IN LINE with its commitment to update the basic education curriculum, the Department of Education recently held its first round of workshops on the enhancement and finalization of the Key Stage 1 Kindergarten to Grade 12 Curriculum Guides.

The workshop was attended by Bureau of Curriculum Development officials, select regional supervisors, division supervisors, school heads, master teachers and teachers who served as curriculum writers in nine learning areas: Kindergarten, Mother Tongue, Filipino, English, Araling Panlipunan, Math, Science, MAPEH (Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health) and Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan/Technology and Livelihood Education.

“The 2022 Basic Education Curriculum is envisioned to be responsive and attuned to the dynamic changes in the society. It is seen to ultimately improve student learning outcomes anchored on the Department’s mission to provide quality, relevant, and liberating basic education for all,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said.

Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio said

that the workshops aim “to address the gaps and issues in the curriculum guides, improve learning competencies and curriculum standards and performance standards, and ensure spiral progression and developmental appropriateness.”

The move to enhance the curriculum was an offshoot of the curriculum review conducted in 2019. It is expected to be completed in July 2022.

Released in 2021, the review report provided ways to address congestion, redundancies and overlaps in the curriculum.

“In 2021, the BCD [Bureau of Curriculum Development] developed the Shaping Papers, which set the direction of the K to 12 Program in 2022. More specifically, these documents guide the curriculum revision process through a discussion of the theoretical bases, revised curriculum framework, Big Ideas, revised curriculum standards, spiral progression through vertical and horizontal articulation, 21st-century skills, and social issues,” BCD Director Joycelyn DR Andaya noted.

The Department earlier unveiled the new features of the 2022 Basic Education Curriculum in an episode on “Addressing the Challenge of Education Quality: Educ Forum Series.”

Among the new features are the focus on “Big Ideas” to decongest the curriculum, redefinition of the interplay among languages in the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education, emphasis on Engineering Design Process, intensification of values formation and rationalization of Technical-Vocational-Livelihood Specializations.