Gatchalian: Government should ensure raising quality of teacher education

MANILA, Philippines — The government should commit to raise the quality of teacher education as learners and students will benefit the most from it, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said yesterday as he lauded the administration’s commitment to provide quality teacher education and training as part of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028.

“At the same time, as we raise the quality of education that our young people receive, it is important that we also focus on the education that our teachers receive,” Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on basic education, said.

“Now that we have a law to raise the quality of teacher education, we need to make sure that it is properly implemented because our students will benefit the most from it,” he added, referring to the full implementation of Republic Act (RA) 11713, or the Excellence in Teacher Education Act, which was signed into law last year and was highlighted in the PDP 2023-2028.

The law revamps the Teacher Education Council (TEC) by strengthening the coordination between the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and the Professional Regulation Commission.

Under the law, the TEC is mandated to set basic requirements for teacher education programs and ensure the coherence of teacher education and training from pre-service to in-service.