TL;DR: TRF stands for Teacher Reflection Form. It is a written instrument where a teacher describes real situations and experiences against prompt questions, so assessors can rate PPST indicators that a classroom observation cannot capture. The version currently in force is Annex N of DepEd Order No. 7, s. 2023, the recruitment and selection guidelines: it covers four non-classroom observable indicators, carries 25 of 100 points in the Teacher I comparative assessment, must be written on the spot in 45 to 60 minutes, and is scored by two to three evaluators whose final rating is reached by consensus rather than by averaging. A different TRF existed under the pandemic-era performance guidelines in DepEd Memorandum No. 4, s. 2022; it is not part of the current performance tool set.
If you searched "TRF DepEd" you are almost certainly in one of two situations: you are applying for a Teacher I position and were told to prepare for one, or you are a teacher who remembers filling one in a few years ago and wants to know whether you still have to. Those are two different forms, and most material online conflates them. This guide separates them.
What a Teacher Reflection Form Is For
The Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers splits indicators into two kinds. Classroom Observable Indicators can be seen during a lesson and are rated with the Classroom Observation Tool. Non-Classroom Observable Indicators cannot. Nobody can watch you participate in a professional network or review your practice against the Code of Ethics by sitting in your classroom for an hour.
The TRF exists to close that gap. Rather than asking you to define a concept, it asks you to describe a situation you were actually in, and lets an evaluator judge from the description whether the indicator is demonstrated. That is why it is called a reflection form and not a written examination.
The TRF That Is Currently In Force: Hiring
DepEd Order No. 7, s. 2023, "Guidelines on Recruitment, Selection and Appointment in the Department of Education," is the current hiring framework. It sets a 100-point comparative assessment for Teacher I positions.
| 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 |
| Total | 100 |
The TRF is therefore the second-heaviest component in the whole assessment, ahead of education, training, experience and licensure rating combined at 40 points only when taken together. That is worth internalising if you have been treating it as a formality. Our DepEd teacher hiring requirements guide covers the rest of the process.
The four indicators the hiring TRF covers
| Indicator | What it asks you to demonstrate |
|---|---|
| 6.1.2 | Maintaining learning environments that are responsive to community contexts |
| 6.3.2 | Reviewing personal teaching practice regularly using existing laws and regulations that apply to the profession, and the responsibilities in the Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers |
| 7.2.2 | Adopting practices that uphold the dignity of teaching as a profession, through qualities such as a caring attitude, respect and integrity |
| 7.3.2 | Participating in professional networks to share knowledge and enhance experience |
Two of the four sit in Domain 7, Personal Growth and Professional Development, and one points directly at the Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers. Reading that code before you sit the TRF is a reasonable use of an evening.
The three companion documents
- Teacher Reflection Form (Annex N) is the form itself, carrying the prompt questions.
- Rubrics for Rating the TRF (Annex O) is what evaluators score your answers against.
- Inter-Evaluator Agreement Form (Annex P) records the level attained on each indicator after evaluators confer.
The protocols that decide how it is administered
These are set out at length in the order, and they answer most of the practical questions applicants ask:
- The TRF is accomplished on the spot. You cannot prepare a document at home and submit it.
- You get 45 minutes to one hour to complete the whole set.
- A designated room and a proctor are assigned, and the proctor discusses the instructions and oversees the process.
- The prompt questions may be changed. The Human Resource Merit Promotion and Selection Board, working with subject matter experts, is permitted to modify the prompts specifically to avoid familiarity with the questions, provided the modified questions still align with the indicator. This is the single most important line in the whole section, and it is the reason a downloadable list of "TRF questions" is a poor preparation strategy.
- Two to three evaluators rate each form independently, and must not be related to the applicant within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity.
- Evaluators write supporting comments. The form has a "Comments from the Evaluator" portion where the rating must be justified.
- The final rating is not an average. After individual rating, evaluators meet for an Inter-Evaluator Agreement Exercise and settle on a rating through objective, reasoned and consensual judgment.
- Online administration is allowed where face-to-face is not feasible, with cameras on throughout, and with document controls such as Locked Mode on Google Forms or disabled download, print and copy options on individual files.
Disclaimer: recruitment rules, point weights and annex numbering are set by DepEd order and can be amended by later issuances or by hiring-cycle memoranda. Confirm the current requirements with the schools division office running the hiring you are applying to.
The Other TRF: The Pandemic-Era Performance Form
A Teacher Reflection Form also appears in DepEd Memorandum No. 4, s. 2022, which implemented the Results-based Performance Management System aligned to the PPST for SY 2021-2022. There, the TRF was one of two options for certain performance objectives. For Proficient Teachers, objectives 7 to 10 had a Set A and a Set B, requiring evidence either from a classroom observation, or from supplemental materials, or from an accomplished Teacher Reflection Form, "depending on the context of the teacher." For Highly Proficient Teachers the same choice applied to objectives 9 and 10.
That design existed because face-to-face observation was frequently impossible. It was scoped to one school year, and it belonged to the performance appraisal system, not to hiring.
It is not in the current performance tool set. The tools listed in DepEd Memorandum No. 089, s. 2025 for the SY 2025-2026 to SY 2027-2028 cycle are the Teacher Self-Assessment Tool, the Instructional Supervision Plan template, the PMES Tools for each career stage, the Performance Monitoring and Coaching Form, the Classroom Observation Tool and its annexes, and the electronic IPCRF. No Teacher Reflection Form appears among them. Non-classroom indicators are now assessed from evidence of practice presented by the teacher and verified by the rater, and the memorandum states that no portfolio for performance assessment shall be collected.
So the honest answer to "do I still need a TRF for RPMS" is: not under the current cycle. Material telling you to prepare TRF annotations for your performance rating is describing SY 2021-2022 practice. Our guide to the teacher performance system tracks what replaced it.
How to Prepare for a Hiring TRF Without Wasting Your Time
Because the prompts can legitimately be changed, preparation is about having material to draw on, not about memorising answers.
- Collect four real situations, one per indicator. A time you adjusted teaching to something specific about the community. A time you checked your own practice against a rule or the Code of Ethics. A time integrity cost you something. A professional group you actually took part in and what you took from it.
- Write each as situation, action, result. What was happening, what you did, what changed. Evaluators are rating demonstration of the indicator, and demonstration lives in the action.
- Be specific about the community. Indicator 6.1.2 is the one candidates most often answer generically. Name the actual context.
- Keep it short and concrete. The order tells evaluators that long answers do not necessarily merit an Exemplary rating and to focus on content rather than quantity.
- Do not rehearse a script. With modifiable prompts and a 45-to-60-minute on-the-spot window, a memorised essay that does not answer the question asked scores worse than a plain, direct account that does.
- Read the four indicators in the PPST itself. The wording of the indicator is the closest thing you have to the rubric.
We deliberately do not publish sample TRF answers. A reflection is scored on whether the experience is yours, and a borrowed narrative is the one thing the instrument is designed to catch.
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Sources
- DepEd — DO 7, s. 2023: Guidelines on Recruitment, Selection and Appointment in the Department of Education, source of the TRF as Annex N and the 100-point comparative assessment (official PDF)
- DepEd — DM 089, s. 2025: Guidelines on the Multi-Year Performance Management and Evaluation System for Teachers, SY 2025-2026 to 2027-2028, whose tool list contains no TRF (official)
- DepEd — DM 4, s. 2022: Implementation of the RPMS-PPST for School Year 2021-2022, the pandemic-era memorandum that used a TRF as an alternative means of verification (official PDF)
- DepEd — Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers, full text of the domains, strands and indicators (official PDF)
- SchoolFinderPH — Classroom Observation Tool
- SchoolFinderPH — DepEd Teacher Hiring Requirements
- SchoolFinderPH — Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers
