural, anthropological, historical, philosophical, legal and every domain of human experience. The majorship is the “killer,” especially for a diverse lethal combination of industrial, home economics, agri-fisheries and entrepreneurial in a major called Technology and Livelihood Education, where plumbing, carpentry, electricity blends with culinary and cosmetology. Even the mix of music, arts, physical education and health is not a joke if one has to know every composer, national artist and rules of all games, including healthy diet and nutrition at the systems, organs and cellular levels. English is not merely rules of grammar and rich vocabulary as the literature encompasses everything from Shakespeare’s works, Harry Potter and mythology to contemporary digital content creation. This is just to set a few examples.

What makes the BLEPT most challenging is the fact that the members of the board are experts in test construction. They know what they are doing above the low-level thinking to test the metacognitive and critical thinking abilities at highest cognitive domains. Metacognition is where the thinking-above-thinking applies to questions that are mostly applications of knowledge in situations. Questions are not answerable by mere rote retrieval of what is in the brain, but how one can actually use the brain in critical thinking. And competencies are not merely cognitive, as it also covers skills, attitude and values. The Board of Professional Teachers is composed of some of the finest expert educators who know what they are intending to measure through the board.

The recently released Table of Specification, a reference of content coverage, was based on the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST), which is composed of domains and strands and indicators that, if demonstrated by teachers, can assure the quality education we envision for the young Filipinos.

Input to teacher education programs

Gone are the days when a student is forced into teacher education due to failure to obtain admission in other courses. Most of the aspiring teachers are in pursuit of a common childhood dream to become teachers like in a survey I conducted among 1,300 aspiring LPTs, where 54.40 percent identified childhood dream as the main motivation to take teacher education, followed by job security (12 percent), financial capacity (9.7 percent), prestige (7.6 percent) and forced by parents (6.7 percent).

In a survey among administrators in the Society of Transformative Educators, it was noted that “some are coming from Senior High School with lack of competencies appropriate for tertiary level, poor and slow to pick up, but very willing to learn and be trained.” Administrators from public institutions noted that most are coming from poor families, a reason why they chose education as it is less costly as compared with other courses.

The public school administrators were asked to rate various areas of teacher education using a four-point Likert Scale and rated the quality of their students at 3, while those from private schools rated lower at 2.8. The administrators rated their faculty high (3 to 3.3 for public schools and 3.7 for private schools). The administrators rated the curriculum as high considering their outcomes-based compliance with the Commission on Higher Education and the PPST. Resources are, however, rated poor at 2 by local college administrators and 2.7 by both state colleges and private schools. They rated their graduates with optimism noting their job readiness and LET performance, which they observed as improving.

The 1,300 respondents among the recent graduates and aspiring LPTs self-rated themselves highly in knowledge (3.2), skills (3.2), and attitude (3.5) as well as confidence (3.38) to pass the BLEPT. Across the seven domains of the PPST, they rated themselves high as well. They reflected upon their learning experiences in the teacher education institution as highly satisfactory at 8.8 in a 10-point scale.

Factors affecting BLEPT performance

In a National Summative Test conducted by the Carl Balita Review Center among 10,138 aspiring LPTs, using a test that strictly aligned with the Table of Specification of the BLEPT and parallel with previous examinations, the average in general education was 72.50, while in professional education, it was 71.55. Relatively low but not predictive of their board performance, considering the three-month review program they would go through prior to the BLEPT.

Michael B. Cahapay (2020) probes the differences caused by selected cognitive variables, such as entrance test scores and grade point average (GPA), on the performance of the graduates in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) using causal comparative mixed-method research design. His finding coincides with the results of Dagdag et al. (2017), which accounted for a medium influence of entrance test scores on the general education and professional education components of the LET. The study further uncovered that the GPA of the graduates grouped as high, average and low causes a significant difference in the LET performance. The qualitative probes revealed themes such as access to review materials, metacognitive strategies, motivational experiences, and efficacy to succeed.

A descriptive correlational method through the analysis of registration data on LET, grade weighted average, college admission test scores, and course audit scores was conducted by Januard D. Dagdag (2017). Results showed that low LET performance is influenced by low performance in academics and admission tests, and limited course audit units taken. Admission test performance, however, does not predict LET performance in major. On the other hand, course audit performance can only forecast licensure exam scores in major. His finding coincides to some degree with the assertion of Pachejo and Allaga (2013) that good performance during college cannot guarantee a good performance in the licensure exam.

In the study “Performance of BSEd Science Graduates in Licensure Examination for Teachers: Basis for a Regression Model” by Roy C. Ferrer and Dexter R. Buted, the authors concluded that LET performance was significantly related to gender, high school average grade, college entrance test score and attendance to review class. However, LET performance had no significant relationship with age. There was a significant relationship between academic performance and LET performance in all areas namely general education, professional education and major.

The teachers are almost always the most loved human beings, in the words of former Education secretary Leonor Briones. Indeed they are. Probably the reason many wish they could be teachers. But are they loved enough to live a good life? In Southeast Asia, teachers’ salaries in the Philippines rank fifth at $623 a month, following Singapore ($4,149), Thailand ($2,240), East Timor ($1,480), and Malaysia ($1,122). As they say, pay bananas, you get monkeys. Surely, this does not apply to the Filipino teachers who actually don’t pursue the vocation for the money. I have met thousands and thousands of them, and deep in their heart is a great purpose — the Filipino child and the future of our country.

Yes, we need to improve teacher education. And the education sector doesn’t mind that. After all, quality is all about improving the current state. And just like the children who learn, the teachers learn as well. And the proof of learning is change.