INTRODUCTION

The year 2013 witnessed the signing into law and implementation of the K to 12 program by the

then-President Benigno S. Aquino III which added two more years of basic schooling to all

Filipinos in an effort to be globally responsive in terms of educational qualities needed in the field

of work in and out of the country.

Amidst insecurities in the economy that the country is facing today, the K to 12 Curriculum marks

a historic and radical shift particularly in the educational scheme of the Philippines, as well as, in

the process, the Filipino society as a whole (de los Reyes, 2013). Former DepEd Secretary Bro.

Armin Luistro (“Philippine Daily Inquirer”, 2012) explained that the new curriculum is an

opportunity for “improved employment and entrepreneurship” as it ensure that the “high school

graduate has the necessary competencies to pursue a college degree either immediately or at some

later stage.”

The K to 12 Curriculum adopts a spiral progression approach in teaching the subjects as they are

being taught from the simplest concepts to more complicated concepts through grade levels of

which aim is to “ensure a mastery of knowledge and skills after each level” (“Official Gazette”,

n.d.).

On the other hand, the K to 12 curriculum was naturally welcomed with a mixture of praises and

criticisms, as well as issues and challenges. Several petitions have been submitted to the Supreme

Court to suspend the program, and varied negative reactions were expressed against the curriculum
implementation because politicians and groups find the new system problematic (“Business

Mirror”, 2015; “Manila Times”, 2015; “PhilStar Global”, 2015; & “CNN Philippines”, 2015).

The researchers wanted to look at one of these supposed issues about the new curriculum that

which is the removal of Philippine History as a subject from the Grade 7 Curriculum, having been

placed instead in the elementary level all the while being replaced by Asian History.

In one article posted in anakbayan.org (2016), an online platform administered by a youth

organization, Anakbayan which also happens to be one of the many petitioners against the K-12

Curriculum, the youth group decried the K-12 program’s abolition of the teaching of Philippine

history in high school and the removal of Filipino, Literature, and Philippine Constitution in

college, saying this further dilutes nationalism and critical thinking among the young Filipinos.

As the K-12 Curriculum employs Spiral Progression Approach which Gatdula (2016) believes that

with the Spiral Progression Approach, teaching is “now more integrative and multi-disciplinary”,

some subjects that were once taught in a specific grade level were now moved or even removed to

be replaced in an either lower or higher grade level. The social studies subject Philippine History

which was originally being taught in the grade 7 is now being introduced in elementary level.

National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera, another lead petitioner in the case against K to

12 commented that the Supreme Court’s decision “will negatively affect the molding of nationalist

and socially-conscious citizens of the Philippines, as K to 12 abolished Philippine History in high

school, and Filipino, Literature and Philippine Government & Constitution in college” (Requejo

& Bencito, 2016).

Another lead petitioner, Charissa Bañez, president of League of Filipino Students (LFS),

commented (as cited in lfs.ph, 2016), “another reason to stop the K to 12 program is the removal

of Philippine History in high school. It takes away the foundations for the youth’s historic role in

nation building.” Bañez called out Philippine History being removed in high school as Asian

History is discussed in grade 7, the first grade level in high school.

Pañares (n.d.) explained that children and people should know their history, their culture, and their

heritage so that they have a strong sense of their national identity as a Filipino. In an article in

Rappler, Montemar (2015) recounted his experience as a teacher with his students not even yet

knowing much about the Philippine-American War.

Tucay (2015) also expressed in a column article in Inquirer her perceptions on the curriculum,

particularly with the removal of the teaching of Philippine History in the junior high school

curriculum explaining that while K-12 program implements a “spiral progression approach” to

teaching, initial observations show that the new curriculum is rather redundant and overall focus

on basic concepts is largely diffused. Tucay (2015) noted that the Social Studies Curriculum was

derived from topics created by the US National Council for Social Studies.

Meanwhile, as the Philippines is now no longer among the few countries who still have a 10-year

basic education curriculum, the researchers also wanted to find out if this same phenomenon
happened in other countries, where a subject, particularly History subject, had been or is being

removed from the curriculum.

In 2014 in Colorado (Brundin, 2014) when hundreds of Colorado high school students have

reportedly walked out of their classes to protest against the removal of History from their

curriculum.

In 2010, Nigeria expunged History as a subject under its new curriculum which entailed a lot of

criticisms from the Nigerian mass (“Vanguard”, 2014; Olopohunda, 2015; Omolewa, 2015;

Ogbeche 2015; & Otti, 2016), particularly from the education sector. However, 2016 witnessed its

return to the curriculum in response to these criticisms.

The Guardian (2015) reports that creativity, culture and the arts are being systematically removed

from the education system of the United Kingdom, with dramatic falls in the number of pupils

taking design, drama and other craft-related subjects.

In Indonesia, the government believed IT subject is ‘irrelevant’ already, and thus needs to be

removed from its school curriculum (Lukman, 2014). The move sparked rages from its people,

particularly the education sector.

Kalaidis (2013) writes in The Atlantic that the devaluation of social studies as a core subject in the

K-12 curriculum has troubling economic, political, and social implications. According to her,
reducing students’ exposure to a solid curriculum in social studies may lead to what a growing

number of experts are calling a “civic achievement gap” in America.

Meanwhile, other than these negative perceptions on the removal of the Philippine History as a

subject from the grade 7 curriculum, there were also those who defended and justified the idea.

Firstly, as it has been mentioned a few times already earlier, the K-12 curriculum employs spiral

progression approach. In this approach, basic principles are introduced in the first grade (Corpuz,

n.d.).

In the scope and sequence of the curriculum guide of the Araling Panlipunan, Philippine History

is being taught spirally through Grades 2-6 (Araling Panlipunan Curriculum Guide, 2016). The

recurring theme of our history as told in the K-12 curriculum sums up as a story of “fighting for

freedom, first against foreign invaders, then against local and foreign rulers” (Cruz, 2015 as cited

by Tumapon, 2016).

History is an effective tool to institute to the citizens their identity, and to promote nationalism

among the people (Fitzgerald, 1983 as cited by Agcaoili & Oshihara, 2014; & “Economist”, 2007).

Governments use history as a method of inculcating a shared sense of nationalism to its people.

Espindola’s (2017) findings in his study supports that “in societies that have failed to confront past

injustice, the most common justifications for the inclusion of history education within the school

curriculum invoke the idea that those who cannot learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.”
Looking at the K to 12 curriculum framework (“K to 12 Toolkit”, 2012), “strengthening Filipino

moral fiber and developing patriotism”, and “nationalism” are two of the needs considered by the

framers in developing the present curriculum. Chang’ach (2011) supports that one of the main

objectives of teaching history is “to develop a sense of patriotism and national pride.”

The Spiral Progression Approach presents the subjects from simple to complex while revisiting

prior knowledge. This means that though Philippine History is only to be taught specifically in the

elementary level, it will not be necessarily forgotten in the high school level. Students get to still

use their knowledge of the subject in order to understand the rest. In this approach, students are

able to master the desired competencies by revisiting the subject several times and relating new

knowledge or skills with the previous one.

The K-12 curriculum is deemed to produce not just locally, but globally competitive graduates

(Alcober, 2014). “The new education system aims to improve the quality of basic education and

adequately prepare high school graduates for college education, work or employment, making

them globally competitive,” Alcober (2014) writes.

Fleet and Winthrop (2010) writes about paradigm shift being necessary to develop globally

competent graduates. “A paradigm shift must take place recognizing that in order to be truly

globally competitive, we must be globally competent.” The two further explains that “educating

young people to become global citizens will allow them to learn about the interdependence of the

world’s systems, believe that solutions to global challenges are attainable, feel morally compelled
to confront global injustices and take responsible action to promote a just, peaceful and sustainable

world.”

On the importance of teaching history as a subject, Steeves (1998) explained that the skills being

taught in History as a subject are skills essentially needed by all students, “no matter what their

level of educational attainment is”. The importance of studying History as a subject lies in the fact

that it puts into perspective humanity’s past events, accounts and how they impact on peoples’

lives today. (Tosh, 2006 as cited in David & Cheruiyot, 2016).

Social studies education in the Philippines has gone through curriculum reforms (Agcaoili &

Oshihara, 2014). However, these attempts were not sufficient. In the advent of the K-12

Curriculum which entailed an equally drastic shift in the curriculum of Araling Panlipunan, taking

out the Philippine History as a subject from the secondary level, the researchers seek to hear and

find out the perceptions of the students regarding the removal of the said subject. The researchers

believe that the perceptions of the learners are vital since they are considered as one of the most

important stakeholders in the development of the curriculum.

What are the perceptions of the students in this matter? In Republic Central Colleges where this

research had been particularly conducted in, the High School Department saw the coming of the

first wave of Grade 11 students just last year, 2016. Before this though, the school already

experienced another much earlier change brought about by the new curriculum with the set of

subjects being taught in the department. During the school year 2014-2015, the last batch of Grade

7 students who experienced Araling Panlipunan 7 as Philippine History already “moved up” to
Grade 8. Just as these students “moved up” a year level higher, Philippine History “moved down”

the curriculum from being once a Grade 7 Araling Panlipunan subject. The researchers examined

the perceptions of these students who, by the time of the employment of this study, has just

“completed” their Grade 10, going up to Grade 11 come 2017-2018.

In conducting this study though, the researchers noted that no closely-related and similar studies

yet were done in this particular topic. While this is so, still, the researchers reviewed a number of

related literatures in order to give substance to this endeavor. Also, in light of the fact that this

particular research problem has not yet been posed and addressed to any research or study, the

researchers much more strongly deemed that indeed, this has to really be conducted. This study

may open a window for the teachers of the subject as to what strategies and approaches they may

employ in their classroom to better their instruction and engagement to students of History.

Moreover, this research may invite further exploration of the topic in the future.

Now the following studies and researches done in the field of teaching history as a subject were

reviewed:

Haydn & Harris (2006) cited Price (1968) in explaining that attempts to explore pupil attitudes to

history in school can be traced back to the 1968 Schools Council enquiry, which was undertaken

in part due to a concern about the declining popularity of history as a school subject.
A related study by Joseph (2003) reveals that students at the upper secondary-school level

sometimes experience difficulties understanding basic historical concepts as well as appreciating

the relevance of history as a subject in the school’s curriculum.

Van Straaten, Wilschut, & Oostdam (2016) established in their study that many students “do not

see the point” of History teaching which is supposed to usually focus on understanding the past as

an aim in itself.

Meanwhile, in Australia, debates about the purpose and content of history education in schools

have been prevalent in most Westernised democratic nations over the last 30 years (Peterson,

2016). These have raised concerns about the depth and effectiveness of history education and have

sought to make significant changes to the history curriculum for schools.

In their analytic essay, Thornton & Barton (2010) writes about an attempt to increase the amount

of history taught in schools; to separate history from social studies; and to emphasize disciplinary

structures and norms as the proper focus for the subject.

Corfield (2008) explains that because humans are rooted in time, people do by one means or

another pick up ideas about the past and its linkages with the present, even if these ideas are sketchy

or uninformed or outright mythological. She also mentioned that it is best to gain access to the

ideas and evidence of History as an integral part of normal education.

Maadad, N. & Rodwell, G. (2016) explored in their study the question of the effect of wholesale

deletions from the curriculum of a nation's history, as in the case of Lebanon. They argued that,

generally, History curricula are so politicised that there should be a historiographical component

that requires students to understand that history is about many different points of view.

Furthermore, the two researchers said that students should be taught that it is the understanding of

the development of evidence for the various perspectives that matters.

Wilkinson (2014) coins in his study the term “Absent Curriculum” which he used in explaining

the possible implication when a particular history of a group of people is removed or is not being

taught in the curriculum. According to this paper, the "absent curriculum" is a hidden curriculum

that suggests to groups whose histories are missing from the national curricula that they are

relatively insignificant citizens in the community of the nation.

In reviewing the related literatures, the researchers also considered fetching similar studies on the

possible relationship between a student’s perceptions on a subject to, and the student’s academic

performance.

Lesh (2011) believes that the way we teach history – lecture and memorization – has to do with

the students’ not retaining, understanding nor enjoying their school experiences with history.

Agcaoili & Oshihara (2014) supports this in their study, concluding that indeed, how teachers

effectively teach history subject influence how students effectively learn the subject. Along with

the teacher-factors which supposed to affect teaching and learning history, student-factors also
play a vital role. Attitude is central to the education process. Negative attitude of secondary school

students towards certain subjects may pose a problem in the process (David & Cheruiyot, 2016)

Woodard (2016) relates the perceptions of students about the importance of history as a subject to

the teacher’s ability to connect the past to the present, and to the future; and how this will benefit

these students.

David & Cheruiyot (2016) establishes that performance in secondary schools is hugely determined

by students' capacity and motivation to learn. In his book, Marzano (1992) explains that without

positive attitudes and perceptions, students have little chance of learning proficiently, if at all.

Educators agree that students learn best what interests them, and meaningful content is better

learned and retained than less meaningful content (Smith, 2007; & Sahin & Yagbasan, 2012 as

cited by Erinosho, 2013).

The researchers conducted this study for the purpose of establishing the general perceptions of the

students regarding the removal of Philippine History from the grade 7 curriculum so that any

finding of this study may be used to found further research in the field. This study is qualitative in

nature which means it may be followed by a quantitative one that could paint a more accurate

picture of the perceptions of students on the matter. With this, in the future, Araling Panlipunan

teachers could also gauge the impact of which phenomenon to the academic performance of the

students, to the school administration and its faculty, and to the society as a whole. Furthermore,

this could open windows of suggestions of possible teaching strategies to the teachers of the subject

to improve instruction.
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The researchers seek to find the answer to the following questions:

1. What are the perceptions of the participants regarding the removal of Philippine History as a

subject from the Grade 7 Curriculum?

2. What are the advantages perceived by the participants regarding the removal of Philippine

History as a subject from the Grade 7 Curriculum?

3. What are the disadvantages perceived by the participants regarding the removal of Philippine

History as a subject from the Grade 7 Curriculum?

 METHOD

Research Design

In order for the researchers to address the questions posed, a qualitative research approach was

utilized. Creswell (2012) explains that a qualitative research deals with “exploring a problem and

developing a detailed understanding of a central phenomenon”, in this case, the removal of

Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum. According to him, “qualitative research is best

suited to address a research problem in which you do not know the variables and need to explore.”

Also, as the researchers are looking for perceptions, Fraenkel & Wallen (2010) point out that

qualitative research tries to “capture” the “thinking of the participant”. The type of research used

was a phenomenological research. A phenomenological research is often employed to describe

various reactions to, or perceptions of, a particular phenomenon (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2010).

Sampling Technique

The researchers employed purposeful sampling. In purposeful sampling, Creswell (2012) explains,

is a research term used in qualitative research where the researchers intentionally select individuals

and sites to learn or understand the central phenomenon. The participants are Grade 10 students

coming from the 10-Confucius who were enrolled as such during the previous school year, 2016-

2017. This sampling technique was used because aside from that the said participants are the only

available participants for the study for the moment, they were also the last batch who got to have

Araling Panlipunan – Philippine History subject during their Grade 7 in the school year 2013-2014
at Republic Central Colleges. There were only fourteen (14) participants who were able to

participate in the conduct of the study because the researchers reached the point of saturation of

the amount of data required.

Participants

The participants of this study were fourteen (14) students who were enrolled as Grade 10 students

in the previous school year 2016-2017 who were also the last batch of students during their grade

7 who took up Araling Panlipunan – Philippine History as a subject. Their ages ranged from 15 to

17 years old. Table 1 shows the demographic profile of the participants. The participants were

given pseudonyms to keep their identities confidential.

Table 1
Demographic Profile of the Participants

Participants Gender Age

P1 MALE 16
P2 MALE 16
P3 MALE 15
P4 FEMALE 15
P5 FEMALE 16
P6 FEMALE 17
P7 MALE 16
P8 MALE 16
P9 MALE 16
P10 MALE 16
P11 FEMALE 15
P12 MALE 16
P13 MALE 16
14 MALE 17
Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers hoped to gain insight about and describe the perceptions of the participants so that

data were collected through in-depth interviewing (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2010). The interview

approach used is an individual interview approach where there were only two (2) persons involved

in the interview – the interviewer and the interviewee. The researchers recorded the interviews

through the use of a recorder, and then transcribed these interviews into interview transcripts.

Transcription is the process of converting audiotape recordings or fieldnotes into text data

(Creswell, 2012).

Data Analysis

In analyzing the data, the researchers took into account the steps and guidelines provided by

Creswell (2012). The interview transcripts served as raw data which were taken to be analyzed by

the researchers through content analysis. The researchers employed thorough analysis of the data

and extracted several themes which were then grouped according to emerging categories. A coding

process was employed in order to do the abovementioned. Coding is the process of segmenting

and labeling text to form descriptions and broad themes in the data (Creswell, 2012). The emerging

categories became the emerging answers to the objectives of the study. The researchers consulted

two (2) Social Studies teachers and one (1) psychometrician to act as inter-raters, help categorize

the themes that emerged.

 FINDINGS

Table 2

Perceptions of Students in the Removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum

Table 2 shows the perceptions of students in the removal of Philippine History from the

Grade 7 Curriculum. The researchers were able to extract a total of five (5) themes, and three (3)

general categories from the responses of the participants. Among these categories, it is shown that

the majority of the responses fall under the category of Positive Perception with a total of seven

(7) responses. Under this particular category, four (4) of the responses indicate that the participants

perceive the removal of the Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum positively so that the

elementary students may have ‘Early exposure to PH History’; and three (3) of the responses

indicate that participants perceive the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum

positively ‘As long as it is still integrated in HS’. On the other hand, under the category Negative
Perception which garnered a total of six (6) responses, it can be seen that the participants see the

removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum negatively because they believe

‘Elementary students are still unprepared’ for them to be taught about Philippine History in their

level. This particular theme is with a total of responses of five (5). Also, one participant under this

category responded with an answer themed as ‘Already repetitive in HS’. Meanwhile, in the

category ‘Neutral’, the number of responses only numbered to a total of one (1) with one

participant responding with a theme that tells about the removal of Philippine History from the

Grade 7 Curriculum as having ‘both an advantage and a disadvantage.’

Themes/Categories Number of
Responses
Positive Perception 7
Early exposure to PH History for the Elementary 4
Good as long as it is still integrated in HS 3

Negative Perception 6
Elementary students are still unprepared 5
Already repetitive in HS 1

Neutral 1
It has both an advantage and a disadvantage 1
N=14

Table 3 presents the perceived advantages of the participants in the removal of Philippine

History from the Grade 7 Curriculum. The researchers were able to categorize into two (2) a total

of three (3) themes. The most number of responses fall under the category of ‘Opportunities for

Learning’ totaling to nine (9). Under this particular category, two (2) responses from the

participants were perceiving the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum
advantageous as the said subject will be placed in the elementary level that thereby, the elementary

students will have ‘More time spent in studying’ it. Also, the participants perceive the removal of

Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum because, according to them, as the said subject

will be placed in the elementary, there will be an ‘Addition of a new subject’ in the junior high

school. This theme is from a total of seven (7) responses. Next, the category ‘Competency’

garnered a total of five (5) responses, under which is the theme, ‘Becoming globally competitive’

themed from a total of five (5) responses during the data analysis.

Table 3
Perceived Advantages of the Participants in the Removal of Philippine History from the
Grade 7 Curriculum

Themes/Categories Number of
Responses
Opportunities for Learning 9
More time spent in studying it in Elementary 2
Addition of a new subject 7

Competency 5
Becoming globally competitive 5
N=14

Table 4
Perceived Disadvantages of the Participants in the Removal of Philippine History from the
Grade 7 Curriculum

Themes/Categories Number of
Responses
Comprehension 10
Subject might be easily forgotten 10

Maturity 2
Elementary students too young and playful 2
 No disadvantage 2
Beneficial to students either way 2
N=14

Table 4 illustrates the perceived disadvantages of the participants in the removal of

Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum. From the data analysis, there emerged a total of

three (3) categories, and a total of three (3) themes. Under the category, ‘Comprehension’ with a

total of ten (10) responses, the participants perceived the removal of Philippine History from the

Grade 7 Curriculum as disadvantageous because they believe that the ‘Subject might be easily

forgotten’ to which themed responses totaled to ten (10) responses. The category ‘Maturity’ which

had a total of two (2) responses had under it also a total of two (2) themed responses, that which

is ‘Elementary students too young and playful’. On the other end, a total of two (2) responses were

themed as ‘Beneficial to students either way’ under the category, ‘No disadvantage’ which also

only had two (2) responses under.

 DISCUSSION

The K to 12 curriculum received a mixture of criticisms and praises in its advent (“Business

Mirror”, 2015; “Manila Times”, 2015; “PhilStar Global”, 2015; & “CNN Philippines”, 2015)

particularly in the part where it removed Philippine History as a subject from the Grade 7

Curriculum, and replaced it in the elementary level (“Anakbayan”, 2016; “League of Filipino

Students”, 2016; Montemar 2015; Tucay, 2015; and Requejo & Bencito, 2016).

This case is also similar with some other countries who reportedly removed a subject or two

from their curriculum, responding to address the concerns prevalent in their own settings

(Brundin, 2014; “Vanguard”, 2014; “The Guardian”, 2015; Lukman, 2014; and Kalaidis, 2013).

Varied perceptions were also cited in terms of the importance of History as a subject (Agcaoili &

Oshiara, 2014; Espindola, 2017; and Steeves, 1998). The researchers, however, admit that there

were no particularly similar studies or any other literature to compare and contrast this paper. In

this regard, the discussion dwelt on the implications and theories that support or substantiate the

findings.

Generally, the researchers sought to find out how the participants perceive the removal of

Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum. The researchers articulated three (3) main

research objectives which dwelt on: the general perception of the participants in the removal of

Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum; the perceived advantages of the participants in

the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum; and the perceived disadvantages

of the participants in the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum.
Now, the findings in answer to the question about the perceptions of the participants on the

matter yielded three (3) main categories: Positive Perception, Negative Perception, and Neutral

perception. In the course of the research process, particularly the data gathering procedure in

which the researchers got to interview the participants one-on-one, the most prominent

perception falls under the category of Positive Perception. According to the respondents, the

removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum would mean early exposure to the

subject for the elementary students in which the same subject will be placed into. The K to 12

Toolkit (2012) places the then-Araling Panlipunan 7: Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas spreadly in grades

2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The Spiral Progression Approach as explained by Corpuz (n.d.), ensures that

students from the elementary level going to the senior high school will have seamless succession

by way of gradual and yet, recurrent, acquisition of competencies and knowledge throughout

their educational journey.

In his book, Marzano (1992) explains that without positive attitudes and perceptions, students

have little chance of learning proficiently, if at all. Educators agree that students learn best what

interests them, and meaningful content is better learned and retained than less meaningful

content (Smith, 2007; & Sahin & Yagbasan, 2012 as cited by Erinosho, 2013).

Over time, scholars have called for an increase in the amount of history taught in elementary

schools (Barton, 1997; Burstein, Hutton, and Curtis, 2006). Fertig (2005) expounds that teaching

and learning history in elementary school prepares children for living in a democratic society in

which citizens are expected to interpret the meaning and significance of controversial social
issues from diverse perspectives. Barton and Levstik (1996) reveals in their study that children

learn better as they get older, and that in terms of historical understanding, their understanding

capacity increases as their grade level does, particularly developing their peak as they are already

able to give meaning to dates in grade 5. Skjæveland (2017) affirms in his study as he confirms

that although historical understanding in early childhood might be limited, the teaching of history

in early childhood education and care can lay the foundation for historical consciousness and its

later development at school.

On the other hand, another study to relate with this finding is the study by Joseph (2003) where

he revealed that students at the secondary level sometimes experience difficulties in

understanding basic historical concept and appreciating its relevance as a subject. Van Straaten,

et al. (2016) also reported about the students in the high school level not quite seeing the “point”

of History teaching. It could be assumed from here and called to mind what Lesh (2011)

explained about how History is being taught in the classroom. Negative attitude of secondary

students towards certain subjects such as History may be related to how the subjects are being

taught in the classroom.

Meanwhile, another common theme from the responses of the participants under the Positive

Perception category is that the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum is just

alright as long as the said subject will still be touched and integrated in the lessons in the High

School level. Espindola (2017) puts it very simply the very importance and implication of

remembering our history. According to him, “those who cannot learn from the past are doomed

to repeat it.” Yilmaz (2008) further justifies the importance of teaching history in the high
school level and maintains that history as a school subject represents one strand of social studies

curriculum. According to him, social studies as a school subject aims to promote social

understanding and civic efficacy on the part of students who are going to take the office of

citizenship. He specifies that the fundamental goal of teaching social studies in secondary

schools is to help students become responsible, critical, reflective, and active citizens who can

make informed and reasoned decisions about the societal issues confronting the local, state, and

global community respectively (NCSS, 1993 as cited by Yilmaz, 2008).

Interestingly, the participants do not only view the removal of Philippine History from the Grade

7 Curriculum negatively, but instead, from the responses transcribed, a number of themes were

also extracted from the responses that fell under the category of Negative Perception. This means

that aside from those who perceive the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7

Curriculum negatively, there are also those who view it negatively. Majority of these negative

perceptions dwell on the common theme about the elementary students still unprepared to have

Philippine History as one of their subjects yet. Fertig (2005) explains that elementary children

experiencing ongoing cognitive development do not think about the past as adults do. Their

approach to interpreting the meaning and significance of events is eminently practical and firmly

grounded in present realities (Flavell, 1985 as cited by Fertig, 2005).

In the second research objective where the researchers sought to identify the perceived

advantages of the participants in the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum,

the researchers were able to extract three (3) themes categorized into two (2): Opportunities for

Learning, and Competency. The most number of responses fall under the category, Opportunities
for Learning under which are the themes, ‘More time spent in studying it (PH History) in the

elementary’, and ‘Addition of a new subject’.

The Araling Panlipunan Curriculum Guide (2012) shows how Araling Panlipunan Philippine

History is being distributed component by component in the elementary school level, grades 4 to

6. This affirms more time to be spent in studying about Philippine History and Geography in the

level. Perrie (1997) underlines the importance of having large proportion of time teaching core

curriculum subjects as this play an important role in teacher satisfaction and instruction itself.

Several studies over time already explored the association and relationship of time spent

studying a particular subject, and academic performance and achievement (Abram, 1980;

Atkinson, 2011; Mansell, 2004; Maddern, 2010; and Farkas, Mazurek, & Marone, 2016).

The responses for this particular research question also cited that the removal of Philippine

History from the Grade 7 Curriculum is advantageous because this means that a new subject

would be introduced in the high school level. The researchers assume from this that the

participants are aware about the resetting of Araling Panlipunan subjects in the high school

which would include the introduction of a new Araling Panlipunan subject in the Grade 10 level

that which is “Mga Kontemporaryong Isyu, Suliranin, at Hamong Pandaigdig” (Contemporary

Global Issues, Problems, and Challenges) (“K to 12 Toolkit”, 2012).

Under the category, ‘Competency’, emerging from the participants’ responses is that the

removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 curriculum is advantageous because this means

that the students may be honed to become globally competitive in the future. During the

interviews, the participants mentioned their reason in this particular response where they believe
that the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum is advantageous because it

would lead to produce globally competitive students. According to the respondents from where

this particular theme was deduced from, removing the Philippine History from the Grade 7

Curriculum and placing it instead in the elementary would mean a space for another subject to be

added in the high school level. The participants see this as advantageous also because while the

elementary students would be exposed to Philippine History as a subject in a much earlier time,

the high school students on the other hand would be introduced to more advanced subject in lieu

of Philippine History.

In terms of perceived disadvantages, the participants’ responses evolved into a total of three (3)

themes, categorized into: Comprehension, Maturity, and No Disadvantage. The participants

firstly perceived the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum

disadvantageous because they believed that if Philippine History will be removed from the Grade

7 Curriculum and be instead placed in the Elementary level, the elementary students might forget

about it easily once they step into junior high school afterwards.

An increasing body of evidence suggests that working memory can have a significant effect on

the academic success of children in school (Gathercole & Alloway, 2008 as cited in Randall &

Tyldesley, 2016). Weimer (2008) adds to this body of literature related to students forgetting

their lessons easily after a couple of years. Using a sophisticated methodological analysis that

involved repeated tests, she found that most of the knowledge that students gained in this

course was lost within two years.

Finally, another perceived disadvantage that the participants were mentioning about was in terms

of the maturity level of the elementary students in teaching them at an early age the history of the
Philippines. Emerging from the participants’ responses, the removal of Philippine History as a

subject from the Grade 7 Curriculum is being perceived disadvantageous because the elementary

students are still too young and playful. During the interviews, the participants further

expounded that the elementary students’ mindset might, by majority, be all only about playing

and fun; and that therefore, these young learners might not take the subject seriously enough. De

Man (1989) maintains that though when young children enter elementary school, they may be

trained to socially and intellectually adjust with their new environment, these young learners still

encounter varied difficulties in the school initially because of their still-too-playful mindsets. In a

more recent study, Abenavoli and Greenberg (2016) emphasizes that children should be socio-

emotionally ready to successfully survive the behavioral demands they will encounter once they

set foot in their classrooms.

 EMERGING FRAMEWORK

The findings of the study reveal the yielded the direct answers to the research questions posed by

the researchers. In terms of the perceptions of the students in the removal of Philippine History

from the Grade 7 Curriculum, three (3) categories, and five (5) themes emerged that which are,

‘Positive Perceptions’ (themes: ‘Early exposure to Philippine History for the Elementary’, ‘Good

as long as it is still integrated in HS’); ‘Negative Perceptions’ (themes: ‘Elementary students are

still unprepared’, ‘Already repetitive in HS’); and ‘Neutral perception’ (theme: ‘It has both an

advantage and a disadvantage’).

As to the second research question asking about the perceived advantages by the participants in

the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum, the finding resulted to two (2)

general categories with three (3) themes. The researchers categorized the emerging themes –

‘More time spent in studying it in elementary’; ‘Addition of a new subject’; and ‘Becoming

globally competitive’ – into ‘Opportunities for learning’, and ‘Competency’, respectively.

Lastly, for the research question which ought to find out the perceived disadvantages of the

participants in the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7 Curriculum, three (3)

categories were evolved out of three (3) emerging themes from the responses of the participants.

These categories are, ‘Comprehension’ (theme: ‘Subject might be easily forgotten’); ‘Maturity’

(theme: ‘Elementary students too young and playful’); and ‘No disadvantage’ (theme:

‘Beneficial to students either way’).

Curriculum
PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS IN THE
REMOVAL OF PHILIPPINE HISTORY
FROM THE GRADE 7 CURRICULUM

GENERAL PERCEIVED PERCEIVED

PERCEPTIONS: ADVANTAGES: DISADVANTAGES:
 POSITIVE  OPPORTUNITIES  COMPREHENSION
PERCEPTIONS FOR LEARNING  MATURITY
 NEGATIVE  COMPETENCY  NO DISADVANTAGE
PERCEPTIONS
 NEUTRAL

Figure 1. Perceptions of students in the removal of Philippine History from the Grade 7