Multigrade Program in Philippine Education (MPPE): An Overview PREPARED BY: MR. KENT E. GARCIA, LPT Multigrade Program in Philippine Education • Multigrade teaching involves teaching multiple grade levels with mix-ages, diverse backgrounds, and different grade levels and abilities placed in one classroom. • It can be one or more than five grade levels in a classroom at the same time. • It could be traced back that the first multigrade classroom was built in the North America during 1800s and was organized by the Americans in the Philippines during 1900s. • It was due to the lacks of support, teachers, building and services. Multigrade Program in Philippine Education • There various theories that supports the development for teaching and learning of the students in multigrade classroom. • In a self-paced learning teacher accommodate to the student’s response and needs. • Students can learn and develop, critical, social interaction skills, and self-esteem through cooperative learning. • Teachers must not uniform his/her standard to all students because each of these students has different levels and they also need strategies and lesson fit to their developmental level. • While in the differentiated learning students must be engage in a various activities and experiences to help develop their individual skills and capabilities. Multigrade Program in Philippine Education • The students in multigrade are unique in their own, each has their capabilities. • Students learn best through experience, students are unique in their own, students can learn and do well with others, the role of teacher in a classroom involves setting up and managing a learning environment, the implementation of the school curriculum must take into consideration the varied abilities, levels and interests within particular group, the value of any educational program will be judged according to how well it can achieve the goals of the program, inter – aging or the combination of children of different ages is more respectful of the individual needs of learners and reflects reallife. Programs that supports Multigrade Classroom Multigrade Program in Philippine Education Multigrade classroom also needs different supports and programs. These programs are: 1. Multigrade Demonstration Schools Projects (MDSP) • The MDSP Program was financially assisted by UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) and the primary goal of the program is to achieve a high quality of education and thus improve the over-all achievement levels of pupils in MG schools. Multigrade Program in Philippine Education Multigrade classroom also needs different supports and programs. These programs are: 2. DepEd-CCFPI Little Red Schoolhouse Project • It was organized in 1997 by a partnership of DEPEd BEE and Coca-Cola Foundations Philippines, Inc., organized the little Red Schoolhouse Project in 1997. The The project components included: • The construction of three 50 three-room school buildings with toilet facility in each room, water system and furnishings. • Training for multigrade teachers ,coordinators and schoolheads on MG instruction. • Capacity building program for the community. Multigrade Program in Philippine Education Multigrade classroom also needs different supports and programs. These programs are: 3. Pupil Learning Enhancement Program (PLEP) • In 1996-2000 the PLEP a support program for the universalization of primary education, was assisted by UNDP (United Nations Development Program) to the strengthening of the Multigrade Program in Philippine Education (MPPE). Multigrade Program in Philippine Education Multigrade classroom also needs different supports and programs. These programs are: 4. Search for Multigrade Teacher Achiever • It was a quest or search that started in 2004 for the most outstanding Filipino teacher assigned in the multigrade class in country. 5. The Multigrade School Training Video • It was a documentary video project about the multigrade practices in the class. It documented how the strategies work effectively within a multigrade school. Multigrade Program in Philippine Education Multigrade classroom also needs different supports and programs. These programs are: 6. Congress on Multigrade Education • In October 2004, the first multigrade class was conducted and aligns with DEPED policy in improving the quality and access of elementary education. • The congress aimed to raise awareness of participants on the multigrade program in the Philippines to: enhance their knowledge on effective instructional strategies and best practices to improve multigrade instruction; and share among themselves effective practices in managing and supervising multigrade schools