Challenges Encountered By Public Secondary School Teachers in Utilizing Instructional Technologies: A Phenomelogical Inquiry

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Today's educational system challenges teachers to be more adaptable, resourceful, and able to focus on the real needs of the learners and society. The needs of society are apparently shown in the ever-changing curriculum. Thus, in this 21st century, teachers need to deeply understand the need of the learners to be able to become productive individuals in the society. This is possible only when their environment provides quality learning though enhanced instructional technologies. These realities served as the basis in conducting a phenomenological inquiry on the challenges encountered by the teachers in utilizing instructional technologies despite of its scarcity.

METHODS

The study used qualitative research with phenomenology as an approach. The seven (7) respondents were chosen purposively following ethical considerations in conducting a qualitative study. A semi-structured interview was conducted for data gathering. Answers given were transcribed in verbatim and extracted to identify the themes based on the answers of the respondents.

RESULTS

Six themes emerged based on the lived experiences of public-school teachers of integrated schools in Calamba City in utilizing instructional technology. These are: schools support system is needed, problems/challenges are part of the process, instructional technologies are means for successful teaching, creativeness and innovativeness of teachers, strategies to handle students, sense of accomplishment and achievement, and sense of fulfillment.

DISCUSSIONS

Respondents are familiar with the challenges they encounter in using instructional technologies. They can enumerate them since they encounter these problems almost every day for ten months. They have mentioned more than ten challenges. They have accepted that this is the real scenario in the public school. Lack of budget, students' attitudes, environment, and resource availability are only some of the problems encountered. Though faced with so many challenges, they have also employed different strategies to address these challenges. Strategies are useful in order to allow the teachers to show their resourcefulness, creativity, and innovativeness.