Philippines: Early Childhood Care and Education Programmes (ECCE)

IBE/2006/EFA/GMR/CP/70

Country profile prepared for the
Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007
Strong Foundations: Early Childhood Care and Education

Philippines
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
programmes

Compiled by:
UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE)
Geneva, (Switzerland)

2006

This profile was commissioned by the Education for All Global Monitoring Report as
background information to assist in drafting the 2007 Report. It has not been edited by the
team. Information included in the series of profiles has been compiled by the IBE. In several
cases data have been revised and/or expanded thanks to the helpful support of Ministries of
Education and UNICEF offices worldwide. The views and opinions expressed in the present
document are not necessarily those of the EFA Global Monitoring Report or UNESCO. The
profile can be cited as follows: “Country Profile commissioned for the EFA Global
Monitoring Report 2007, Strong foundations: early childhood care and education”. For
further information, please contact: efareport@unesco.org

PHILIPPINES

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECCE) programs

A. GENERAL INFORMATION, STATISTICS AND INDICATORS

Starting age of compulsory education (if applicable):

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) the compulsory education age
range is 6-12 years.

1. ISCED 0 PROGRAMS (USUALLY, PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION)
(ISCED = International Standard Classification of Education)

1.1. National definition of ISCED 0 programs:

Pre-primary education (also: kindergarten classes or pre-elementary classes)

1.2. Normative age group(s) covered by ISCED 0 programs:

5 years of age

1.3. ISCED 0 programs: statistics and indicators (source: UIS)

1.3.1. Enrolment:

Percentage Year

Gross enrolment ratio 39.9 2003/04

Net enrolment ratio 31.1 2002/03

Percentage of children entering
primary education with previous 59.3 2003/04
preschool experience

1.3.2. Enrolment ratio by age group, 2002/03 (percentage, also including the first
years of primary education when applicable):

Less than 3 Age 3 Age 4 Age 5 Age 6 Age 7
years of
age

0.0 0.2 0.8 31.1 6.5 0.0
1.0(*) 51.7(**) 97.8(**)
UIS estimation. (*) Enrolled in primary education. (**) Primary education enrolment ratio.

1.3.3. Teachers, 2003/04:

Total number Of whom Percentage of Percentage of Percentage of
of teachers female (%) trained trained teachers trained teachers
teachers (all) (males) (females)

24,958 96.5 … … …
(…) Not available.

1.3.4. Funding:

Percentage

Public current expenditure per pupil as
percentage of the Gross National Product 0.37 (2003)
per capita
Source: UIS.

1.3.5. Main source(s) of financing:

Not available

2. OTHER ECCE PROGRAMS
(Generally preceding ISCED 0 programs)

2.1. National definition of other ECCE programs:

Early childhood care and education

2.2. Normative age group(s) covered by other ECCE programs:

In principle, 3- to 4-year-olds

2.3. Estimate number of children covered by other ECCE programs:

Not available

B. BACKGROUND INFORMATION CONCERNING ECCE PROGRAMS
(INCLUDING ISCED 0)

3.1. Legislation concerning ECCE:

The Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Law which was enacted in 2000,
recognizes the importance of early childhood and its special needs, affirms parents as
primary caregivers and the child's first teachers, and establishes parent effectiveness,
seminars and nutrition counseling for pregnant and lactating mothers.
The Law requires the establishment of a National Coordinating Council for the
Welfare of Children which: (a) establishes guidelines, standards, and culturally
relevant practices for ECCD programs; (b) develops a national system for the
recruitment, training, and accrediting of caregivers; (c) monitors the delivery of
ECCD services and the impact on beneficiaries; (d) provides additional resources to
poor and disadvantaged communities in order to increase the supply of ECCD
programs; and (e) encourages the development of private sector initiatives.
The Republic Act 6972, the “Barangay (village) Level Total Protection of
Children Act”, has a provision that requires all local government units to establish a
day-care centre in every village; the law institutionalized the features of the day-care
programme that provide for young children’s learning needs aside from their health
and psychosocial needs.
Since the decentralization of basic health and social services in 1990, the local
government unit is directly responsible for the management and operation of day-care
centres.
Pre-schools are required to seek a permit to operate and register with the
Department of Education. DECS Order No. 107s, 1989, “Standards for the Operation
of Pre-schools (Kindergarten level)”, provides guidelines for the establishment of
private pre-schools. The DepEd requires the preparation of a feasibility study by
prospective school administrators as an initial step in applying for a permit to operate
a pre-school programme.

3.2. Official body/bodies in charge of supervision or coordination:

Ät the national level, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is
the agency responsible for overall policy and programme development, setting and
promoting guidelines and standards, providing technical assistance to the local
government units through the regional field offices, monitoring and evaluation.
With the passage of the ECCD Act in 2000, the day-care programme, as well
as home-based ECCD programmes for the under-6 age group, while still a
responsibility of the DSWD, will now be accredited by the ECCD Coordinating
Councils at the Provincial Level. The DSWD is usually considered a leading member
of this inter-agency committee but the Head of the School Division and the Head of

the Provincial Health Office are also members. The difference is that standards and
mechanisms for accreditation will be those that are developed in collaboration with
other agencies. It will surely build on the previous set of standards already being used
by the DSWD but it should now reflect the multidisciplinary nature of ECCD.

3.3. Other entities involved in the provision (e.g. municipalities, local
governments) and main types of providers (e.g. public, private, mixed,
community-based, etc.):

There are four modalities through which ECCD services are delivered, i.e. through
day care centres, homes, pre-schools and health centres or clinics:
Centre-based ECCD: A network of public, private and NGO-managed centres
carries out the day-care programme. The Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD) used to undertake the establishment of public day care centres,
but this programme was devolved to the Local Government Units (LGUs) after the
enactment of the 1991 Local Government Code.
Home-based ECCD: The local government units (LGUs) also currently implement
another devolved program of the DSWD, namely the Parent Effectiveness Service
(PES) Program that was initiated in 1978. This home-based intervention in ECCD
aims to help parents, surrogate parents, guardians and other care givers to enhance
their knowledge, skills and attitudes in parenting. In an effort to extend coverage, a
PES-on-the-Air program entitled Pamilyang Pinoy sa Himpapawid (Philippine
Family on the Air) was launched in 1993.
School-based ECCD: Most private pre-schools are located in highly urbanised areas
and cater mainly to the higher income groups. Consequently, there are many entrants
to Grade I who have no exposure to pre-school education and therefore manifest
significant adjustment and learning gaps.
Clinic-based ECCD: This is an integral part of Maternal and Child Health (MCH)
services, which are made available primarily through a network of public and private
hospitals, private clinics, municipality-based main health centres (MHCs) and
barangay Health Stations (BHSs). The MHCs and BHSs are government facilities
that are primarily responsible for the delivery of basic health care services to
communities especially in the rural areas. A doctor and a public health nurse man the
MHCs. On the other hand, the BHSs are simple clinics staffed by a rural health
midwife who is assisted by a barangay health worker.

The public day-care system is the largest provider of early childhood care and
education services for 3- to 4-year-olds.
In terms of public ECCD services, the village health centres are the main
service delivery points for decentralized maternal and child health services that
complement the group experiences in day-care centres. These include immunization
and a programme for the integrated management of childhood illness, both designed
to improve prevention and treatment of common childhood diseases.

3.4. Type of personnel involved:

Pre-school teachers. The primary service provider in the public day-care system is the
day-care worker, most of whom are recruited from within the local community, since
one of the requirements is that they live near the centre.

3.5. Type of staff training (requirements):

The following qualifications for day-care staff are prescribed by the Department of
Social Welfare and Development: female; between 18 and 45 years of age; high
school graduate; physically healthy–if she has any disabilities, these should not pre-
empt performance of tasks as a day-care worker; must be of good moral character;
preferably with prior work experience with pre-school children; willing to undergo
training and accept technical supervision from the DSWD; must render full-time
service for a minimum of two years.
The Department of Education prescribes the following qualifications and
profile for teachers (Education Order 107s, 1989) in pre-schools: 1) a Bachelor of
Science degree with specialization in Early Childhood or Kindergarten Education,
Family Life and Child Development or Elementary Education with at least 18 units in
ECCD; an allied non-education college degree with at least 18 units of ECCD; 2)
male or female, between the ages of 21-35; 3) training, experience and interest in
working with young children; and 4) certified physically and emotionally fit

3.6. Recent national policies and reforms:

The objectives of the National ECCD programs include:

• improvement of infant and child survival rates through expanded child health
programs;
• enhanced roles of parents and caregivers through parent effectiveness seminars
and counseling;
• enhanced cognitive, physical, social and emotional development of young
children through the establishment of additional child care centers under the
Department of Social Welfare;
• a smooth transition from at-home care to pre or primary schools through a
two-month bridging program for entrants to primary school;
• creating a system for early intervention and prevention of developmental
problems and disabilities;
• enhanced capabilities of caregivers through training of child care staff;
• improvement of the quality of public and private ECCD programs through
registration and accreditation of programs;
• promotion of the ECCD programs through the establishment of linkages
between local government units, the Departments of Health, Education, and
Social Welfare, and the appointment of an early childhood development
official in every city to coordinate and supervise all these activities.

With the passage of the ECCD Act in 2000, the DepEd is now working on refining the
programme frameworks and standards in collaboration with other member agencies of
the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC). Under the ECCD Act, the CWC has
been given the additional mandate to function as the National Coordinating Council

for ECCD. These frameworks and standards will be applied to the curriculum, teacher
and caregiver qualifications, physical environment, and services.
Since the passage of the ECCD Act, the national government has increased
inter-agency, inter-ministry and multi-sectoral coordination for policy development
and overall management of national ECCD programmes. Although there were also
coordinating efforts and mechanisms in the past, such as the Inter-Agency Committee
for ECCD within the UNICEF-assisted country programme, the passage of the ECCD
Act compels the government agencies to identify or revisit specific issues that require
joint decision-making. There has been a marked increase in programming and
standard-setting activities that are jointly undertaken by the Department of Social
Welfare and Development, the Department of Education, and the Council for the
Welfare of Children, along with their partners in civil society and academe. The law
removed certain unclear and arbitrary distinctions between various ECCD
programmes, while at the same time leaving undisturbed the difference in emphasis
between the “socialization” function of the day-care programme and the “educational”
function of the pre-school or kindergarten, with a convenient separation of
programme management responsibilities between the two government agencies. The
DepEd would be responsible for all kindergarten or pre-school programmes, while the
DSWD would oversee day-care initiatives.

In July 26, 2005, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her State of the
Nation’s address declared that “We need to start early and we need to maintain the
highest educational standards. I ask Congress to legislate an extra year of studies not
by adding a fifth year of high school but by standardizing what is taught in the
Barangay Day Care Centers.” As a result of this proclamation, the National Pre-
School Education Program was conceived.
The program aims to ensure that all 5-year old children have access to quality
pre-school education. Specifically, it aims to expand access and coverage to all five-
year old children, initially focusing on the poorest and disadvantaged; and upgrading
the quality of pre-school education in order to ensure that children are school ready
integrating health and nutrition components (weighing, de-worming and supplemental
feeding). The program aims to reach all 5-year olds by using existing day care centers
and opening new pre-school classes in areas where there are no existing day care
centers and public pre-school classes.

3.7. Efforts targeted at vulnerable or disadvantaged children:

National Pre-school Education Program

3.8. Special projects/programmes aiming at expanding or improving ECCE:

Home- and community-based ECCE, including mobile day care centers.

3.9. Information concerning the curriculum (if applicable) or the contents of
ECCE programs

Most ECCD programmes can be described as eclectic in their approach to philosophy,
conceptual frameworks and curriculum design. However, while the theories that
influence their development may be rather similar to one another, the specifics of the
curricula are a more accurate indicator of these programmes’ orientation. These
curricula can be broadly classified under three categories, described here in terms of
their focus and their methods.
The first type of curriculum is geared towards the traditional primary school,
which is organized in terms of subject matter areas and focuses mainly on cognitive,
literacy and numeracy skills. Children are mostly engaged in teacher-directed,
structured, sedentary classroom tasks, and their experiences are limited to paper-
pencil tasks with a sprinkling of arts and crafts, music and movement.
The second type of curriculum is informal, play-based and activity-oriented
that allows children to explore a variety of topics in a comparatively random fashion.
The learning experiences are designed to support physical, social, emotional, language
and cognitive development.
The third type follows a similarly diverse and comprehensive pattern, to
respond to all dimensions of child development. However, a more integrated and
well-balanced curriculum that shows careful attention to content is achieved by
organizing activities around well-selected themes or topics of study. These
programmes are more learner-centred and emphasize children’s active participation.
There are also ECCD centres that implement or adapt specific programme models,
such as those based on Maria Montessori’s work, the developmental-interaction
approach associated with Bank Street College, the Waldorf School, and the Kumon
method from Japan. Their curricula can also be seen in terms of the three types
mentioned above.
The curriculum of the public school kindergarten and the day-care centre is
designed to be more like the second type mentioned, with some features from the third
type of curriculum. The day-care centre’s activity plan is organized around topics or
themes and is designed to provide a variety of activities: dramatic, manipulative and
group play, arts and crafts, music, storytelling and other language experiences. The
day-care workers’ main references are: 1) the original Weekly Plan Activity Guide,
with selected topics for a ten-month period; and 2) the Resource Book on ECCD
which includes additional themes and recommended concepts and learning
experiences. The daily routines and the physical space of the day-care centre are
similar to the pre-schools that are compatible with an activity-centred curriculum.
There are well-defined play or activity “corners” and the children’s daily schedule is
divided into blocks of time for specific activities and transitions between e.g. play,
storytelling and meals.
The Department of Education’s kindergarten curriculum is more explicitly
focused on supporting “school readiness” and promotes the use of compiled
worksheets, manipulative play materials, as well as teacher-made resources.
Kindergarten teachers are provided with a “Pre-school Handbook” which describes
the instructional objectives and concepts or content to be covered, recommended
classroom activities and learning materials. The daily schedule and some guidelines
for classroom management are also included. Another reference provided by the
DepEd is a copy of the “Eight-week ECCD Curriculum in Grade One.” This is based
on the full-year kindergarten curriculum and designed to be implemented during the
first eight weeks of the school year for all Grade One students. A work book for the
children and several story books suitable for five- and six-year-olds are also included

in what is similar to the basic kindergarten classroom “package” recommended for
use in the public schools.”

3.9.1. Objectives and aims:

Pre-school education at the kindergarten level (age group 5 years) must aim to
develop children in all aspects (physical, social, emotional, and cognitive) so that they
will be better prepared to adjust and cope with life situations and the demands of
formal schooling; and to maximize the children’s potential through a variety of
carefully selected and meaningful experiences considering their interests and
capabilities.

3.9.2. Learning areas and teaching-learning methods:

The kindergarten curriculum focuses on the following areas:

• Physical development: it includes gross and fine motor co-ordination through
play and manipulative activities like games, simple works, etc.
• Personal-social development: it involves skills and social behaviours and it
includes the development of health habits, independence, abilities to follow
rules and routines. Learning about the family and other people is part of the
concerns in this area.
• Affective development: it includes experiences that help children develop love
for God, self, others and the community, and develop awareness of their
feelings and sense of the right and wrong.
• Cognitive development: it includes the development of communication skills
and sensory-perceptual and numeracy concepts and skills. Communication
skills refer to competencies in expressing ideas and feelings both in English
and Filipino (oral expression and basic readiness skills of listening, pre-
reading and writing). Sensory-perceptual and numeracy skills refer to the
ability to observe, discriminate, compare and classify, and to understand,
count, read and write numbers.
• Creative-aesthetic development: it includes exploration of sounds, music and
rhythms, and the development of children’s creative expression through
drawing, painting, manipulative activities, etc.

In order to attain and ensure the holistic development of children, a well-planned
curriculum and a well-balanced programme of activities are necessary, although they
may vary according to each pre-school’s approach. Indoor and outdoor plays are
essential whatever approach the pre-school follows. The language spoken by the child
should be valued. It is necessary that such language be used initially and until the
children have attained the facility and confidence in expressing themselves in English
and Filipino.

Most pre-school programmes run Monday to Friday, and those with large
enrolments generally operate two or three shifts of three- to four-hour sessions per age
group. There are no full-day kindergarten or nursery classes.

Sample programme of pre-school activities
Area of development Activities No. of minutes
Communication skills and Sharing period 10
socio-emotional (experiencies, songs,
development poems, news and informal
conversation
Cognitive development, Self-selected activities 20
socio-emotional
development, physical
development, creative
development
Cognitive development, Working period, including 45-60
socio-emotional more structured activities
development
Physical development, Supervised outdoor paly 30
creative development,
socio-emotional
development
Personal-social Clean up and snack 30
development, health care
Physical development Rest 15
Any of the areas of Story time or indoor 15
development activities
Total minutes 165-180

Most of the day-care centres operate half-day sessions comprised of supervised play
and group activities (arts and crafts, music and movement, storytelling), childcare for
personal hygiene, supplemental feeding, health and nutrition education, learning
experiences for early literacy and mathematics, and socialization experiences to
support social and emotional development. Growth monitoring and assessment of
children’s developmental status using a Child Development Checklist are also
included. Most public day-care centres provide only one meal, generally a snack each
day. The ones that function also as child-minding centres serve lunch and possibly a
second (morning or afternoon) snack.
All day-care workers in the public system are guided by a national programme
developed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in
collaboration with multidisciplinary partners in academe, civil society and
international agencies like UNICEF. In the best situations, day-care centres provide
children with developmentally-appropriate experiences that respond to their needs and
capacities in a holistic manner.

3.9.3. Average number of hours per week and average amount of weeks per year:

Most barangay (village) day-care centres (also referred to as childcare centres,
crèches and nurseries, but day-care centres it is the term most used) function as three-
hour or half-day activity- and playgroups for three- to five-year-olds, five days a week.
A day-care centre functioning at full capacity usually serves two different groups of
children in two shifts: one in the morning and another in the afternoon. A few centres
provide childcare services for those children whose parents seek them.
In the late 1990s, a national policy was introduced to promote the
establishment of day-care centres in the workplace. As a result, there are an increasing
number of government offices, as well as private corporations, which provide full-day
childcare programmes that match parents’ working hours, that is, from 8 a.m. or 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. Some of these are linked to the local government units of cities
which are also the employers of public civil servants such as the police.

3.10. Any other relevant and pertinent information

There is now a public day-care centre in virtually every village of the country (there
are 41,924 villages in the country; as of 2000, there were 32,787 day-care centres; a
few villages may have more than one; in 1998, 26.7 per cent of the villages did not
have access to any such programmes.)
There are more day-care centres and community-based ECCD programmes in
urban areas than in rural areas. Although there are a few public day-care centres and
NGO-run or church-affiliated community-based ECCD programmes in remote rural
villages, including those populated by indigenous cultural groups, they are few in
comparison to the number of centre-based programmes in urban areas, and are
certainly inadequate bearing in mind the size of the rural young child population.

(Main source: UNESCO PROAP. Early childhood care and education in South-East
Asia: Working for access, quality and inclusion in Thailand, the Philippines and Viet
Nam. UNESCO PROAP, Bangkok, 2004.)

C. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION REGARDING ECCE (TO BE
COMPILED IN COLLABORATION WITH UNICEF OFFICES WHERE
POSSIBLE)

4.1. Parenting programmes are usually addressed to parents and families of
children less than 6 years of age. Please provide information about any parenting
programmes in your country according to the table below:

Type of programme Yes or No Please estimate
(note for each the number of
programme) beneficiaries (if
possible)

Parenting education through early learning Yes 108,496 (figure
centres and child care centres from only 8 of
17 regions)

As component of health and nutrition Yes 940,000
programmes, such as information about child
development included in health and nutrition
visits

Parent groups that meet to discuss issues of Yes no data available
their young children, including health,
nutritional status, and development

As component of adolescent, livelihood or Yes no data available
literacy programmes

Media broadcast, such as Sesame Street, with Yes 1,879,000
media for and with children

Other (please specify)

Are any of these programmes targeted specifically toward the vulnerable, poor,
disadvantaged or excluded? If so, which ones? (Please provide/attach any
additional and relevant information if available).

Functional literacy classes (which is a component of the health and nutrition
programme) targets the illiterate or the neolitearate parents and caregivers and
members of the indigenous populations in remote rural areas.

4.2. Is there a national-level system for monitoring children’s development or
school readiness prior to entering primary school?

The school readiness test was first administered to all grade 1 entrants in public
elementary schools to determine children's readiness in terms of four developmental
domains: (a) gross motor; (b) fine motor; (c) cognitive; and language. Those who
score 75% or over are categorized as "school ready" and those who score below 75%
are categorized as "not ready". Students who are "not ready" are made to undergo the
early childhood experiences in grade 1—an eight-week curriculum consisting of
objectives, skills and developmentally appropriate activities aimed at developing the
different readiness skills of grade 1 entrants. The lessons are interesting and
stimulating to make learning pleasant and enjoyable and will ease transition from
home to school. Those who are "school ready" on the other hand, will join classes that
will use the grade I curriculum right at the start.

4.3. Is there a policy on early childhood (ECCE, ECD, etc.) that has been
accepted? If not, is there one under development?

Yes. Republic Act 8980: An Act promulgating a comprehensive policy and a national
system for early childhood care and development, passed into law on 24 July 2000.

[Information revised and additional data provided by UNICEF, December 2005.]

Philippines: Early Childhood Care and Education Programmes (ECCE)

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