Alternative Learning System by Phoebe W. Taruc, mission, vision, EFA goals, underlying concept and theory of ALS

Alternative Learning System
Phoebe W. Taruc

Course Title : Doctor in Educational Management
Subject: Administration of Alternative Learning System
Reporter: Phoebe W. Taruc
Instructress: Edith B. Lago-Ortega, Ph.D

Every Filipino has a right to free basic education. But
many Filipinos fail to avail of it, for various reasons. In attending
to this issue, DepEd has set up the Alternative Learning System
(ALS) to provide all Filipinos the chance to gain access to basic
education in a mode that fits their distinct situation and
needs.ALS is a learning system that provides a practical option
to the existing formal instruction. For the out-of-school children,
youth and adults who do not have access to formal education in
schools, ALS lives up to its name - it offers an alternative. It
offers non-formal sources of knowledge and skills.
Overview

The Alternative Learning System (ALS)
is a free education program implemented by the
Department of Education (DepEd) under the Bureau of
Alternative Learning System which benefits those who cannot
afford formal schooling and follows whatever is their available
schedule. The program provides a viable alternative to the
existing formal education instruction, encompassing both the
non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills.
What is ALS?

Objective:
ALS aims to open more educational opportunities for
Filipino citizens of different interests, capabilities of
demographic characteristics, socioeconomic origins and
status as well as addressing the needs of marginalized
groups.
The program cuts the time needed to finish high
school, hence, significantly cuts the expenses as well. Aside
from giving hope to the less fortunate, it also provides
opportunities to Out-of-School Youths (OSY) and adults
elementary and secondary school drop-outs; industry-based
workers; housewives; maids; factory workers; drivers;
members of cultural minorities; indigenous people and the
disabled/physically challenged.

Alternative Learning System implements three major
programs , namely:
         1) The Basic Literacy Program
         2.) The Continuing Education Program
         3.) The Sustainability & Lifelong Program
All three programs are modular and flexible: each one of
them can take place anytime and anyplace, depending on
the convenience and availability of the learners. Learning
sessions are usually held in community learning centers
following a schedule agreed upon by the learners and the
facilitator.

“Empowerment of the Filipino with desirable
knowledge, attitudes, values and skills that will
enable him to think critically and creatively, act
innovatively and humanely in improving the quality of
his life and that of his family, community and country.”

Vision

“It is envisioned that with the help of ALS, every
Filipino will be awakened, empowered, and
transformed into a productive, self-reliant,
responsible, humane, and upright citizen who can
contribute to the betterment of the family,
community and country. It is also envisaged that
ALS will help alleviate poverty and sustain social
and economic growth via the development of
employable skills and the generation of self-
employment.”
Mission

Vision:
The BALS envisions itself to be the best
producer of lifelong learners among Filipinos.

Mission:
In partnership with other producers of
learning, the BALS will develop exemplary
programs and open learning opportunities to
achieve multiple literacies for all.

1. Learning to learn focuses in a combination of a
broad general knowledge with the opportunity to
work-in-depth on a small number of subjects.
2. Learning to do pertains to the acquisition not only
of an occupational skill but also, more broadly, the
competence to deal with many situations and work
in teams.
Underlying Concepts and
Theories

Underlying Concepts and
Theories
3. Learning to live together deals on the development
of an understanding of other people and appreciation
of  interdependence in a spirit of respect for the
values of  pluralism, mutual understanding and
peace.
4. Learning to be is the development of one’s
personality and ability to  act with ever greater
autonomy, judgment, and personal responsibility.

.
1. Paulo Freire
used “problem-posing”
methods to raise awareness of
social issues and to stimulate action
by disadvantaged groups. Using a
process of problem analysis,
reflection, and action, his approach
to education was based on the
belief that community members
need to be encouraged to think
critically about problems in their
daily lives in order to make
decisions and take action.
Underlying Concepts and Theories

.2. Howard Gardner
Gardner’s work on multiple
intelligences has had an
enormous impact on the field of
education.
Gardner posits at least seven
intelligences (musical, spatial,
linguistic, logical/mathematical,
bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal,
intrapersonal), and asserts that
successful learning experiences
should engage as many of these
intelligences as possible..

.
. Malcolm Knowles
Knowles popularized adult learning theory and
ffered ways to apply it in learning activities. Knowles
elieved that the needs of adults in education differed a
reat deal from the needs of children. He popularized
he term andragogy, “the art and science of helping
dults learn” to draw a sharp distinction between adult
earning and pedagogy, the instruction of children. He
uggested that because children had yet to assume
esponsible, independent roles in society, teachers and
arents tend to make the decisions about what and
ow they should learn. But because adults have a
ealth of life experience and have already assumed
esponsible roles, it is important to respect slightly
ifferent principles when engaging in adult education.

.
4. David Kolb
Kolb popularized an awareness of
learning styles, and created a model that
suggests four different categories of
learning—concrete experimentation,
reflective observation, abstract
conceptualization, and active
experimentation. Kolb created a
methodology for incorporating these four
categories into every learning experience
—the “experiential learning cycle.”

.
5. Bernice McCarthy
McCarthy expanded on Kolb’s work
and the research on left and right
brain processes to create her 4MAT
System. McCarthy suggested four
learning types: imaginative learners,
analytic learners,
common sense learners,
and dynamic learners

Principles/Concepts/Theories
 Expect to be treated with respect and
recognition.
·Want practical solutions to real-life
problems.
Can reflect on and analyze individual
experiences.
Have different learning styles.
·Are motivated by the possibility of
fulfilling personal needs and aspirations.
Are capable of making their own
decisions and taking charge of their own
learning.

1. The 1987 Philippine Constitution
provides for the recognition and
promotion of other forms of education
other than formal education. Art. 14,
Sec.2, (par.1) declares that the state
shall establish, maintain, and support a
complete, adequate, and integrated
system of education relevant to the
needs of people and society; and
Legal Bases
“
(par.4) concisely encourages non-formal, informal, and
indigenous learning systems, as well as self-learning,
independent, and out-of-school study programs particularly
those that respond to community needs

.
2. Executive Order No. 117,
of 1987, decreed the creation of the Bureau of Non-
Formal Education (BNFE). The Bureau focused
on teaching-learning in non-formal settings for
the marginalized sectors.
Sec. 5 - prescribed the powers and functions of the
reorganized ministry of education, culture and
sports (signed by Pres. Corazon Aquino) to
implement and coordinate the policies, plans,
programs and projects for non-formal and
vocational/technical kinds of education, among
others.
Legal Bases

. 3. The governance Act for Basic
Education (R.A. 9155) stipulates the
establishment of ALS to provide
out-of-school children, youth, and
adult population with basic
education. Section 12.1 Rules Xll of
R.A. 9155 stipulates that “the
alternative Learning System is a
parallel learning system to provide a
viable alternative to the existing
formal education instruction,
encompassing both the nonformal
and informal sources of knowledge
and skills”.
Legal Bases

4. Executive Order No. 356 of 2004
The Bureau of Alternative Learning
System (BALS) of the Department of Education
(DepED) in its present form was created in
September 2004 under Executive Order No.
356 – Renaming the Bureau of Non-Formal
Education to Bureau of Alternative Learning
System.
Legal Bases
EO 356 reiterated the definition of ALS and it also
directed BALS to “provide a systematic and flexible
approach to reach all types of learners outside of the formal
school system.”

5. BESRA - In 2006, DepED formulated the
Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda
(BESRA), a comprehensive package of
policy reforms that are expected to create
critical changes to accelerate, broaden,
deepen and sustain the improvement of
basic education in the country.
It also formulated the corresponding
necessary guidelines to strengthen BALS as
an institution entrusted to steward the
development of ALS in the Philippines and
address the national goal of universal
access to quality education.
Bases

Legal Bases
6) DepEd Memo No. 101, s. 2001
Passers can enroll in the post secondary schools taking
up technical or vocational or even two, four or five-year course
of the Commission on Higher Education for private colleges
and universities
7.) DepEd Memo No. 344, s. 2000 - PASUC (for government
owned/controlled)
Agreement between the DepEd and the Philippines
Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) on the
Alternative Learning System Accreditation and Equivalency
Exam for the passers who prefer to enroll at government
owned and controlled colleges and universities

9.) DepEd Memo No. 110,
s. 1999 – access to
TESDA skills training
programs
10.) DepEd Order No. 20,
s. 2000 - a chance to
acquire eligibility for
government employment
positions under CSC
Resolution No. 499

It is a very important component in the Philippine
Education to achieve quality and access to education as
envisioned in the EFA 2015 Phil. Plan of Action and
specifically on the reduction of illiteracy rate.
Sec. 12.1 Rule XII of R.A. 9155 stipulates that the ALS is a
parallel learning system to provide a viable alternative to the
existing formal education instruction, encompassing both the
non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills.
One of the most important initiatives in Non-formal
education is the ALS which is a major component of basic
education with a clearly defined role within the overall
educational goal. Thus the Bureau of Non-formal Education is
renamed to Bureau of Alternative learning System
System
System

The BALS is mandated to address the needs of
Basic education of the OYS and adults in the country
particularly in far flung and isolated communities, to
raise the level of literacy in the target areas and
improve the quality of life of individuals and families
in remote and underserved communities.
Why is BALS Placed in our
Educational System?

BALS Organizational
Structure
Bureau of Alternative
Learning System
Literacy
Division (LD)
Continuing
Education
Division (CED)
Staff
Development
Division (SDD)

1. Literacy Division (LD) A community-based program
for illiterate out-of-school youth and adults to develop
basic literacy skills: reading, writing and numeracy.
2. Continuing Education Division (CED) as defined by
the 1986 meeting of the Asia and the Pacific Programme
of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID),
covers all educational opportunities taking place outside
the literacy and primary education programs, including
the enrichments of the learning environment to activate
and sustain motivation for learning. It provides extra-
curricular activities which further enhance the learning
process.

3. Staff Development Division (SDD)
formulates policies, plans and
programs to upgrade the quality of
teaching and non-teaching staff in non-
formal education.

International Perspectives of Non-formal
Education

The original version of NFE
http://www.digital-review.org/themes/46.html emerged in
the late 1960s and early 1970s. Coombs (1968) and
Coombs and Ahmed (1974) defined NFE as an alternative
form of education for adults and children that occurred
outside of the traditional classroom environment. The need
for NFE arose in the context of the widespread
disillusionment with formal schooling in the 1970s (Illich
1973). NFE was then seen as a panacea for the ills of
education in developed and developing countries (Freire
1972), and Aid gencies made substantial investments in
NFE from the late 1960s to the 1980s.
International Perspectives of Non-formal Education

The 1990s witnessed a growing ambivalence
toward NFE programs as they became associated
with second rate educational programs catering to
the needs of poor and marginalized groups. Because
accreditation frameworks were weak or non-existent
in most countries, NFE students suffered a
disadvantage vis-àvis those from the formal
education stream in either not being certified or in not
getting absorbed in the job market.

More recently, NFE has undergone a
resurgence in developing countries because of the
realization that formal schooling, in its present form,
has limited reach. Furthermore, it is now recognized
that the educational needs of young people and adults
are varied and should be addressed through suitable
programs. In developed countries, NFE has assumed
importance in the context of lifelong learning, which
sees learning as taking place not only in schools and
colleges, but throughout the lifespan, in many different
locations and times and in formal, non-formal, and
informal modes.

The current emphasis on creating ‘knowledge-based’
societies has made ‘learning’ throughout life more
important, which in turn requires an education system to
have greater flexibility to enable learners to enter and leave
the system at different points. Thus, accreditation and
equivalency and other synergies between the formal and
the non-formal learning sectors have become essential.
Moreover, a wide range of education providers, including
universities, NGOs, government agencies, and the private
sector, needs to be involved, particularly because learners,
who have diverse learning styles, would need different
kinds of skills from formal, non-formal, informal, and
distance and open learning institutions.

A joint research project undertaken by member
institutions of the Asia Pacific Programme of Education for
All (APPEAL) Resource and Training Consortium (ARTC) to
document and disseminate innovative approaches to NFE
and lifelong learning in the region classifies NFE innovations
in the region under three broad categories (UNESCO2002):

1. Functional literacy and adult education for poverty
alleviation, as illustrated by case studies from Bangladesh
and China. The Bangladesh case study with contributions from
16 NGOs gives considerable attention to linking literacy with
economic activities. On the other hand, the study from China
highlights that inter-sectoral coordination is critical for lifelong
learning and also for linking education with poverty alleviation.
3 broad categories (UNESCO2002):

2. Non-formal education for sustainable development,
as in case studies from India, Indonesia, the Philippines,
and Thailand. The Indian study focuses on the importance
of linking NFE programs to demand from the local
community and developing locally relevant curricula. In the
Indonesian and Philippines case studies, it is the
equivalency of the NFE program with the formal
educational system that forms the basis for sustainable
development, viewed as lifelong learning linked to
economic improvement. The case study from Thailand
demonstrates an effective approach to sustainable
development through building the capacity of the rural
population for community-based action in marketing.
3 broad categories (UNESCO2002):

3. NFE as lifelong learning,
as in case studies from Australia, Malaysia, and South Kore
The Australian case study highlights an innovative education
program that enabled farmers in Queensland to assess their curren
situation and improve their confidence in their own ability to make
strategic choices, resulting in a better quality of life, more profitable
farming, and improvements in the management of land and other
natural resources. The Malaysian case study focuses on the
effectiveness of a lifelong learning project for capacity-building
among rural youth and adults through a massive computer literacy
training program. The South Korean case study describes the Cred
Banking System (CBS), an open education system that recognizes
diverse learning experiences not only in school but also out of
school. Thus, when a student accumulates the requisite CBS-
approved credits, she or he can obtain an associate or bachelor’s
degree. Thus, CBS provides citizens with greater access to various
educational opportunities and fosters lifelong learning.

1. Non-formal education promises to be a more effective
approach to relating education to national development.”
2. Non-formal approaches offer education that is functional and
practical, i.e., related to the life-needs of the people.
3.Non-formal education seeks to maintain a benefit/cost
consciousness of what it does in order to provide the most
effective and purposeful consequences with the most
efficiency.”
T.W.Ward, et al., cited by Claudio Zaki Dib

4. Non-formal education is the inherent commitment to seek
innovative means to achieve the goals.”
5. Non-formal education offers a more eclectic, multidisciplinary
approach to the problem of development in a country
6. Non-formal education promises to produce short-term effects
as well as long-term achievements.”
7. Non-formal education assists in the decision-making of
educational and development funding agencies on both a
national and international level.”

The Philippine
Education For All (EFA)
2015 is a vision and a
holistic program of
reforms that aims at
improving the quality of
basic education for every
Filipino by 2015.

.
In 1990, there was a World Declaration on
Education for All (EFA) in Jomtiem, Thailand, which
prescribed that Basic Learning Needs shall be met for all by
various means. As a response, the Philippines crafted and
implemented the 10-year EFA Philippine Plan of Action
covering 1991-2000. The EFA plan articulated the country’s
national goals, objectives, policies and strategies, as well
as the regional programs for implementation for the first
decade of the EFA movement. Under the 1991-2000
Plan (EFA 1), the thrusts included:

1. Early Childhood Development
• Expansion of self-sustaining community-based ECCD
• Use of innovative approaches to parent education
• Promotion of preparatory education
• Accreditation of private pre-school programs and institutions
• Differentiated approaches for special categories of children
• Strengthening of health, nutrition and other allied services
• Socio-cultural adaptation of curriculum, materials and
approaches
• Single agency to coordinate programs for ECCD

2. Universalization of Quality Primary Education
• Enhancing the holding power or student retention of
schools
• Using alternative teaching-learning delivery modes
• Strengthening home-school partnership
• Emphasis on higher-level thinking skills
• Upgrading teacher competencies
3. Alternative Learning Systems
• Eradication of illiteracy in selected areas
• Promotion of continuing education and development
• Implementation of integrated programs

In 2000, the Philippines, as a reaffirmation of the
vision set in the 1990 World Declaration, committed
itself to the 6 EFA 2015 Goals at the World Education
Forum in Dakar. Based on the Dakar Framework for
Action, the country came up with the Philippine
EFA 2015 National Action Plan entitled “Functionally
Literate Filipinos, An Educated Nation.”

Though the government officially
approved the Philippine EFA 2015 Plan only in
2006, it was already used by the DepEd as its
overall planning and policy framework as early
as 2003 and was already integrated in the
formulation and updating of the MTPDP 2001-
04 and 2005-2010.

The 2006 Philippine EFA National Action Plan was
designed with the end goal of achieving functional
literacy for everyone. To achieve this goal the plan
incorporates ALS-related commitments such as the
following:
1. Develop and strengthen BALS and mandate it to
serve as the government agency to guide the
development of the country’s ALS.
2. Make available public funds for ALS programs of
GOs and NGOs subject to the guidelines of BALS.
Philippine Education For All (EFA)
National Action Plan of 2006

3. Build and develop a constituency for ALS development.
4. Conduct research and studies to test cost-effective options
for delivering quality ALS.
5. Undertake an inventory of available resources in localities for
literacy interventions outside the school system.
6. Ensure a vigorous and credible system for reliably assessing,
measuring, validating and communicating competencies
acquired through NFE and informal education.[10]
The EFA 2015 plan established the crucial role of BALS as
steward in the still developing discourse on ALS. Several
systemic improvements were prioritized in order to facilitate the
fulfillment of that mandate.
Philippine Education For All (EFA) National
Action Plan of 2006

The EFA 2015 Plan emphasizes the need to provide basic
education for all and add a dimension to what has been thus far
almost exclusively school-based education. It points to an “urgent
need to respond to the learning needs of youth and adults that are
either have never been to school, have dropped out, reverted to
illiteracy, or need basic or advanced skills to find jobs.” It suggests
a “viable alternative learning system” to formal schooling that
together with the schools can ensure that “minimum learning
achievement will be a reality for all Filipinos.” Thus, the EFA 2015
Plan emphasizes that educational opportunities are channels of
learning which can become effective conduits of values
orientation, consciousness and information useful and relevant to
a wide range of social goals.
What is EFA Plan

Overall Goals & Objectives of Philippine EFA
2015
1. Universal Adult Functional Literacy:
All persons beyond school-age,
regardless oftheir levels of schooling
should acquire the essential competence
to be consideredf unctionally literate in
their native tongue, in Filipino or in
English.
2. Universal School Participation and
Elimination of Drop-outs and Repetition
in First Three Grades: All children aged
six should enter school ready to learn
and prepared to achieve the required
competencies from Grade 1 to 3
instruction.

3. Universal completion of full
cycle of basic education schooling
with satisfactory achievement
levels by all at every grade or
year.
*All children aged six to
eleven should be on track to
completing elementary schooling
with satisfactory achievement
levels at every grade, and all
children aged twelve to fifteen
should be on track to completing
secondary schooling with similarly
satisfactory achievement levels at
every year.
Overall Goals & Objectives of Philippine EFA 2015

4. Total community commitment to attainment of basic
education competencies for all.
- Every community should mobilize all its social,
political, cultural and economic resources and capabilities
to support the universal attainment of basic education
competencies in Filipino and English.
Overall Goals & Objectives of Philippine EFA 2015

Significance of ALS in attaining EFA goals:
One of the country’s urgent tasks in order to attain the obje
above is to transform non-formal and informal interventions into
alternative learning system yielding more EFA benefits. The first
most urgent step is to make fully functionally literate the core popul
of adults and youth outside schools who do not as yet possess esse
functional literacy. The actions required for this include:
a)the national government finances the integration of altern
learning options as an essential and routine part of every public, pr
and civil society socio-economic development initiatives and make t
available to disadvantaged persons and communities; and
b)adult literacy organizations work more closely with
organizations already involved in community development and po
alleviation.

The Medium Term Philippine Development
Plan 2001-2004 also guided the
implementation of alternative learning
systems in the country to allow flexible entry
of learners in both formal and non-
formal/informal streams of basic education
and ensure their upward social mobility.
More importantly, it is expected to
demonstrate the social and economic
viability of non-school-based learning
channels

The first four sections of RA 9155 (w/c defines
some critical features of ALS) clearly recognizes the role
of ALS as complement to the formal education system in
order to achieve the stated goal of quality education for
all. . It is an indispensable component of a lifelong
learning system. It is the only effective way of providing
education to the millions of out-of-school youths and
adults to enable them to participate more effectively in the
various development programs of the government.
Moreover, it is in the Implementing Rules and Regulations
of RA 9155 where the intent to operationalize ALS was
mentioned.

RA 9155 also defined several critical features of ALS such as:
1. Alternative Learning System (ALS) is a parallel learning system to pr
a viable alternative to the existing formal education instruction. It
encompasses both the non-formal and informal sources of knowledge a
skills;
2. Informal Education (INFED) is a lifelong process of learning by which
every person acquires and accumulates knowledge, skills, attitudes and
insights from daily experiences at home, at work, at play, and from life i
3. Non-Formal Education (NFE) is an organized, systematic, educationa
activity carried outside the framework of the formal system to provide
selected types of learning to a segment of the population.
4. Learner is an individual seeking basic literacy skills and functional life
skills or support services for the improvement of the quality of his/her lif

5. Learning Facilitator is the key learning support
person who is responsible for supervising and
facilitating the learning process and activities of the
learner.
6. Learning Center is a physical space to house
learning resources and facilities of a learning
program for out-of-school youth and adults. It is a
venue for face-to-face and multi-media learning and
activities and other learning opportunities for
community development and improvement of the
people’s quality of life.

OF EDUCATIONMENT
(i) the Basic Literacy Program which offers community-based
learning for illiterate youth and adults to develop basic literacy
skills; and
(ii) the Accreditation and Equivalency Program for literates who
have not completed 10 years of basic education. It is a
certification of learning for out-of-school youth and adults aged
15 years old and above who are unable to avail of formal
schooling or who have dropped out of formal elementary or
secondary education.
As a parallel learning system, ALS has gradually and
effectively evolved in different schools all over the country.
Recognizing its crucial role, DepED through the Alternative
Learning System Division , implements two major programs
namely :
Significance of ALS in attaining
EFA goals:

ALS plays an important role in achieving the goal of
ation for All (EFA) 2015, which is the “Universal Coverage of
f-School Youth and Adults in the provision of Basic Learning
s”. With the stakeholders’ participation in this endeavour,
will certainly uplift the economic situation of the Filipino
e.
Former Secretary Jesli A. Lapus dubbed
LS as the lifeblood of our EFA efforts.
Without it, we can never achieve our
ducation for All targets- at least not within
e timeframe that we have set for ourselves.
he limitations of our public school system,
nd the limited resources we have for our
ublic schools, prevent us from really
ddressing the needs of many of our people”.
Significance of ALS in the attainment of EFA Goals & Objectives

“Education is the key
to unlock the golden
door of freedom.”
George Washington
Carver

Be the change you want to
see in the world
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dropping by!

Alternative Learning System by Phoebe W. Taruc, mission, vision, EFA goals, underlying concept and theory of ALS

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