The Quiet Curriculum Revolution at DECS

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IS it effective to teach language using literature? Is literature served well? Is language served well? Which is disadvantaged when both are integrated? How do you develop higher order thinking skills when teaching technology and home economics?

How do you connect diverse historical facts so students see the sweep and sense of history, the whys and wherefores of human decisions and historical events? How can one rationalize the teaching of three subjects (music, art and physical education) that require knowledge of each of the disciplines, and expect one teacher to successfully teach the three? How do you discuss Philippine social realities and situations like single parents, squatter families and the phenomenon of the overseas workers? How do you develop critical thinking, the ability to distinguish right from wrong, the assertiveness to make a stand on issues, while maintaining smooth interpersonal relationships? How do you teach Science and do experiments when laboratory equipment is lacking?

These and other questions about Philippine education, the curriculum, textbooks for the different subjects and its contents, methods of teaching and styles of learning, the use of English, Filipino and the vernacular in classes all over the Philippines, indigenization of the curriculum, and the students who are being taught in and out of formal school setting, are some of the issues being discussed in meetings, workshops and for a led by Secretary Andrew Gonzalez, curriculum specialists and teacher training officials at the Department of Education, Culture and Sports for the …