PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT'S INVESTMENT ON TEACHER PREPARATION AND THE PERFORMANCE OF GRADUATES IN THE LICENSURE EXAMINATION

Abstract

This research paper looks into the government investment on teacher preparation vis-à-vis the performance of teacher education institutions on the regional level. It aims to analyze the relationship between investment and performance of the regions in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET), and draw policy implications from the analysis. A total of 56 state universities and colleges (SUCs) were sampled for this research and revealed that on average, the government invested around Php 60,000 per graduate of teacher education for the entire four-year stay in college from school year (SY) 2008-2009 to SY 2011-2012. Meanwhile, the average LET passing rate of graduates form these SUCS for the period covered was only around 35 percent. The sample SUCs NCR, ARMM, Regions 5, 1, 3, 2, 6, and 8 received the highest government funding support for teacher preparation during the period under study. On the contrary, some of these regions were found to have the lowest passing rates in the LET.

This research found a weak but consistently positive correlation between the cost of teacher preparation and the LET performance. This finding suggested that education graduates are likely to perform better in LET with higher government support to teacher education. It remains sound to sustain or even strengthen the investments in teacher education or preparation in relation to the goal of enhancing the overall performance of the graduates in the national licensure examination.