The document discusses the history of curriculum development in the Philippines from pre-Spanish times through the American colonial period and Commonwealth era. It describes how education was informal and family-based before Western contact, then dominated by religion under Spanish rule. The Americans established a public school system and used English as the medium of instruction. During the Commonwealth, Filipino educators expanded the curriculum and elevated teacher training to the collegiate level, though efficiency declined when elementary schools switched to half-day sessions.

1. Curriculum
Development in the
Philippines

2. The Pre-Spanish Curriculum

3. Before the coming of the
Spaniards the Filipino possessed
a culture of their own. They had
contacts with other foreign
peoples from Arabia, India,
China, Indo-China and Borneo.

4. The diaries of Fr. Chirino attest to
the historical fact that “the
inhabitants were a civilized people,
possessing their system of writing
laws and moral standards in a well-
organized system of government
they did not have an organized
system of education as we have
now.

5. They, however, possessed the
knowledge as express in their ways of
life and as shown in the rule of
Barangay, their code of laws – THE
CODE OF KALANTIAO and
MARAGTAS, their beliefs in Bathala,
the solidarity of family, the modesty
of women, the children’s obedience
and respect for elders, and in the
valor of men.

6. Informal education was the learning
which early Filipino received was
results of interactions with other in
the group where he is a member.
Ideas and facts were acquired
through suggestions, observation,
example and imitation.
There was no direct teaching and no
formal method of instruction

7. The learning of basic habits,
patterns of culture, ideas and new
knowledge was unplanned and
unsystematic.

8. Education was done mostly in the
family, play group, neighborhood and
occupational group.
The farmers taught their boys to hunt
by taking them to woods and teaching
them how to use bows and arrows
iufn hunting wild animals.

9. The fishermen on other hand taught
their youngsters by taking them to
the river and showing them how to
use nets and fish traps.

10. The Spanish-devised Curriculum

11. When the Spaniards conquered the
Philippines, they deemed it wise to
bring Spanish missionaries to
consolidate their control of the
Filipinos,body and soul. The Spanish
curriculum then consisted of the three
R's ---- READING,WRITING and
RELIGION with more emphasis on
RELIGION to perpetuate the colonial

12. The curricular goals were the
acceptance of Catholicism and the
acceptance of Spanish rule.

13. The schools then were parochial or
convent schools governed by the
friars.
The main reading materials were the
cartilla, the canton and the
catesismo.

14. The school were ungraded and the
curriculum organization was
separately subject organization.
The method of instruction was
predominantly individual
memorization.

15. The Spaniards founded separate
schools for girls and boys in provinces.
Not all Filipino were given chance to
go to school because it was only
opened for elite. (Illustrado)

16. According to Fr. Modesto de Castro,
author of Urbana at Felisa (1877), the
curriculum for boys and girls was
aimed to teach the young boys and
and girls to love God, discover what is
good band proper for one's self and
enable the individual to get along well
with their neighbors.

17. The American-devised curriculum

18. The American-devised curriculum was
also dominated with the motive of
conquering the Filipinos not only
physically but also intellectually. The
public school system was established
and headed by the Americans until
1935, to train the Filipino after the
American culture and way of life.

19. The Filipino were equally
treated.The curriculum was based
on the ideals and traditions of
America and her hierarchy of
values. The reading materials were
about Tom, Dick and Harry, George
Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

20. Filipino children were taught to
draw houses with chimneys and to
play the role of Indians and cowboys.

21. English was the medium of
instruction. At first the American
soldiers were the one who teaches
the filipino and later on August 23,
1901, the united states send 600
teachers via S.S. Thomas (ship)
called the Thomasites, to replaced
them.

22. The primary curriculum prescribed
in 1904 by the Americans for the
Filipinos consisted of three grades
which provides training in two
aspects.
1) Body training - singing, drawing,
handwork, and physical education.

23. 2) Mental training - English ( reading,
writing, conversation, phonetics, and
spelling ), nature study, and
arithmetic. In grade III geography
and civic were added to the list of
the subjects.

24. The intermediate curriculum
consisted of subjects such as
arithmetic, geography, science and
English. Science included plant life,
physiology and sanitation.

25. In the collegiate level, normal
schools were opened with a
teacher's training curriculum
appropriate for elementary
mentors.

26. The Philippine Normal University
was founded in Manila in year 1901
and there were also some normal
schools founded in the provinces.
It's aim was to produce quality
teachers to replace the soldiers and
the "Thomasites".

27. The curriculum organization
remained seperate- subject. Group
method of teaching was adopted.
A significant aspect of the
American-devised curriculum was
the prohibition of compulsory
religious instruction in the public
schools.

28. During the American regime
Filipinos were treated equally in
term of schooling. Education is
given freely in public schools and
both girls and boys were taught in
one school.

29. The curriculum during the
commonwealth

30. The period of the Commonwealth
(1935-1946) may be considered as the
expansion and reform in the
Philippine curriculum. American-
trained Filipino teachers applied in
the Philippines the educational
reforms they learned from the United
States.

31. These educational leaders
expanded the curriculum by
introducing courses in farming,
trade, business,domestic science,
etc.

32. The curriculum for training of
elementary school teachers was
expanded by the Bureau of
Education by elevating from the
secondary normal schools to
collegiate level, organizing eight
regional schools.

33. The collegiate normal schools
which started operating in 1939
were for two years training beyond
the high school.

34. Commonwealth Act 586, also
known as Educational Act of 1940,
reorganized the elementary school
system by eliminating Grade VII
and providing for double-single
session in which elementary pupils
attended classes for one-half day
only.

35. This measure ushered the
beginning of the decline of the
efficiency of elementary education.