‘Matatag’ curriculum keeps teachers’ workload heavy
The revised Kinder to Grade 10 (K-10) curriculum has reduced classroom teaching time as teachers reallocated hours to lesson preparation, a new Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) study found.
The study collected detailed time-use diaries from 696 teachers in selected pilot public schools. It found that while the curriculum aimed to ease teachers’ workload, it ended up adding more responsibilities to their slate.
“This indicates that the freed time was not eliminated but reallocated to planning and related tasks,” the state-run think tank said.
“These effects were concentrated among teachers directly affected by the reform, with little evidence of spillover to colleagues teaching other grades except for a reduction in administrative tasks that benefited all teachers,” PIDS added.
The curriculum, revised in 2023 under the “Matatag Agenda,” sought to decongest overloaded content across grade levels by streamlining lessons and reducing institutional burdens. In theory, this should also improve teachers’ working conditions.
The Matatag curriculum is being rolled out in phases. This was implemented across Kinder as well as Grades 1, 4 and 7 in the school year 2024-2025. The rollout across Grades 2, 5 and 8 is being done in the current school year.
Implementation across Grades 3, 6 and 9 are scheduled for the school year 2026-2027 and in Grade 10 set for 2027-2028.
PIDS noted, however, that teachers still spend far more time on professional duties than their mandated working hours.
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