Pathway for the Poor: New TESDA Credit Transfer Scheme Proposed
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) 11 along with the other TESDA offices in Mindanao and government agencies is drafting and refining a new credit transfer scheme on the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF) levels 1 to 5 that shall provide students better and clearer framework to learning opportunities.
TESDA XI Regional Director Gaspar S. Gayona emphasized during the discussion on the credit transfer system during the Mindanao-wide Transfer Credit Scheme forum on March 20,2018, the new scheme will enable students to proceed into the next higher level qualification or continue to learn and re-enter the educational program in the higher learning institution without having to unnecessarily retake courses which they were already able to demonstrate and acquire competence and knowledge.
“As pathway for the poor we always have to anticipate if there are students or leaners that will enroll and if he/she gets a National Certificate, he/she can stop to work but he/she is not a dropout,” Gayona said and added that the learners who chose to temporarily stop so he/she can work can still earn a diploma as long as he/she passes the remaining assessments and acquire the other remaining required competencies in line with the certain program.
The proposed system also suggests to review and amend the current PQF Levels 1-5 including the learning outcomes, the modes of allocating credit points and others in order to further enhance the TVET track.
Gayona said if the learning outcomes of levels 1 to 4 will be created clearly, it could be “an equivalent to 1st year to 4th year college of the degree program.”
The new scheme also proposes that the modes of allocating credit points could be done through:
- Training and National Assessment- in both modes, three (3) elements shall be equal to 1 TVET credit unit.
- The award of the credit unit shall be done by the training provider and TESDA through training and Certification, respectively.
- Such credits shall be transferable 1) within TVET, 2) to Higher Education credited during enrollment and in granting BS degree and 3) to DepEd in granting K to 12 diploma.
In her speech, TESDA Board Member Maria Paloma Papa said during the forum held on March 20, 2018, at the Pinnacle Hotel that the new initiative is another milestone in the TESDA family, as it responds to the challenges in the tech-voc education.
Papa also expressed her gratitude to the TESDA region 11 in the leadership of regional director Gayona and encouraged all other regions to conduct such activities.
“We are all stakeholders so I think we should not make any reservation or hold on to all of these ideas and output so that it would form part of the discussion and that will be a historical document in the process of having the credit transfer scheme and planning all of these,” Papa said.
Meanwhile, during the workshop, the participants from the different regions in Mindanao gave and presented their feedback and recommendation on the proposed credit transfer system. The participants were grouped according to their respective agencies namely the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Local and State Universities, Department of Education and TESDA.
DepEd-International Cooperation Office (ICO) Director Margarita Consolacion Ballesteros and Atty. Joselito C. Alisuag of CHED central office both expressed their support to the new scheme.
Board Member Isidro Asper also stressed that he is optimistic that the proposed system will succeed.
“Let’s get the pilot program going. Make sure the right people are there to oversee it so that when the time comes, regularly perhaps, we can monitor and evaluate what has happened and we can push for it to become a nationwide standard at least at the level of diploma,” Asper added.
