BSEd Explained: Curriculum, Majors, and the LET Pathway

TL;DR: BSEd (Bachelor of Secondary Education) is a four-year degree that trains subject-specialist high school teachers under CHED Memorandum Order No. 75, series of 2017, which covers majors in English, Filipino, Mathematics, Sciences, Social Studies, and Values Education. CHED sets a different minimum per major, from 155 units (Mathematics, Values Education) to 165 units (Sciences), all sharing the same 36 units of General Education and the same 42-unit Professional Education core, which includes a 12-unit Field Study and Teaching Internship block. Real school curricula run above those floors, up to roughly 189 units. Every graduate must pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET), Secondary level, to legally teach. A DepEd Teacher I earns ₱31,705 per month (Salary Grade 11) as of the DBM's 2026 salary schedule, before allowances.

BSEd is one of the most enrolled degrees in the Philippines, and one of the most misunderstood, because the actual subject list varies by school even though every program answers to the same CHED policy. This guide walks through what CHED Memorandum Order No. 75, series of 2017 actually prescribes for BSEd: the majors on offer, the real curriculum components with unit counts drawn from published school curricula, the field study and practice teaching requirements, and what happens after graduation, including the LET board exam and DepEd's teacher pay ladder. If you're weighing this against the elementary-level track (BEEd, a parallel generalist program under its own CHED curriculum order), talk to your target school's College of Education about both options. For the exam that follows either degree, see the LET guide.

What Exactly Is BSEd?

BSEd is a four-year bachelor's degree that trains students to teach a specific subject area at the junior high school (grades 7-10) and senior high school (grades 11-12) level. Unlike BEEd, which prepares generalist teachers who handle all subjects for young learners, BSEd graduates specialize in one subject area, called a major, and are trained to teach that subject specifically at the secondary level.

BSEd is governed by CHED Memorandum Order No. 75, series of 2017, "Policies, Standards and Guidelines for Bachelor of Secondary Education," adopted by virtue of Commission en banc Resolution No. 724-2017 dated 3 October 2017 and part of the same reform package as CMO 74, s. 2017 for BEEd. Like the computing-degree framework covered in our BSIT guide, CMO 75 takes an outcomes-based approach: it sets a shared minimum set of graduate competencies and a prescribed course list, then lets individual colleges and universities adjust specific subjects and sequencing as long as they can show the required outcomes are still met. That is why the exact BSEd course list differs somewhat from one university to the next, even under the same CHED policy.

CMO 75 names the instruments it is anchored on, and they explain the shape of the degree: Republic Act No. 10533, the K to 12 enhanced basic education law that defines the curriculum you will eventually teach; Executive Order No. 83, s. 2012, which established the Philippine Qualifications Framework; and DepEd Order No. 42, s. 2017, the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers, which replaced the older National Competency-Based Teacher Standards. If a school's course list looks unfamiliar next to what a graduate from a decade ago studied, that reform package is why.

What Majors Can You Take Under BSEd?

CMO 75, s. 2017 covers BSEd majors in English, Filipino, Mathematics, Sciences (commonly offered with Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or General Science tracks depending on the school's faculty and lab resources), Social Studies, and Values Education. Your declared major shapes roughly a third to a half of your total coursework and determines which Specialization section of the LET you sit for after graduating.

Because CHED lets schools adjust the specific elective list, always confirm your target school's current major offerings and specific specialization subjects directly with its College of Education before enrolling.

What Does the BSEd Curriculum Actually Include?

CMO 75 lists the curriculum components as New General Education Courses, Professional Education Courses, Specialization/Major Courses, Elective/Cognate Courses, Special Topics, and Mandated Courses (PE and NSTP). Crucially, it does not prescribe one unit total for all of BSEd. It publishes a separate summary per major, and they differ:

Every one of those totals includes the same 36 units of General Education, the same 42 units of Professional Education, and the same 14 units of mandated PE and NSTP. The variation comes entirely from the major courses and whether the major carries an elective allowance.

Two things fall out of that table. Sciences is the heaviest major by a clear margin, at 73 units of major courses, because it has to cover biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science content rather than a single discipline; that is ten units more than English, Mathematics, Social Studies, or Values Education and thirteen more than Filipino. And Mathematics, Sciences, and Values Education carry no elective units at all under CMO 75, while English, Filipino, and Social Studies each get 6 units of electives or cognates, so those three majors have slightly more room to explore.

Those are floors, not descriptions of any real programme. Schools enrich above them and most do: Silliman University's BSEd Mathematics curriculum (implemented 2018-2019) totals 173 units across four years, and Southern de Oro Philippines College's BSEd English curriculum (effective SY 2021-2022) totals 185 units. Both cite CMO 75, s. 2017 as their basis, and both sit well above CHED's minimum, which is why published BSEd curricula land anywhere in the 155-189 unit range.

The 42 Units of Professional Education

This block is identical across all six majors and CMO 75 splits it three ways:

Note that Foundation of Special and Inclusive Education is a required course, not an elective. Every BSEd graduate is expected to have grounding in inclusive practice, which matches the policy direction covered in our guide to special education in the Philippines. This 42-unit block is also what the Professional Education portion of the LET is drawn from.

Disclaimer: exact subject titles, sequencing, and any units a school adds above the CHED floor vary by institution. Always confirm the current curriculum with your target school's College of Education before enrolling.

Does BSEd Require Field Study or Practice Teaching?

Yes, and it is not left to the school's discretion. CMO 75 builds a 12-unit experiential learning block into the professional education core of every BSEd major: Field Study 1 (3 units), Field Study 2 (3 units), and Teaching Internship (6 units). The internship is the single largest course in the professional core, normally scheduled in the final year.

What varies is how schools arrange it. In Southern de Oro Philippines College's published curriculum, Field Study 1 and Field Study 2 sit in the first semester of fourth year, both requiring completion of all prior Professional Education and major courses as a prerequisite, followed by the 6-unit Teaching Internship in the second semester. Silliman University's BSEd Mathematics curriculum instead spreads field study across six embedded FS courses tied to specific Professional Education subjects (FS 1 through FS 6), then runs a 6-unit Teaching Internship in each semester of fourth year.

The internship places students in an actual secondary classroom under a licensed cooperating teacher, giving them supervised, hands-on teaching experience before they sit for the LET. That block is what separates an education degree from an arts or science degree with a few teaching units bolted on, and for most students it is the semester that settles whether they actually want to teach. Because CHED's outcomes-based policy leaves the exact scheduling and hour requirements to each school, confirm your target program's specific internship placement process, partner schools, and hour requirement directly with its College of Education.

Does BSEd Lead to a Board Exam?

Yes. Every BSEd graduate must pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET), Secondary level, administered by the Professional Regulation Commission's Board for Professional Teachers under Republic Act No. 7836, the Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of 1994. You cannot legally teach in any Philippine school, public or private, without passing the LET and registering as a Professional Teacher.

RA 7836 sets the shape of the exam. The elementary and secondary examinations are separate. The elementary exam has two parts, professional education and general education; the secondary exam has three, adding your field of specialisation. Your declared BSEd major determines which specialisation paper you sit. In PRC's published coverage, those three parts carry weights of General Education 20%, Professional Education 40%, and Specialization 40%. National LET passing rates have historically run in the 25%-45% range across recent exam cycles, though the rate fluctuates by session.

RA 7836 also sets who may take it. For the secondary grades, an applicant must hold a bachelor's degree in education or its equivalent with a major and a minor, or a bachelor's degree in arts and sciences with at least ten units in professional education. Applicants must also be Filipino citizens (or nationals of a country with reciprocity), at least 18 years old, of good moral character, and not convicted by final judgment of an offence involving moral turpitude. For teachers of vocational and two-year technical courses, the law sets a different bar again: a bachelor's degree in the field of specialisation or its equivalent, with at least eighteen units in professional education.

That second route is worth understanding before you commit four years. A BS Mathematics or AB English graduate who later decides to teach can take the required professional education units instead of enrolling in a second full degree. It is real, but it is not equivalent: it buys exam eligibility, not the 12 units of supervised field experience or the pedagogical content sequence the BSEd core builds in. If you already know at 16 or 17 that you want to teach, the direct degree is the cheaper and better-supported path.

PRC schedules the examination for professional teachers more than once in a typical year and publishes the application windows, testing centres, and exact dates in its annual Schedule of Licensure Examinations. Plan against that resolution rather than a date you read anywhere else, this guide included. For the current cycle's requirements and coverage breakdown, see our complete LET guide, and for exam-day strategy see how to pass the LET on your first try.

What Republic Act 11713 Changed for Teacher Education Students

Republic Act No. 11713, the Excellence in Teacher Education Act, was enacted in 2022. It restructured the Teacher Education Council, institutionalised the National Educators' Academy of the Philippines, and matters to an incoming BSEd student in two specific ways.

First, it created a scholarship programme for deserving students pursuing teacher education degrees, which sits alongside the general financial aid a state or private college student may already qualify for. Ask your target college of education whether it participates and what the current selection process is; this is separate from RA 10931's free tuition at SUCs.

Second, it empowers the Teacher Education Council to prescribe a national examination determining eligibility for admission into a recognised teacher education institution's pre-service programme, plus successive pre-qualifying examinations before the licensure exam. Whether any such examination applies to your intake is a question for the Council and your target school during application season, not something to assume either way.

"The shift to learning competency-based standards/outcomes-based education is a response to the 21st Century Philippine Teacher Education framework," per the stated intent of CMO 75, s. 2017, as cited in Silliman University's own published curriculum implementation guide.

How Much Does BSEd Tuition Cost?

At state universities and colleges (SUCs), BSEd tuition is free or minimal under the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act (RA 10931), the same policy that makes most SUC undergraduate programs free for qualified Filipino students. At private, non-sectarian universities, third-party tuition trackers place Liberal Arts and Education programs at roughly ₱40,000-₱80,000 per semester, though this varies by school tier, campus location, and whether the university is elite-private (which tends to run higher) or a smaller regional college (which tends to run lower). Because tuition changes yearly and by school, always confirm the current published rate directly with your target school's admissions office rather than relying on a roundup figure.

Disclaimer: tuition figures change by school year and by specific campus. Confirm current rates directly with the school before budgeting or enrolling.

What Schools Offer BSEd?

BSEd is offered widely across SUCs, private universities, and teacher-training colleges nationwide. Philippine Normal University is the country's designated National Center for Teacher Education under Republic Act No. 9647, giving it a specific legal mandate around teacher-education program quality that most other schools don't carry, with campuses including PNU Manila. Program strength beyond PNU varies more by specific major, faculty, and a school's LET passing-rate track record than by a single national ranking, since CHED does not publish a ranked list for BSEd the way it does Centers of Excellence for some other fields. See our roundups of best education schools by LET passing rate for school-specific data.

What Jobs and Pay Can BSEd Graduates Expect?

Most BSEd graduates who pass the LET go on to teach in public schools under the Department of Education (DepEd) or in private secondary schools. A DepEd Teacher I earns ₱31,705 per month at Step 1 (Salary Grade 11), per DBM National Budget Circular No. 601 effective January 1, 2026, plus PERA (₱2,000/month) and the non-taxable Teaching Allowance under Republic Act No. 11997 (₱10,000 per school year from SY 2025-2026 onward). Pay rises through Teacher II (SG 12) and Teacher III (SG 13) with experience, then through the Master Teacher I-IV ladder (SG 18-21) for those who advance further. Private school pay is set school-by-school and tends to run below the public-school entry rate; see our full teacher salary guide for the complete rank-by-rank breakdown and the public-vs-private pay gap.

BSEd graduates who don't go directly into classroom teaching also find work in curriculum development, educational publishing, tutoring and review centers, and corporate training roles that value strong subject-matter and communication skills, though DepEd and private-school teaching remain the primary career path the degree is built around.

Is BSEd Right for You?

Before committing to a BSEd major, weigh these questions:

• Do you want to teach one subject deeply, or all subjects to younger learners? If it's the latter, ask about BEEd (Bachelor of Elementary Education) instead of BSEd.
• Which subject genuinely interests you? Your major (English, Math, Science, Filipino, Social Studies, or Values Education) is a multi-year commitment that also determines your LET specialization section, so pick based on real interest and aptitude, not just perceived job availability. You will teach that one subject every day for a career; enjoying it as a student is not the same as enjoying teaching it.
• Can you carry the unit load? Sciences at a 165-unit CHED minimum is a materially heavier programme than Mathematics or Values Education at 155, and that is before your school adds its own courses. Over four years the gap is roughly a semester's worth of extra coursework. Against that, secondary schools routinely struggle to fill mathematics and sciences posts and rarely struggle to fill others, so the heavier load does buy something in the hiring market.
• Are you prepared for the LET as a mandatory final step? A BSEd diploma alone does not authorize you to teach; budget time and money for LET review on top of your four years of coursework.
• Have you checked the specific school's field study and internship placement process? Because CHED allows real variation between schools, ask about partner schools, internship hour requirements, and LET passing-rate history before enrolling.
• What strand did you take in senior high? Students coming from any strand can pursue BSEd, but those without prior exposure to a subject area (say, STEM students choosing a Social Studies major) may need extra self-study to catch up in specialization courses.

Ready to find the right school? Browse schools or compare tuition and programs across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.

Sources

• CHED CMO No. 75, s. 2017 (official PDF)
• Silliman University — BSEd Major in Mathematics Curriculum (CMO 75, s. 2017 implementation)
• Southern de Oro Philippines College — BSEd Major in English Curriculum (CMO 75, s. 2017 implementation)
• Republic Act No. 7836 — Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of 1994
• Republic Act No. 9647 — Philippine Normal University Modernization Act of 2009
• Republic Act No. 11997 — Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act of 2022
• Republic Act No. 11713 — Excellence in Teacher Education Act (Supreme Court E-Library)
• PRC — Schedule of Licensure Examinations for the Year 2026 (Resolution No. 2113, s. 2025, PDF)
• 3D Universal — Average Tuition Fees by Program and University Type in the Philippines
• SchoolFinderPH — Teacher Salary in the Philippines
• SchoolFinderPH — Complete Guide to the LET 2026