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RATIONALIZING THE OFFERING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION (SPED) AS A FIELD OF SPECIALIZATION IN THE BACHELOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (BEED) PROGRAM OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE CORDILLERAS
Cardidad P. Pagaduan, Ed.D. Merian E. Abenes, M.A.

I. INTRODUCTION The Philippine Constitution spells out that one of the objectives of tertiary education is to train the nations manpower in the required skills for national development; and to instill and foster the appropriate and relevant attitudes, skills and knowledge to enable each individual to become a useful, productive and gainfully employed member of society (Art. IV, Sec. 23, par. 2). This provision can be realized if graduates of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) can find jobs after finishing college. Reports however show that for the past decade, only few college graduates were able to land jobs related to their courses. The rest of the graduates join the other graduates who become underemployed or unemployed (Braid, 2007).

Underemployment happens when the graduates find jobs which are not related to the courses they have finished. The problems on unemployment and underemployment is attributed not to lack of college graduates, nor to lack of available jobs, but to mismatch between the demands of the industry and the course offerings of HEIs. The HEIs are not offering the needed courses such that college graduates do not possess the skills needed by the industries. In an interview at the program Adyenda hosted by Joel Villanueva last April 19, 2008, with the topic, Kurso Uso, Jean Donald Abuan, Department of Labor Undersecretary said that there are a number of job advertisements both in print and broadcast media, job fairs are also held in different places in the country. While there are many

applicants, many of them are not considered for the jobs because they did not meet the degree qualification. Neri (2007) suggested that one solution to the problem is for the HEIs to

coordinate with the industries, find out what these industries really want, to make sure that the course offerings is relevant to the needs of the industries. HEIs cannot just go on offering the courses or programs they had been offering for the past years. With the changes in the society brought about by globalization and technology emerge different

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needs and skills that have to be satisfied and acquired. The higher education institutions have to respond to the challenge as they are tasked to prepare and train the nations workforce. For decades now, the College of Teacher Education (CTE) of the University of the Cordilleras (UC) is offering two curricular programs, Bachelor of Secondary Education and Bachelor of Elementary Education. major fields: The former has the following as

Mathematics, General Science, English, Filipino, Social Studies, and,

Physical Education, Health and Music. The latter used to have fields of specializations like English, Filipino, Math, General Science, Computer Education, Music, Arts, Physical education and Health (MAPEH) and Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika (HEKASI) however, by virtue of CHED Memo. No. 30, s. 2004, the Bachelor of Elementary Education program has become a general education program for teaching the elementary subjects. This program aims to develop elementary school teachers who are either (a) generalists who can teach across the different learning areas in grade school, (b) special education teachers, or (c) pre-school teachers (TEC, DepEd, CHED, 2007). As an institution of higher learning committed to achieving its goal of providing relevant education to make graduates productive members of the society, the University of the Cordilleras, College of Teacher Education keeps on enriching its curriculum in order to enrich its course offerings and make the courses more relevant to the emerging needs of the changing times and to globalization. Calderon (2004) asserted that an enriched curriculum can be done by making all offerings relevant to the needs of business, industry, community and the government. Ornstein and Levine (2004) added that relevant curriculum entails revision of existing courses and development of new courses considering learners interests and societal needs. The lifeline of universities and colleges are the students. Without the students, an educational institution cannot continually do its function such that in order for higher education institutions to continually exist, it should cater to the needs of the students and to the needs of the industries. In the study of Lumiwan (1995), she found out that high school students of Pines City National High School prefer to enroll courses which they believe are needed by companies. Likewise, the students prefer to enroll courses that are in-demand abroad.

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Among the courses preferred by the high school students are: technology; second, nursing; third, engineering; and fourth, education.

first, computer

In a similar study conducted by Adora (1998), she found out that fourth year students consider employability in the country and abroad as their primary reason of selecting a course to enroll in college. The respondents preferred the following courses: first, Arts and Sciences; second, teacher education; third, engineering; fourth, medical and allied health courses. In the same vein, Verona (1997) found out in his study that fourth year high school students prefer to enroll in courses that are in-demand so that after graduation, they can immediately be employed. Among the courses preferred by the students are: first, Nursing and Allied Health Courses; second, Engineering; third, Education, and fourth; Technical-Vocational courses. Likewise, in a study conducted by Laoingco (2002), he found out that schools of higher learning offer courses that are needed by the consumers. In his study, it came out that health care is what the consumers need, hence, many schools of higher learning are offering nursing to keep up with the demands of nursing abroad. The survey conducted by PEW Research Center for the People and the Press (2006) revealed that there is an increase of Asian immigrants in the United States. From 65% last 1998, it became 85% in 2001 and almost one half of the immigrants are Filipinos. Majority of the Filipino immigrants are nurses and teachers (special education, science, and mathematics) because of high demand for these professionals, and the demand is increasing especially with special education teachers. With the affirmed commitment of the Philippines being one of the members of UNESCO to achieve Education for All (EFA) by 2015, there is an urgent need for more teachers who are imbued with the needed knowledge, skills and attitudes to teach in order to help achieve one of EFAs six key measurable educational goal that is, expand early childhood care and education especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children (UNESCO, World Conference on EFA, Dakar, Senegal, 2000). Included among those who will benefit from the EFAs goal are children of school age and children with disabilities. UNESCO reported that there are at least 650 million people with disabilities worldwide, approximately 80% live in less developed countries (Art. 24 on Education, Convention on the Rights of people with Disabilities). Snyder and Hoffman (2002) claimed that only about 6,293,00 children are receiving special

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education services in 2001. services designed to meet

Special education is a set of educational programs or particular needs of children with disabilities or

exceptionalities. Special education is provided to meet the needs of such children who cannot profit normally from general education. Special education trains the children with exceptionalities or disabilities for regular school or it prepares them for livelihood (Lecture delivered by Prof. R. Mamaat, February 2008). Educating the children with exceptionalities or disabilities is the key to make them become productive members of the society. The US Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics reported that special education teachers held a total of about 459,000 jobs in the US in 2006. The number is expected to increase as many districts report problems finding adequate number of certified special education teachers. The number of special education teachers is expected to increase by 15% from 2006 to 2016, faster than the average for all occupations. The need to educate the children with disabilities is also contained in Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990. It is further strengthened by the 1997 Reauthorization of the IDEA to improve services for these students. In the Philippines, the constitution mandates that basic education is a universal right of all. Basic education refers to the grade school and high school education. The ever increasing population requires more teachers to teach children of school age. As regards children with disabilities, Act No.3203 provides for the care and protection of the disabled. Likewise, Republic Act No. 3562 provides that teachers, administrators, supervisors of special children shall be trained by the Department of Education. The number of children with disabilities is undetermined, likewise the number of those receiving special education and special education teachers. Soho (2008) in her program Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho aired at GMA last February 9, 2008 reported that there is a dearth of special education teachers in the country. Most of the experienced special education teachers were lured to become special education teachers abroad because of high salary. This makes the country in dire need of professional special education teachers. In the past decade, there had been very few teacher education institutions offering special education as a field of specialization. Most of the teachers teaching in

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special education schools are not special education teachers; they had just undergone seminars and special trainings. With the EFAs goal in education, attention is given to educating children, including those with disabilities, hence the need to offer a course that would prepare the teachers in handling the needs of these children and to fill the dearth of special education teachers in the country and abroad. The study focused on determining the course preferences of fourth year high school students of Baguio City and Benguet during the school year 2007-2008. Specifically, it sought to identify their course preferences, the field of specialization in the Teacher Education program that they prefer, and the rank of SPED along the identified fields of specialization. An output of the study is a designed curricular program for SPED as a field of specialization. II. DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY This is a descriptive research since its main purpose is to conduct a survey on the course preferences of high school students. Hair, et al. (2000) stated that descriptive studies allow decision makers to draw inferences about environmental factors or other phenomena of concern. Respondents of the study were the fourth year high school students during the Academic Year 2007-2008. These students will be entering college during the Academic Year 2008-2009. This study was conducted in selected public and private secondary schools in Baguio City and Benguet. Table 1. Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents by School SCHOOL Baguio City National High School (BCNHS) Pines City National High School (PCNHS) Irisan National High School PCNHS Bonifacio Annex St. Louis High School- Aurora Hill St. Louis High School- Sablan Evelio Javier National High School BCNHS- Roxas Annex PCNHS- Magsaysay Annex UC Laboratory School Baguio Patriotic High School BCNHS- Bakakeng Annex TOTAL FREQUENCY 406 382 214 191 172 121 116 102 94 93 91 89 2071 PERCENTAGE 19.60 18.45 10.33 9.22 8.31 5.84 5.60 4.93 4.54 4.49 4.39 4.30 100

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Of the 2071 students surveyed, 2022 or 97.64% claimed that they are going to college while 49 or 2.36% said that they will not. A questionnaire was used in gathering the data. The questionnaire contains items that can be answered by checking (/) the appropriate space. Likewise, an interview was also conducted to some students and teachers to generate additional information pertinent to the problem. The questionnaires were distributed to the fourth year classes through the different subject teachers on January 2008. After the questionnaires were retrieved, these were sorted out and then the responses were tallied and analyzed. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Based on the data, there were 40 identified courses that the students would like to enroll in college. Of these, 403 of the 2022 students or 19.93% claimed that they prefer to enroll in an engineering course. This is followed by Nursing with 329 or 16.27% and Hotel and Restaurant Management with 171 or 8.46%. These courses are ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively in terms of student preference. There were 63 or 3.12 % of the students who claimed to prefer Teacher Education as a course. Teacher Education is ranked 9 in the list. The Engineering course is made-up of different fields (Electronics and Communications, Civil, Mechanical, Computer, Geodetic, sanitary, Mining, Electrical, etc) that is why it has the greatest percentage as the most preferred course by the students. Nursing ranks next because the demand for Filipino nurses worldwide is very high (Tandoc, 2007). Hotel and restaurant management ranks third because this is also one of the in-courses today. Of the 63 respondents who preferred Teacher Education, 21 or 33.33 % claimed that they will enroll in BEED SPED while 10 or 15.87% will enroll BSEd major in English, and 6 or 9.52% will enroll BSEd major in Mathematics. These major fields are ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively. The most preferred fields of specialization are SPED and English because the respondents are aware of the employability of teachers in these fields. In local and national papers, teaching positions in English are always advertised; likewise, with English, graduates who may not be employed in schools can find jobs as tutors. Sabangan (2007) claimed that during the last decade, Filipinos who are English teachers are in-demand in Asia because of their fluency in the language and their pay being lower than the native English speakers.

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Mathematics is also a preferred specialization. An interview with some teachers revealed that there is now a dearth of mathematics teachers in the public schools because most of those who had been teaching for the last five years are going abroad to teach because of the high demand for mathematics teachers . This was also supported by Mrs. Leticia Sab-it, the Department Head of mathematics at Pines City National High School (PCNHS) and Dr. Rachel Bugtong, the principal of the same school. Dr. Elma Donaal , the principal of Baguio City National High School also mentioned in an interview that she is having problems with her mathematics teachers. Most of those who are already employed in the school are resigning for teaching employment abroad. The least preferred fields of specialization are Values Education (2 or 3.18%)), Social Studies ( 3 or 4.76%) and, Physical Education, Health and Music (PEHM) also with 3 or 4.76% of the respondents preferring it . These are the least preferred fields because these fields had been made as components of the Makabayan subject and not full one -unit subjects in the basic education curriculum (BEC Manual). It can be inferred from the gathered data that students consider the employability of graduates of particular courses in choosing their courses in college. In the field of Teacher Education alone, most students are aware of the employability of special education teachers not only in the country but also in other countries particularly the United States. The high demand for special education teachers is supported by statistics from the US Department of Labor that special education teachers held a total of about 459,000 jobs in the US in 2006. The number is expected to increase as many districts report problems finding adequate number of certified special education teachers. The number of special education teachers is expected to increase by 15% from 2006 to 2016, faster than the average for all occupations. ([Link] This high demand of special education teachers abroad is now the reason why many students are enrolling in special education course. The finding is also supported by the studies of Lumiwan, (1995), Adora (1998), and Verona (1997. These aforementioned studies found that the primary consideration of high school students in choosing courses to enroll in college is the high demand for the job the courses provide after graduation from college. Furthermore, the data released by the Peoples Education Worlwide (PEW) Research Center (2006) showed a remarkable increase of Filipino immigrants in the United States to teach special education

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IV. CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the findings, it can be concluded that one of the fields of specialization preferred by the high school students who are planning to enroll in Teacher Education is special education. It is then recommended that the university offers special education (SPED) as one of the major fields under the BEED program of the College of Teacher Education. Moreover, the university should continue to improve its human and physical resources related to SPED in order to attract more high school students to enroll in the program.

REFERENCES Adora, Marilou B. (1998). Course preferences of senior students in the private secondary schools of Tabuk, Kalinga Division. Unpublished masters thesis, Saint Louis College of Bulanao, Tabuk, Kalinga. Adyenda, Kurso,Uso, GMA. April 19,2008. Andres, Tomas Quintin D. and Francisco, Felizardo Y. (1992). Curriculum development in the Philippine setting. Mandaluyong City: National Book Store. Braid, F. The Other View. The Manila Times, Vol. 109, No. 258. June 28, 2007. Calderon, Jose.(2004). Curriculum and curriculum development. Manila: Educational Publishing House. De Leon, Hector (2001). The Philippine constitution (rev. ed.). Manila: Rex Book Store. Education Act of 1982 Handout Gonzales, Andrew and Diaz, Virginia M.(2004). Laws on education and the private school administrators. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House. Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho, SPED Teachers, Nasaan Na? GMA, February 9, 2008. Laoingco, Jose Reinhard C. (2002). 21st century trends in nursing: Aligning nursing education with the future. Unpublished Masters Thesis. SLU, Baguio City. Lecture delivered by Prof. Rolando Mamaat, SPEC. ED. 503, Third Trimester, 20072008. Lumiwan, Mary. (1995). Course preferences of high school students of Pangasinan. Unpublished Masters Thesis. Uiversity of Baguio. Mora,J. Curriculum Development [Link] Neri, Romulo. Philippine Higher Education: A Brief Guide, Philippine daily inquirer, October 18, 2007. Oliva, Peter F. (1992). Developing the curriculum. 3rd ed. USA: Harper Collins Publishers. Orntein, Alla and Levine, Daniel, U. (2001). Foundations of education (9th ed.). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co. PEW Research Center for the People and the Press. Americas Immigration Quarterly. March 30, 2006.

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Snyder, T. and Hoffman, C. M. (2003). Digest of education statistics,2002. Washington: US Gove. Printing office. Stoner, James [Link].(2001). Management. Jurong, Singapore: Prentice Hall, Inc. Tandoc, G. (2007). High Demand of Filipino Nurses Abroad,. Opinion. Philippine Star. Teacher Education Council, Dep Ed, CHED (2007).Experiential learning courses handbook. UNESCO. World Conference on EFA, Dakar, Senegal, 2000. US Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics. [Link] Verona, Nicasio B. (1997). Course preferences of fourth year high school students of state colleges and universities of Region I. Unpublished Masters Thesis. DMMSU, San Fernando City, La Union. Yanyang, Simeon P. (1994). Career and course preferences of senior public high school students of Baguio City . Unpublished Masters Thesis. Baguio Central University, Baguio City.