Children learn what they live

We have insisted that addressing the learning crisis begins with ensuring that every Filipino child can read with understanding and work confidently with numbers. These foundations matter, and we must sustain this focus with clear targets, effective teaching, and support for those who have fallen behind.

Alongside this urgency, we must ask what kind of school experience we are rebuilding. Can students ask questions without being embarrassed? Can they admit that they do not understand? Do they know whom to approach when they are bullied? Are they learning to listen, exercise judgment, and take responsibility for others?

These questions belong at the center of education reform. A child who fears ridicule may hesitate to read aloud. A learner repeatedly told they are incapable may stop trying. A student who feels invisible may struggle to see why school matters. Addressing literacy and numeracy requires attention to the conditions in which children are expected to learn.

Mass promotion belongs in this discussion. When we advance learners despite gaps in reading and numeracy, we teach a lesson about what our institutions value. Grades and promotion should honestly reflect learning, and schools must pair this honesty with intervention and support. Otherwise, our lessons on integrity and perseverance lose credibility against a system that allows learners to progress without the foundations they need.

We should begin by examining how we teach values. Students need opportunities to consider situations that require judgment: whether to forward an embarrassing photograph, how to respond when a friend cheats, or what to do when a classmate is excluded. They should explain their choices, consider consequences, and listen to different perspectives. A learner may know the definition of honesty and still struggle to practice it when telling the truth carries a cost. Assessment should make room for reasoning, reflection, and application, while avoiding easy judgments about a child’s character based on a written examination.

Teachers need preparation for this work. The framework highlights that 94 percent of teachers handling values education are teaching outside their specialization. We must address preparation, assignment, and continuing professional development. Facilitating difficult conversations, responding to bullying, and guiding ethical reflection require knowledge and practice. But values are also taught through what students observe every day.

In a 2017 study of 401 students in one urban public high school, Lorelie Ann Banzon-Librojo, Melissa Garabiles, and Liane Peña Alampay found that harsh teacher discipline was associated with greater bullying victimization and more negative perceptions of teacher support. The study does not establish causation, but it raises an important question about the behavior adults model. Discipline itself must reflect the respect we expect students to show.

When a teacher acknowledges a mistake, students see accountability. When a principal applies rules fairly, they see justice. When a struggling reader receives patient support, they see dignity. When a complaint is heard and acted upon, they learn that speaking up can lead to help. Lessons on respect carry little weight where humiliation is routine. Children notice these inconsistencies.

We must create space for students to find their voice. This means asking for their views on school life, taking their concerns seriously, and explaining how their feedback informs decisions. Participation should reach learners who rarely receive recognition.

Clubs, sports, arts, student publications, and community projects can provide opportunities to practice these capacities. Access should extend to children whose families cannot pay for enrichment or arrange transport after school. Schools need protected time, resources, and teachers supported to guide these activities.

Families must be part of this effort. Schools should work with parents and caregivers while recognizing the constraints of income, employment, migration, and time, as well as the realities of raising children amid online relationships.

We need a coherent approach that connects curriculum, teacher development, school leadership, child protection, family engagement, and student participation. We should track whether learners feel safe, have a trusted adult, and experience belonging, alongside their progress in reading and mathematics.

Our ambition for Filipino learners must include the ability to read, reason, and calculate, together with the confidence to speak, the judgment to choose responsibly, and the character to care for others. Moving the needle requires schools that make these possibilities real for every child.

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Dr. Karol Mark Yee is the executive director of the Second Congressional Commission on Education.