University of Santo Tomas Graduate School student Br. Rocky Niño L. Manire, O.P., presented a paper during the Online Asia Pacific Conference on Curriculum Studies, and Instructional Designing (APCCSID) held from February 25 to 26, 2021.
Manire, a student under the Master of Arts in Education program majoring in Educational Management and Leadership (MAEd-ELM), presented the research paper titled “Promoting Learning amidst Pandemic: A Thematic Content Analysis on the Curriculum Management Aspect of DepEd’s Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP).” The same research paper has also been accepted for publication in an international peer-reviewed journal.
The research, according to Manire, was conducted to uncover the aspects of curriculum management of the Department of Education’s BE-LCP for the public education program. He utilized Thematic Content Analysis and highlighted in his paper the uncovering of the four phases of the Curriculum Management of DepEd’s BE-LCP anchored in the adjustments made in the four aspects of learning – correcting phase (learning content); connecting phase (learning delivery); coping phase (learning management), and collecting phase (learning assessment). Three department orders (D.O #12 s.2020, D.O. #18 s.2020, D.O. #31 s. 2020) underwent cool and warm thematic analysis to realize the desired objectives of the research.
The research suggested the need to provide comprehensive seminars, training, and orientations to teachers, and parents, and guardians as regards their responsibility in the learning process in the blended learning environment for a better internalization of their participatory role in the realization of learners’ 21st-century skills amidst the threat of COVID-19. He concluded his presentation with an appeal to DepEd to further refine its curriculum management strategies in all phases to effectively integrate the 21st-century skills to the streamlined curriculum in the new normal setting of Philippine Education.
With the theme “Curriculum Studies in Current Challenges: Designing for the Future,” APCCSID Online was spearheaded by the Asia Pacific Research Association on Curriculum Studies (APRACSI), an organization composed of the international board from different countries, especially from the Asia Pacific region.
Initially scheduled in September 2020 in Thailand, the supposed 4th on-site conference, APCCSID 2020, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was decided by the board members of APRACSI to be an online conference, according to Dr. Amelia Fajardo, APCCSID Conference Chair. It was attended by educators mostly coming from the Philippines and other countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. Dr. Murray Print, a renowned professor and Chair of Education at the University of Sydney, delivered the keynote speech. He argued in his recorded presentation, accessible at the events management system (EMS), that the challenges brought about by the pandemic could be opportunities for educators to renegotiate and redirect school curricula towards providing a stronger foundation of democracy.
