Does Teacher Licensure Matter? Basic Education Reform in the Philippine Education System

Abstract

The Philippine government is currently investing on education reform through the Enhanced
Basic Education Program or the K-12 Curriculum. The recent basic education program does
not only call for academic excellence but also on higher teacher qualification. The purpose of
this study is to determine whether or not teacher licensure matters in the implementation of
the basic education reform in the Philippine Education system. Qualitative in orientation, this
study utilized Phenomenology as its research design to capture the lebenswelt of college
teachers who are distraught by the implementation of the new K-12 curriculum. Data were
gathered through interviews and the analysis of data was empirically observed using the
following steps: transcribing, coding, theming, verifying, and analyzing. The analysis of data
in this phenomenological inquiry yielded three essential themes based on the respondents’
major statements pertaining to eligibility that makes the college teacher qualified to teach in
the Senior High School of the new K-12 program, namely: full eligibility, provisionary
eligibility, and temporary eligibility. The college teachers in this study accept and favor the
Department of Education’s teaching licensure requirement. They believe that passing the
Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) is an important requirement before entering the
classroom. The shared experiences of the participants of the study serve as a primordial
source to raise awareness about the value and importance of teacher licensure to meet the
high quality standards set by the profession and the hiring standard recognized by the
government and public schools as an assurance of competence and quality.