G1Facilitating Learner-Centered Teaching

Facilitating Learner-Centered Teaching
Activity #I: Causal Layered Analysis
Topic: Lack of Funding in Education Sector

1. Facilitating Learner-Centered Teaching Activity #I: Causal Layered Analysis Topic: Lack of Funding in Education Sector

2. Litany Issue or Problem: Lack of funding in education sector resulting to: low teacher salaries, shortage of classrooms, and lack of school facilities. Who is responsible to fix it? - Government, and Non-Government Organizations (collaboration). Solution: - Budget increase, fund raising, and donations (monetary).

3. Litany It is clear that the Philippine Government finds it difficult to uphold the constitutional requirement that all children and youth in the country receive free, adequate education at the basic school level. Either a lack of resources, poor leadership, or both are to responsible for the State. Despite being mandated by the Philippine Constitution for the government to allocate the most funding to education, the Philippines remains to have one of the lowest allocation of funding to education among ASEAN countries (K12 Academics, n.d.). According to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines, the Department of Education (DepEd) funding, in particular, is insufficient to guarantee the secure reopening of schools amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (Hernando- Malipot , 2022).

4. Systemic Issue or Problem: Natural calamities, corruption in the government, conflict of interests, and poor maintenance of school administration. Who is responsible to fix it? - Government, stakeholders, and school administration.

5. Systemic Solution: - Development of calamity-proofing of classrooms, p arent-teacher association will set policies  and help to maintain school environment, establishment of maintenance department in every school, and comprehensive plan and transparency in the allocation of funds in education sectors.

6. Systemic The causes of lack of funding in education can be attributed to two factors: marginalization and poverty; and financial deficit of developing countries ( Humanium , n.d.). Children in both developed and developing nations, like the Philippines, lack access to a basic education due to disparities in sex, health, and cultural identity (ethnic origin, language, religion). These children find themselves on the periphery of the education system and do not benefit from learning that is crucial to their intellectual and social development. The likelihood that a child will not attend school and will have a higher dropout rate is increased by two due to factors associated with poverty, such as unemployment, illness, and parent illiteracy. Undoubtedly, many children from impoverished families are driven to drop out of school due to health issues brought on by malnutrition or in order to work and support the family.

7. Systemic Many developing nations do not allocate the funds required to build schools, provide educational supplies, or hire and train teachers. The international community has pledged funding, but it generally is not sufficient to enable governments to set up a system of education for all children. The quality of education is also impacted by a lack of funding. Basic teacher training does not help teachers, and schools with too many students have big classes. This overflow causes classes where students of all educational levels are crammed together, preventing each child from receiving an education that is tailored to their unique needs and talents. As a result, there remains a high dropout rate and rate of educational failure.

8. Systemic At the systemic (causes) level, there are four (4) issues regarding the lack of funding in education sectors in the Philippines. First, natural calamities, natural calamities here in the Philippines are one of the common causes of lack of funds. Every typhoon, volcanic eruption, etc. public schools always become an evacuation center for the people. School infrastructures are also victims of devastations once calamities hit. Second, poor maintenance of school administration, as the only place that can provide shelter to many people during the calamity, after the evacuees leave the evacuation center, no one will check if the classroom, the facility, and classroom materials such as the tables and chairs was still intact or were damaged by the evacuees.

9. Systemic Third, corruption in the government, we all know that the government is allocating the budget for the education sector. However, as the budget was passed down to the schools. It seems like the budget allocated for educational development for the public schools was corrupted by the politicians. Political patronage is also present in schools throughout the country. Lastly, aside from the corruption of the government, there is an issue that the conflict of political interests regarding the education sector becomes a problem since the Spanish Era. It seems like the politicians are intending to reduce the funds of the education sector so that the public will not be knowledgeable enough about “voter/s education during elections”.

10. Systemic We think of possible solutions for the issues at the systemic level, and we can think of four (4) possible solutions. First, to solve the issue of the damages from natural calamities, we think that we should develop calamity-proof classrooms and school facilities. Second, the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) will set policies to reduce the damages, and then help to check the classroom and facilities every time the evacuees will use those rooms so that they can monitor the damages. Third, after the PTA make sure to monitor those classrooms and facilities, with their policies, they will guide the maintenance department to ensure that the classrooms and school facilities are good to be used when classes are resumed. Lastly, a comprehensive plan and transparency in the allocation of funds in education sectors so that the allocated fund will be used as what is supposed to be its purpose.

11. Systemic As for who are the people involved in this issue and who will make these solutions happen. First, we have the government, aside from funding, they can provide manpower to help the schools to check and repair the damages. Second and third, the stakeholders such as the faculty and the parents, and the school administration. With their help, they can discuss with the school administration which projects, repairs, etc. will benefit the school and the students. In addition, they can discuss with the school administration which those projects should be prioritized first.

12. Systemic Sources: Alcantara H. (Aug. 10, 2022). PHILIPPINES REMAINS TO BE ONE OF THE LOWEST BUDGET GRANTS TO LEARNING AMONG ASEAN COUNTRIES. Retrieved from: https://diyaryomilenyonews.com/2022/08/10/philippines-remains-to-be-one-of-the-lowest-budget-grants-to-learning-among-asean-countries/   Teacherph.com. Politics of Patronage in the Philippine Educational System. Retrieved from: https://www.teacherph.com/politics-patronage-philippine-educational-system/ . Santos F.J. (May 23, 2022). How Philippine Education Contributed to the Return of the Marcoses. Retrieved from: https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/how-philippine-education-contributed-to-the-return-of-the-marcoses/

13. Worldview Issue or Problem: Due to the K-12 curriculum and its lack of concrete plan, the education sector in the Philippines needs additional funds to build new classrooms and facilities for senior high school students. In addition, due to the lack of funding in the K-12 curriculum, the workloads of the teachers were doubled. Who is responsible to fix it? International groups and organizations.

14. Worldview Solution: - Private organizations (internationally) donates some school materials and school equipment to the public schools in the Philippines. Then, some of the international groups provide seminars to the teachers to manage the new K-12 curriculum efficiently and effectively.

15. Worldview Due to the abruptness of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers and educational institutions were forced to build emergency remote learning systems almost immediately, often leaving flaws that require fixing such as the lack of funding in education (Donnelly, Patrinos , & Gresham, 2021). One of the foci of discourse explaining the lack of funding for education is anti-intellectualism, specifically on the government – which is responsible for funding public education. These are a result of the growing power of a political system that is characterized by an illiberal emphasis built on orthodox ideology. The government is aiming to exclude a crucial component of educational institutions and actors—their critical framework in order to preserve control over public education. A critical element of education is critical thinking. Silencing criticism creates a situation that is all too common: disengaged students, disenfranchised educators, homogenized curricula, inferior educational facilities, and the tyranny of uniformity (Kocsis, 2022). Thus, anti-intellectualism in the government causes a lack of funding in education in order to suppress critical thinking among the population.

16. Worldview Sources: Donnelly, R., Patrinos , H. A., & Gresham, J. (2021). The Impact of COVID-19 on Education – Recommendations and Opportunities for Ukraine. The World Bank. Kocsis, A. B. (2022). Challenges facing educational leaders in an ethos of anti-intellectualism. In Populism and Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy (p. 18). Routledge.

17. Myth or Metaphor Issue or Problem: “Build, Build, Build program.” Schools are not included in public works and development programs. The Philippine government aimed to reach progress regarding genuine nationalism over blinded nationalism. However, they prioritized the militarization and mandatory ROTC program in the education sector. The lack of funding in education then leads to disappointment and in losing hope in the future among both the children and their parents – who expects that their children will lift them out of poverty by providing them education.

18. Myth or Metaphor Who is responsible to fix it? Government, particularly in the Education Department. Activists Solution: “Build, Build, Build program.” A certain politician built a lot of highways near a real-estate company. Students shall be able to exercise their freedom as they have human rights, such as freedom to choose which (NSTP) National Service Training Program they will take.

19. Myth or Metaphor Education is one of the most important legacies that Filipino parents want to provide their children. They believe that having a higher education opens them up to opportunities that will guarantee a bright future and finally help them escape poverty ( Maligalig , Caoli -Rodriguez, Martinez, & Cuevas, 2011). The lack of funding in education then leads to disappointment and in losing hope in the future among both the children and their parents – who expects that their children will lift them out of poverty by providing them education.

20. Myth or Metaphor Conversely, most Filipino families believe in “pulling oneself from one’s bootstraps”, also known as “bootstrap mentality” or “bootstrapping”, referring to giving oneself a challenge to create something out of nothing, or originally, attempting to do something absurd (Pot, 2021), without being dependent on external sources (Damani, 2016). Such mentality implies that, regardless of education, one can elevate their economic status through as extreme as “doing the absurd”, or by simply working or starting a business and hoping it succeeds enough to lift one out of poverty. This mentality often disregards education as unnecessary or irrelevant, and often coaxes anti-intellectualism to further the idea that one can achieve success without the help of education. Certain entities in government can have such mentality, simply suggesting that students can succeed in education or in life by “ pagtitiis ” or resiliency, leading to them not allocating funds in education due to such bias in worldview.

21. Myth or Metaphor Education is one of the most important legacies that Filipino parents want to provide for their children. They believe that having a higher education opens them up to opportunities that will guarantee a bright future and finally help them escape poverty ( Maligalig , Caoli -Rodriguez, Martinez, & Cuevas, 2011). The lack of funding for education then leads to disappointment and in losing hope in the future among both the children and their parents – who expect that their children will lift them out of poverty by providing them with education.

22. Myth or Metaphor Conversely, most Filipino families believe in “pulling oneself from one’s bootstraps”, also known as “bootstrap mentality” or “bootstrapping”, referring to giving oneself the challenge to create something out of nothing, or originally, attempting to do something absurd (Pot, 2021), without being dependent on external sources (Damani, 2016). Such mentality implies that, regardless of education, one can elevate their economic status through as extreme as “doing the absurd”, or by simply working or starting a business and hoping it succeeds enough to lift one out of poverty. This mentality often disregards education as unnecessary or irrelevant and often coaxes anti-intellectualism to further the idea that one can achieve success without the help of education. Certain entities in government can have the such mentality, simply suggesting that students can succeed in education or life by “ pagtitiis ” or resiliency, leading to them not allocating funds to education due to such bias in worldview.

23. Myth or Metaphor The lack of funds for education makes it grieving for educational infrastructure.  The “Build, Build, Build program” of the former administration mostly focus on the public works and development programs such as highways and buildings where that can name after their name, and not on the educational infrastructure that would help many public school students and teachers to have a quality education. The funding of the education system in the Philippines is very limited classrooms remain overcrowded, and hallways are still being used as classrooms in many public schools. Additionally, there is a shortage of science and computer laboratories. Both learning and teaching are not best accomplished in these circumstances. Youth intellectual development and health are hampered by inadequate educational facilities.

24. Myth or Metaphor The government system always thinks that we needed a military education but not seeing the picture of what education is about, they want it to be complicated that they want to have a military education they do not want to prioritize the quality of education that they should provide to every Filipinos that can lead to the progress of the state where no one can be left behind because a flawed education system in the nation will keep failing to produce nationalist Filipinos who are capable of helping to rebuild the country. The lack of educated Filipinos will, in turn, have no positive impact on the system and may potentially make it worse.

25. Myth or Metaphor The Philippine government perceives progress and development of our country, but ironically not investing in the future of its citizen, the education, the powerful weapon that can change the once, Nelson Mandela Once said. They expect nationalism and patriotism in fellow Filipinos but eradicate Philippine History in High School. They are Blindly expecting things from us, without even talking about our ancestors or who we are as Filipino. Then, all of a sudden, they came up with the idea of instituting mandatory ROTC as their response to the fading nationalism that we are witnessing. Militarily forcing nationalism gives us a more chaotic scenario. We are creating Blind nationalist Filipinos, who just Follow the order “ Blinded by the motto, to serve and protect “ for WHOM?

26. Myth or Metaphor In this time of crisis, Filipinos face pressing societal issues, and we require an education that instills in our children a genuine love for our country. Teaching them that they are part of this nation, and the responsibility in creating a better future for this nation and the next generation is our duty. We need to teach them to be critical and rational Filipinos for us to have well-constructed progress for all. This future won't be possible if we keep our silence in times of crisis. We need to stand for education and the future of this nation.

27. Myth or Metaphor Sources: Philippine budget for 2023 to rise 4.9 pct, defense alone by 9 pct-Xinhua . (n.d.). English.news.cn. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://english.news.cn/asiapacific/20220822/b49ff8dafaca49b9b114f0eacdf5ec9f/c.html On the issue of zero-budget for SPED | Department of Education . (n.d.). https://www.deped.gov.ph/2022/09/18/on-the-issue-of-zero-budget-for-sped/#:~:text=September%2019%2C%202022%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Department

28. Myth or Metaphor Sources: Mandatory ROTC? How about no? (2016, August 2). RAPPLER. https://www.rappler.com/voices/imho/141670-mandatory-rotc-how-about-no/ Pot, J. (2021). You can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Zapier. Damani, A. (2016). Bootstrap Mentality: Key Ingredient for Startup Success. Entrepreneur India.