The Impact of Trifocalization on Philippine Education Outcomes and the Coordination Issue

Thirty-two years ago, the First Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM I) established a trifocalized Philippine Educational and Training System (PETS) to ramp up the achievement of the country’s educational and training goals. EDCOM I aimed to raise the system’s performance by transforming the PETS from a centralized Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) into a system comprising three separate national education agencies, each vested with the responsibility and authority to lead on education and training matters. These agencies are the Department for Basic Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Despite well-intentioned reform efforts advocated by EDCOM I, the PETS is not performing as well as education and development leaders had hoped. This state of affairs has led some influential leaders and advisers of EDCOM II to call for a reversal or modification of the current trifocalized PETS. This study seeks to address the aforementioned concerns and to analyze the proposal to reverse or modify trifocalization. To this end, the analysis aims to determine the impact of trifocalization on desired education and skills development outcomes in the Philippines using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. This study finds that trifocalization has had no statistically significant impact on education outcomes at conventional confidence levels. The empirical results are consistent with findings from key informant interviews. Furthermore, the study discusses why a trifocalized PETS might not work as expected. Given its findings, the report offers several reform ideas that EDCOM II may want to consider to enable and incentivize the trifocalized system to function more effectively, especially regarding coordination and other issues that key informants regard as fundamental. One recommendation is the establishment of an independent agency with oversight responsibilities and powers to hold DepEd, CHED, and TESDA and other related agencies accountable for their performance in the PETS. Comments on this paper are welcome within 60 days from the date of posting. Email publications@pids.gov.ph.