Group: Using students' test performances to evaluate teachers 'not wrong but...'

Information and Communication Technology teacher Gladys Ramirez. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — A teachers' group raised concerns on Monday about President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s proposed approach to evaluating teachers.

Marcos, in a podcast episode on Wednesday, discussed the problems faced by the education sector and his administration's plans to fix them. 

He lamented that a previous policy allowed some students to advance to a higher grade despite poor reading skills. Because of that, he said the performance review of teachers would now be based on the students' "actual performance" in tests.

Benjo Basas, national chairperson of the Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC), said that while it is not wrong to include students' test results as part of teacher evaluation, "it is essential to first ensure that classroom conditions are conducive to learning."

"Hindi naman masama kung isama ang test results sa batayan ng performance ng mga guro, pero unahin natin ang mga kailangang ayusin. Classrooms, sapat na kagamitan, hindi siksikan ang mga bata at hindi sila gutom sa pagpasok sa school. Pinakamahalaga, hindi kinukuba sa trabaho ang mga guro at dapat may sapat na sahod at benepisyo," Basas said in a statement.

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He added that holding teachers accountable for what he said were the government's "systemic failures" would be "grossly unfair, especially when they are already the ones bridging the gaps in government support."

"Sa ngayon nga, mga guro na ang nag-aabono sa kakulangan ng gobyerno. Sa Brigada, repair and maintenance sa classroom, sa reading materials ng mga bata at kung minsan nga pati pa pang-recess," he said.

Marcos, in the podcast episode, also said they were planning to hire more teachers and offered retraining programs for them, emphasizing the importance of supporting the educators.

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TDC said it has advocated for the restoration of the old Performance Appraisal System for Teachers (PAST), which is "more straightforward, objective, and reflective of actual teaching performance, and even included the pre-test versus post-test performance of learners."

The group said that using Results-Based Performance Management System — and now the transitional Performance Management and Evaluation System — has "unnecessarily complicated what should be a fair and transparent process."

—Rowegie Abanto, ABS-CBN News

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