This dissertation studies the social studies curriculum in Philippine basic education from1946 — 2010. Using primary documents such as reports, memos, curriculum documents, teacher’s guide, and interview with curriculum writers and consultants, the study identifies three revisions based on substantive changes in content. For each period of revision, the educational goals, curriculum content and design, and the process of curriculum development are discussed. Certain factors
such as educational goals, changes in socio-political context, studies about the Social Studies subject, and curriculum workers, impact the social studies curriculum as it evolved in the course of time. It is argued that the curriculum is a response to realize an educational intent, a reaction to some social or political environment or a product of deliberations by a group of people with certain beliefs and commitments as to what students should learn in school.

The research paper “A Meta-study of the Evaluation of School-Based Management (SBM) Practices in the Philippines” aimed to assess the overall effectiveness of SBM practices in the Philippines and identify the improvement areas. The study answered the following questions:
1. What are the common variables of the evaluation studies on the implementation of SBM in the Philippines that significantly contribute to the effectiveness of SBM?
2. What are the specific effects of SBM on school performance as a whole?
3. What are the common recommendations of the studies on the improvement of the implementation of SBM in the Philippines?
The study also sought to answer the following questions:
1. What are the enabling factors of SBM implementation in the Philippines?
2. What are the hindering factors of SBM implementation in the Philippines?
3. Which dimension of SBM implementation has the strongest impact on school performance?
4. Which dimension of SBM implementation has the weakest impact on school performance?
The study used quantitative and qualitative method. For qualitative analysis, thematic analysis was done. The analysis was based on the substantive issues, methods and procedures, findings descriptors, and source of descriptors of the research studies. Based on the thematic analysis, the enabling factors of SBM implementation in the Philippines are school leadership, internal stakeholders, external stakeholders, and school-based resources. They have positive influences on SBM implementation and school performance. For quantitative, meta-analysis was employed to synthesize the 23 research studies. Out of 23 studies, only 15 studies qualified for meta-analysis. Eight studies were excluded from the meta-analysis because of the lack of statistical values for higher analysis and the incomplete set of findings. Fixed Effects Model, Random Effects Model, and Combined Effects Model were examined; and it was found out that Random Effects Model was the most appropriate because of the heterogeneity of the effect sizes. The implementation of SBM in the Philippines is generally successful because of the strengthened leadership and governance and well-developed curriculum and learning. The success is manifested in the very good performance of school heads and teachers and the increasing National Achievement Test (NAT) scores of the students. This situation leads to the generalization that SBM implementation has positive impact on school performance. However, accountability, continuous improvement, and management of resources need enhancement and modification.

This study aimed to investigate the implementation of public city school improvement planning (SIP) that sought to increase the achievement of urban students. In this qualitative research, the SIP implementation practices of ten public city school principals were described and their influencing factors identified. Based on interviews, survey results and the schools’ official SIP documents, analysis found that the school principals’ enumerated practices supported SIP’s objectives namely equitable access, quality and relevance, school management and school efficiency. The influencing factors identified were provisions, process, people and performance. Insufficient provisions restrained the public city school’s capacity to accept increasing student enrollment, raising student National Assessment Test (NAT) scores, maintaining positive learning environments and improving school efficiency indicators. The following are the recommendations: 1) the discovery and sharing of more innovative SIP implementation practices among school principals and 2) leveraging the identified factors to realize the school improvement plans.

This study sought to identify the perspectives of public high school teachers in Kasiglahan Village National High School on the existing school culture, teacher professionalism and K-12 educational reform. The study employed narrative inquiry as a qualitative method of research. There were 32 teacher-respondents in the study. These teachers were the ones handling grade 7 and grade 8 under the K-12 educational reform. There were seven interview questions presented. The first interview question was made to gather the profile of the respondents. The second interview question was prepared to get the perception of the respondents on teaching professionalism influenced by personal factors, the third interview question was asked to get their perspectives on teaching professionalism by interpersonal factors. The fourth was to get the dominant school culture as perceived by the respondents. The fifth was made to gather their perceived status of K-12 educational reform. The sixth and seventh were made to ask the respondents of the perceived effect of the educational reform to their teaching professional and the existing school culture. The respondents perceived that the new curriculum, K-12, gave way for better school culture. As they mentioned, the new curriculum paved way for cooperation. It affected their professional relationship and created a climate that searches for professional growth. They accepted that the established comfort for the new curriculum leading to professional stagnation was disturbed enabling them to move into action. Involving this, they had to communicate, collaborate and build partnership with fellow teachers. The findings affirmed the concepts that surface throughout the study. These were the perspectives of the public high school teachers specifically from Kasiglahan Village National High School about school culture, teacher professionalism and the K-12 educational reform.

Leadership succession in the public schools has been quick due to the retirement of Baby Boomers and the addition of senior high schools through Republic Act 10533. Leadership succession in schools, even if it creates a great impact on the school, has not been studied, especially on the school principal's own perception of this phenomenon and how they face the various challenges of the new school. This study described the lived experiences of school principals using a transcendental phenomenological approach during leadership succession. Face-to-face and online interviews were conducted with 12 public secondary principals in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, with criterion sampling as a guide. Most of the participants faced many challenges with the school principalship in the new organization. Variables related to leadership succession - student achievement, school culture, mentoring programs, District Office and their hiring procedures, etc., were included in the study. Using the Simplified Data Analysis by Creswell, a conceptual framework emerged describing the overall essence - EMBRACE of leadership succession. Each letter of EMBRACE represents a theme of the phenomenon - Empowering the Teachers and Staff, Modelling as a Good Leader, Brainstorming with the Stakeholders, Reflecting on Various Issues, Adapting to the New School, Challenging the Many Problems, and Evolving for Better Leadership Skills. Another layer of analysis was made, and 11 challenges emerged. The principals used the 7 themes in EMBRACE as thematic solutions to face these 11 challenges in the new organization. These 7 themes and 11 challenges were also incorporated with the DepEd's latest framework - the Philippine Professional Standards for School Heads (PPSSH) 5 main domains to check on its validity. EMBRACE and the 11 challenges may be used by the public school principals to tighten the contextual problems of leadership succession.