A comprehensive evaluation of the Department of Education's Matatag curriculum delivered mixed results: significant learning gains for second graders in 70 pilot schools, but teachers bore the brunt of insufficient support. Released in December by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, the study highlights implementation challenges in the country's major education reform.
The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) released a comprehensive evaluation in December of the Matatag curriculum, implemented in 2023 under then-Education Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte for Kindergarten through Grade 10. In the first year of the pilot phase (2023-2024), second-grade students in 70 pilot schools across seven regions demonstrated large, statistically significant improvements in reading, mathematics, and values education such as MAKABANSA and GMRC. "First-year results reveal substantial promise alongside implementation challenges... Grade 2 students demonstrated large, statistically significant learning gains across all subjects," the study stated.
However, teachers' physiological well-being declined by 0.77 standard deviations due to extended hours spent on lesson planning and using personal funds for materials that arrived late or incomplete. More than 20% of teachers surveyed from March to May 2024 reported that unavailable or poor-quality learning resources hindered teaching, including missing books in subjects like Filipino, TLE, and MAPEH, or broken links in lesson exemplars. Pre-implementation training lasted only three days, deemed insufficient for the new merged subjects and pedagogical methods.
The curriculum's decongestion was theoretical in some areas, such as Filipino and Araling Panlipunan, leading to higher instructional burdens. Results varied by grade: fifth graders improved only in MAPEH and Science, while eighth graders advanced in Science, Mathematics, MAPEH, and TLE. This reflects the reform's emphasis on foundational skills and pilot-year implementation realities, according to researchers. The changes address Filipino students' lag of five to six years in international assessments compared to peers in similar economies.
