Concurrent Triangulation Study on the Impact of Teacher’s Attunement and Academic Leniency to the Career Success of the Psychology Students

Concurrent Triangulation Study on the Impact of Teacher’s Attunement and Academic Leniency to the Career Success of the Psychology Students

^*Mary Easter Claire, S. Perez-Torres

University of Perpetual Help System-Laguna, Binan, Laguna

^*Corresponding Author

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.807171

Received: 04 July 2024; Accepted: 08 July 2024; Published: 14 August 2024

ABSTRACT

Aim: The researcher has decided to pursue a study to look at the possible impact of teachers’ attunement and academic leniency to the career success of their learners’ career success. At the present situation where people are placed in the same boat gliding in the crisis, it must be difficult to build relationships especially in a virtual classroom where teachers no longer meet with the students face-to-face. Possibility of getting to know each student and establishing rapport may turn out to be not only hard but nearly impossible.

Methodology: This research design engages a single study which includes qualitative and quantitative data collection done at the same time. The rationale behind this study is to scrutinize the findings generated by each method through the evidence that came from both type of data collection (Andrew & Halcomb, 2009). It is characterized by two or more methods which is used to sanction, cross-check, or substantiate findings within a study.

Results: Result shows that there is a significant difference in the Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) score to the job affiliation which means that the setting of work has something to do with the closeness of former student to the teachers.

Results revealed that among all the demographic profile of the respondents, there was no significant difference to the Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) Score.

Conclusion: In terms of the impact of teachers’ attunement and academic leniency in the career success of the students, they have disclosed the following details. It appears that some students find confidence in their job because of the teacher who understood their needs when they were studying. Some of the respondents claimed that they lack the learned skills they should have learned during the time when they were studying because they did not take it seriously and they only pass out mercy. There are students who shows great respect, gratefulness, and admiration to the teachers who gave them a chance by passing them despite their poor performance. For others, the impact is on the fear of work criticism because they are not competent enough to do their work. There are respondents who just want to pay forward their professors by doing something good to others because they were shown great kindness. On the contrary, there are students who lack their self-esteem because they are not confident with their skills. And finally, there are those who show high appreciation of the subject after almost failing it because they now understand the value.

Keywords: Teachers Attunement, Academic Leniency, Career Success

INTRODUCTION

Research in educational psychology is now on the rise since the pandemic crisis started since school settings are greatly affected by the sudden changes brought about by worldwide quarantine. Classes are now conducted online using variety of platforms like the Google Meet, Google Classroom, Zoom, Schoology, and more. Questions on the quality of instruction are now heightening as students continue their education at the comfort of their homes and teachers deliver through a variety of methods. Even with the help of the parents assisting their children who are studying online, demonstrating learning and concepts to students is becoming more and more challenging and learners are only struggling as they try to decipher and comprehend the lessons. The necessary skills that must be understood, measured, and graded are now being overlooked since the teachers have no direct physical contact to their students who must be observed personally in close distance. This dilemma may lead to students being confused and failing the course altogether.

Psychology is a board course with technical subjects like research, experimental psychology, and psychological testing, that are thoroughly taught by instructors for students to learn the skills needed by the students when they set foot on their workplace. Although, learning may come as the future employee works and continue with their daily tasks, the possibility of the future success in the career of the current students may increase if the instruction is properly executed and the students are honest about producing their quality output they are submitting to their professors. However, due to connectivity issues, access to materials, poor instructional strategy of professors, and other factors, students are straining in learning and struggling to comply to the requirements of the course.

Educators may exert extraordinary effort to render quality service to the learners, but they can only do so much since they are limited in resources, space, and capacity to teach and observe their students. No matter how excellent a teacher is in delivering instructions, sometimes, they also have to be considerate with the excuses and reasons of the shortcomings of their students for not being able to meet their requirements. Professors who only meet their students once to thrice a week may not be able to get to know them enough to trust whether they are truthful or deceitful in their justifications as to why they have failed to comply. Getting to know the students and being able be connected to them in a deeper level may help in understanding their needs better.

In a report, the Commission on Higher Education has declined mass promotion due to the Pandemic crisis but fortified the colleges and universities to “exercise leniency and understanding” in giving grades to students. CHEd released a memo acknowledging the probable dilemmas students are facing like internet connectivity in coping up with academic requirements. CHEd Chairman Prospero De Vera explained to CNN Philippines that he has no capacity to order an almost 2000 universities to just pass the students without effort but to give them allowance in the deadline of the submission until the next academic year to consider the interest of the students. Although, internships and on-the-job trainings are still required for students to gain the actual skills necessary for their future profession, professors are requested and encourage to see through difficulty of being a student in this time of crisis (Cabal, 2020). Furthermore, in compliance to CMO No. 4 Series of 2020, CHEd imposed guidelines to implement flexible learning which is a pedagogical approach which allows flexibility of time, place, and audience including but not exclusively reliant on the use of technology. Therefore, the delivery of distance education may go beyond the availability of internet, devices, digital literacy, and approaches since it involves the use of both digital and non-digital technology which will take place both in-person and face-to-face learning (de Vera, 2020).

Teacher’s attunement is a special kind of emotional connectedness of the teacher in which the internal states with the student come together and match. It is like a sense of communion or oneness that takes place in which both want to be with each other to share and to get lost in the moment (Fouts & Poulsen, 2020). For attunement to be achieved, it is necessary to have a complete absence of sound—silence. In a wide-ranging aspect investigating attunement in the field of education, various aspects of silence—specifically with respect to creativity, language, and empathy—must be considered. One skill that a teacher must master is converting hearing to listening to the learners (Lutzker, Attunement and Teaching, 2014).

A lot of students may not feel they are ready to face the industry. Those who think they are prepared may actually be less equipped than they think they are. A few may seem to be primed but the work they intend to have may no longer be existing. These statements may be pictured out as symptoms of a common dilemma of mismatch between the students who just graduated with promising potentials and the demands of the worldwide demands. The solution to this problem in the Philippines may be solved by the integration of the K-12 education. Career readiness competencies are what let the industry use to communicate their prerequisites to the educators for them to be enabled to comprehend how formulated the students are to meet those needs (Fugazzie, Preparing Students for Career Success, 2018).  Teachers play an essential role not only in the academic but also to the career success of the students they teach which is why it is vital for them to execute their more important role in helping the learners who are prone to face academic failure. Although it could be a hard task to be done inside a classroom with learners who requires their teachers’ help and guidance. With proper support from colleagues and administrators, the educators can greatly improve the chances of having the students achieve both academic and career success (Lynch, 2018). When the educators make a deliberate effort to get to know their learners, it can nurture their students and give them a feeling of belongingness and relationship which can create the solid foundation for success. A good positive teacher- student relationships can move toward to a heightened cooperation and engagement inside the classroom. They may also add to a welcoming, inclusive climate in the school which promotes equality, social, and emotional learning and progressive student outcomes (Nishioka, 2019).

For the following reasons, the researcher has decided to pursue a study to look at the possible impact of teachers’ attunement and academic leniency to the career success of their learners’ career success. At the present situation where people are placed in the same boat gliding in the crisis, it must be difficult to build relationships especially in a virtual classroom where teachers no longer meet with the students face-to-face. Possibility of getting to know each student and establishing rapport may turn out to be not only hard but nearly impossible. But if the teacher takes time and continue a positive relationship and become lenient to the learner, will it guarantee them success in their future career? That is the simple question the researcher intends to investigate through this research.

Research Questions

The qualitative data will be collected for this research utilizing the following questions:

(a)   How did you experience the teacher’s attunement (that the teacher showed deeper emotional connection and tried to be more understanding to the student) from the instructors of the course and how does it make you feel?

(b)   How did you experience academic leniency (when the teacher gives grades more than what is expected or at times is due to mercy and the student received it even if he/she doesn’t deserve it) from the instructors of the course and how does it make you feel?

(c)   How does the experienced teacher’s attunement and academic leniency in your course affect your career success? Do you believe that, somehow, the emotional investment and mercy of the teacher towards you helped you in your professional career?

The mixed method question will be addressed in the final analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data sets.

METHODS

Research Design

This research will utilize the concurrent triangulation mixed method design which engages a single study which includes qualitative and quantitative data collection done at the same time. The rationale behind this study is to scrutinize the findings generated by each method through the evidence that came from both type of data collection (Andrew & Halcomb, 2009). It is characterized by two or more methods which is used to sanction, cross-check, or substantiate findings within a study. The word concurrent in the data collection means that both methods (quantitative and qualitative) will be used to overcome a weakness in using one of the methods with the strength of another method. In this research method, researcher may collect, analyze, and integrate quantitative and qualitative research (Osinsky, 2020). The concurrent triangulation design corroborates or cross-validate the results by employing quantitative and qualitative study analysis done separately in order to merge them afterward. Both data collected are helpful in interpreting any data convergence, divergence, contradictions, and/or relationship. A structured rubric to trace the frequency data collected and analyzed by the researcher (Warfa, 2017).

Quantitative data will be collected utilizing a researcher-made questionnaire adapted from Student-Instructor Relationships, Student-Teacher Relationship Scale, and Career Resources Questionnaire. While qualitative data will be taken by using interview guide questions and online interview to respondents.

Population and Sampling

The current research will make use of purposive sampling technique which is also known as judgmental, selective, or subjective sampling which is normally used by researchers for them to rely on their own criteria and judgment in selecting the population for their research who they want to participate. This is also particularly applicable because the researcher intends to investigate a phenomenon or trend that is comparable to what is regarded typical for members of a population. Although the findings from this type of sampling technique can be statistically represented by the general population but they are qualitatively generalizable. It also enables the researcher to get a lot of information out of the collected data in a cost-effective and time-efficient way (Alchemer, 2021).

The respondents required in this study are former students who are (a) working successfully for at least 2 years to a company applying their skills from the subjects they almost failed in; (b) experienced teacher’s attunement and academic leniency from an instructor of a course that almost gave him/her a failing mark; and (c) has a professor who is willing to confirm that he/she was given grading leniency.

Instrument

This research will utilize concurrent triangulation research design where qualitative and quantitative data will be collected. Qualitative data will be obtained using an interview questionnaire comprised of three questions with elaborate answers. Quantitative data will be collected utilizing a researcher-made questionnaire adapted from Student-Instructor Relationships, Student-Teacher Relationship Scale, and Career Resources Questionnaire.

Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) is a 36-item questionnaire developed to tap the relationship of the instructor and their learner in terms of their connectedness and anxiety. This is a good inventory that helps predict the bond between the teacher and the students. Internal consistency for this scale is α=.83.  It is a 7-point Likert Scale (1=Disagree Strongly; 7=Agree Strongly) with the first factor containing 11 items investigating the perceived closeness of the student towards the instructor, second factor containing 8 items which reflects the concern of the student towards the acceptance of the instructor and their worthiness as a student, and the last factor which covers the rest of the items were about the generalized anxiety regarding the relationship with their educator. Connectedness subscale correlations was .69 (p< .01) and for anxiety subscale was .66 (p< .01) (Creasey, Jarvis, & Knapcik, 2009).

Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) is a 15-item, 5-point Likert scale that concedes scores about Conflict and Closeness and has exceptional psychometric properties done across several studies and population with an internal consistency from 0.86 to 0.89 predicting children’s behavior in the classroom, school retention, and the outcomes in their academic courses (Pianta, 2001).

Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) is a 41- items developed and validated scale useful for career counseling, university career service, and HR development in various ways. The construct validity standardized factor loadings ranged between 0.72 to 0.93. It has high reliability ranging from α=0.80 to 0.93. It is divided into 4 broad domains: (1) Knowledge and Skills; (2) Motivation; (3) Environment; and (4) Activities. All items have a response Likert scale ranging from 1 (not true at all) to 5 (completely true). These 4 dimensions has 13 specific subscales that measure a specific resource or activity (Ingold, Haenggli, & Hirschi, 2019).

DATA ANALYSIS

The researcher created an invite through social media regarding a call for respondents with the following criteria. The respondents required in this study are former students who are (a) working successfully for at least 2 years to a company applying their skills from the subjects they almost failed in; (b) experienced teacher’s attunement and academic leniency from an instructor of a course that almost gave him/her a failing mark; and (c) has a professor who is willing to confirm that he/she was given grading leniency. The researcher intends to pursue a concurrent triangulation mixed method research design by obtaining quantitative data using Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS), Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS), and Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ). Questionnaire are converted in Google form together with the consent form which will allow the respondents to agree with the responding to the questionnaires.

Qualitative data will be taken using an interview from the selected respondents with the following steps.

Step 1: Focusing on the Question and Eliciting Response

In the content analysis of this study, three open-ended specific-focused questions were given to the respondents. To identify the relevant responses (response codes) the following questions are facilitated to frame a focus question narrowly: (a) How did you experience the teacher’s attunement (that the teacher showed deeper emotional connection and tried to be more understanding to the student) from the instructors of the course and how does it make you feel? (b)   How did you experience academic leniency (when the teacher gives grades more than what is expected or at times is due to mercy and the student received it even if he/she doesn’t deserve it) from the instructors of the course and how does it make you feel? (c)   How does the experienced teacher’s attunement and academic leniency in your course affect your career success? Do you believe that, somehow, the emotional investment and mercy of the teacher towards you helped you in your professional career?

Step 2: Identifying Response Codes

The response codes allow the researcher to encode relevant answers to the focus questions, tagging each response code to other quantitative data like the demographic variables of the research and the outcome measures permitting interactive identification and labeling and creating response codes and followed by thematic categories to each response.

Step 3: Creating Thematic Categories

The thematic categories comprise allocating the response codes that have functionally corresponding meaning to a higher order thematic category. Classifying thematic categories is the same to the process of “discovering categories” and labeling them like what is described in the Grounded Theory. Although the challenge in thematic categories is that it involves creating the categories that will imitate independent coders. This concordance is important to practice a series of thematic category solutions which can be generated from the same set of response codes attaining conclusions which will categorize the responses and capture all relevant themes that were articulated by the participants.

Statistical Treatment

This research shall use the following statistical tool to arrive with the right conclusion.

1. Weighted Mean- this was used to get the average or mean of the population in this study.
2. Percentage- this was utilized in getting the percentage representation of each level of demographic profile in the total number of respondents.
3. T-Test Independent Samples- this was used to get the significant difference on age across variables (teachers attunement, academic leniency, and career success). For problem 1, the researcher will be applying t-test to get the significant difference between the means of the gender of the respondents. It is a statistic treatment that looks at the t-statistic, the t-distribution values, and the degrees of freedom to determine the statistical significance (Kenton, 2020).
4. One Way ANOVA- this was used to get the significant difference on the variables across teachers’ attunement, academic leniency, and career success.
5. Pearson’s r correlation coefficient- this was used to get the correlation between teachers’ attunement, academic leniency, and career success with the assumption of .05 alpha level as significance. This statistical treatment is a type of correlation coefficient that represents the relationship between two variables that are measured on the same interval or ratio scale. It measures the strength of association between two continuous variables (Kenton, 2020)

Ethical Consideration

The researcher followed research protocols to assure the quality and reliability of the study and research findings. The researcher obtained permission to perform the study from the dean and the volunteers. Participants were given consent forms to declare their willingness to participate in the study. When the FGD and interviews with the participants were approved, the researcher scheduled them. The online interview was done by the researcher using Google Meet. To help the interviewee answer the questions, the interview questions were displayed on a shared screen. All interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim subsequently. Permission and consent were obtained before to recording in order to comply with the Data Privacy Act. Pseudonyms were utilized to protect the participants’ anonymity during the document analysis.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Quantitative Design

Table 1. Demographic Profile of the Respondents According to Age, Sex, Course, Subject Almost Failed, Job Affiliation, and Number of Years Working

Table 1 illustrates the demographic profile of the respondents according to age, sex, college course, subject almost failed, job affiliation, and number of years working. In this study, majority of the respondents are between 21 to 30 years old and only 5 are between 31 to 40 years old. There are 10 female subjects and 7 of them are male. All of them have graduated from a psychology program but 9 majors in the Bachelor of Arts while 8 studied in the Bachelor of Science. Among all the participants, 11 have almost failed non-Psychology subjects and 6 for those who almost flunked psychology subjects. In the job affiliation, 10 of them are working in the industrial setting, 5 in the educational setting, and 2 pursued a career in the industrial setting. For the number of years working, it appears that 13 of them have been working for less than 5 years and 4 has been working for more than 6 years.

Table 2. Mean Score and Test for Significant Difference for the Demographic Profile and their Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) Score

*Significant at .05 alpha level

Table 2 shows the mean score and the result for the test of significant difference for the demographic profile and the Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) score of the participants. It appears that among all the variables, it is only in the age that shows significant difference among the respondents in their score with their relationship with their teacher that measures their closeness and attunement. In understanding the relationship of teacher and children it is very important to examine the environment in which the interaction in the class takes place. There are various types of school environment that might affect the relationship of the student and the teacher. Learners may experience various change in the classrooms, friends, grade levels, room arrangement and expectations inside the classroom for this reason, relationships with different teachers for so many years are embossed within various contexts that may also change eventually (Jerome, Hamre, & Pianta, 2008). Only few researches have been done that studies teachers attunement. Several factors contribute that weaken the potential for teachers to affect and guide students’ development socially and mentally. Teachers play the role of the ‘invisible hand’ that is the transmitter of information to the students. (Kindermann, 2011). On the one hand, in the developmental stage of the students, teachers are less likely to have an influence towards their students’ adjustments and social dynamics (Bierman, 2011).

Table 3. Univariate Tests of Significance for Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) Score to the Job Affiliation of the Respondents

*Significant at .05 alpha level

Table 3 illustrates the univariate tests of significance for Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) score to the job affiliation (if they work in industrial, educational, or clinical setting) of the respondents. It appears that there is a significant difference in the Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) score to the job affiliation.

Table 4. Mean Score and Test for Significant Difference for the Demographic Profile and their Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) Score

*Significant at .05 alpha level

Table 4 explains the mean score and test for significant difference for the demographic profile and their Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) Score. It seems that among all the demographic profile of the respondents, there was no significant difference to the Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) Score. It was investigated those teachers with certain characteristics had a higher attunement compared to others. It is very important to know the characteristics that may be connected in order to train teachers to become more effective. The longer the time the teachers spend with their students, there is a stronger chance to acquire more information about their social dynamics in the classroom. Attunement is a skill that can be developed over time. Since teaching is a demanding job, teachers may develop poorer health and lower commitment and performance and teachers might no longer feel the intense feeling to work and help the students in developing cognition (Hakanen, Bakker, & Schaufeli, 2006). Previous studies on teacher attunement to peer groups, there is a light overlap between the claim of the teachers and the students. Teacher attunement was highest for prosocial behavior, lowest for risk behavior, probably because the prosocial behavior is what the students wanted to show off towards their teachers while risk behavior is what they intend to hid (Pearl, Leung, VanAcker, Farmer, & Rodkin, 2007).

Table 5. Univariate Tests of Significant Difference for Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) Score to the Job Affiliation of the Respondents

*Significant at .05 alpha level

Table 5 demonstrates the univariate tests of significance difference for Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) Score to the job affiliation of the respondents. There appears that there is no significant relationship between the job affiliation (whether the participant works in the industrial, educational, or clinical setting) and the Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) Score. Teaching is a helping profession that helps the students to hone their skills, overcome any challenges, and be able to feel the love of learning. Teachers gain success as their students succeed in their future careers and become recognized in the path that they are taking. It is very important that we continue on learning and gaining clarity around teacher quality if we intend to be rewarded for succeeding in our own respective jobs. Some studies suggest that good teachers have leadership, perseverance, sense of mission, and good academic achievement. However, above all, subject knowledge is very essential because the information that the teacher will transfer to the students is going to be their armor as they quest in the future (Weston, 2013).

Table 6. Mean Score and Test for Significant Difference for the Demographic Profile and their Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) Score

*Significant at .05 alpha level

Table 6 exhibits the mean score and test for significant difference for the demographic profile and their Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) Score. It seems that among all the demographic profile of the respondents, there was no significant difference to the Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) Score. The teaching quality of the teachers greatly affects the career choice of the students. Career choice is an important stage for all students in order to identify if they are suitable, ready, and equipped to work in the future. Studies discuss how learning vocationally can shape the professional choice of the students. It was proven that the quality of teaching, learning goal orientation, performance goal orientation is very vital in order to achieve success in the career. (Mahfud, Indartono, Saputro, & Utari, 2019). Wide range of empirical studies investigated the impact of teacher characteristics and effectiveness to draw conclusions regarding the extent that leads to the success of the students. It was proven that teacher quality matters. It is the most important factor that is related to school that influence the achievement of the student not only academically but also professionally.  Teachers must have not only the credentials but also the experiences, preparations and trainings that enhances their skills and mastery of the subject matter that they are handling. They must be properly assessed or evaluated to assure that the students will receive quality care and education that will lead them to achieve their own respective goals (Rice, 2003).

Table 7. Univariate Tests of Significance for Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) Score to the Job Affiliation of the Respondents

*Significant at .05 alpha level

Table 7 illustrates the univariate tests of significance for Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) score to the job affiliation (if they work in industrial, educational, or clinical setting) of the respondents. It appears that there is a significant difference in the Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) score to the job affiliation. Career success is described as the positive instrument and psychological outcomes that comes from one’s work-related activities and experiences. The definition covers both objective and subjective aspects of career success. This is an important aspect of any profession because it reveals the overall evaluation of a person’s job which is the ultimate outcome of development in the career. Theoretically, it comes from a range of social-science disciplines and economics. Several studies have been conducted with the focus on the managerial, professional, and technical workers working for profit organizations. Individual characteristics involves career-related decisions, interpersonal processes, and organizational context have shown to impact a person’s career success (iresearchnet, 2020). Furthermore, it is a combination of attaining reasonable level of financial stability while working on a job that makes an employee happy and fulfilled with life. If a worker loves a job but does not acquire enough financial means, it may lead to lack of joy or interest with what they are doing. True career success demands that there must be an alignment of the two (Allen, 2020).

Table 8. Test for Significant Correlation Between Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) Score and Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) Score

*Significant at .05 alpha level

Table 8 displays the significant correlation between Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) score and Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) score of the respondents. There seems to have no significant difference between the Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) score and Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) score of the respondents. Teacher attunement is hypothesized as the involvement of teacher which comprise of understanding students’ peer group membership and the impact of the teacher’s ability to use his/her invisible hand to promote the learners’ positive environment adjustment inside the classroom (Ahn & Rodkin, 2014) (Hamm J. V., Farmer, Dadisman, Gravelle, & Murray, 2011). It was discovered that higher teacher-student attunement was positively associated with the students’ sense of belonging inside the classroom. Other researchers have tried to measure attunement as the awareness of the teacher of the characteristics of their students (Ahn & Rodkin, 2014).

For years now, several studies were done to explore the degree of the relationships and dynamics happening in the classrooms. The boundary to which the report of the teacher and the reports of their students about this dynamic overlap is called teacher attunement which was first theorized as the dimension of teacher’s engrossment in their bond with their students (Hamm J., Farmer, Dadisman, Gravelle, & Murray, 2011). It is the teachers’ comprehension of the social characteristics of their learners as perceived by the students (Ahn & Rodkin, 2014).

Table 9. Test for Significant Correlation Between Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) Score and Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) Score

*Significant at .05 alpha level

Table 9 shows the significant correlation Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) score and Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) score of the respondents. There appears to have a significant difference between the Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) score and Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) score of the respondents. Many students are not strongly prepared to be out in the world where they will have to work. Students who may not feel equipped to start working are less prepared than they may already know. Mismatch between the graduating students’ skills and the demands of the industry. Schools are hoping to solve this problem by having a nationwide push to incorporate career-focused approaches to K-12 education. Preparing the students to appear in the workplace is the main objective of every school hoping to give meaningful experiences to understand the working world by identifying the competences of the students can be developed as shaped from the employers’ demands (Fugazzie, 2018). There are various types of college students: those who study hard and always stay in the library, those who leave everything to cram, those who split their time between work and studying, and those who do either of those that were mentioned. With all the experiences and encounters in college, getting ready for the future may not be the priority. Many students may even agree that they have done many wrong things in their academic years that they may want to correct but unfortunately, they can just share their experiences for others not to commit same mistakes. Most of these actions may have caused their grades and their relationship with their instructors and may eventually led them to have a problem with their future career (Joseph, 2018).

Table 10. Test for Significant Correlation Between Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) Score and Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) Score

*Significant at .05 alpha level

Table 10 illustrates the significant correlation Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) score and Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) score of the respondents. There seems to have no significant difference between the Student-Instructor Relationship Scale (SIRS) score and Career Resource Questionnaire (CRQ) score of the respondents. Schools are very important in the career development of students for they create an impact to the values attitudes, and the career choices of the learners. Teachers must work together with the parents and the community in preparing the students to achieve their professional goals. The purpose of the education programs is to assist the learners to become engaging, productive citizens, have good decision-making skills, and choose for the wide array of options available for them. Also, it is the purpose of the schools to remove the barriers that may prevent them from attaining any of their life chances to learn and achieve. It is expected that they provide students with equitable outcomes that will guarantee them that none of their destiny will be prohibited by factors like poverty (Glaze, 2016).

Qualitative Design

Table 11. Perceived Teachers Attunement of the Students Towards their Teachers

Table 11 explains the perceived teachers’ attunement of the students towards their teacher. It seems that majority of the respondents find their teachers to be good listener who listens to their qualms, problems, and inquiries. Some teachers are considered to be good emotional supporter who cheers them up when they are feeling down. There are also teachers who boost the morale of the students when they have start believing in their selves. There are cases that the teachers are seen as defenders to the students who are being bullied, mentors who are having difficulties coping up with schoolwork, and role model when the student is seeking for someone to look up to. The way the teachers are exerting effort to approach and reach out to their students were taken with utmost positive reaction from the students. In further studies, it appeared that teachers with particular characteristics and traits tend to have higher attunement than others. And in comprehending what particular traits are connected to attunement may enable a better and efficient training of instructors (Marucci, Oldenburg, & Barrera, 2018).

In another research, teacher attunement was called an “invisible hand” with which they utilize to mold their students and establish rapport with them. Educators tend to extend their understanding of their students by arranging their seats, giving instructions, and managing the classroom by applying various strategies which may also open opportunities to start friendship and improve the dynamics inside the classroom (Madill, Zadzora, & Gest, 2016). Teacher attunement reveals the degree to which the teachers are assenting with the perspective of the students on the relationship within their environment. It was determined that there are two types of attunements: these are the broad attunement to the affiliation to a peer group which is observed by the students, and more precise attunement to a more particular group. This type of attunement exposes the teacher’s precision in learning affiliative patterns with the students but not essentially distinct student’s experiences within the peer system of the class peer ecology. In the deficiency of attunement to the affiliation of the peer group, educators might misidentify the members of the group in the class. The degree to which the instructor maintains a specific attunement to every individual student is not yet known but having broad attunement to peer group affiliations as modest, it is very likely that attunement to every member might become comparatively low (Hoffman, Hamm, & Farmer, 2015).

Table 12. Perceived Displayed Academic Leniency towards the Students from their Teachers

Table 12 exhibits the perceived displayed academic leniency towards the students from their teachers. Most students professed that they see their educator’s leniency through giving them grades they think they do not deserve. Some teachers are even willing to extend deadlines for the student to cope up with the given requirements. There are teachers who they confessed to be going the extra mile by offering tutorial, letting them borrow books, and supervise them in doing their projects just to make sure that they will be able to comply. Leniency were also observed among teachers who think like students, going down their level, explain the lessons the easiest way understandable, and treat them like friends. There are professors who entertain inquiries even in the wee hours just to accommodate their inquiries. And a very few who do not fail students that is why students are very confident they will pass the subject without effort.

The strong association between academic leniency and the reliability of the grades being given to the students. Many faculty members who think their assessment of the academic performance may suspect that their methods are unreliable. In the course subjects in which assessment of the learners’ performance must be based on subjective and complex judgment. If then there will be an increased academic leniency as a compensating mechanism for low grading reliability can be intellectualized as an ethical behavior for it prevents giving off bad grades to the students who are doing well. It is also a sensible strategy because students may just agree to take high and unreliable grades (Flaherty, 2017). In one interview, a professor confessed that if the students would keep in touch and try their best in class, he would pass them because he believed that nobody should fail a class during the pandemic crisis. Within the institution, many professors are already cutting unimportant course content, extending deadlines, removing low assignment grades, and grading leniently. Students are having the same stress experience since they have to be transitioned to remote learning because of public health crisis. For this reason, they could not access tutoring, libraries, and support services like what they used to. A survey was made by Bay View Analytics, they have lowered their expectations because students also have a lot of amounts of work for students. Students are given the opportunity to learn than to force them to achieve set of learning outcomes because grades are not essentially a measure of skills or ability but their socioeconomic status and the privilege, they are given (Flaherty, 2020).

Table 13. Impact of Teacher’s Attunement and Academic Leniency in the Career Success

Table 13 tackles the impact of teacher’s attunement and academic leniency in the career success of the former students who almost failed a subject or two in the past when they were studying. It appears that some students find confidence in their job because of the teacher who understood their needs when they were studying. Some of the respondents claimed that they lack the learned skills they should have learned during the time when they were studying because they did not take it seriously and they only pass out mercy. There are students who shows great respect, gratefulness, and admiration to the teachers who gave them a chance by passing them despite their poor performance. For others, the impact is on the fear of work criticism because they are not competent enough to do their work. There are respondents who just want to pay forward their professors by doing something good to others because they were shown great kindness. On the contrary, there are students who lack their self-esteem because they are not confident with their skills. And finally, there are those who show high appreciation of the subject after almost failing it because they now understand the value.

Teachers play an essential role in the life of the student that even if they are done at school, the impact of the teachers cling on for their students to be inspired and strive for greatness. Inside the classroom, the instructors should be impartial and treat every student fairly, be an embodiment of patience who understands the students, their skills, learning capabilities, and talents to guide them in achieving their full potential, and finally to be a problem-solver to help the learners to overcome their challenges. Aside from being the keeper of information, teachers are expected to share these bits and have the students digest them. Instructors should gear up their students in order to comprehend the concepts outside the textbook. Teachers are the consistent guide to assist the students to graduate and be ready to work in their chosen industry. In finding the best career that will suit them and where they can use their skills, teachers must be there to steer them in the right direction. Without proper guidance, students tend to perform poorly in the workplace. Choosing the right job is just the first step. A teacher has to also play a part beyond that. They should be around when the learners find any difficulty in their chosen careers. When it happens, the teacher must be empathetic and show care and nurture the students, boost their confidence, and be a good friend to them (Sen, 2019).

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The following results were disclosed after the data gathered were analyzed:

Findings revealed that the online instructors used approaches such as direct method, humanistic, collaborative, and student-centered approaches to stimulate learning, add impact, and promote interest in the online class environment. Students experienced difficulty with instructors who are inconsiderate of technical difficulties, lack empathy, and intimidating hinders their retention, engagement, and performance in the virtual classroom. This means that the negative behavior of the instructor’s limits e-Learners’ retention, engagement, and performance, and obstructs learning.

The e-Learners’ experiences confirmed that instructors who radiate a positive attitude, are competent and proficient, and are innovative in facilitating lively interactions enhanced students’ retention and engagement. This means that the instructors’ behavior holds a paramount relevance and lifelong impact on the E-learners. This impact pertains not only to the teaching of academic skills but also to the development of student self-esteem. Developing self-esteem in the virtual classroom is associated with increased engagement and learning outcomes.

The instructors’ role as course designers, Ignacian values influencers, and facilitators is vital in the e-learning process. The instructors’ role in the online class is of paramount importance not only to e-Learners’ retention, engagement, and performance but also to their academic success, in general. It is, thus, imperative that meaningful approaches have to be explored to assist the students in their online retention and engagement difficulty. Instructors’ vibrant behavior and competence in the learning process are comparably effective in improving students’ online performance. However, the instructors’ negative attitude is found disturbing and hindering the learning process.

In general, the findings of the study confirm the researcher’s assumption that the instructors’ behavior, approaches, and competence play a crucial role in the retention, engagement, and performance of the students in the virtual environment. Garrison, Anderson & Archer’s theory specifically on the concept of three distinct “presences”: cognitive, social, and teaching theory, is confirmed in the study. The physical and mental abilities of the instructor and the instructor’s personality attributes have become instrumental in the learning process.

The findings point to the need for the instructors to be innovative in their strategies in online teaching, be trained in digitally mediated teaching aids, and be encouraged to increase their pedagogical efficiency in engaging the learners behaviorally, intellectually, and emotionally in the virtual classroom. Indeed, the necessity for greater efforts is much needed in supervising, monitoring, and assessing students’ learning online. This is undoubtedly more crucial than in face-to-face learning contexts.

REFERENCES

1. Ahn, H., & Rodkin, P. (2014). Classroom-level predictors of the social status of aggression: Friendship centralization, friendship density, teacher–student attunement, and gender. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1144-1155.
2. Alchemer. (2021, May 20). Purposive Sampling 101. Retrieved from alchemer.com: https://www.alchemer.com/resources/blog/purposive-sampling-101/
3. Allen, T. (2020, August 31). A Definition Of Career Success And Why So Few People Ever Experience It. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/terinaallen/2020/08/31/a-definition-of-career-success-and-why-so-few-people-ever-experience-it/?sh=6200456e4dd2
4. Andrew, S., & Halcomb, E. (2009). Mixed Methods Research for Nursing and Health Sciences. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.
5. Barrero-Jaramillo, D. M., & Gaztambide-Fernandez, R. A. (2019). The Work of Attunement. Curriculum Inquiry, 503-506.
6. Bierman, K. (2011). The promise and potential of studying the ‘invisible hand’ of teacher influence on peer relations and student outcomes: A commentary. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 297-303.
7. Brocks, B., Spooren, P., & Mortelmans, D. (2011). Taking the grading leniency story to the edge. The influence of student, teacher; and course characteristics on student evaluations of teaching in higher education. Education Assessment Evaluation .
8. Cabal, R. (2020). CHED to universities: Exercise leniency and understanding in grading students. CNN Philippines.
9. Creasey, G., Jarvis, P., & Knapcik, E. (2009). A Measure to Assess Student-Instructor Relationships. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
10. Dawes, M., Chen, C., Zumbrunn, S., Mehtaji, M., Farmer, T., & Hamm, J. (2017). Teacher attunement to peer-nominated aggressors. . Aggressive Behavior, 263-272.
11. de Vera, P. E. (2020). CMO 4 Series 2020 Guidelines on the Implementation of Flexible Learning. Manila: Commission on Higher Education.
12. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Overview of self-determination theory. The Oxford Handbookof Human Motivation, 85-107.
13. Flaherty, C. (2017, January 24). Lenient Grades, Unreliable Grades. Retrieved from insidehighered: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/01/24/study-suggests-grading-leniency-result-rather-cause-low-grading-reliability
14. Flaherty, C. (2020, April 23). Grading for a Pandemic: How lenient, or not, should professors be with students right now? Retrieved from insidehighered.com: https://www.insidehighered.com/ news/2020/ 04/23/how-lenient-or-not-should-professors-be-students-right-now
15. Fouts, G., & Poulsen, J. (2020). Attunement in the Classroom: Emotional Connection May Be the Key to Student Success. Retrieved from The Alberta’s Teacher Association: https://www.teachers.ab.ca/ News % 20 Room/ata % 20 magazine/Volume % 2081/Number % 203/Articles/Pages/Attunement % 20 in % 20 the % 20 Classroom.aspx
16. Fugazzie, T. (2018, June 20). Preparing Students for Career Success. Retrieved from gettingsmart.com: https://www.gettingsmart.com/2018/06/preparing-students-for-career-success/
17. Fugazzie, T. (2018, June 20). Preparing Students for Career Success. Retrieved from gettingsmart.com: https://www.gettingsmart.com/2018/06/preparing-students-for-career-success/
18. Gest, S. D. (2006). Teacher reports of children’s friendships and social groups: Agreement with peer reports and implications for studying peer similarity. Social Development, 248-259.
19. Gest, S. D., Madill, R. A., Zadzora, K. M., Miller, A. M., & Rodkin, P. C. (2014). Teacher management of elementary classroom social dynamics: Associations with changes in student adjustment. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 107-118.
20. Glaze, A. (2016, February 11). The Role of Educators in Career Development. Retrieved from thelearningexchange.ca: https://thelearningexchange.ca/the-role-of-educators-in-career-development/
21. Golfman, N. (2020, January 18). Academic leniency encouraged. Retrieved from gazette.mun.ca: https://gazette.mun.ca/campus-and-community/academic-leniency-encouraged/
22. Hakanen, J. J., Bakker, A. B., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2006). Burnout and work engagement among teachers. Journal of School Psychology, 495-513.
23. Hamm, J., Farmer, T., Dadisman, K., Gravelle, M., & Murray, A. (2011). Teachers’ attunement to students’ peer group affiliations as a source of improved student experience of the school social-affective context following the middle school transition. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 267-277.
24. Hoffman, A. S., Hamm, J., & Farmer, T. W. (2015). Teacher attunement: Supporting early elementary students’ social integration and status. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 14-23.
25. Ingold, S., Haenggli, M., & Hirschi, A. (2019). A Comprehensive Guide to Career Assessment . National Career Development Association (NCDA).
26. iresearchnet. (2020). Career Success. Retrieved from https://career.iresearchnet.com/:https://career. iresearchnet.com/career-information/career-success/#:~:text=Career%20success%20can%20be%20 defined,subjective%20aspects%20of%20career%20success.
27. Jerome, E. M., Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2008). Teacher–Child Relationships from Kindergarten to Sixth Grade: Early Childhood Predictors of Teacher-perceived Conflict and Closeness. University of Virginia.
28. Joseph, S. (2018, August 11). What every college student should be doing for career success? Retrieved from forbes.com: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelcyvjoseph/2018/08/11/what-every-college-student-should-be-doing-for-career-success/?sh=6b06778262c4
29. Kenton, W. (2020, January 23). Pearson Coefficient. Retrieved from Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pearsoncoefficient.asp
30. Kenton, W. (2020, March 22). T-Test. Retrieved from Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/t-test.asp
31. Kindermann, T. A. (2011). The invisible hand of the teacher. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology , 304-308.
32. Leaper, C. (2011). More Similarities than Differences in Contemporary Theories of Social Development? Retrieved from sciencedirect.com: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/expectancy-value-theory
33. Lutzker, P. (2014). Attunement and Teaching. Research on Steiner Education Journal, 65-72.
34. Lutzker, P. (2014). Attunement and Teaching. Research on Steiner Education, 65-72.
35. Lynch, M. (2018, May 27). How Teachers Can Help All Students Succeed. Retrieved from theedadvocate.org: https://www.theedadvocate.org/how-teachers-can-help-all-students-succeed/
36. Madill, R. A., Gest, S. D., & Rodkin, P. C. (2014). Students’ perceptions of relatedness in the classroom: The roles of emotionally supportive teacher-child interactions, children’s aggressive-disruptive behaviors, and peer social preference. . School Psychology, 86-105.
37. Madill, R., Zadzora, K., & Gest, S. (2016). Measuring Teachers’ Attunement to Children’s Friendships, Victimization, and Popularity Dynamics. Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness.
38. Mahfud, T., Indartono, S., Saputro, I., & Utari, I. (2019). The Effect of Teaching Quality on Student Career Choice: The Mediating Role of Student Goal Orientation. Integration of Education.
39. Marucci, E., Oldenburg, B., & Barrera, D. (2018). Do teachers know their students? Examining teacher attunement in secondary schools. School Psychology International.
40. McGuire, L. E. (2019). Teacher Attunement to Bullies and Victims: Effects on Perception of Bullying, Social-Emotional Well-Being and Academic Outcomes. Scholar Commons, 1-105.
41. Mehta, S. B., Cornell, D., Fan, X., & Gregory, A. (2013). Bullying climate and school engagement in ninth grade students. Journal of School Health, 45-52.
42. Moss, J. (2018, April 3). Ensuring Career Success for Students. Retrieved from community.naceweb.org: https://community.naceweb.org/blogs/jeffrey-moss/2018/04/03/ensuring-career-success-for-students
43. Nishioka, V. (2019, February 5). Positive and Caring Relationships with Teachers are Critical to Student Success. Retrieved from education northwest: http://educationnorthwest.org/northwest-matters/positive-and-caring-relationships-teachers-are-critical-student-success
44. Osinsky, A. (2020, January 15). What is concurrent triangulaton research design? Retrieved from Askinglot.com: https://askinglot.com/what-is-concurrent-triangulation-research-design
45. Pearl, R., Leung, M. C., VanAcker, R., Farmer, T. W., & Rodkin, P. C. (2007). Fourth and fifth grade teachers’ awareness of their classrooms’ social networks. . Elementary School Journal , 25-39.
46. Phelps, P. H. (2015, December 10). Grading with Grace. Retrieved from Faculty Focus: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/grading-with-grace/
47. Pianta, R. (2001). Student-Teacher Relationship Scale-Short Form. Psychological Assessment Resources, 61-80.
48. Rice, J. K. (2003). Teacher Quality: Understanding the Effectiveness of Teacher Attributes. Retrieved from Economic Policy Institute: https://www.epi.org/ publication/books teacher quality execsum intro/
49. Rimm-Kauffman, S., & Sandilos, L. (2017). Improving students’ relationships with teachers to provide essential supports for learning . American Psychological Association. Education and Psychology.
50. Seifert, K., & Sutton, R. (2012). Educational Psychology, 3rd Edition. Saylor Foundation.
51. Sen, S. (2019, June 7). Diverse Role of a Teacher . Retrieved from globalcareercounsellor.com: https://www.globalcareercounsellor.com/blog/what-is-the-role-of-a-teacher-in-a-students-life/
52. Studer, B., & Knecht, S. (2016). Progress in Brain Research.
53. Thor, F. (2020). Grade Leniency and Competition. A Study of Swedish Compulsory Level Municipality Schools, 1-39.
54. van der Berg, Y. H., Lunsu, T. A., & Gillesen, A. H. (2015). Measuring social status and social behaviors with behaviors with peer and teacher nomination methods. Social Development, 815-832.
55. Warfa, A.-R. (2017). Mixed-Methods Design in Biology Education Research: Approach and Uses. Life Sciences Education .
56. Weston, D. (2013, May 1). The future of career progression in teaching. Retrieved from theguardian.com: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/may/01/professional-development-future-of-teaching