k12 Subjects
k12 Subjects
k12 Subjects
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
The Department of Education has in the past years been working towards the implementation of the
K-12 program that is designed to “provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop
lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development,
employment, and entrepreneurship.” The extension of the basic education to 12 years seeks to boost the
quality of Philippine education to make it at par with that of other countries. The K-12 program is
described to have six salient features: 1) strengthening early childhood education through universal
Kindergarten, 2) making the curriculum relevant to learners, 3) ensuring integrated and seamless
learning, 4) building proficiency through use of mother tongue based multi-lingual education, 5)
provision of career tracks and 6) nurturing holistically developed Filipino.
In the past year, several consultations have been conducted on the content and implementation of the
K-12 program. In such presentations, emphasis has been made on the curriculum of the major subject
areas and the provision of programs that will prepare students for vocational or non-academic
careers. What has not yet been communicated to the public is a curriculum and provisions to support the
non-academic formation of our students. The lack of attention to the non-academic formation is critical
considering that:
The goal of the K-12 program that every graduate is equipped with information, media and
technology skills, learning and innovation skills, effective communication skills, and life and career
skills. However, these competencies require time to develop and attention needs to be given to the
design of a curriculum that will develop these.
In the recent years, issues such as bullying and violence have become issues of concern in
schools. Currently, Department of Education’s has partnered with non-profit organizations and
other entities to provide training and information to teachers and parents on child protection. These
efforts are commendable and should continue. However, beyond awareness and capability building,
it is just as important to consider how this can be embedded in the curriculum, culture, systems and
structures of each school. For example, providing students with modules on assertiveness, personal
safety, gender sensitivity, valuing diversity may go a long way in helping create an environment of
safety for our students.
Part of the success of the K-12 curriculum hinges on the ability of students to discern their career
goals and to obtain the necessary training to prepare them for this. However, currently it is reported
that only a minority of public schools have legitimate guidance counselors and with some schools
having only 1 guidance counselor for thousands of students.
The dearth of guidance counselors in schools is exacerbated by the lack of licensed guidance
counselors and low enrollment in guidance and counseling. One possible opportunity, however, is
the rise in popularity of Psychology and the implementation of the Psychology Law that now
licenses psychologists.
In the K-12 program, classes that are typically given to college freshmen and sophomores will be
offered in grades 11 and 12. The most recent curriculum shows that courses on Math, English,
History, etc will now being offered in grades 11 and 12. However, Introduction to Psychology, a
course that used to be required for all college freshmen, is no longer a requirement in the K-12
program.
During one consultation meeting, the CHED Technical Panels in Psychology and Guidance and
Counseling recommended that to address the dearth of guidance counselors and need for
supervision on career directions, a class on Personal Development/Effectiveness be offered to
provide a venue for students to discern their career directions. However, this proposal was not
accepted.
Given all these, we ask that the Department of Education to consider the following recommendations:
WHY K-12 ?
Enhancing the quality of basic education in the Philippines is urgent and critical.
Why?
Poor quality of basic education is reflected in the low achievement scores of Filipino
students in the National Achievement Test and international tests like TIMSS (Trends
In Math and Science Subject); partly due to the congested curriculum; The current 10-
year basic education curriculum is designed to be taught in 12 years.
Our high school graduates are: > not adequately prepared for the world of work
(most of the basic education graduates are too young to legally enter the labor
force (legal age would be 18)
not adequately prepared to pursue higher education; or if prepared; end up shifting
courses
The 10-year basic education cycle hinders the recognition of Filipino professionals
abroad.
1. Employment
2. Entrepreneurship
3. Skills Development
4. Higher Education (College)
Strengthened Curriculum
4 Tracks
> Academic with the following strands:
Sports
Arts and Designs
8 Core Learning Areas (Language, Math, Science, Communication, Philosophy,
Humanities, Social Sciences, P.E. & Health)
15 Core Subjects
16 Specialized and Contextualized Subjects
IMPORTANT: A student is considered only a GRADE 10 COMPLETER and NOT
a High School graduate if he does not go through Grades 11 and 12.
Senior high school or SHS refers to the last two years of the K to 12 program that has been
implemented by the Department of Education here in the Philippines since 2012 – namely, grades
11 and 12. Students are now required to choose their preferred senior high strands upon their
entrance and to begin studying the subjects that are going to introduce them to the career path that
they want to take.
In the old system here in our county, high school education consisted of the first year up to the fourth
year. Today, those four years correspond to Grades 7 to 10, otherwise known as junior high school
or JHS. It should be noted that currently “senior high” no longer just means the very last year of high
school but rather, the two grade levels after it. Likewise, “junior high” also does not just mean the
year before the last of high school but rather the four grade levels under senior high.
Under Republic Act No. 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, students are now
required to complete Kindergarten, Grades 1 to 6 or elementary school, Grades 7 to 10 or junior high
school, and Grades 11 to 12 or senior high school. All of this must be completed in 13 years before a
student can receive his or her high school diploma.
Upon Enrolment in senior high school, students are also going to have to pick among four senior
high strands or tracks. Choosing the right strand is one of the biggest decisions a student in the
Philippines is going to have to make, so read on and find out how you can best make this choice.
Tuition Fees
Similar to college, the tuition fees for senior high schools can vary depending on the school. The
Department of Education offers vouchers which can be used by incoming senior high school
students to enroll in their public or private senior high school of choice. The value of this voucher can
range between PHP 8,750 to PHP 22,500 per year, depending on the area where their senior high
school of choice is located and the type of junior high school that they graduated from.
However, it should be pointed out that even though the voucher can be used to enroll in both private
and public senior high schools, you should do a little bit more research first in order to get an idea of
how much you need to pay for before you send in your enrollment application. While the voucher is
typically enough to cover a large portion of the tuition fee, and sometimes even more, in a public
school, this can only cover a small portion of the tuition fee in a lot of private schools.
More popularly known as STEM, this strand is the perfect choice if you are planning to study Applied
and Pure Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering in college. Students that choose this strand also
end up studying Chemistry, Calculus, Physics, and Biology. Fair warning, though, this strand is not
for the faint-hearted.
Agri-fisheries Strand
This is the strand for students who are interested in aquaculture and agriculture. Other related
subjects are also tackled in this strand such as Pest Management, Slaughtering, Fish Production,
and Animal Production. Once you have graduated from this strand, you can expect to work on farms
immediately or proceed to related courses in college.
Sports Track
This track is pretty much self-explanatory. If you are an athlete and your life is all about sports such
as playing, coaching or officiating games, then this is the right track for you. This track is developed
to equip senior high school students with physical fitness and sports-related safety knowledge. This
track typically appeals to those who want to venture into the fitness, recreation, and athletics
industries.
Once you graduate from senior high, you can already towards a sports-related job or even become a
professional athlete. You can also pursue a higher education and major in Physical Education.
4. Design and Arts Track
This track is for students with a penchant for the arts. Design and Arts aren’t limited to just drawing
or painting, though, but also performing. Here, students will be able to enroll in subjects that are
going to hone their skills in visual design and the performing arts.
Choose this track if you want to be a painter, dancer, sculptor, director, actor, singer, or any related
job. Again, you have the choice of immediately going to work after graduating from this track in
senior high or proceed to college and take up similar courses such as Theater, Cinema, or Fine Arts.
A question that many incoming senior high school students and their parents frequently ask is
how different the senior high school curriculum to the old high school curriculum is, so to give you an
idea of what SHS students study once they begin senior high school, provided below is a curriculum
breakdown that you can use for reference.
Core Subjects
Core subjects are subjects that all senior high school students will study regardless of their
chosen career track or learning strand. You can think of this as similar to the general education subjects
that college students usually take on their first and second year of college:
1. Oral Communication
2. Reading and Writing
3. Komunikasyon at Pananaliksik sa Wikang Pilipino (Communication and Research on
Filipino Language and Culture)
4. Pagbasa at Pagsuri ng Iba’t-ibang teksto tungo sa pananaliksik (Reading and Critique of
Different Research texts)
5. 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and World
6. Contemporary Philippine Arts from the region
7. Media And Information Literacy
8. General Mathematics
9. Statistics and Probability
10. Earth and Life Science
11. Physical Science
12. Pansariling Kaunlaran (Personal Development)
13. Understanding Culture, Society and Politics
14. Pambungad sa Pilosopiya ng tao (Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person)
15. Physical Education and Health
16. Earth Science (taken instead of Earth and Life for those in the STEM strand.)
17. Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction (Taken instead of Physical Science for those in
the STEM strand.)
Applied Subjects
Applied/ contextualized subjects are subjects that all Senior High School students will take;
however, contrary to core subjects which are only meant to cover the most basic topics, applied
subjects are designed to focus on the specific applications of certain subjects on the student’s chosen
career track or learning strand.
For example, while all career tracks include a Filipino Subject, Filipino as used in the field of arts
and design and Filipino as used in the field of sports can have slight differences just like how research in
the fields of humanities and social sciences is sometimes conducted differently in the fields of science
and technology
Applied subject that you are going to study as part of the Senior High School Curriculum include:
1. English for Academic and Professional Purposes
2. Practical Research 1
3. Practical Research 2
4. Filipino sa Piling Larangan
Akademik
Isports
Sining
Tech-Voc
5. Empowerment Technologies (for the strand)
6. Entrepreneurship
7. Inquiries, Investigations and Immersion
Specialized Subjects
Specialized subjects are subjects that are unique to the career track or learning strand that the
student chose. These are similar to the major subjects that college students take, although they’re
designed to be less complex than their college counterparts.
Specialized subjects that belong to each career track and learning strand are listed below
Academic Track
1. Applied Economics
2. Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
3. Fundamentals of Accountancy, Business and Management 1
4. Fundamentals of Accountancy, Business and Management 2
5. Business Math
6. Business Finance
7. Organization and Management
8. Principles of Marketing
9. Work Immersion/Research/Career Advocacy/Culminating Activities i.e. Business Enterprise
Simulation
1. Humanities 1*
2. Humanities 2*
3. Social Science 1**
4. Applied Economics
5. Organization and Management
6. Elective 1 (from any Track and Strand)***
7. Elective 2 (from any Track and Strand)***
8. Work Immersion/Research/ Career Advocacy/Culminating Activity
Select from HUMSS Strand subjects 1 to 4
Select from HUMSS Strand subjects 5 to 8
Schools must present/offer a range of subjects from which students can choose.
Sports Track
1. Hairdressing
2. Tailoring
3. Caregiving
4. Food And Beverages Services
5. Bread and Pastry Production
6. Housekeeping
7. Tour Guiding Services
8. Tourism Promotion Services
9. Attraction and Theme Parks Tourism
10. Handicraft
1. Computer Programming
2. Medical Transcription
3. Animation
Agri-crop Production
1. Horticulture
2. Landscape Installation and Maintenance
3. Organic Agriculture Production
4. Pest Management
5. Rice Machinery Operation
Animal Production
1. Animal Production II
2. Artificial Insemination – Large Ruminants
3. Artificial Insemination – Swine
4. Slaughtering
Fish Production
1. Automotive Servicing
2. Refrigeration and Air – Conditioning
3. Consumer Electronics Servicing
4. Electrical Installation and Maintenance
5. Shield Metal-Arc Welding
6. Carpentry
7. Plumbing
8. Tile Setting
Electives
Students choosing the General Academic Strand (GAS) have a little more freedom in choosing
what subjects they can study in senior high. Aside from having the option to choose 2 additional
subjects from any learning strand, they also have the option to personalise the HUMSS Subject
according to their liking (see the subjects marked with asterisk above.)
https://www.courses.com.ph/senior-high-school-in-the-philippines-curriculum-breakdown/
Importance of K to 12 Curriculum
A write-up on Soapboxie, a site formed by the political and social enthusiasts, Cianeko Abueva
states the k to 12 curriculum is the key to our nation’s progress. Though faced with problems
since its implementation, he believes we need the new system. In fact, it will help increase the
quality of our education, a crucial factor to our country’s success.
K to 12 Grading System: KPUP versus WW-PT-QA
So far, under the new basic education system, DepEd has released two orders effecting the new
assessment and grading system, KPUP and WW-PT-QA.
1. Knowledge – the substantive content of the curriculum, the facts, and info gained by the
student.
2. Process – skills or cognitive operations the student does on the facts and info to create
meanings or understandings.
3. Understandings – how the student endured big ideas, principles, and generalizations
inherent to the discipline.
4. Products/Performances – real-life application of understanding as evidenced by the
student’s performance of authentic tasks.
Further, the report card shall show how the students performed based on proficiency levels.
2. WW-PT-QA Grading System
The second system, in contrast, is under D.O. No. 8, s.2015 effective school year 2015-2016.
Unlike the first one, the new k to 12 grading system used fewer components and launched a
new conversion table. Public schools from kindergarten to senior high school should use it. In
the same way, it asks non-DepEd schools to apply the changes, too.
Under this order, the results of the components of the summative assessment such as Written
Work, Performance Tasks, and Quarterly Assessment will form the bases for the grade
computation.
1. Written Work (WW) – makes sure students can express skills and contents in written form.
2. Performance Task (PT) – lets learners show what they know and can do in diverse ways.
3. Quarterly Assessment (QA) – measures student learning at the end of the quarter.
New Senior High School Grading System Components
For more details on DepEd’s K-12 senior high school program, please go to K12 Philippines. You
may also check CIIT’s senior high school courses to learn more about our specialized tracks.