THE government-administered Board Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (BLEPT) needs to undergo reforms to strengthen education quality and ensure that only competent, well-prepared educators enter classrooms, an education advocacy group said on Sunday.
The Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), an organization led by the country’s top business leaders advocating systemic education reform, said fixing the foundations of teacher preparation and licensure is crucial to addressing the Philippines’ learning crisis.
“Teachers are at the heart of learning recovery, but to empower them, we must start by ensuring that those who enter the profession are well-trained, well-supported, and rigorously screened,” PBEd Executive Director Hanibal E. Camua said in a statement. “The BLEPT must be a fair, valid, and reliable measure of teacher readiness.”
In its study Fixing the Foundations: Strengthening the Teaching Workforce through the BLEPT, presented by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), PBEd identified critical weaknesses in how the exam is designed and administered.
These include misalignment between the BLEPT and the teacher education curriculum, a shortage of qualified test item writers and reviewers, and the absence of pilot testing and systematic item analysis, raising questions about the exam’s validity and fairness.
“Fixing teacher licensure is not just a technical issue — it’s a matter of national survival,” Mr. Camua added. “We can’t solve the learning crisis without first ensuring that every classroom is led by a competent, compassionate, and well-prepared teacher.”
PBEd urged the Professional Regulation Commission, Commission on Higher Education, Teacher Education Council, and Department of Education to jointly overhaul the BLEPT’s test development process.
The group proposed deputizing subject-matter experts to craft and review test items, conducting pilot testing and psychometric analysis, establishing a comprehensive item bank for exam monitoring, and institutionalizing standardized testing protocols to ensure exam integrity across testing sites.
“Strengthening the BLEPT is not about making it harder — it’s about making it smarter and aligned with the current needs of teachers and learners,” Mr. Camua said.
Data from PBEd showed that from 2010 to 2022, fewer than four in ten exam takers passed the BLEPT, reflecting long-standing issues in teacher preparation and assessment. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking
