25 May 2014
Key technical personnel of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are undergoing training to allow them to help craft, evaluate and implement better curriculum.
Two batches of personnel from the agency's regional and provincial offices underwent a training program on curriculum evaluation geared towards improved technical vocational education and training (tech-voc).
The training for the first batch was conducted from May 19 to 23 while the second batch is scheduled from May 26 to 30.
"The curriculum can spell the difference between success and failure in tech-voc," Secretary Joel Villanueva, TESDA Director General, said.
"The training will ensure that the guardians of our curriculum, the people who will keep a critical eye on it, are well-equipped professionally to keep up with the demands on the ground," Villanueva said.
The five-day training program is designed for the personnel involved in the evaluation of applications for registration of tech-voc programs under the agency's Unified TVET Program Registration and Accreditation System (UTPRAS).
UTPRAS is the system that ensures compliance of Technical Vocational Institutions (TVIs) with the minimum requirements before they can be issued authority (Certificate of Program Registration) to offer tech-voc courses to the public.
The program is subjected to a compliance audit and, in some instances, surveillance by TESDA upon receipt of complaint.
"It is imperative that good curriculum developers exist at the school level. At the same time, there is also a need to have an organized pool of curriculum evaluators at every TESDA regional and provincial offices," Villanueva said.
The TESDA chief stressed that the continuous review of the curriculum will ensure that tech-voc institutions impart quality education and will allow them to catch up with the world's best education systems.
The training program employed a mixture of learning methodologies such as presentation and discussion of underlying principles relevant to the formulation and evaluation of competency-based curriculum. It had group workshops on analyzing curriculum contents, and case study analysis and critiquing of sample curriculum.
Among the topics covered by the training dealt with the evaluation of submitted curriculum documents for program registration; characteristics of a good curriculum; curriculum development process; analyzing a curriculum and its components; and evaluation (evaluating) a curriculum and modules of instructions using instrument such as Curriculum Evaluation Checklist, Competency Mapping and CIPP questionnaire.
At the end of the training, the participants underwent formative and summative tests composed of written and practical examinations to measure their learning.
Share this page
