Education Comparisons for the Philippines

873POSTS

10 years ago

There have been many posts or comments on how Good, or Bad, the quality of Philippines Education is.

Some locals say it is good, some expats say it is bad.

An International Organisation does Tests every few years around the world, and provides realistic comparisons.

Many US, UK and Australians will have seen the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) results when moving between those countries.
The Philippines has not been included in this testing since 2003, but some of the results for that year are shown below:

TIMSS 2003 Tables (Top and Bottom 5 countries + USA and Aus)

Average mathematics scale scores of eighth-grade students, by country: 2003

Rank Average Country
1 605 Singapore
2 589 Korea, Republic of
3 586 Hong Kong SAR
4 585 Chinese Taipei
5 570 Japan
-- 466 International average
41 378 Philippines
42 366 Botswana
43 332 Saudi Arabia
44 276 Ghana
45 264 South Africa

14 505 Australia
15 504 United States

Full Report
http://nces.ed.gov/timss/TIMSS03Tables. … p;Figure=5

See also

Study in the Philippines - Guide
Homeschooling in the Philippines - 9 Replies
Best universities in the Philippines - 4 Replies
Student life in the Philippines - 27 Replies
Cost of private school education for a local - 49 Replies
Experiences with regards to the cost of education - 29 Replies
Studying in the Philippines - 25 Replies

Walterc Member

23POSTS

10 years ago

2003 is 12 years ago so the results are likely way off. Could be better or worse. I wish there's something more recent.

My kids aged 5, 7 and 9 studied in North America and as parents, we found their lessons here more advanced and they are more pressured to perform well than their peers back home. I'm not sure if this is just from the school they go to as I don't know if all the country's private educational institutions follow the same lessons, textbooks and guidelines.

ABCDiamond Serial expat

873POSTS

10 years ago

I have a daughter educated in Australia, Nieces and Nephew in both UK and Philippines.

I found that the ones in the Philippines were pressured to perform better than the others, but with a parent working at De La Salle, they were in a good education.
Similar aged youngsters, all about 18-20 now, but in the Philippines and in the normal "free" schooling, have much more difficulty, with poor mathematics skills especially being seen, and no real English skill.

From the results from the basic free education for each of these, I would put Australia first and Philippines last.

But.. If you can afford something like De La Salle, then my opinion is that it is better than the FREE Aus or UK education, assuming you have a parent at home prepared to push and ensure all homework is done too.

BUT... It is no guarantee. My own ex wife was Educated properly in the Philippines, with her mother being an English teacher, and she ended up with a BA in English (a 4-year degree program). But she needed a few months course in English to fit in, in Australia,
Even after 21 years she often blamed the English language as being the cause of misunderstandings.

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Walterc Member

23POSTS

10 years ago

I forgot to add these in my previous post. My observations are based on a private school using textbook out of Singapore. Public education standards are nowhere near an average private school. Sad but true. Just a few weeks ago, I read an article lambasting the quality of textbooks approved by so-called experts for use in schools. Apparently this has been an ongoing problem for years.