THE Department of Education yesterday said teachers’ skills will be the key to the success of the pilot testing of the revised K to 10 curriculum, also known as the MATATAG curriculum, which will start on September 25 in 35 schools in seven regions in the country.
DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Cesar Bringas said the pilot testing will also allow the department to iron out kinks in the revised curriculum before its phased implementation starting in the school year 2024-2025.
“Our preparation is focused on our teachers because we need to train them in the new curriculum guides as well as lesson exemplars. We also oriented our school heads, supervisors, superintendents and chiefs of curriculum since they are tasked to monitor the program’s implementation and conduct technical assistance on expert enhancements through collaborative experiences with the teachers,” Bringas told the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing.
Earlier, the department said a total of 864 teachers, school heads, and other DepEd officials in the seven regions where the pilot testing will be implemented have been identified to undergo orientation and training on the MATATAG curriculum.
Bringas said another area the DepEd has focused on is the learning resources — lesson standards and learning activity sheets, among others — that are going to be used by the teachers in schools selected for pilot testing.
Based on the memorandum dated September 8 that it issued identifying the seven regions where the revised curriculum will be pilot tested, the DepEd has allocated P39.2 million for the production and printing of learning resources and another P7.9 million for the conduct of orientation and training of teachers and other education officials.
Bringas said the pilot testing would enable them to iron out any kinks in the revised curriculum before its phased implementation next school year.
“The pilot testing is in seven regions for a total of 35 schools. This is going to be part of our research to see challenges issues and gaps that may be associated with the pilot testing so that when we have full implementation next school year), everything will be smooth in the succeeding years until we finish in 2028,” he added.
After the pilot study, Bringas said the revised curriculum will be implemented for Kindergarten and those in Grades 1, 4 and 7 in school year 2024-2025, Grades 2, 5 and 8 in school year 2025-2026, Grades 3, 6 and 9 in school year 2026-2027, and Grade 10 in school year 2027-2028.
Bringas said the curriculum for the senior high school program — Grades 11 and 12 — is still undergoing review.
To ensure the success of the pilot study, the DepEd earlier said research studies would also be conducted with the help of the think tank Philippine Institute of Developmental Studies, the Assessment, Curriculum and Technology Research Center (ACTRC), and the Philippine Normal University-Research Center for Teacher Quality with the SiMERR National Research Centre in Australia.
