Intensifying the Pedagogical Practices of the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) Teachers in Calaca Senior High School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The challenges that lie ahead in Calaca Senior High School are enormous. Most of the recently hired teachers were new graduates with minimum experiences from private schools, some were not teachers by profession, especially those who handle Technical Vocational Livelihood track, others were not yet licensed professional teachers, while there were few who teach other subjects not aligned to their specialization, which adds more difficulties in the preparation and delivery of the lessons. The researcher aimed to assess the pedagogical practices of the teachers, which determine the imperfections that need strengthening and improvement. It guided the researcher in devising an action plan to further strengthen the quality of practices that will remediate the identified pedagogical issues.

METHODS

The study employed a descriptive research design involving 24 Humanities and Social Sciences teachers as respondents. No sampling method was employed since all of the HUMSS teachers were involved in the study. A self-made questionnaire validated by knowledgeable research grammarian and statistician was utilized as the main data gathering instrument. Frequency, ranking, weighted mean, and Pearson-r were used for the analysis of data.

RESULTS

The teachers' profiles show that none of them have finished master's degree or doctorate degree. 14 teachers have passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) while 5 teachers haven't passed the board exam yet. Majority of respondents are beginning teachers with 0-3 years of experience. Teachers' effectiveness in preparation of Daily Lesson Log is moderately evident since they lack training for the new format of lesson planning. The teachers' effectiveness in the utilization of pedagogical approaches is least evident because they lack knowledge of the different strategies introduced by the Regional Memorandum which is the 2C2IR. The teachers' effectiveness in providing assessment activities and classroom management is moderately evident, which is significantly related to their profile. It means that the respondents' professional qualifications, educational background, and experience affect the effectiveness of teachers' pedagogical practices.

DISCUSSIONS

Effective teachers who utilize a variety of pedagogical strategies display a wide range of skills and abilities that lead to creating a learning environment where all students feel comfortable and are sure that they can succeed both academically and personally when they applied the appropriate approaches. This complex combination of skills and abilities integrated into the professional teaching standards that also include essential knowledge, dispositions, and commitments that allow educators to practice at a high level. The proposed action plan has a positive effect on the pedagogical practices of the HUMSS teachers. Hence, it improved teachers' skills in the preparation of daily lesson log, utilization of pedagogical approaches, providing assessment activities, and classroom management.