The Philippines adopted educational policies to attain global competitiveness and nationalistic ideals to align itself with Asia and the world. Through the Commission on Higher Education’s Memorandum No. 46, s. 2012 (CMO No. 46), higher education institutions adopted policy-standards to enhance quality assurance using outcome-based education (OBE). This qualitative study offers a Freirean critique on the pedagogical claims of OBE using critical research methodology and employing textual analysis of documents and key informant interviews. The study clarified nuances in OBE terminology and pedagogical claims and, from the Freirean perspective, found the current Philippine macro and micro level OBE implementation problematic. Moreover, OBE may address the mismatch of education with industry needs but diminishes education to mechanistic emphasis on outcomes which critical pedagogy (CP) finds as an untenable approach to education as it amplifies quality assurance which ironically, disempowers both teachers and students. Finally, the study recommended the revisiting of Spady’s theoretical OBE (the ‘real OBE’) from which CP can help put into practice via outcome-based teaching and learning (OBTL), re-assessment of the classroom level implementation of the OBQA Typology and framework, and engagement in comparative study on OBE as envisioned by Spady and Filipino academes for a more sustainable implementation.
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