About K to 12

Strengthening Early Childhood Education (Universal Kindergarten)

• Every Filipino child now has access to early childhood education through Universal Kindergarten. At 5 years old, children start schooling and are given the means to slowly adjust to formal education.
• Research shows that children who underwent Kindergarten have better completion rates than those who did not. Children who complete a standards-based Kindergarten program are better prepared, for primary education. Education for children in the early years lays the foundation for lifelong learning and for the total development of a child. The early years of a human being, from 0 to 6 years, are the most critical period when the brain grows to at least 60-70 percent of adult size.
• In Kindergarten, students learn the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors through games, songs, and dances, in their Mother Tongue.

Making the Curriculum Relevant to Learners (Contextualization and Enhancements)

• Examples, activities, songs, poems, stories, and illustrations are based on local culture, history, and reality. This makes the lessons relevant to the learners and easy to understand.
• Students acquire in-depth knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes through continuity and consistency across all levels and subjects.
• Discussions on issues such as Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Climate Change Adaptation, and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) are included in the enhanced curriculum.

Building Proficiency (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education)

• In Kindergarten to Grade 3, the child's dominant language is used as the language of learning.
• Filipino and English language proficiency is developed from Kindergarten to Grade 3 but very gradually.
• Mother Tongue is used in instruction and learning materials of other learning areas.
• The learners retain their ethnic identity, culture, heritage and values.
• Children learn better and are more active in class and learn a second language even faster when they are first taught in a language they understand.

Ensuring Intergrated and Seamless Learning (Spiral Progression)

• Basic concepts/general concepts are first learned.
• More complex and sophisticated version of the basic/general concepts are then rediscovered in the succeeding grades.
• This strengthens retention and enhances mastery of topics and skills as they are revisited and consolidated time and again.
• This also allows learners to learn topics and skills approriate to their developmental and cognitive skills.