Improving The Teaching Competencies of Malitam Elementary School Teachers in Teaching Reading through Coaching and Mentoring Approach

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Teaching reading skills is one of the big challenges among elementary teachers. Most of the pupils nowadays have poor reading skills. Teachers do not know the appropriate strategies to use and how to use such strategies. Some of them even do not even have reading strategies. These are the reasons why the school head search for interventions to improve the reading techniques of teachers who are teaching English subject. This study aims to develop teachers' teaching reading strategies that would eventually improve their pupils' reading ability.

METHODS

The researcher used the descriptive method of research in education. A questionnaire was used as the main data gathering instrument which was composed of three parts. The first part asked about the profile of twenty-three (23) teachers teaching English Reading. The second part is about the performance of teachers in terms of Diversity of Learners, Curriculum Content and Pedagogy, Planning, Assessing, Reporting Learners' Outcomes. The last is about reading skills which need to be mentored and coached to improve the skills of teachers who are teaching reading.

RESULTS

It was found out that majority of the teachers in Malitam Elementary School who are teaching Reading have a proficient level. This means that they are open for changes and are adaptive to innovation in this changing world. The reading skills need to be given emphasis in teaching Reading to improve teachers' knowledge, skills and competencies specifically in Critical Incident Analysis and Note Taking. On the matter of coaching and mentoring, all teachers need to be mentored, but specific mentoring and coaching skills of school head could focus on the basics and beginners. A highly proficient teacher could be given tasks for mentoring co-teachers to train them for the future leadership.

DISCUSSIONS

As mentoring remains a viable policy option in education, a prerequisite is the acceptance of its complexity in carrying out the mentoring function. This implies careful planning. Teachers are valuable resources in education, and high-quality performance in teaching is an essential ingredient of educational improvement or reform. To assist beginning teachers, it is necessary to support their performance in the classroom from the very beginning of their teaching careers. Support in the form of well-designed mentoring programs can be pivotal in inducting new teachers into the profession and keeping them in education.