Filipino Students’ Reading Abilities: A

Note on the Challenges and Potential

DOI:10.57092/ijetz.v2i2.128

 License
 CC BY-SA 4.0

Mark Vergel Idulog

 Western Philippines University, Puerto Princesa City

Abstract
The reading abilities of Filipino students have been a challenge for educators and policymakers alike.
Despite government efforts to improve literacy rates in the Philippines, recent studies have shown that
many students need help with reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and critical thinking
skills. This research note examines the current state of reading abilities among Filipino students and
potential areas for improvement. The poor reading abilities can be attributed to several factors,
including a lack of resources and socioeconomic factors. However, there are identified potential areas
for improvement, such as promoting early literacy programs, investing in teacher training, and
developing reading materials that are culturally relevant and engaging for Filipino students. These
findings have important implications for education policies and practices in the Philippines and for
educators and researchers seeking to improve reading abilities among Filipino students

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
371470260_Filipino_Students'_Reading_Abilities_A_Note_on_the_Challenges_and_Potential_Areas_for_I
mprovement

OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) What should citizens know and be able
to do? In response to that question and to the need for internationally comparable evidence on student
performance, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched the
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 1997 and the first assessment was conducted
in 2000. PISA is a triennial survey of 15-year-old students around the world that assesses the extent to
which they have acquired key knowledge and skills essential for full participation in social and economic
life. PISA assessments do not just ascertain whether students near the end of their compulsory
education can reproduce what they have learned; they also examine how well students can extrapolate
from what they have learned and apply their knowledge in unfamiliar settings, both in and outside of
school.

PISA is unique because of its: • policy orientation, which links data on student learning outcomes with
data on students’ backgrounds and attitudes towards learning, and with key aspects that shape their
learning, in and outside of school; by doing so, PISA can highlight differences in performance and
identify the characteristics of students, schools and education systems that perform well • innovative
concept of student competency, which refers to students’ capacity to apply their knowledge and skills in
key areas, and to analyse, reason and communicate effectively as they identify, interpret and solve
problems in a variety of situations • relevance to lifelong learning, as PISA asks students to report on
their motivation to learn, their beliefs about themselves, and their learning strategies • regularity, which
enables countries to monitor their progress in meeting key learning objectives • breadth of coverage,
which, in PISA 2022, encompassed 37 OECD countries and 44 partner countries and economies.

The PISA 2022 survey focused on mathematics, with reading, science and creative thinking as minor
areas of assessment. In each round of PISA, one subject is tested in detail, taking up nearly half of the
total testing time. The main subject in 2022 was mathematics, as it was in 2012 and 2003. Reading was
the main subject in 2000, 2009 and 2018, science was the main subject in 2006 and 2015.

The PISA 2022 Assessment and Analytical Framework (OECD, 2023[1]) presents definitions and more
detailed descriptions of the subjects assessed in PISA 2022:

Reading is defined as students’ capacity to understand, use, evaluate, reflect on and engage with texts in
order to achieve one’s goals, develop one’s knowledge and potential, and participate in society.

Why Filipino students performed

At level 1a for reading, students can understand only the literal meaning of
sentences or short passages.
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/why-filipino-students-lagging-behind-global-
assessments-tests/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

At a Senate hearing on the 2022 PISA results on Wednesday, February 7, Senator Nancy Binay asked the
DepEd if the questions in PISA were taught in schools in the country. “Paano maisasagot ng mga student
ang questions kung hindi siya naituturo as part of the curriculum?” (How can the students answer the
questions when these are not being taught as part of the curriculum?)

In response, educational psychologist and University of the Philippines professor Lizamarie Olegario said
that the learning curriculum in the country is too much focused on mere “memorization” or the low
ordering thinking skill, while PISA questions require analytical thinking.
“Hindi talaga siya natuturo sa classrooms natin. ‘Yung mga questions sa PISA ay practical real-life
situations. Kasi dapat ‘yung tinuturo natin ay solving real-life problems, authentic learning dapat tayo,”
she explained.

(They are really not being taught in our classrooms. The questions in PISA were practical real-life
situations. Because what we should be teaching them are about solving real-life problems. We should
teach them about authentic learning.)

Olegario said that teachers should veer away from telling students to just memorize math formulas and
read fictional books. “In reading, students are so much exposed to fiction. In math, more on memorizing
formulas. But in PISA, they need to analyze problems. In science, basically the experiments only ask
them to follow steps. But in PISA, they have to imagine. They have to do experiments in their minds.”

Olegario also attributed the dismal performance of students to the failed implementation of the K to 12
program. “The K to 12 is not being implemented to the fullest. The task performance is still on the lower
order of thinking skills [which] should be the application side or problem solving.”

Even before K to 12 was launched in 2012, many were already clamoring against the additional two
years of basic education. Despite a classroom shortage, lack of textbooks, tables and chairs, the
ambitious program was implemented. Policymakers and proponents of K to 12 marketed it to the public
as a curriculum preparing “graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development,
employment, and entrepreneurship.”

But former DepEd director for curriculum and development Joyce Andaya refuted Olegario’s claim. She
said that “nowhere in the review did it come out that we focused on the lower level thinking skills.”

“In fact, in the review, there were very important findings. Number 1, there were overlapping. Number
2, there were misplaced competencies that should have been in grade 4 but perhaps in grade 7, and
cognitive demands. There’s also high cognitive demands, meaning the curriculum has leaned towards
high level than low thinking skills,” she said.

But what Andaya failed to point out was whether the teachers were teaching the way lessons should be
taught. The DepEd is the biggest employer of teachers having some 900,000 teaching personnel across
the country.
“From our initial discussions, we just found out that our learners and teachers are not familiar with the
type of tests that are given by PISA,” Andaya said. She said that there’s need to strengthen “formative
tests” in classrooms to match the PISA questions.

In an interview with Rappler on Wednesday, Philippine Business for Education’s Justine Raagas said that
there were two major factors why Filipino students lagged behind other countries in PISA. These are lack
of resources and the quality of teachers the country has.

Lack of resources

Raagas said that the Philippines is allotting only 3% to 4% of its gross domestic product for its education
budget while the global standard is 6%. “We perform poor, and we spend less,” she said.

For one, Raagas pointed out the perennial problem of classroom and textbook shortage. “We’re
hounded by problems. We lack classrooms. Learners now still share textbooks.”

In 2023, the DepEd was able to build only 3,600 new classrooms. DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis
Bringas said that Philippine public schools lacked some 159,000 classrooms before school opened in
August 2023. At this rate, the government would be able to address the classroom shortage in 40 years,
and by that time, more problems in the education sector would have come up.

Ironically, on the lack of textbooks, the DepEd left some P3 billion worth of learning materials sitting in
warehouses from 2021 to 2023. A Rappler investigation revealed that the learning materials were held
hostage by logistics firm Transpac due to non-payment of fees, among other things. The materials were
later released after Rappler published its report in December 2023.

Teacher quality

“Teachers are the biggest inputs to classroom learning. It’s important to have high quality teachers who
are knowledgeable,” Raagas said, stressing the crucial role of teachers for some 28 million basic
education students.

According to a World Bank study in 2016, the knowledge of teachers and the method they use to teach a
subject were “important determinants of student learning outcomes in the Philippines.” The study
showed that “knowledge of subject matter among elementary and high school teachers is low in most
subjects.”
Graph from World Bank study

For instance, the World Bank study revealed that a mathematics teacher in high school was only able to
answer 31% of the questions “completely correctly,” far from even half of the questions.

“Since the tests are closely aligned with the curriculum, the results suggest that teachers face significant
challenges in teaching a considerable portion of the current K to 12 curriculum,” the study said.

How can students learn to analyze math equations if their teachers themselves are having a hard time
answering them?

But Raagas said teachers shouldn’t be overburdened by the problems because they are overworked with
administrative tasks rather than just teaching. “They need to be supported,” she said.

To address this, the DepEd recently released an order removing administrative tasks from teachers so
they could focus on teaching. Raagas, however, said that if the DepEd would hire only 5,000
administrative staff every year, it would take years for the agency to solve the problem.

“We have to remember that we have over 47,000 schools…. Do the math, if only 5,000 year-on-year, it
would take years to be completed. In the next years, we would still have overworked teachers,” Raagas
said. (READ: Overworked teachers among causes of high learning poverty level in PH – experts)

For years, teachers have complained that paperwork piling up hinders them from preparing lessons.

What does the DepEd need now? Raagas said the agency needs a strong leader.

“We need a strong leadership that [will say,] ‘hey all these things need to be done.’ And the fact is that
many of the reforms have to be done simultaneously,” she said.

Many critics disagreed with Duterte’s appointment as education chief. She is not an educator, and some
people questioned her qualifications. But the Vice President said her experience as a mother and her
background in local governance are enough. Will she take the rest of her term to learn the job? –
Rappler.com
 Lastly in a World Bank study in 2016, the knowledge of

teachers and the method they use to teach a subject were

“important determinants of student learning outcomes in the

Philippines.” The study showed that “knowledge of subject matter

among elementary and high school teachers is low in most

subjects.”

According to an educational psychologist and University of

the Philippines professor Lizamarie Olegario(2024), learning

curriculum in the country is too much focused on mere

“memorization” or the low ordering thinking skill, while PISA

questions require analytical thinking. They are really not being

taught in the classrooms. The questions in PISA were practical

real-life situations and what teachers should be teaching

students that are about solving real-life problems. Teachers

should veer away from telling students to just memorize math

formulas and read fictional books because in reading, students

are so much exposed to fiction only.

Furthermore, in a press conference, Diego Luna Bazaldua, one

of World Bank’s Senior Education Specialists, recommended that

reforms should focus on integrating literacy and numeracy into

all subjects and moving from a content-based to a competency-

based curriculum. This has been a successful strategy in

outcomes improved over the past decade.

In terms of the assessment materials, the symposium also

touched on the issue of language of instruction. EDCOM 2 Advisory

Council Member Fred Ayala raised the question of whether

conducting PISA in Filipino, rather than English, would have led

to better outcomes for Filipino students. To add, Andaya(2024)

found out that Filipino learners and teachers are not familiar

with the type of tests that are given by PISA, therefore, there’s

need to strengthen “formative tests” in classrooms to match the

PISA questions.