TL;DR: "Masteral" is Philippine English for a master's degree. For public school teachers it is not a general requirement: under DepEd Order No. 19, s. 2025, the amended qualification standards, Teacher I through Teacher VII require only a bachelor's degree in Education, or a bachelor's in a relevant subject with at least 18 professional units in Education. A master's degree first appears as a requirement at Master Teacher I and runs through Master Teacher V, and School Principal I to IV require one plus 9 to 18 units in Management. Graduate units do count during hiring, where Education is worth 10 of 100 points and is scored on an increments table in which every three units toward a master's moves an applicant up one level. A degree does not raise your salary by itself, because pay follows the position you are appointed to.
Almost every Filipino teacher hears "kailangan mo ng masteral" at some point, usually without anyone specifying what for. This guide answers that specifically: what the word means, which positions actually require the degree, where partial units still count, and where a master's makes no difference at all. It is written for teachers deciding whether to enrol, not for anyone selling a programme.
What "Masteral" Means
Masteral is Philippine English for a master's degree, or for the graduate study leading to one. "Nag-masteral ako sa PNU" means enrolled in a master's programme there. It functions as both a noun and a modifier, as in "masteral units" for graduate units earned toward the degree.
The word does not exist with this meaning in British or American English, where the noun is simply "a master's" and the adjective is "master's-level." Use "master's degree" in any application, transcript request, or document that leaves the country. Everywhere else, masteral is the word people will actually understand.
Our general guide to a master's degree in the Philippines covers programme structures, unit counts and admission requirements across fields. This page is only about what it does for a teaching career.
Which DepEd Positions Actually Require One
The governing issuance is DepEd Order No. 19, s. 2025, "Amended Qualification Standards for Teacher I-III, Master Teacher I-IV, and School Principal I-IV Positions, and the Qualification Standards for Newly Created Teacher IV-VII and Master Teacher V Positions," issued in June 2025. It formally adopts CSC Resolution No. 2500471, and it exists because Executive Order No. 174, s. 2022 established the Expanded Career Progression System and created new positions that had no qualification standards yet.
| Position group | Education requirement |
|---|---|
| Teacher I to Teacher VII | Bachelor's degree in Education, or a bachelor's degree in a relevant subject or learning area with at least 18 professional units in Education |
| Master Teacher I to Master Teacher V | Master's degree in Education, Educational Leadership, Educational Management, or a relevant subject or learning area |
| School Principal I | Master's degree in a relevant learning area, with at least 9 units in Management |
| School Principal II | Master's degree, with at least 12 units in Management |
| School Principal III | Master's degree, with at least 15 units in Management |
| School Principal IV | Master's degree, with at least 18 units in Management |
Read that table twice, because it is the single most misunderstood thing about graduate study for Philippine teachers. The extension of the classroom ladder from Teacher III to Teacher VII did not bring a master's requirement with it. A Teacher VII, which is four salary grades above Teacher I, still has a bachelor's-level education requirement. What separates Teacher I from Teacher VII in the standards is teaching experience and training hours, not a degree.
What changes at Master Teacher is not only the education requirement but the job. Master Teacher II onward requires relevant experience in instructional supervision and technical assistance to teachers, rising by one year at each rank. The degree is the entry ticket to a mentoring role, not a reward for the classroom work you were already doing.
The standards also accept, as an alternative to specified training hours, completion of the NEAP-requisite professional development programme for the relevant career stage. Our career stages guide explains which stage attaches to which position.
Disclaimer: qualification standards are amended by DepEd order and by Civil Service Commission resolution, and appointments are governed by the DepEd Merit Selection Plan and the hiring guidelines in force for the cycle. Confirm current requirements with your schools division office before enrolling in a programme on the strength of them.
Where Graduate Units Count Even Before You Graduate
This is the part teachers most often get wrong in both directions, either assuming units are worthless without the degree or assuming they are worth far more than they are.
DepEd Order No. 7, s. 2023, the recruitment, selection and appointment guidelines, sets a 100-point comparative assessment for Teacher I applicants:
| Criterion | Maximum points |
|---|---|
| Education | 10 |
| Training | 10 |
| Experience | 10 |
| PBET, LET or LEPT rating | 10 |
| PPST Classroom Observable Indicators, through classroom observation or demonstration teaching | 35 |
| PPST Non-Classroom Observable Indicators, through the Teacher Reflection Form | 25 |
Education is worth 10 points, and those points are computed from an Increments Table that runs in three-unit steps. A bachelor's degree sits at level 6. Six units toward a master's is level 7, nine units is level 8, and so on up through completion of academic requirements and then the awarded master's degree, after which the same ladder continues through doctorate units.
Two conditions attach, and they are the reason a stack of units sometimes yields nothing:
- Points are given only for qualifications exceeding the qualification standard for the position being filled. Since the bachelor's degree is already the standard for Teacher I, the graduate units are what earn the increments.
- Only qualifications relevant to the position are given points. A master's in a field unconnected to the learning area you are applying to teach is a real degree that scores nothing here.
Ten points is meaningful in a ranked list where candidates cluster, but it is not where the assessment is decided. Demonstration teaching at 35 points and the Teacher Reflection Form at 25 carry 60 points between them. If you are choosing between another semester of units and preparing seriously for a demonstration lesson, the arithmetic favours the lesson. Our teacher ranking and promotion guide covers how the registry and reclassification work.
What a Masteral Does Not Do
- It does not raise your salary on its own. Compensation follows the position and its salary grade. The salary grade table shows where each teaching position sits. Finishing a degree while remaining a Teacher II leaves you a Teacher II.
- It does not substitute for the licence. Eligibility under Republic Act No. 1080 through the Licensure Examination for Teachers is a separate, non-negotiable requirement for positions involving practice of the profession. Senior High School applicants who are not Education majors must still complete 18 units of professional education; the amended standards adopted that wording on the recommendation of the Professional Regulation Commission, replacing the older term Certification in Professional Education.
- It does not create a vacancy. Meeting the qualification standard for Master Teacher I makes you eligible. It does not oblige anyone to appoint you.
- It does not improve your performance rating by itself. Ratings come from observed practice and evidence of accomplishment under the current performance system, not from credentials on file.
Deciding Whether to Enrol
A short, honest checklist:
- Name the position you want. If it is Master Teacher or School Principal, the degree is a hard requirement and the question is only when. If it is Teacher IV to VII, it is not required at all.
- Check relevance before you pay. Both the qualification standards and the hiring increments turn on the degree being relevant to the position. Ask the division office about the specific programme, not about master's degrees in general.
- Look at the Management units separately if you want to be a principal. A master's alone does not meet the School Principal standard; the units in Management are a distinct requirement that rises with each rank.
- Decide about the thesis deliberately. Our guide to thesis versus non-thesis master's programmes covers the tradeoff, which matters more for teachers than for most, because the non-thesis route is usually faster and the standards do not distinguish between them.
- Count the real cost. Tuition, transport, weekends, and the years. That is a genuine cost against a 10-point hiring criterion and an eligibility gate you may not use for a decade.
Ready to find the right school? Browse schools and compare programs, tuition and reviews across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- DepEd — DO 19, s. 2025: Amended Qualification Standards for Teacher I-III, Master Teacher I-IV, and School Principal I-IV Positions, and QS for Newly Created Teacher IV-VII and Master Teacher V Positions (official PDF)
- DepEd — DO 7, s. 2023: Guidelines on Recruitment, Selection and Appointment in the Department of Education, source of the 100-point assessment and the Education increments table (official PDF)
- DepEd — DO 42, s. 2017: National Adoption and Implementation of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (official)
- SchoolFinderPH — Master's Degree in the Philippines
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Teacher Ranking and Promotion
- SchoolFinderPH — Salary Grade Table
