THE Matatag Curriculum is generally well-accepted among stakeholders, and while the new curriculum improves teacher instruction, it also has no apparent impact on hours worked and selected measures of well-being.

This was part of the initial assessments of the Philippine Institute of Development Studies or PIDS on the MATATAG K-10 pilot implementation.

The MATATAG curriculum was implemented in 35 pilot schools (out of 47,678 schools) distributed across 13 divisions in seven regions.

The study sought to assess the immediate impact of the MATATAG K to 10 curriculum on teachers’ pedagogy and the welfare and learning outcomes of the students and document the challenges and opportunities of the current and the pilot curriculum.

The preliminary findings also suggest that there is no statistical difference in the expected percentage of competencies covered in MATATAG pilot schools vs non-pilot schools.

When asked about the percentage of expected competencies to be covered by the end of the school year, about 90% of the expected competencies under the pilot and non-pilot curriculum will be covered.

On the other hand, competencies mastered by students stand at 81% in both curricula.

PIDS explained that the 2021 curriculum is already less and more compressed compared to the curriculum in 2016.

“The 2021 curriculum is already lesser, halos kamukha na ng MATATAG. According to the FGDs, mas maganda ang flow ng competencies compared to the old curriculum,” PIDS Senior Research Fellow Dr. MIchael Ralph Abrigo said.

During the interviews, some teachers also said that they are still adjusting to the new curriculum.

PIDS is also set to assess the outcomes of learners among pilot and non-pilot schools.

EDCOM 2 also called on the DepEd to be guided by the preliminary findings of the monitoring and evaluation.