A May 16, 2012 press release from the Department of Education
The Department of Education has concluded a series of training sessions of trainers on the significant features and core elements of the K to 12 curriculum, which they will echo to teachers who will teach the Grade 1 and Grade 7 (first year high school) curriculum starting school year 2012–2013.
DepEd is set to implement the Grade 1 and Grade 7 curriculum in all public elementary and secondary schools nationwide when schools open this June.
The training of trainers for the implementation of the Grade 1 curriculum was handled by subject area conveners and curriculum writers as well as trainers on mother tongue-based education from DepEd regional and division offices. Half of the trainers for the Grade 7 curriculum came from teacher education institutions, centers of excellence and centers of development in education identified by DepEd. The other half were expert trainers on each subject area from the DepEd regional offices.
In both training courses, the Bureaus of Elementary and Secondary Education gave the participants an orientation on the curriculum framework as well as assessment frameworks for elementary and secondary level.
Education programs specialists, department heads, and master teachers were trained on Grade 1 curriculum.
Over 3,000 participants, composed of 1,545 Grade 7 trainers and 1,478 elementary trainers, attended the training for Filipino, English, Mathematics, Science, Health, Music, Arts and Physical Education, and Araling Panlipunan learning areas. They are expected to comprise the national core of trainers on the K to 12 curriculum.
“It is an honor to be chosen as one of the K to 12 trainers and be a part of this very significant education reform program and we look forward to the effective implementation of this program in all public schools nationwide,” said Erlinda Barcelo, division coordinator in Filipino and mother tongue-based multi-lingual education (MTB-MLE) in Cotabato City.
DepEd is currently conducting a training program for some 73,655 Grade 1 teachers and 70,227 Grade 7 teachers from public schools who will teach the initial K to 12 curriculum beginning this school year. The training of teachers for the Grade 1 and Grade 7 curriculum runs from May 7 to June 1, 2012.
Meanwhile, the DepEd Central Office has instructed the regional directors to accommodate teachers from private schools who signified their intention to participate in the training program on the implementation of the new curriculum.
