SENATOR Win Gatchalian has filed a resolution that seeks to look into the quality of teacher education and training in the country, including the performance of Teacher Education Institutions.

In filing Senate Resolution 526, Gatchalian stressed that the quality of teacher education and training and the performance of TEIs affect the learning of students.

The senator cited the results of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment which revealed that out of 79 countries, the Philippines ranked lowest in Reading Comprehension and second lowest in Science and Mathematics.

He also cited a Congressional Commission on Education report that teachers’ poor performance is due to poor training and meager opportunities for professional development.

Gatchalian emphasized that despite the creation in 1994 of the Teacher Education Council and the National Educators Academy of the Philippines in 1992, the training for distance learning only started this year because of the pandemic.

The TEC is tasked to design collaborative programs for pre-service teacher training, in-service training, re-training, orientation, and teacher development. NEAP, meanwhile, is mandated to provide the learning and development needs of the increasing number of teachers and school leaders by streamlining professional development.

The Department of Education reported that so far, 620,794 out of 800,000 teachers have been trained for distance learning.

Even before the pandemic hit, Gatchalian said teacher quality has been a problem, pointing to the results of the Licensure Examination for Teachers in previous years.

Between 2014 and 2019, the elementary teacher licensure examination results showed that the average passing rate was only 28 percent while the passing rate of the secondary teacher licensure examination was only 36 percent.

“The expertise of teachers is another cause for concern,” Gatchalian said.

Based on the World Bank’s Philippines Public Education Expenditure Tracking and Quantitative Service Delivery Study, elementary and high school teachers are not equipped to teach considerable portions of the K to 12 curriculum.

Except for English elementary teachers, the average elementary or high school teacher could correctly answer fewer than half of questions on subject content tests.

“Ang husay at kaalaman ng ating mga mag-aaral ay nakasalalay sa kahusayan at kahandaan ng ating mga guro. Upang maiangat natin ang kalidad ng edukasyon sa bansa, kailangang masuri natin ang edukasyon at paghahanda na natatanggap ng ating mga guro upang masiguro nating handa silang tugunan ang pangangailangan ng ating mga mag-aaral,” said Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture.