Teachers’ Empowerment in their Instructional Competence Basis of a Training Plan

Teachers’ Empowerment in their Instructional Competence Basis of a Training Plan

Janine Marie V. Cipriano, LPT

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela, Valenzuela, Metro Manila, Philippines

DOI : https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.8120030

Received: 19 November 2024; Accepted: 25 November 2024; Published: 28 December 2024

ABSTRACT

This study was about the teacher’s empowerment in their instructional competence of Grade 10 teachers from Pobcaran district, Division of Caloocan for school year 2018-2019. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions. 1. To what extent are the teacher respondents empowered? 2. What is the level of instructional competence of the teacher respondents? 3. Is there a significant relationship between the extent of teachers’ empowerment when the teacher profile is considered? 4. Is there a significant relationship between the level of instructional competence when the teacher profile is considered? 5. Is there a significant relationship between the extent of teachers’ empowerment and the level of their instructional competence? 6. What training plan may be proposed based on the findings of the study?

The study used the random sampling technique with 98 teacher-respondents from Pobcaran District in Caloocan City. The data were statistically treated with the following tools: Mean, Percentage and Chi-square. Based on the result of the study, it was concluded that in order for the teachers to be acknowledged they must possess distinct qualities such as expertise, experience and skills that can be their advantage. Some respondents are aware of their task and could perform to a great extent. Second teachers should be allowed to be independent in the aspect of management and curriculum development. Third, the extent of the effect of the empowerment is reflected on the student’s performance even though the empowerment is directed to the teachers who execute learnings. The fourth one is teachers’ profile and empowerment of teachers are related. Teachers should continue to acquire higher learning as they grow older in their teaching position. Teachers should be given opportunities to be involved in decision-making and should grow professionally. The instructional competence of teachers should be enhanced through continuous professional trainings, seminars and workshops. The proposed training plan may be tried out to test its effectiveness.

Keywords: Empowerment, Training, Teachers, Instructional Competence.

INTRODUCTION

A teacher is responsible for giving life to a classroom, it is his/her responsibility to share knowledge to the students. The teachers’ objective is to give the students ample amount of education and experience for them to finish, be of use to the society, and for them to obtain a convenient life. On the other hand, the teachers should continuously enrich their knowledge, enhance their and skills for them to be more productive and knowledgeable with new information at skills and to be able to keep up with the fast changes accruing in the world or the society today. This study is made to further understand the basic needs of a teachers most especially in the field of teaching. To address the need of the teachers in terms of knowledge and skills, they are provided with in-service trainings.

How can a teacher be empowered? From the dictionary there are two definitions of “empowered”, the first one states that “to give power or authority to, especially by legal means” and empowerment as to “enable or permit”. It may be too wide to define what is empowerment but let just define it related to what teaching is, it may mean power in the sense of being able to design what is for the sake of their students or being a teacher enables you to influence your students or co-teachers, but this would be more acceptable if the teacher involve is experienced, expert and knowledgeable in his craft. In education one of the most important tasks of a teacher is enabling themselves to grow because an empowered teacher can easily make decisions on what is good for their own without the judgment for other people. It is also important for an empowered teacher to consider diversity; they must be open change and creative which is important to teaching. The second definition of the dictionary may be linked to what Frances Bolin said, he stated that “investing teachers with the right to participate in the determination of school goals and policies to exercise professional judgment about how and what to teach”. In this perspective an empowered teacher has the ability to craft and use tools and information that can be used in the need of their student. An empowered teacher will encourage to teach CPD (Continuous Professional Development) in where they can share what they know for the success of education.

Some of the problems that teachers are facing and obstacles that may hinder in their empowerment, first off is the seminars they wish to attend often cost expensively in order to join that fact makes them think critically because they are not paid that big. Secondly enlisting and deciding to continue their Masteral Degree that takes a lot of their time and money that instead of investing in studying is they give their time and money to their family. As a teacher it is our job to teach our students to became a good citizen and equip them to be able to catch up with the changes in our society, teachers need to continue studying to keep up with this constant change.

It’s sad to think that there are teachers contented in their current position and has no desire to further learn. The world is continuously spinning that is why we need to do our best not to be left behind. Many believe that empowerment would affect other factors that include professional growth, teacher’s status, and self-efficacy as well as decision making as part of creating a holistic and effective administrator of classroom instruction. However, some effects of these empowerments are not holistically observed and may vary depending on the domain in which the teacher influence is focused. It challenges the goal of a teacher in the classroom, wherein, some empowerment may not be for specific target for development, a teacher will still rely on how they were trained in executing her pedagogy in old school virtuosity.

One article from the internet that inspires and open mind to conduct this study is to find a way to help teachers to improve themselves, this article is authored by Joseph Kretovics. is a professor from Michigan University in Illinois, is the director of the GEAR UP project that aims to help the students from the poor sector of the society to finish their post-secondary education by rehabilitating schools, providing financial assistance to the students and to their family, and actively participating in the society.

Another project of Kretovics is the Project SHAPE (Scott High Accelerated Program for Education), the project focused on the rate of drop-outs, unruly, and low performing students from grades 9 and 10. For him, the only solution to these problems are the teachers, that is why the teachers under his supervision were given the opportunity to attend different seminars and trainings to equip teachers with the skills that will address the aforementioned problems. Through the Project SHAPE the teachers were able to conduct research, created academic program, mastered the skills in creating curriculum and used different teaching strategies that motivated the students. This project positively affected the performance of the teachers and the students it may be concluded that if we employ the same technique in equipping our teachers with these kinds of skills, it would improve their expertise that would reflect on students’ performance.

Empowerment translates into teacher performance and reflects primarily in the student’s output. This empowerment can go beyond providing necessary professional advancement that would result to a big contribution to the pedagogy and also reconstructing the teacher’s sense of achievement for an effective performance standards and instructional practices. This study aims to show the importance of equal opportunities which should be given to all teachers. This can be done by providing seminars, workshops, and trainings particularly those that tackle the newly implemented K-12 Curriculum to equip teachers on new techniques and strategies in teaching that are creative and innovative. Encouraging teachers to participate in these kinds of activities will make them grow professionally, valued and trusted and teachers may share to other educators the knowledge they learned from attending these seminars. An opportunity to attend to seminars, trainings, and workshops is also a chance for teachers to share whatever they learned to other teachers that maybe within the school or outside. Legally, it is stated in the Teachers Ethics that teachers should seek continuous learning no matter their position in the institution and years rendered.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Descriptive method of research was used in this study. Descriptive survey method is designed to gather information about current/existing events during the conduct of the study. The aim of employing this method was to describe the nature of situation as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause of particular phenomena. The researcher utilized random sampling technique to select (4) four schools in Pobcaran as research locale. The school participants were: Caloocan High School 63 teachers (64.29%), Caloocan City Science High School 11 teachers (11.22), Ma. Clara High School (17) teachers (17.35%), and Tandang Sora Integrated School (7) teachers (7.14%) with a total of 98 teacher-respondents. The researcher used a set of questionnaires which is researcher made that will gather the needed data and information to assess the teacher’s empowerment in their instructional competence. The questionnaires consist of three (3) parts. Part1 consist of teacher’s profile in terms of gender, age, educational attainment, length of service and position.

Part 2 consist of extent of teacher’s empowerment in terms of Decision Making, a. I support every decision the school implements, a. I device my own lesson outside the curriculum, c. I have the freedom to decide what is best for my students, d. I make decisions about the curriculum/academic program. Professional Growth a. I dream to become a curriculum/academic planner, b. I incorporate what I learn from the seminar to my classroom strategy, c. I am given the opportunity to function as one of the teacher-leaders, d. I attend seminars at my own expense. Status a. I am contented in my current position b. Teachers consult my expertise most of the time, c. I feel that I am involve in an important program for children, d. Principals, other teachers, and school personnel solicit my advice. Self-Efficacy a. I believe that I have the ability to get things done on time, b. I have standards on what I do, c. I have a strong motivation to make change, d. I believe that I am good at what I do. Autonomy a. I have control over daily schedules, b. I can work independently with minimum or no supervision at all, c. I make my decision independently, d. I am able to choose teaching strategies and methodology and instructional materials. Impact a. I like to implement a project that benefits both the students and teachers, b. I perceive that I can influence other, c. I enjoy collaboration with others teacher in the school I work, d. I help to train other teachers about innovative ideas that could help their teaching.

Part 3 level of teacher’s competence in terms of Content knowledge and Pedagogy, a. Do extra readings about the lesson prior to teaching class, b. Make use of differentiated learning experience to address the learner’s need, c. Devised lesson that applies across the curriculum teaching areas. Learning Environment and Diversity of Learners, a. Practices a nonviolent discipline that ensures learning-focused environment conducive to learning, b. Promotes teaching innovation that reflects discovery, exploration, and experiential activities within the range of the learners capacity, c. Plans, executes and evaluate learners’ need and interest for strategic classroom teaching, Curriculum Planning, a. Utilize feedback from teachers and learners in planning to enrich the teaching classroom strategy, b. Evaluate teaching materials, learning resources and learning process that meets the curriculum requirements, c. Adhere strictly to the curriculum guide. Assessment and Reporting, a. Diagnose the results of a formative and summative assessment to identify the learner’s progress consistent with the curriculum requirement, b. Interpret the tools used in the evaluation of the learner’s achievement, c. Perform a follow up monitoring to ensure the inclusion of the content of the curriculum is used in the lesson. The questionnaire used in this study was validated by the following persons: Dr. Lilian B. Enriquez, Vice President of Research and Publications of University of Caloocan City; Ms. Flora T. Teope, Principal I of Caloocan City Science High School; and Mrs. Arenite C. Tuzon, Master Teacher I Mathematics Department of Caloocan High School.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This program is designed to assist the development of teacher as they perform their task in educational institution.

The program will address key aspects of Teacher Empowerment such as Decision Making, Professional Growth, Status, Autonomy, Impact and Instructional Competence as Assessment and Reporting with a view to broadening teacher’s knowledge and pedagogic experience. The proposed program seeks to enhance the overall professional teacher skills and competencies of educator in order to raise school performances and increase student achievement. The program seeks to enable teachers to attain the level of professional competence wherein they can implement and maintain an effective curriculum and ensure that there are assurance systems within the school. The participant of this program envisions knowledge, strategies and experience of the education system in the schools in Pobcaran District, Caloocan City through the help of Division Office of Caloocan, Principals and the Administrations.

ACTION PLAN

Teachers Empowerment in their Instructional Competence

Pobcaran Cluster of Division of City Schools of Caloocan

CONCLUSIONS

In order for the teachers to be acknowledge they must possess distinct qualities such as expertise, experience and skills that can be their advantage. Some respondents are aware of their task and they could perform in a great extent of expectation.

Teachers should be allowed to be independent in the aspect of management and curriculum development.

The extents of the effects of the empowerment are reflected on the student’s performance even though the empowerment is directed to the teachers who executes these learnings.

Teacher’s profile and empowerment of teachers are related.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Teacher should continue to acquire higher learning as they grow older in their teaching position.

Teachers should be given opportunities to be involved in decision-making and grow professionally.

The instructional competence of teachers should be enhanced through continuous professional trainings, seminars and workshops.

The proposed training plan may be tried out to test the effectiveness.

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