CURRICULUM
PHILIPPINES
In the Philippines, a thirteen-year education is mandatory by law. These thirteen years run
from kindergarten up to grade 12, also known as the K-12 program. After which, students have
the option of whether to pursue higher education or not. Three government agencies manage the
different levels of education in the Philippines.
1. The Department of Education (DepEd) sets the standards and implements standardized tests
for public schools throughout K-12. Meanwhile, private schools tend to have more freedom in
developing their curricula as long as they adhere to DepEd’s existing laws.
2. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) oversees higher education institutions, such
as colleges and universities.
3. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) regulates
the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs.
FINLAND
The Finnish education system includes pre-primary, basic and upper secondary education.
After 9 years’ basic education there is general upper secondary or vocational upper secondary
education and training. General upper secondary lead to matriculation examination and vocational
to vocational qualification. The core subjects are Finnish, Swedish, mathematics, physics and
chemistry, social, business and labor-market subjects, physical and health education, and art and
culture. Graduates from these programs may apply for admission to polytechnics or universities.
GERMANY
Public education in Germany is decentralized, i.e. states are responsible for developing
their curricula and assessments.
One of the significant features of curricula in German education system is that they are
formulated in a general way to leave teachers freedom of adopting appropriate content, teaching
methods and assessment tools in their classrooms, which is called pedagogical responsibility to
teach lessons regarding pupil’s interests and needs (KMK, 2015). However, teachers of a specific
subject at a school attempt to reach a consensus on methods and assessment criteria.
Compulsory education encompasses between the ages of 6 and 15 in the majority of the
states except for Berlin and Brandenburg which oblige children to remain in the system until 4 the
age of 16. For children who do not attend a full-time school, part-time education is compulsory for
them until the age of 18 (Eurydice, 2011).
ADMINISTRATION
PHILIPPINES
Education in the Philippines is administered by three different government agencies, each
exercising largely exclusive jurisdiction over various aspects of the education system. The
Department of Education oversees all aspects of elementary, secondary, and informal education.
It supervises all elementary and secondary schools, both public and private. The Department is
divided into two components: the central office in Manila and various field offices, of which there
are currently 17 regional offices and 221 provincial and city school divisions.
FINLAND
The national education administration in Finland is organized at two levels. Education
policy is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The Finnish National Agency
for Education is responsible for the implementation of the policy aims. Educational autonomy is
high at all levels.
The Ministry of Education and Culture oversees all publicly funded education, including
the development of the national core curriculum and the accreditation of teacher training programs.
The Finnish National Agency for Education is the operational arm of the Ministry, responsible for
administering education programs.
Below the national level, six Regional State Administrative Agencies administer some
discretionary funds for education, such as for school construction. Primarily, however,
administration of local basic schools falls to 311 municipalities, which determine funding
allocations, local curricula, and recruitment of personnel. The municipalities can also grant
autonomy to schools to perform those functions. There are more than 2,000 schools in Finland, of
which one-third teach fewer than 100 students. However, larger schools exist, with the largest
comprehensive schools enrolling more than 900 students. For upper secondary education, the
Ministry of Education and Culture provides licenses to local authorities, municipal authorities, and
registered associations and foundations to establish schools.
There are very few private schools in Finland; those that exist are granted the same
government funds as public schools and are required to use the same admissions standards and
provide the same services as public schools. The majority of the private schools in Finland are
religious.
The local municipal authority in any given region appoints principals for six- or seven-year
terms. Once appointed, the principal is responsible for managing the school, including its staff,
budget, and the well-being and success of its students. Principals generally work in close
collaboration with teachers.
GERMANY
In general, education is administered and financed by Germany's 16 federal states, with the
national government assuming responsibility for the standardization of requirements for the
Abitur, for teacher training, and for vocational education, as well as for financial support of
students in higher education.
FACULTY
PHILIPPINES
The standard teaching credential in the Philippines is a four-year bachelor's degree.
Elementary school teachers are qualified through a Bachelor of Elementary Education, and
secondary school teachers through a Bachelor of Secondary Education.
FINLAND
Teachers in pre-primary education have university education. They are either ECEC
teachers with a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree or class teachers with a Master’s degree. In
general, basic and upper secondary education all teachers are required to have a Master’s degree.
In vocational education teachers should have a Master’s degree or Bachelor’s degree. Teacher
training can be either concurrent, with pedagogical training integrated into the Master’s program,
or consecutive, with the pedagogical training completed after the initial degree. The current
Teacher education development program focuses on admissions, initial education and as well as
development of professional competence and learning during the career. Students with the best
capacity for teaching will be selected and the aptitude of applicants to teacher education is taken
into account in the student admissions. Particular attention is paid to mentoring and peer support s
as systematic parts of teacher education.
GERMANY
The structure of teacher education in Germany has to be regarded in close connection with
the structure of the German school system.. All teachers are educated and trained as part of a
process consisting of two phases: During the first phase of five years, all future teachers attend
university and study their two or three specialized subjects as well as education, while carrying
out internships in schools. After that, they pass over to the second phase at a specialized teachertraining institution that prepares them for the necessities of practical classroom teaching in their
subjects. This second phase lasts one-and-a-half or—in three of the sixteen German Länder—up
to two years. Having passed the final state examination, they apply for an available position at a
school. The system of initial teacher education in Germany is very intensive and ambitious; on the
contrary, the in-service or further education of teachers is not very well developed. This article
sketches the basic structure of teacher education in Germany. As Germany is a federal state
consisting of 16 Länder, and as school and teacher education matters are decided at the level of
these Länder, each Land has its specific teacher education system, slightly different from the
general model. Teacher education has been and is criticized constantly: the courses at university
are not sufficiently connected to the requirements of the second phase and the later work the
students must carry out in schools. Because of this constant critique teacher education is
continuously being reformed.
As part of a general reform of the higher education system, teacher education was integrated into
the bachelor’s-master’s system (the Bologna process). Not all hopes linked to this reform have
come to fruition. Some other reforms deserve a mention. In the universities, Centers for Teacher
Education have been established to organize and supervise all processes and actors involved in
teacher education. Internships in schools have been expanded and restructured. Standards for all
curricular elements of teacher education have been developed on the level of the federate state and
have been adopted in Länder and universities very slowly. In some of the Länder, the differing
lengths and academic levels of the different teacher education programs for the different types of
teachers (Lehrämter), which formerly led to different salary levels and career opportunities, have
in parts been graded up to the top level. Nevertheless, teacher education in Germany is
characterized by profound and persistent problems. All resources and hopes are still directed
toward initial teacher education. In-service teacher education remains underdeveloped. The career
system of qualified teachers in service does not mirror the career path of a teacher; in-service
training does not respond to the processes and problems of individual teacher development. The
changing conditions in the labor market for teachers undermine efforts to improve the quality of
teacher education in a sustainable way. On the positive side, it can be noted that in Germany—and
worldwide—research on teacher education, its processes and results has grown rapidly in the last
two decades.
INSTRUCTION
PHILIPPINES
FINLAND
The teaching method in Finnish education is globally famous for its uniqueness such as
outdoor activity and group-oriented work, as well as evaluation without standardized tests and
individual support for learning. Schools don’t put much emphasis on giving homework to pupils
and also they try to avoid assessing each pupil by scores with the aim of phasing out the order of
academic skills and evaluating from the perspective of development of each pupil. It would be also
important to mention that those teaching methods are usually supported by the parents because
teachers are highly trusted socially as professionals.
Finnish classrooms are typically described as learner-centered - As the emphasis on student
self-assessment Students are expected to take an active role in designing their own learning
activities. Students are expected to work collaboratively in teams on projects, and there is a
substantial focus on projects that cut across the traditional subject or disciplinary lines.
GERMANY
Classes take the form of lectures, seminars, practical exercises, work placements and study
trips. The main function of the lectures is to impart general and basic knowledge about the various
fields of study. The seminars afford an opportunity to deal in depth with a more narrowly defined
topic. Practical exercises and practical, meanwhile, provide the opportunity to develop the
theoretical knowledge gained in a practical manner. The Federation and Länder are promoting the
use of new media (multimedia and teleteaching) in the teaching offered. In addition to the
numerous program of the Länder, since 2000 and as part of the New Media in Education (Neue
Medien in der Bildung) program, the Federation has been promoting joint projects for the use of
new media in higher education institutions. From 2004 to 2007, the Federation is also promoting
eLearning Services for Science (eLearning-Dienste für die Wissenschaft), which shall give the
institutions of higher education the opportunity to make greater and more professional use of new
media for teaching, learning and examinations. The institutions of higher education are developing,
generally within the scope of three-year projects, multimedia teaching and learning forms for onsite learning and self-study, as well as distance study offers or new combinations of on-site
teaching with self-study and distance-study components. The classes are normally designed for
students of a specific degree course and at a particular stage in their studies. However,
interdisciplinary classes have been gaining in significance, especially in the more advanced stages.
So-called Graduiertenkollegs (providing university graduate training program) for the promotion
of young scholars, for instance, are also frequently organized along interdisciplinary lines.
We can say that Germany has adopted the subject centered curriculum approach with emphasis
on learner-centered tasks in instruction. In the subject-centered curriculum, courses are divided as
separate subjects or disciplines but interdisciplinary approaches are also enabled. This curriculum
approach demands scholar teachers who are experts in courses like biology, geometry and history.
Interdisciplinary courses as mentioned can be offered as long as the teacher who offers it is well prepared
(Ellis, 2013). Teacher education system in Germany which allows students to specialize in two subjects is
open to formulate such interdisciplinary courses.
Play-based learning is emphasized in the Kindergarten years. On the other hand, in primary
school, German, Science and Mathematics are allocated greater time than other subjects. The key
differentiating feature of the German system is that after primary school (Grundschule), students
are sorted into different streams/tracks in secondary education that can lead to different career
pathways.
BUDGET
PHILIPPINES
In 2021, the household final consumption expenditure for education in the Philippines was
valued at approximately 720 billion Philippine pesos. This reflects an incline of about 9.7 percent
from the previous year's total of around 664 billion Philippine pesos.
FINLAND
In 2020, the general government expenditure on education in Finland was roughly 13.9
billion euros. The government spending on education increased constantly until 2014, and
fluctuated in the years that followed.
Funding for schools is divided between the central government, which covers about 40
percent of costs, and the municipal governments, which assume the remaining 60 percent. The
amount of state money each municipality receives is determined by the number of resident children
ages 6-15 and an annually calculated unit cost per student. Municipalities pay for meals for every
student in basic education.
The Ministry of Education and Culture allocates additional funds to municipalities for immigrant
students who have been living in Finland for less than four years, for low-income students, for
students in single parent families, and for students with parents who are unemployed or
undereducated. Municipalities can distribute these funds to schools as they see fit.
GERMANY
The German Parliament, the Bundestag, adopted the Federal Government's second 2022
draft budget on 16 March 2022. The 2022 budget of the Federal Ministry of Education and
Research (BMBF) stands at 20.3 billion euros.
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