Proposed Teacher Education Excellence Act passed on 2nd reading: Senator Win says
NDBC BANTAY HALALAN 2022 • 11:15 AM Wed Sep 15, 2021
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian today expressed hope the Senate will soon pass one of his major legislation that will benefit the teachers across the country.
On Tuesday, the Senate passed on second reading his proposed Teacher Education Excellence Act (TEEC).
"Pasado na po sa ikalawang pagbasa ang Teacher Education Excellence Act. Sa panukalang ito, maitataas natin ang kalidad ng edukasyon at kasanayan ng ating mga guro," Gatchalian said in a statement.
He also maintained that aspiring teachers should be given quality education and training from teacher education institutions (TEIs) during pre-service training.
Reforming the teacher education system was one of the proposals of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture when it recognized the crisis in the education sector in 2020.
To improve the performance of learners, Gatchalian said, it is important to implement educational reforms.
He pointed out most of the graduates of TEIs performed poorly in the licensure examination for teachers (LET).
He cited statistics that says from 2010 to 2019, only 35 percent passed the LET for the secondary level while only 28 percent passed for the elementary level.
Readiness to teach the K-to-12 curriculum is another challenge, Gatchalian pointed out.
A 2016 report by the World Bank and Australian Aid showed that except for English elementary teachers, the average elementary or high school teacher could correctly answer fewer than half of questions on subject content tests.
To improve the quality of teacher education and training in the country, Senate Bill 2152 or the "Teacher Education Excellence Act," which Gatchalian sponsored, seeks to empower the Teacher Education Council and make it a responsive coordinating body among the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education and the Professional Regulation Commission.
Strengthening the coordination between these three agencies will align preservice and in-service education to improve the quality of teachers and improve the quality of education in elementary and secondary schools, Gatchalian explained.
"Sa pagreporma natin sa sistema ng edukasyon, hindi na tayo pwedeng bumalik sa nakasanayan na nating gawin, at isa sa mga dapat nating tutukan ay ang pag-angat ng kalidad ng edukasyon ng ating mga guro. Kung magagawa natin ito, mapapaigting natin ang kanilang kakayahan at kahandaang maghatid ng dekalidad na edukasyon sa ating mga mag-aaral (In reforming our system of education, we can no longer go back to our usual practice, and one of those we need to focus on is the lifting of the quality of education of our teachers. If we can do this, we can intensify their capability and the readiness to deliver quality education to our learners)," he said.