The educational system in the Philippines had undergone various stages of development. These stages of educational evolution can be traced way back from the Pre-Spanish period, to the Spanish Period, to the American period, to the Commonwealth and the Japanese period going to the present.
There is no definite information about the system of education in the Philippines during the Pre-Spanish period.
According to the history, the Philippine education had manifested in the culture of the people. However, there are no definite records that were available showing the types of schools that were established by the natives, as well as on the
subjects or methods that they used.There were Written and Oral literatures but all of the records that were written were accordingly destroyed by the Spanish colonizers; this was because they believed that those written records in literature were works of devils.
Some of the Oral literatures have been preserved until today and these are in the forms of proverbs, songs, maxims, epics, as well as in the forms of various tales and religious or criminological codes. There were also little knowledge in astronomy and engineering.
During the Spanish period, an educational decree was passed in an attempt to reform the educational system in the Philippines. Included in the decree are the establishments of complete secondary as well
as collegiate levels, as well as the establishment of teacher-training institutions.During the American period, a system of public education was established. The system was patterned after the American educational system. The Colleges and Universities that were organized during the time of the Spanish were continued. The programs of studies were revised; adapting the changes of time.
During the Commonwealth period and Japanese occupation, the curricula in the elementary as well as in the secondary schools were revised. Among of developments in education during the Commonwealth period were the re-orientation of educational plans and policies to carry out the educational mandate of the constitution, the revision of the elementary and secondary school curricula to carry out the objectives of education embodied in the constitution and many more.
Today, the Philippine education is patterned from the state school system of the United States. The education establishments comprised of the private schools that are owned and manage by private individuals or corporations and the public schools that are owned and manage by the state.
According to the history, the Philippine education evolves from its simple beginning and was shaped by foreign influences.