THE Department of Education (DepEd) is preparing for the 2025 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the assessment of 15-year-old students undertaken by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This would be the third time the Philippines is joining the assessment of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics and science literacy, the Education Department said. On September 12, the agency convened its partners from the private sector to encourage them to support priority initiatives, including preparations of the agency for PISA next year. At the Stakeholders' Forum held at the DepEd Central Office, Assistant Secretary for Curriculum and Teaching Janir Datukan shared an overview of PISA and presented the general plans and activities in preparation for the assessment. The forum also became a platform for DepEd and partners to discuss possible improvements to the Senior High School Work Immersion program to enhance the employability of senior high school learners. DepEd also discussed the possible support for teachers' professional development and career enhancement in compliance with quality standards. During the open forum, most of the 65 stakeholder attendees manifested their support and asked for various clarifications on the agency's initiatives. "We appreciate your presence. We appreciate your help to the department. And we look forward to further collaboration," Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara said. PISA challenges In the 2022 PISA, the Philippines ranked 77th out of 81 countries globally, 120 points lower than the average in the worldwide study conducted by OECD. Filipino students got 355 in mathematics, 347 in reading and 373 in science. Students from Asian economic powerhouses Singapore and Japan topped the 2022 exams with 561 and 547, respectively. The Manila Times editorial on Tuesday, September 17, "More investments needed to improve PISA ranking," he said: "One reason for the Philippines being at the 'stagnating bottom' is the measly amount it spends on education, based on US dollar purchasing power parity terms. Our cumulative expenditure of $11,030 per student over the duration of their studies led to a mean score of 355 in mathematics. This average spending per student is nine times lower than that of other countries." An editorial by The Manila Times on September 3 titled "A slew of challenges at DepEd," also noted that "[a]nother, seen as more critical than the monetary value, is the inadequacy of mentors teaching those subjects." "A report from a national commission assessing the country's education sector showed that 62 percent, or 6 out of 10, public high-school teachers teach subjects that were not their college majors. "Second Congressional Commission (Edcom 2) Executive Director Karol Mark Yee said the report was based on a DepEd data sample of 700,000," it said. "Our question was really about how to prepare the students for the PISA test in 2025 that will be focused on science. But the data shows that about half of our science teachers, in fact, did not major in science in college," the editorial quoted Yee as saying in his presentation of the Edcom 2 findings before the Congressional Committee on Basic Education on August 29. "The panel was also probing the plans of Angara on how to address the learning crisis under his department." Angara took over the helm at DepEd on July 19 after Vice President Sara Duterte resigned as education secretary. The editorial said that experts have noted that "teaching English or Filipino subjects poses no problem as these are general education subjects that all education majors are required to take in their early years at the university." "However, specialization sets in during the third year, when specific pedagogy is taught to those who would take science, math and other courses and subjects under science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)," the editorial said. "The problem comes when non-STEM-trained teachers are forced to teach subjects they did not specialize in," it pointed out. Accordingly, DepEd's hiring practices at the local level also contribute to the problem as it fails to "inform the public school teachers ahead of time about the subject assigned to the position they are actually applying for," the editorial reported Yee to have said, confirming a "mismatch in the teaching-learning cycle." The Times editorial noted: "Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo, who chairs the congressional panel, asked DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Gina Gonong if there were cases of 'mismatch' among the public school teachers and the subjects they teach, which she answered in the affirmative. "'We intend to provide them [teachers and learners] with the resources. So, it's going to be like a bar exam,' the Education chief shared during the Senate Committee on Finance Deliberations on the DepEd's FY 2025 budget proposal." World Bank study A World Bank study in 2016, the editorial said, showed that knowledge of teachers and the method they use to teach a subject are "important determinants of student learning outcomes in the Philippines." "Moreover, the study said that 'knowledge of subject matter among elementary and high-school teachers is low in most subjects.'" The study revealed that a math teacher in high school was only able to answer 31 percent of the questions "completely correctly" when made to take a mathematics test themselves. "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 editorial quoted the World Bank as saying. The "withering conclusion" of the study, the editorial said, poses the question, "How can teachers teach a subject like mathematics if they themselves have a hard time getting the right answers?" Digitalization is key to improving the learning process On Monday, Angara met the top officials of the World Bank Philippines to discuss the ongoing efforts of the two institutions in resolving basic education challenges. The education chief emphasized that digitalization is one of the targets of the agency to address the learning resources gap in the basic education system. Both parties also discussed the early childhood development and the plan of the agency to decentralize the implementation of various DepEd programs to ensure that more learners will benefit from it. Brunei Zafer Mustafaoglu, country director for the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, and Alberto Rodriguez, regional director for Human Development, East and Asia Pacific Region, led the delegation of the World Bank during the meeting. Angara also met with Canva Philippines on Monday to discuss existing programs for Canva for Education Partnership with DepEd to provide schools, learners and teachers with free and enhanced visual communications and collaboration platforms. "I think, definitely, Canva falls within the rubric of essential programs and technologies for 21st-century learners," Angara noted. Officials of DepEd, the Australian Embassy, Austrade and Canva Philippines discussed different areas of collaboration to bridge the digital gaps in education and provide essential programs and technologies. "President Marcos also enunciated this vision for schools as being incubators of creativity in this kind of technology," Angara added. WITH REPORTS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION