School leaders in the midst of reforms: Crisis and catharsis in the Philippine education system

This chapter argues that the Philippine education system is besieged by crippling challenges typified by increased drop-out and out of school youth, high student-pupil ratio, teacher shortage, lack of resources, relatively low teachers’ salary, a dysfunctional bureaucracy and systemic corruption. To address these lingering issues, fragmented waves of education reform initiatives have been promulgated. One particular stakeholder in the education system—school leaders—find themselves wedged by systemic challenges on the one hand and disparate reform efforts on the other. The implementation of Republic Act 9155 (RA 9155) “Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001” also known as the Principal Empowerment Act manifests the dilemma of school leaders as they find themselves in fundamental disjunctures between the continuity of crises and the promise of change