Out-Of-Field Teaching: Context, Processes and Experiences in Cavite Public Secondary Schools

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Assigning teachers to handle subjects outside their specialization is an educational concern which can impact the personal and professional lives of teachers and also the overall quality of basic education. This reality of out-of-field teaching (OOFT) is not uncommon among secondary schools. This paper presents how evident is OOFT in Cavite and the existing processes and support systems relative to out-of-field teachers (OOFt) in five schools’ division offices in the province. It describes the personal, professional and institutional experiences of OOFts and come up with recommendations in addressing identified issues as well as the development of teachers who are into teaching out-of-field.

METHODS

A combination of quantitative and qualitative or mixed method was used. 274 teacher-respondents from 866 recorded OOFT cases in public secondary schools infive schools’ divisions answered the questionnaire. 21 teacher-participants participated in the focus group discussions and interviews and 4 principal-participants served as key informants. Statistical treatments such as frequency, percentage and weightedmean were used. Also, Lichtman's 3Cs of analysis was used to analyze qualitative data and describe the experiences of the out-of-field teachers.

RESULTS

The findings revealed that while school heads are doing their best to strictly follow the Department of Education's Orders on hiring processes in secondary schools, the misalignment of teaching loads remains an unavoidable situation and most likely to happen to novice teachers. Data gathered revealed that there are 19.37% cases of OOFT in the province with the highest incidence recorded in Division of Cavite Province. It was also revealed that more than half of OOFts are novice or teachers who are in the service for less than 5 years with most of them teaching MAPEH, Filipino, Values Education, and AralingPanlipunan subjects. To respond to this situation, 82.85% of OOFts attend seminars and trainings related to the non-specialized subject with 74.08% of these seminars and trainings sponsored by the Department of Education.

DISCUSSIONS

This concludes that OOFT is a continuous practice in public secondary schools partly due to an imbalance of teachers' supply majoring in specific subjects. Range of solutions can be made to help the OOFts. This study provides valuable recommendations for teachers' pre-serviceand induction program, school processes in assigning loads and teachers' professional development which can be a basis for further exploration of school leaders and policy makers.