Does Teacher Licensure Matter? Basic Education Reform in the Philippine Education System

Abstract

<p>The Philippine government is currently investing on education reform through the Enhanced<br />Basic Education Program or the K-12 Curriculum. The recent basic education program does<br />not only call for academic excellence but also on higher teacher qualification. The purpose of<br />this study is to determine whether or not teacher licensure matters in the implementation of<br />the basic education reform in the Philippine Education system. Qualitative in orientation, this<br />study utilized Phenomenology as its research design to capture the lebenswelt of college<br />teachers who are distraught by the implementation of the new K-12 curriculum. Data were<br />gathered through interviews and the analysis of data was empirically observed using the<br />following steps: transcribing, coding, theming, verifying, and analyzing. The analysis of data<br />in this phenomenological inquiry yielded three essential themes based on the respondents’<br />major statements pertaining to eligibility that makes the college teacher qualified to teach in<br />the Senior High School of the new K-12 program, namely: full eligibility, provisionary<br />eligibility, and temporary eligibility. The college teachers in this study accept and favor the<br />Department of Education’s teaching licensure requirement. They believe that passing the<br />Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) is an important requirement before entering the<br />classroom. The shared experiences of the participants of the study serve as a primordial<br />source to raise awareness about the value and importance of teacher licensure to meet the<br />high quality standards set by the profession and the hiring standard recognized by the<br />government and public schools as an assurance of competence and quality.</p>