This document provides information on the Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCS) in the Philippines for School Year 2020-2021. It discusses the rationale for developing the MELCs due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on education. It explains that the MELCs were identified by reducing the number of competencies per quarter from the original curriculum to the most essential ones. The document provides examples of MELCs and gives guidance on how to unpack the MELCs into learning objectives by considering standards, prerequisite skills, and logical sequencing. The goal of the MELCs is to continue providing quality, accessible education while addressing the challenges of the current situation.

1. MODULE 2:
MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING
COMPETENCIES (MELCS)
Resource Speaker: Renan L. Marigosio

2. MODULE 2: MOST ESSENTIAL
LEARNING COMPETENCIES (MELCS)
OBJECTIVES :
1. EXPLAIN THE BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE
MELCS
2. UNPACK THE MELCS
3. COMBINE RELATED COMPETENCIES INTO LEARNING
OBJECTIVES

3. LESSON 1. RATIONALE, BACKGROUND AND
DEVELOPMENT OF MELCS
• Rationale
• The current global health crisis poses a profound impact on the basic
education system, as approximately 87% of the world’s student
population, or 1.5 billion learners, have been affected by school
closures (UNESCO, 2020). While interim distance and remote learning
programs are being put in place in many locations, the most
marginalized, poverty stricken and vulnerable children are also the
most disadvantaged.

4. • In the Philippines, ensuring the welfare of more than 27 million learners in basic
education alone requires indomitable commitment especially amidst this crisis.
However, UNESCO reiterates its stand in spite of the circumstances: “Education
cannot wait. If learning stops, we will lose human capital.”
• The Department of Education affirms its commitment to sustaining the delivery
of quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating Philippine basic education services
anchored on the Sulong Edukalidad framework. It will continue to strive to
produce holistic Filipino learners with 21st century skills. Consequently, the
Bureau of Curriculum Development ensures that learning standards are relevant
and flexible to address the complex, disruptive, volatile, and ambiguous impact
of COVID-19 in the Philippines particularly in the basic education sector.

5. • Working on the said premise, the Department came up with the Most Essential
Learning Competencies (MELCs) to be used nationwide by field implementers for
SY 2020-2021. The release of the MELCs is not just a response to addressing the
challenges of the current pandemic but is also part of the Department’s long-term
response to the call of SDG4 to develop resilient education systems, most
especially during emergencies.
• The MELCs can be used under similar circumstances as a mechanism to ensure
education continuity (curriculum dimension). However, releasing the MELCs does
not downplay the standards set by the K to 12 curriculum guides. Rather, they
serve as one of the guides for teachers as they address the instructional needs of
learners while ensuring that curriculum standards are maintained and achieved.

6. BACKGROUND ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE
MELCS
• The Department, through the Bureau of Curriculum
Development–Curriculum Standards Development Division, in
collaboration with the Assessment Curriculum and Technology
Research Centre (ACTRC), started working on the identification
of essential learning competencies in the middle of 2019 as part
of its review of the intended curriculum. Bureau specialists,
academic experts, and field implementers worked together to
reach a consensus regarding the criteria to be used and
mechanisms to adopt in determining these competencies.

7. • Initiated by Secretary Leonor Magtolis-Briones, the K to 12 curriculum
review is not just meant to fulfill one of the provisions of Republic Act
105333 to review the curriculum, but is also part of her continuing
commitment to ensure quality, relevant, and liberating education.
• After the four phases of curriculum review are completed, the Secretary
will convene the Curriculum Consultative Committee to present the
findings as provided for in Section 6 of the same Republic Act. The review
focused on articulation within and across learning areas and grade levels,
which led to the identification of gaps, issues, and concerns. Moreover,
areas for improvement that would enhance the learning engagement,
experience, and outcomes were identified and consequent solutions were
recommended.

8. RESULTS OF THE REVIEW FROM THE WORKSHOP SERIES
PROVIDED AN OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICULATION OF
LEARNING COMPETENCIES IN EACH LEARNING AREA.
SPECIFICALLY, THE REVIEW COVERED THE FOLLOWING:
• Mapping of the essential and desirable learning
competencies within the curriculum;
• Identification of prerequisite knowledge and skills needed
to prepare students for essential learning competencies; and
• Analysis of the interconnectedness of prerequisite
knowledge and skills among the learning competencies for
each subject area.

9. • Essential Learning Competencies were defined as
what the students need, considered
in the teaching-learning process to build skills to
equip learners for subsequent grade levels and
consequently, for lifelong learning. On the other
hand, desirable learning competencies were
defined as what may enhance education but may
not be necessary in building foundational skills.

10. CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ESSENTIAL LEARNING
COMPETENCY
Learning competency
is ESSENTIAL if…
1.it is aligned with national, state, and/or
standards/ frameworks (e.g., scientifically-
literate Filipinos)
2. it connects the content to higher concepts
across content areas
3. it is applicable to real-life situations
4. it would be important for students to
acquire the competency after s/he left that
particular grade level
5. it would not be expected that most
students would learn this through their
parents/communities if not taught at school

12. FROM LCS TO MELCS
• As the Department anticipates the challenges in employing various schemes in
the delivery of the learning standards due to COVID-19, the number of the
identified essential learning competencies per quarter were further reduced,
thus the term “most essential learning competencies.”
• The descriptor – ENDURANCE – was the primary determining factor in
determining the criteria for the selection of the Most Essential Learning
Competencies. A learning competency is considered enduring if it remains with
learners long after a test or unit of study is completed or if it is useful beyond a
single test or unit of study. Examples of such learning competencies include
research skills, reading comprehension, writing, map reading, and hypothesis
testing, which are essential in many professions and in everyday life The K to 12
Curriculum has been updated to 5,689 MELCs from the original 14,171, or a
reduction by 60%.

13. • In this process the decision whether a learning competency is to be retained,
merged, dropped, or rephrased. As a general rule, a learning competency is
retained if it satisfies the endurance criterion which greatly contributes to life-long
learning and is a prerequisite skill to the next grade level. Two or more learning
competencies are merged or clustered if they have the same objective or learning
intention and can therefore be combined into one comprehensive learning
competency. However, learning competencies are removed/dropped due to the
following reasons:
• They are too specific (and the articulation is similar to that of a learning objective).
• They are deemed appropriate to be introduced in an earlier quarter or grade level
or moved to a later quarter or grade level.
• They are recurring.
• They are subsumed in another learning competency.
• Finally, a learning competency is rephrased to be more concise

14. EXAMINE THE EXAMPLES THAT FOLLOW:

17. • The content and performance standards are directly lifted from the curriculum
guides. Its inclusion is to emphasize that the identification of MELCs is anchored on
the prescribed standards and not a departure from the standards-based basic
education curriculum. Thus, teachers are encouraged to refer to the 2016
Curriculum Guides in unpacking the MELCs.
• Field implementers and private schools are encouraged to contextualize the most
essential learning competencies in order to accommodate the varying contexts of
learners, teachers, learning environment and support structures considering both
the content and performance standards. It is advantageous for students to learn the
concepts and skills in the MELCs through meaningful activities and scenarios
relatable to them and within the context of the students’ own environment. The
MELCs are implementable as long as the designed activities also teach the
procedures and processes on how and when to apply those knowledge and skills in
a given context. With these, Filipino learners are guaranteed relevant and quality
basic education despite the current health crisis.

18. UNPACKING AND COMBINING THE MOST
ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCIES (MELCS)
• In unpacking the MELCs into learning objectives, you need to consider the
following:
• Alignment on the Content and Performance Standards - The MELCs are not a
departure from the standards-based design, which is one of the main features of
the K to 12 Curriculum. In fact, there are no MELCs without the content and
performance standards.
• Prerequisite knowledge and skills - It is worth noting that the identified MELCs
cater to higher order cognitive demands. As such, lower cognitive demand may
be considered first in creating learning objectives. This ensures that prerequisite
knowledge and skills that would enable the achievement of MELCs, and
eventually the content and performance standards, are addressed.
• Logical sequence of learning objectives - Since the intention of unpacking the
MELCs is to provide systematic learning experiences forlearners, it is incumbent
that the unpacked learning objectives follow a logical sequence.

19. MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCIES (MELCS)
GRADE 7-FILIPINO

20. HOW TO UNPACK THE LEARNING COMPETENCIES
• Step 1. Identify the target skills and pre-requisite skills
• Example: MELCs – Filipino Grade 7
• Nasusuri ang dokyu-film batay sa mga pamantayang ibinigay
ng guroVERB /PANDIWA

21. BLOOMS TAXONOMY

22. MELCs- Filipino Grade 7
Nasusuri ang dokyu-film batay sa mga pamantayang ibinigay ng
guro
Verb/Pandiwa

23. • Nasusuri ang dokyu-film batay sa pamantayang ibinigay ng guro
Verb/Pandiwa Noun/Pangngalan Noun/Pangngalan
Step 3: Unpacking Proper
Pre-requisites skills + Remembering (Knowledge) + Content
Nakikilala ang kahulugan at mga elemento ng dokyu-film
Pre-requisites skills + Understanding(Pang-unawa) + Content
Naipaliliwanag ang mga element ng dokyu-film
Step 2: Identify the content/s and pre-requisite content/s

24. • Pre-requisites skills + Content ( second Noun)
3. Naiisa-isa ang mga pamantayang ibinigay ng guro sa
pagsusuri ng dokyu-film
4. Nasasagot ang mga tanong batay sa pinanood na dokyu-film
5. Nasusuri ang dokyu-film batay sa pamantayang ibinigay ng
guro
Noun /Pangngalan

25. UNPACKING THE MELC`S
MELCs-Grade 7-Filipino Sample Learning Objectives
Nasusuri ang dokyu-film
sa mga ibinigay na
pamantayan
( Filipino7Q1)
• Nakikilala ang kahulugan at mga elemento
dokyu-film
• Naipaliliwanag ang mga element ng dokyu-
film
• Naiisa-isa ang mga pamantayang ibinigay
guro sa pagsusuri ng dokyu-film
• Nasasagot ang mga tanong batay sa
pinanood na dokyu-film

26. CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLES:

29. COMBINING THE MELCS
• The MELCs could likewise be combined to observe efficiency in the
development of learning resources, which include but are not limited to
SLMs, textbooks, teacher’s guides, activity sheets, and television and radio
scripts. Since MELCs in each learning area are all interrelated and anchored
on the content and performance standards, combining at least two MELCs
will allow teachers to effectively design instructional resources without
veering away from the standards prescribed by the curriculum. In combining
MELCs, field implementers should take note of the following criteria:
• ● Commonality of content, topic, or theme - MELCs to be combined should
show commonality and relatedness in content, topic, or theme. This ensures
that essential content and topic will not be watered down.
• ● Alignment with the Content and Performance Standards - Just like in the
unpacking of MELCs, combining two or more should aid in the achievement
of the content and performance standards. To reiterate, MELCs are not a
departure from the standards-based design of the curriculum.

30. LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLE:

33. END OF MODULE 2
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