Latest EDCOM 2 Report calls for systemic change in Philippine education

Manila, Philippines – The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) has released its Year Two Report, Fixing the Foundations: A Matter of National Survival, calling for critical reforms to address foundational learning deficits and systemic challenges in Philippine education. The report emphasizes the need to invest in early childhood and primary education, improve learning outcomes by Grade 3 to build a foundation for future learning and skill development, and reform teacher workload and school staffing structures.

As part of our learning partnership with EDCOM 2, IDinsight is helping generate evidence to inform key education policy reforms in the Philippines. 

In year one, IDinsight focused on early childhood development, analyzing gaps in government nutrition programs that impact school readiness. With one in three Filipino children experiencing stunting, IDinsight assessed existing interventions and benchmarked them against global best practices to identify opportunities for improvement. 

In year two, IDinsight examined teacher workloads, conducting a nationwide study to understand how teachers allocate their time, the impact of administrative burdens, and the role of newly introduced administrative officers in public schools. These insights have contributed to EDCOM 2’s recommendations for reforming early childhood support systems and optimizing school staffing to improve teaching and learning outcomes. By aligning research with urgent policy windows, IDinsight ensures that its findings directly inform decision-making, helping to build a stronger foundation for Philippine education.

Addressing Teacher Workload

One of the most pressing challenges highlighted in the report is the high workload faced by Filipino public school teachers. Teachers often spend significant time on administrative and other non-teaching tasks, limiting their ability to focus on classroom instruction. To address this, the Department of Education (DepEd) introduced two key policies: DepEd Order (DO) No. 002, s. 2024, which aims to transfer administrative work away from teachers, and DO No. 005, s. 2024, which seeks to clarify and limit teacher workloads.

However, a study conducted by IDinsight and EDCOM 2 found that these policies have not fully resolved the issue. Surveying over 2,000 schools and 15,000 teachers nationwide, the study found that teachers continue to work 52 hours per week on average, exceeding the legally mandated 40-hour work week. One in four teachers reported working over 60 hours per week, often taking on additional roles such as school clinicians, librarians, and canteen managers due to insufficient school staffing.

“It became normal for us,” shared one elementary school teacher. “For almost 20 years, I’ve gotten used to being told to do this or that.”

Steps Toward Reform

Our research and other findings from EDCOM 2’s Year Two Report point to several key recommendations to improve teacher workload and, ultimately, student learning outcomes:

• Providing access to quality teaching materials: Teachers often spend hours developing lesson plans and searching for resources. Standardized, high-quality materials can help alleviate this burden.
• Increasing school staffing: While DepEd has begun hiring over 19,000 Administrative Officers II (AO2) to handle routine administrative tasks, further investment is needed to ensure schools have adequate non-teaching personnel.
• Specialized support staff: Schools would benefit from hiring additional staff including guidance counselors, special education teachers, and trained school administrators to support teachers.
• Updating national school staffing standards: DepEd, in collaboration with EDCOM 2, the Civil Service Commission (CSC), and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), is reviewing current school staffing structures, which have remained unchanged since 1997.

Improving teacher workload is a crucial step toward strengthening the Philippine education system. Addressing this issue will reduce teachers’ hours and allow them to focus on effective instruction, directly impacting student learning outcomes. With the Philippines approaching a demographic transition and its working-age population peaking in the coming decades, the country has a limited window to implement meaningful education reforms. The final EDCOM 2 report, set for release in the fourth quarter of 2025, is expected to build on these findings and provide further recommendations to support long-term improvements in the education sector.