Improving the Teacher Profession

By Dr. Rex Casiple

The Department of Education (DepEd), formerly the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), in coordination with the National Teachers’ Day Coordinating Council (NTDCC) and the National Teachers’ Month Coordinating Council (NTMCC), celebrates the National Teachers’ Month (NTM) from September 5 to October 5, 2025. This is pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 242 declaring the period from September 5 to October 5 of every year as the National Teachers’ Month.

The teachers play an important role in improving the quality of basic education in the country today. Likewise, in higher education, the faculty’s qualifications and experience are major factors in producing quality graduates. In line with the vision of Bagong Pilipinas, the DepEd pushed to strengthen the teaching workforce and improve the quality of classroom teaching methods. In connection to this, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) signed a joint policy, through a joint memorandum circular, that aimed to align the Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (LEPT) with the updated teacher education curriculum. The memorandum circular introduced specialized licensure examinations for specific degree programs in teacher education.

In 2017, the CHED issued new policies, standards, and guidelines for various teacher education programs, existing and new ones. These teacher education programs include the Bachelor of Culture and Arts Education (BCAEd), Bachelor of Science in Exercise and Sports Sciences (BSESS), Bachelor of Physical Education (BPEd), Bachelor of Technical-Vocational Teacher Education (BTVTEd), Bachelor of Technology and Livelihood Education (BTLEd), Bachelor of Special Needs Education (BSNEd), Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (BECED), Bachelor of Elementary Education, and Bachelor of Secondary Education.

The CHED-PRC joint policy aims to ensure that graduates of these programs are assessed based on the competencies they developed in their chosen specialization, thus producing more classroom-ready professionals.

It is worth mentioning here that the performance of graduates in the LEPT in mid-year 2025 is high, in which 76 first-takers out of 100 passed the LEPT – Elementary, and 82 first-takers out of 100 passed the LEPT – Secondary.

Likewise, the graduates of these new curricula performed well over the last three (3) years at the national level. In 2022, 71 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Elementary, while 74 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Secondary. In 2023, 74 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Elementary, while 75 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Secondary. In 2024, 76 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Elementary, while 78 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Secondary. Graduates from Western Visayas performed higher in the LEPT compared to the national level. In Western Visayas, 84 passed out of 100 in the 2022 LEPT – Elementary, while 71 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Secondary. In 2023, 86 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Elementary, while 79 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Secondary. In 2024, 86 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Elementary, while 84 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Secondary. And in 2025, 86 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Elementary, while 87 passed out of 100 in the LEPT – Secondary. This showed that the current Teacher Education curricula have produced a positive outcome since their implementation in 2017.

The LEPT has the largest number of examinees among various professional examinations administered by the PRC. Likewise, the DepEd is the largest employer of teachers in the country. The future of this country’s next generation lies in our professional teachers in basic education. The efforts of CHED and PRC to further professionalize and modernize the teaching profession may result in better learning experiences and outcomes for our students here in the country and abroad.