Teacher Education in the Philippines: Are We Meeting the Demand for Quality?

The Philippines’ dismal performance in recent international assessments (e.g., PISA in 2018; TIMSS and SEA-PLM in 2019) evince that a learning crisis persists and remains a formidable challenge for the country. This is despite the many educational reforms undertaken in recent years, such as resolving the decades-long backlog in school infrastructure, expanding access to early childhood education, upgrading teacher salaries, and enhancing the basic education curriculum. Although there is a myriad of factors that contribute to poor learner outcomes, there is a consensus in literature regarding the central role played by the teacher in these dynamics. This has motivated the researchers’ study of teacher education programs in higher education institutions (HEIs), particularly in their capacity to effectively prepare pre-service teachers for the profession. To fully understand this phenomenon, the researchers explored the profile of teacher education programs in the country in the past decade, and used multiple regression analysis to examine the relationship between performance in the Licensure Exam for Teachers (LET) and the characteristics of the HEI attended (e.g., student-to-faculty ratio, HEI type, location, size, year established). It was found that between 2010 to 2016, an outsized proportion of poor quality were in Mindanao, particularly in BARMM and Region 12. Not coincidentally, these are the same regions where not a single institution has been able to hurdle CHED requirements to become a Center of Excellence (COE) in Teacher Education. Further analysis shows that attending programs in small HEIs is associated with a 14 to 17 percentage point disadvantage in the LET, relative to large institutions. Meanwhile, SUCs are seen to perform better in LET Elementary, whereas private HEIs and LUCs perform slightly better in LET Secondary. The proponents of this study put forward policy recommendations aimed at curbing the prevalence of non-performing HEIs, providing incentives for quality among TEIs, and strengthening oversight and coordination of the space.

An Innovative Ambidexterity Typology of Filipino Agripreneurs and Its Implications for Regional Development Policies

The innovative ambidexterity lens classifies agripreneurs as having exploratory, exploitative, or ambidextrous postures.Exploratory agripreneurs exhibit fast and radical innovative behavior, exploitative agripreneurs slow and incremental innovative behavior, whereas ambidextrous agripreneurs are in between. This article proposes a typology of Filipino agripreneurs based on four dimensions of innovative ambidexterity. Data on one hundred and seventy-four (174) Filipino agripreneurs from administrative regions in the Philippines, were derived from the 2013 to 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Surveys (GEM-APS) and analyzed using unsupervised K-means. Three clusters of Filipino agripreneurs emerged: (1) generally exploratory; (2) purely exploitative; and (3) mixed ambidextrous. Based on the results, many of the highly exploratory agripreneurs came from the Southern Mindanao and Caraga regions. A closer look at the formal, and informal institutional support in these regions reveals an enabling environment from government agencies in the aforementioned regions. Meanwhile, most of the mixed ambidextrous agripreneurs were from Ilocos, Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan (MIMAROPA), Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao, Central Mindanao, and Caraga. One commonality among these regions was their all having international airports, which is important to facilitate the transport of products to Manila and international markets. As a recommendation, regional development policies must aim to develop agripreneurs with exploratory, as well as ambidextrous postures. An enabling formal and informal institutional environment (i.e., economic, technological, natural, and political-legal factors, as well as, networks) must be put in place at the regional level for these innovative postures to be developed and for innovations in agripreneurship to be accelerated in the country.

Bridging the Agriculture Credit Gap: A Case Study of the Farmer Entrepreneurship Program of Jollibee Group Foundation

Access to credit presents a distinct problem for smallholding farmers and lenders alike. As a consequence, in the Philippines—as in many other developing economies—a sizable “agriculture credit gap” exists. This paper explores whether it is possible to rethink existing credit arrangements to support inclusive development goals. Our observations are based on a unique in-depth case study of an interlinked financing arrangement in the Farmer Entrepreneurship Program (FEP). This program is managed by the corporate foundation of Asia’s biggest fast-food chain, Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC). The lenders in this program are FEP partner-cooperatives that interlink credit, crop buying, and other interventions to enable smallholders to sell their products to JFC and other buyers. For inclusive interlinking to materialize, significant social investments are required from program partners. Using a progressive case study method, three subunits within the study explain how financing can be made available. We use these observations to draw out possible generalizations of financing mechanisms that may be used in other commodity chains. We identify partnerships, particularly long-term relationships, as indispensable requisites for institutional voids to be filled and financing to flow into rural areas. We recommend key government interventions, especially since some of the requisites are in the nature of collective or public goods.

#MeToo: A Comparative Study of the #MeToo Movement in the United States and South Korea Using Collective Action Frames and Hashtag Feminism

The #MeToo movement is one of the most prominent feminist social movements in recent history. Its success exposed the prevalence of sexual harassment in several countries. Although it started in the United States, there are versions of #MeToo in countries such as South Korea. This paper compared the #MeToo movement in the United States and in South Korea through the examination of hashtags and collective action frames that encouraged women to speak out. By evoking messages of empathy, empowerment, and solidarity, #MeToo was able to garner widespread support. Moreover, this paper examined the different factors that will contribute to #MeToo’s sustainability in both countries. These factors include policies that aim to address sexual harassment, legal actions against perpetrators, and other efforts that aim to change the culture of sexism. However, the political and cultural differences between the two countries may result in varying degrees of sustainability. In the United States, policy reforms were introduced because of #MeToo. High-profile cases of sexual harassment were also resolved through the imprisonment of perpetrators. South Korea’s #MeToo led to similar successes, such as receiving support from the government to tackle sexual harassment. This paper finds that the #MeToo movement in the United States is more sustainable due to the policies and legislations that the movement influenced. South Korea has yet to create policies that aim to protect women from sexual harassment. Furthermore, the paper finds that policy and legal reforms are more sustainable because they signify the institutionalization of #MeToo’s main goal of protecting women and providing justice to victims of sexual abuse.

Policy Analysis on Education in Emergencies (EiE) and Flexible Learning Options (FLOs) for Senior High School (SHS) in the Philippines

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the basic education sector in the Philippines. In the public school system, the pandemic has not only disrupted schooling by shifting the beginning of the school year (SY) 2020-20201 at a later time, it has also necessitated a shift to alternative learning delivery strategies including the use of more flexible face-to-face, distance and blended learning. This paper focuses on the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on the K to 12 senior high school (SHS) program and the need to offer flexible learning options (FLOs) to upper secondary learners. It examines the policies the Department of Education (DepEd) has initiated in continuing learning during the pandemic and providing education through FLOs using the INEE’s domain standards on EiE. From this policy analysis, the paper identified some gaps that need to be addressed through the following recommendations 1) intensify FLO guidelines to meet the different needs and contexts of learners especially the marginalized; 2) develop an EiE policy; 3) improve teachinglearning by strengthening communication channels, formative assessment, and multimedia learning materials; 4) provide offline and online options for SHS tracks; 5) explore the use of videos, mobile training centers and flexible times of study.