ALL ABOUT GENES For many Filipino students, heredity rather than diligence to learn is the key to academic success, says Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills of the group that conducts the Program for International Student Assessment in which the Philippines fared last in reading and second to the last in mathematics and science among 79 countries and economies. 鈥擨NQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Many Filipino students believe that success in learning is all in the genes and that making an effort is not a solution to low academic performance, an official of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) told a Senate hearing on Thursday.
The OECD conducted the Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa) in which the Philippines fared poorly.
Andreas Schleicher, the agency鈥檚 director for education and skills, told the senators through teleconferencing from France that one of the group鈥檚 findings was that Filipino students attributed success in learning to intelligence rather than hard work. The Senate hearing was called to discuss the results of the 2018 Pisa.
鈥淲e find that most Philippine students do not believe in effort as a solution for learning outcomes,鈥� Schleicher said.
鈥淲hen we ask whether success in learning is about intelligence rather than hard work, there鈥檚 a large share of students in the Philippines who believe that success in education is about genes,鈥� he added.
A much smaller share of students believe they could change the results, he said.
Lack of growth mindset
The OECD calls this a lack of growth mindset. Students who believe they have the means and ownership of success are more likely to succeed, according to Schleicher.
He noted that in top performing educational systems like in China, students had the mindset that if they tried hard and invested time and effort, they would be successful.
鈥淭hat is not the case in the Philippines,鈥� he said.
鈥淚f you believe success in mathematics is about your genes, why would you study hard and not change those outcomes?鈥� he added.
Philippine students should change their thinking and believe that if they make the effort, they can achieve good results, he said.
Among 79 participating countries or economies in the 2018 Pisa, the Philippines ranked lowest in reading and second lowest in both mathematics and science.
Pisa measures 15-year-olds鈥� ability to use reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.
Something new
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said Schleicher鈥檚 observations were new to him and asked how this lack of growth mindset could be changed.
The finding showed that Filipino students were resigned to the fact that being a high performer was due to heredity, which was contrary to the thinking of other OECD children, said Gatchalian, who chairs the basic education committee.
鈥淚t seems to me our children have surrendered at an early age,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淔or me, they鈥檙e already resigned to the fact that they can鈥檛 be at that high achievement level because they鈥檙e not born intelligent, their parents are not intelligent and didn鈥檛 go to school.鈥�
Schleicher said evidence showed this mindset was not fixed and could be changed.
Teachers could track individual students鈥� outcomes and show them the progress they have made by investing in effort.
Another method is to set the same ambitions and expectations for students regardless of their background, even if they are disadvantaged.
鈥淭he moment you lower expectations for students, you are sending the student a signal that [they] are not good enough,鈥� he said.
Role of culture
Education Secretary Leonor Briones said this was a challenge not just to the Department of Education (DepEd), but to Philippine society as well.
Briones said that unlike Schleicher, she believed culture had something to do with this mindset.
Filipinos have certain attitudes and mores that contribute to this, such as the 鈥渂ahala na (come what may)鈥� attitude where people just take things as they come.
They also have the attitude in which they take everything as the will of God, and that the poor would be blessed in the afterlife.
鈥淭hese attitudes influence the mindset of a child,鈥� Briones said.
She also said she wanted to study the effects of the actions of teachers and other persons of authority when they would taunt or disparage students for their poor performance, such as uttering statements that poor performers should just plant 鈥渃amote鈥� (sweet potato) or that they would not amount to anything.
鈥淚f you say that about a child, the effect can be transforming,鈥� Briones said. These actions contribute to their failure, she added.
MemorizingSchleicher also said during the Senate hearing that Philippine students were good in producing subject matter content and memorizing material, but did not do well in applying the knowledge they learned.
鈥淎ccording to Pisa, students spend too much [time] learning materials by heart and little time to actually creatively use and apply knowledge, question hypothesis, build hypothesis,鈥� he said.
A large part of Pisa tasks require students to apply and use the knowledge they have, Schleicher said. This is because the economy requires people to creatively use what they have learned, he said.
The Philippine performance could be attributed to instruction in schools, and modifying the methods of instruction is needed, he said.
Change curriculum
Gatchalian said one reform being implemented was to change the curriculum, which was too congested.
He said some 300 competencies were being taught to students in only 200 school days in a year.
Another issue that officials must confront is too many noneducation tasks given to teachers, which deprive them of time to focus on students and to coordinate with the children鈥檚 parents. These include election duties and even the deworming of students, Gatchalian noted.
Briones said the country joined Pisa to establish a baseline in relation to global standards.
She also said the DepEd had expected the country not to do well in Pisa based on results of the National Achievement Test.