Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

“The state shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education

at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education to all”.

-Article XIV, Philippine Constitution

A country‘s vision of inclusive growth and development entails investment in

human capital, particularly through the provision of quality basic education, competitive

technical vocational skills training, and relevant and responsive higher education as stated

in the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 (Philippine Education for All Review

Report, 2015).

As such, the Department of Education continues its goal of implementing the RA

10533 known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 in creating a functional basic

system that will produce productive and responsible citizens equipped with the essential

learning and employment (Tan, 2014).

Similarly, the K to 12 education gears for the holistic development of learners in

emerging the whole child, various learning and experience (DO 42 s. 2016). For this,

teachers must be multi-specialist, that is knowledgeable not only in the subject area they

are teaching but in other areas as well so that they can help the learners build up what

they gain in classrooms and outside the school and make sense of what was learned.
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Moreover, K to 12 education is student-centered. Thus, teachers must be able to

adapt to various learning styles and needs of the learners. Teachers must also be flexible

enough to ensure that learning takes place all the time using alternative modes. The K to

12 education reform will upgrade the country‘s education system and align it to the

requirements of the 21st century. This will require K to 12 teachers to develop the

essential knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values of the students to enable them to cope

with these changes. It is imperative for K to 12 teachers to know the characteristics or

attributes critical to 21st century education so that they may be able to integrate them in

their teaching (SEAMEO INNOTECH, 2012).

Truly, the implementation of K – 12 program of the Department of Education is

of a great help to every students in making the country at par with the competencies and

qualifications in developing global Filipinos as demanded of the ASEAN Integration

(Cruz, 2016). In such a way, the program started its operation in honing the students‘

career.

But have the world heard the voices and the lived experiences of the teachers in

the upland areas who were known to be the primer in the whole formation of the K to 12

Program?

Nevertheless, there are so many salient features of the K to 12 Program that needs

to be investigated particularly on the awareness of the teachers who plays a significant

role in the teaching-learning process and their remarkable voices in the scheme of its

implementation. With those premise, the researcher wants to investigate a closer a look of

the K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Program.

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Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to answer the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the Teachers in the District of Cauayan I and

II in the Division of Negros Occidental in terms of:

a. Age;

b. Sex; and

c. Educational Attainment?

2. What is the level of K to 12 Awareness of the Teachers in the District of Cauayan

I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental when taken as a whole and in terms

of Vision and Mission, Curriculum, Competencies, Assessment, Strategies, and

Instructional Planning and when grouped according to Age, Sex, and Educational

Attainment?

3. Is there a significant difference in the level of K to 12 Awareness of the Teachers

in the District of Cauayan I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental when

taken as a whole and in terms of Vision and Mission, Curriculum, Competencies,

Assessment, Strategies, and Instructional Planning and when grouped according

to Age, Sex, and Educational Attainment?

4. What are the challenges and difficulties of the teachers in the implementation of

the K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Program in the upland areas of the District

of Cauayan I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental?

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5. What are the lived experiences of the teachers in the implementation of the K to

12 Enhanced Basic Education Program in the upland areas of the District of

Cauayan I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental?

6. What enhancement program will be implemented after the results of the study?

Hypothesis

1. There is no significant difference in the level of K to 12 Awareness of the

Teachers in the District of Cauayan I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental

when taken as a whole and in terms of Vision and Mission, Curriculum,

Competencies, Assessment, Strategies, and Instructional Planning and when

grouped according to Age, Sex, and Educational Attainment.

Theoretical Framework

Education is one of the ways to change life, change values, and change fate of

one‘s individual. K – 12 program is part of the proposed educational reforms of the

Philippines present President which shifts Philippine Basic Education system to twelve

years plus kinder from the current ten years (Parica, 2013).

This study is anchored on the Social Adaption Theory by Kahle et al (1986),

Cognitive Development Theory by Jean Piaget (1980), Motivation Theory by Abrahan

Maslow (1943) and Kolb‘s Experiential Learning Style theory (1984).

Social Adaption Theory. The Social adaptation theory applies neo-Piagetian

concepts to such content areas as attitude change and advertising effectiveness. The
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theory assumes that schemata grow as a result of dynamic adaptation through

assimilation and accommodation, as well as through internal organization of information.

Adaptation rather than rationality animates change. This paper elaborates on the theory of

developing awareness among the teachers and in advertising its effectiveness, attitude-

behavior consistency, self-concept, values, and philosophy. As such, this theory assumes

the importance of social adaptation in promoting learning to the learners.

Cognitive Development Theory by Jean Piaget (1980). He was a French speaking

Swiss theorist who posited that children learn through actively constructing knowledge

through hands-on experience. He suggested that the adult‘s role in helping the child learn

was to provide appropriate materials for the child to interact and construct. In such a way

the Theory of Constructivism is generally attributed to Jean Piaget (1980), who

articulated mechanism by which knowledge is internalized by learners. He suggested that

through processes of accommodation and assimilation, individuals construct new

knowledge from their experiences. When individual assimilate, they incorporate the new

experience into an already existing framework without changing that framework. This

may occur when individual experiences are aligned with their internal representations of

the world, but may also occur as a failure to change a faulty understanding. In contrast,

when individuals‘ experiences contradict their internal representations, they may change

their perceptions of the experiences to fit their internal representations. According to the

theory, accommodation is the process of reframing one‘s mental experiences.

Accommodation can be understood as the mechanism by which failure leads to learning;

when an individual‘s act on the expectation that the world operates in one way and it
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violates the expectations, persons often fail, but by accommodating this new experience

and reframing the model of the way the world work and learn from the experience of

failure or failure of others.

Motivation Theory by Abraham Maslow (1943), according to these, Maslow

subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans‘ innate curiosity.

Maslow said on his theory that through the curiosity of the human they become motivated

to do things on their own way. They are being motivated to finish and work harder. His

theories are parallel to other theories of human development psychology, some of which

focus on describing the stages of growth in humans.

Kolb‘s Experiential Learning Style theory (1984) states the four stages of

experience such as; concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract

conceptualization and, active experimentation. As such the theory of experience of Kolb

paved the way for the realizations of the teachers in reflecting such remarkable

experiences that lead them to develop more ideas necessary in facing such challenges and

difficulties in life.

Conceptual Framework

This study investigated different areas of the K to 12 implementation that serve as

an avenue for the administrators and teachers to develop such program that may help the

teachers‘ development.
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Moreover, the study focused on the teachers‘ demographic profile concerning

with the age, sex, and educational attainment which targeted in investigating its

significance in the implementation of the K to 12 Program.

DepEd Order No. 42 s 2016 reiterates that the different features of the K to 12

Program serve as a blueprint in engaging with the demands of the society namely the

Mission, Vision, ad Goals; Curriculum; Competencies; Assessment; Strategies; and

Instructional Planning. These are the significant areas that pertain to the holistic

development of the learners and guideposts for the teachers.

Among those areas that will be investigated by the teachers are the following:

The vision of the Department of Education is more than just the end-goal of a

plan. It is a dream, a wish, a prayer – what the teachers and students are fervently hoped

for and diligently work toward. In which by envisioning, the whole community will begin

to fulfill the mandate and responsibilities stated in Republic Act No. 9155 and a duty of

every Filipinos. On the other hand, the mission and goal was mandated in the 1987

constitution in which it emphasizes on the protection and development of learners.

The K to 12 curriculum follows a spiral progression of content. This means that

students learn concepts while young and learn the same concepts repeatedly at a higher

degree of complexity as they move from one grade level to another. According to Bruner

(1960) as cited in DepEd Order 42 s. 2016, this helps learners organize their knowledge,

connect what they know, and master it. Teachers should make sure that in preparing

lessons, learners are able to revisit previously encountered topics with an increasing level

of complexity and that lessons build on previous learning.

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The competencies of each lesson from Kinder to Grade 12 focus on the 21st

Century Skills which help in the progression of every learner. The 21st century skills are

the bases in forming competencies to be taught to the learners. Moreover, those

competencies are divided into different number of days or hours for Senior High School

teachers. The lessons that will be delivered to the learners posit developmental skills and

competency-based kind of learning (Pan, 2014).

Also, classroom assessment is a joint process that involves both teachers and

learners. It is an integral part of teaching-learning process. Indeed, at the hearts of this

assessment is the recognition and deliberate consideration of the learners‘ zone of

proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978). Thus, appropriate assessment whether

formative or summative must be engaged to the learners to acquire life-long learning. It

caters different areas of learning whether before the lesson, during the lesson or after the

lesson.

Student-centered strategies are the main consideration in injecting quality learning

to the learners. The teachers must focus on the differentiated instruction, ICT Integration,

Localization and contextualization of text and performance based strategies that would

divulge the interest of the learners. Those strategies would open the mind and grasp the

interest of the learners to learn. It eventually, would lead to a great opportunity for the

learners (Valiandes, 2015).

The Department of Education (DepEd) recognizes that instructional planning is

essential to successful teaching and learning (Dick & Reiser, 1996). Instructional

planning is the process of determining what learning opportunities students in school will
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have by planning ―the content of instruction, selecting teaching materials, designing the

learning activities and grouping methods, and deciding on the pacing and allocation of

instructional time‖ (Virginia Department of Education, 2016). The planning of the

teachers must have different areas that would give the opportunity for the learners to

experience learning. It has specific objectives that would lead to a better instructional

decision and would give the gist of performance for the students. However, the

Instructional planning must be suited to the learner‘s interest and cognitive level.

In line with this, DepEd Order No. 42 s 2016 issues the guidelines on daily lesson

preparation in order to institutionalize instructional planning as a critical part of the

teaching and learning process. These guidelines are meant to support teachers in

effectively organizing and managing K to 12 classrooms to be genuinely responsive to

learners‘ needs.

The six (6) features of the K to 12 show different scheme of the teaching-learning

process and eventually portrays that the curriculum and its components are interrelated

with each other. These show that those areas must be assessed to evaluate the awareness

of the teachers in delivering it to the school and to the learners.

The implementation of the K to 12 program causes some of the teachers to create

such challenges and difficulties in dealing with the different aspects of teaching.

According to Parica (2013), the challenges encountered by the teachers lead them to

develop confidence and self-esteem that would guarantee that teaching leads to an

effective delivery of the language. Indeed, such challenges mau cause difficulties that

may inspire the teachers to teach well for the learners.

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Furthermore, that awareness of the teachers in the implementation of the K to 12

Enhanced Basic Education Program will be further verified through a systematic

reflection of the insights and lived experiences in the remote areas.

A proposed enhancement program was created as an answer the different gaps

that may arise based on the findings of the study. The program may boost the salient

features of the K to 12 of the teachers in the District of Cauayan I and II in the Division

of Negros Occidental.
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Figure 1. Schematic Diagram showing the Conceptual Framework of the Study

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Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study focused on the level of awareness, challenges and difficulties of the

teachers in the implementation of the K-12 Enhanced Basic Education Program in the

upland areas in the District of Cauayan I and II. The concept of the study focused on the

six (6) areas namely: Mission and Vision; Curriculum; Competencies; Assessment;

Strategies; and Instructional Planning. Moreover, the researcher had investigated the

pressing challenges and difficulties encountered by the participants.

In addition, this study dealt with the lived experiences of three (3) teachers who

are assigned in the District I and II of the Municipality of Cauayan in the Division of

Negros Occidental.

Significance of the Study

This study may be beneficial to the following:

Department of Education. This study may be beneficial to the Department of

Education in analyzing the awareness on the different features of the K to 12 Basic

Education Program and will eventually lead to a well-equipped teachers in reaching the

zeal of excellence towards quality education. Moreover, it will be an avenue for the

Department to determine such insights of the teachers in the upland areas and know their

pressing needs towards a holistic implementation of the program.

School Administrators. By the results and insights which may be gained from

this study, school administrators would be guided by understanding and developing the

awareness of the different features of the K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Program.

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This would be beneficial in managing the teachers effectively in order to achieve the

common goals of the school in which in effect would benefit the learners and the society.

Empirically, school administrators would be able to understand the behavior of the

teachers and how they would adjust to such behavior and somehow influence in order to

improve the gaps in the implementation of the K to 12 Program. Moreover, it may enable

the administrators to gauge with the existing scenario of the K to 12 program and may

develop such program that may improve the salient areas of improvement.

Teachers. This study may be beneficial to the teachers in the sense that they

would be able to understand the features of the K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education

Program and in the attainment of the institutional goals. They would be able to

understand the necessary the different salient features of the K to 12 Program that may

develop the sense of awareness and grasping the innate feature of the curriculum.

Nevertheless, they may be aware and be prepared for K-12 curriculum. This may serve as

their basis to improve or upgrade their competencies and to develop their strategies of

teaching.

Researchers. Other researchers whose interest is in line with the implementation

of the K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Program may benefit from the results of this

study. They may use this as reference in similar studies that they may conduct or may

learn and develop new research topics out of the findings of this study. As such, this

study may help and inspire more researchers to be more innovative, resourceful and carry

out the program of the Department of Education that may be beneficial to them.
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Students. The results of the study may lead the students to acquire a quality

education by aligning such needs that will be gathered from this study. This may

eventually give opportunity for the students to develop competencies as results of the

teachers‘ enhancement program of this study.

Definition of terms

The following terms are conceptually and operationally defined:

Assessment. It refers to a the systematic collection, review, and use of

information about educational programs undertaken for the purpose of improving student

learning and development (Wiley & Sons, 2009).

In this study, assessment refers to collecting of the data based on the aligned

learning standards mandated by the Department of Education in gearing – up with the 21st

century learners.

Awareness. It refers to the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be

conscious of events, objects, thoughts, emotions, or sensory patterns. In this level of

consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer (Free dictionary online,

2016).

In this study, it refers to the state of consciousness of the teachers in the

Department of Education emphasizing on the vision-mission, strategies, competencies,

instructional planning, and assessment.

Competencies. A competency is the capability to apply or use a set of related

knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform "critical work functions"
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or tasks in a defined work setting. Competencies often serve as the basis for skill

standards that specify the level of knowledge, skills, and abilities required for success in

the workplace as well as potential measurement criteria for assessing competency

attainment (Ennis, 2008).

In this study, these refer to the 21st century skills which geared towards the

development on Information, Media and Technology Skills, Learing and Innovation

skills, Communication skills and Life and Career Skills.

Challenges and Difficulties. These are the two terms which refer to the difficult

task or problem that is hard to do or a difficult situation that causes great hardships to a

person (Parica, 2013).

In this study, these two terms pertain to the difficult situation that hinder or may

inspire the teachers in dealing with the different demands of their environment.

Curriculum. It refers to a planned outcome which may limit the planning of

teachers to a consideration of the content or the body of knowledge they wish to transmit

or a list of the subjects to be taught or both (Morris & Adamson, 2010).

In this study, it refers to a plan of the Department of Education that usually

contains a statement of aims and specific objectives, selection and organization of

content; it either implies or manifests certain patterns of learning and teaching that

includes a program of evaluation of the outcomes.

Experiences. The teacher learning through a series of activities that molded

her/him to become a better teacher on the go.

Instructional Planning. It is the process of systematically planning, developing,

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evaluating, and managing the instructional process by using principles of teaching and

learning (DO. 42 s 2016).

In this study, it refers to a road map of the teacher in delivering quality education

to the learners. It contains different parts of the lesson which are aligned with the

implementation of the concepts on K to 12.

Lived Experiences. These were first coined by Husser (1997) from ―lebenswelt‖

or life world which is characterized by embodied experiences that is geared into the

world as communal nexus of meaningful situation, expressive gestures, and practical

activities that any group of person has experienced.

Mission. It refers to a concise action statement collaboratively developed and

adopted by the school community that describes the compelling purpose of the school in

which it collaboratively developed and adopted by the different stakeholders that

describes the compelling purpose of the school (Fayad, 2011).

In this study, it refers to a mandated mission statement of the Department of

Education that focused on an end-goal of a plan; a dream, a wish, a prayer that Filipinos

fervently hope for and what we diligently work towards.

Strategies. It refers to the approaches that can be used across curricular areas to

support the learning of students (Ritchhart et al., 2011).

In this study, it refers to the mandated teaching strategies embedded in the

Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 which give emphasis on Differentiated

Instruction, Localization and Contextualization, and Collaborative teaching.

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Vision. It refers to a motivating, challenging and compelling picture of the desired

future that inspires and motivates persons to learn and achieve their goals in life. These

statements present the aspirations that the employees and the leadership in particular have

for the organization that include references to a time span in which they intend to

accomplish the proposed goal and the ranking that the organization would like to obtain

in comparison to members of its peer group (Fayad, 2011)

In this study, it refers to the end goal of the Department of Education in reflecting

the future scenario of the Filipinos in equipping with the necessary skills in facing the

21st century.
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Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the review of literature and present findings of related

studies on K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Program and its features which were

vividly presented to establish the existing gaps and problems on the variables investigated

in this study. The literature is presented in themes.

On K to 12 Related Concepts

The K to 12 Curriculum causes a great change in Philippines as it impedes many

problems prior to its implementation. Indeed the country, Philippines was tagged by so

many critics as in the arena of academic disadvantage (Quismundo, 2011). According to

UNESCO (2010), the Philippines is the only country with a 10-year cycle.

Undersecretary Dina Ocampo, associate dean at the University of the Philippines College

of Education stated that one only has to see public school students‘ achievement test

scores to see that the system has failed the Filipino student. If one would look at the data,

achievement scores are very low. So if one would think about it, it‘s really not working.

According to the Philippine Commission on Women, in the 2008 Functional

Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) showed that of the estimated 68

million Filipinos 10 years old and over in 2008, 95.6% are basically literate. The basic

literacy rate among females is 96.1% while 95.1% among males and the teachers

accounted for the highest percentage at 44 percent (819,377), followed by Nurses at 27

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percent (504,902. In the school year 2008-2009, data revealed that 89.58 percent of the

public elementary school teachers are female; only 10.42 percent are male teachers. In

the public secondary schools, 77.06 percent are female; only 22.94 percent are male

teachers.

It supports the conforms with the ideas of Philippine Education for All 2015

Review Report (2015), that in 2008, among the population from ages 10 to 64, young

Filipinos aged 20 to 24 had the highest functional literacy rate at 92.8 percent, followed

by those in the 25 to 29 age group (91.2%) and the 15 to 19 age group (90.3%). The least

functionally literate are those from 50-59 years old (71.1%).

Looking at the educational attainment of Filipinos per age group, it could be

gleaned that young Filipinos age 15 to 29 have the lowest level of education while those

30-39 age bracket tend to have attained the highest professional qualifications.

Furthermore, Education Undersecretary Alberto Muyot said that the scores were

really scary. Average National Achievement Test (NAT) scores of elementary school

students are at a failing 64 percent. The number further slides in high school, with the

national average at 46 percent. Filipino students fade even deeper into the background on

the international stage, as reflected in results of the 2003 TIMMS (Trends in International

Math and Science Study). Results of the test, taken by second year high school students,

placed the country 41st among 45 participating countries, lagging at the bottom with

African countries. Filipino students scored an average 35 percent, barely above students

from Ghana and Botswana.

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As such the, 10 –year cycle of curriculum is described as congested. This means

that students do not get enough time to perform tasks because the curriculum is designed

to be taught in a span of 12 years and not 10 years. The more obvious result of this is the

fact that most high school students graduate without the readiness to take upon higher

education or employment. These students are not equipped with the basic skills or

competencies needed at work. Furthermore, the short duration of the basic education

program puts Filipinos who are interested to either work or study abroad at a

disadvantage. This is because other countries see the 10-year program as incomplete,

which then, causes Filipino graduates to not be considered as professionals abroad. Given

all these supporting facts, there is indeed a need to improve the quality of basic education

by enhancing it and by expanding the basic education cycle (Velasco, 2012).

Canezo and Biliran (2016) believed that the lead implementers of K to12 senior

high school modeling in Eastern Visayas are much aware of the background and rationale

of the program. However, it is observed that the program implementers have reasonably

felt concerns on the preparedness and needs.

As stated by Crisol and Alamillo (2014), one of the most often repeated

definitions of a curriculum is that curriculum is the total learning experience. This

description implies that the crux of a curriculum is the different planned and unplanned

activities which have been lived, acted upon or done by the learners with the guidance of

the teacher. Hence in curriculum development, the teaching and learning are actions

necessary to accomplish a goal in education.

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As presented in the article of Velasco (2012), President Benigno S. Aquino

announced : ―We need to add two years to our basic education. Those who can afford pay

up to fourteen years of schooling before university. Thus, their children are getting into

the best universities and the best jobs after graduation. I want at least 12 years for our

public school children to give them an even chance at succeeding.‖

In line with this, the 1987 Philippine Constitution states that, ―The State shall

establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education

relevant to the needs of the people and the society.― Such mandate gives justice to the

basic rights of every Filipino child: the right to quality education and the right to a quality

life.

The National Research Council (2012) that the key components of science

education are curriculum, instruction, teacher development, and assessment. It is difficult

to focus on any particular component without considering how it is influenced by—and

how it in turn influences—the other components. For example, what students learn is

clearly related to what they are taught, which itself depends on many things: state science

standards; the instructional materials available in the commercial market and from

organizations (such as state and federal agencies) with science-related missions; the

curriculum adopted by the local board of education; teachers‘ knowledge and practices

for teaching; how teachers elect to use the curriculum; the kinds of resources, time, and

space that teachers have for their instructional work; what the community values

regarding student learning; and how local, state, and national standards and assessments

influence instructional practice.

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According to the K to 12 Deped Primer (2011), ―K-12 means ―Kindergarten and

the 12 years of elementary and secondary education.‖ Kindergarten points to the 5-year

old child who undertakes the standardized curriculum for preschoolers. Elementary

education refers to 6 years of primary school (Grades 1-6) while secondary education

means four years of junior high school (Grades 7-10 or HS Year 1-4). In addition to this,

two years are now allotted for senior high school (Grades 11-12 or HS Year 5-6). Prof.

Lorina Calingasan of the College of Education in UP Diliman explains that ―K-12 means

extending basic education by two years, so instead of having a high school graduate at 16

(years old), we will have high schoolers graduating at 18‖.

The DepEd discussion paper (2010) on the enhanced K-12 basic education

program explains that this new setup ―seeks to provide a quality 12- year basic education

program that each Filipino is entitled to‖ (p.5). Furthermore, the purpose is not simply to

add 2 more years of education ―but more importantly to enhance the basic education

curriculum‖ (p.5). With the K-6-4-2 model, the 2 years for senior high school is aimed at

giving the students time to strengthen competencies and academic skills. The curriculum

will also provide specializations in the following: science and technology, music and arts,

agriculture and fisheries, sports, business and entrepreneurship, etc, depending on the

occupation or career that they intend to pursue. These two years will build on skills that

are essential to their chosen field (DepEd discussion paper, 2010).

Records will show that as early as 1925, there were already efforts to improve the

basic education curriculum and recommendations have been put forward since then.
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Thus, this idea of adding years to the present curriculum is not new (DepEd discussion

paper, 2010).

The K-12 Curriculum envisions ―holistically developed learners with 21st century

skills‖ (Deped Primer, 2011). At the core of this basic education program is ―the

complete human development of every graduate‖ (DepEd discussion paper, p.6). This

further means that every student would have an understanding of the world around him

and a passion for life-long learning while addressing every student‘s basic learning needs:

―learning to learn, the acquisition of numeracy, literacy, and scientific and technological

knowledge as applied to daily life‖ (p.6). In addition to this, every graduate is envisioned

to have respect for human rights and would aim to become ―Maka- Diyos, Maka-tao,

Makabansa, Maka-kalikasan‖ (p.6)

The K-12 vision aims to have relevance in the socio-economic realm, as well.

This means that the students would understand their role as productive members of the

country. Such vision can only be possible through an enhanced curriculum (Deped

Primer, 2011).

However, for any shift to succeed or fail, one should also look into the attitudes of

the people towards it. Russel (as cited in Crisol et al. (2014) stated that attitude is the

readiness to respond. A state of readiness, organized though experience, which exacts a

directive or dynamic response to all objects and situations to which is related.

The operation of the educational system revolves around laws legislated by

congress. The primary source of these laws is the 1987 constitution. A separate Article of

education is provided in the 1987 constitution. It prescribes that the state shall assign the
 24

highest budgetary priority to education and ensures that teaching will attract and retain its

rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other

means of job satisfaction and fulfillment (Nolledo, 2012).

Article XIV of the constitution which focused on education in which section I

states that ―the state shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education

at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all‖.

As depicted by SEAMEO Innotech (2011), the Philippines is the last country in

Asia and one of only three countries in the world with a 10-year pre-university program.

Thus, the Department of Education has formally launched its K-12 program, which adds

2 years to basic education in the country.

This means that aside from kindergarten, 6 years of elementary, and 4 years of

high school, students will have to undergo an additional 2 years of study in senior high

school.

Former Department of Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro (2011) further

clarifies that the additional 2 years will help students decide what course they will take in

college. It will also help high school students to be given a chance to specialize in science

and technology, music and arts, agriculture, fisheries, sports, business entrepreneurship,

and others. Furthermore, K-12 aims to make basic education sufficient enough so that

anyone who graduates can be gainfully employed and have a productive life. K – 12 will

look at the possibility of specialized education such as a high school or community,

which will focus on the arts or agriculture. Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro said

that the proposal will make high school graduates employable, making tertiary education
 25

unnecessary to get a job. That proposal of Department of Education to add two more

years to basic education drew mixed reactions in the Senate.

This study is similar with the study of Manalo (2012) entitled the Enhanced K –

12 Program as Perceived by the Parents of Gade Six Pupils of Baao District, Baao

Camarines Sur, where in it is similar to the fact that they are all concerned about the

perception of the parents and the perceived problem regarding the new program of the

Department of Education which is the K -12 program.

The Philippines is the only country in the world that still follows a 10 – year basic

education cycle and last October 2010, President Noynoy Aquino proposed the

Kindergarten plus 12 on the K-12 program to catch up with the rest of world having a 12

– year basic education cycle. However, with all the issues on education the country is still

has, parents expressed their opinions on the President Aquino‘s plan of strengthening the

Philippine education system through the K -12 program.

It is a must to hear the parents‘ opinion regarding the K – 12 program as they are

one of the stakeholders of schools and a respected parents of the students who are

involved on loving and caring for the future of their children.

The Philippine education system pursues the achievement of excellent

undergraduates in the elementary and secondary level. The Department of Education

pronounces the addition of two more years in the basic education of students, which

according to them will benefit not only the Filipino youth but all the Filipino in the

Philippines (Luistro, 2010).

 26

The administration asserts that with the implementation of such program, the

problem of unemployment in the country will be resolved. In as much as employment in

the Philippines is concerned, the K12 education also responds to the fact that most

countries in the world already have the same plan in their educational institutions. With

this, the standards of these countries go a notch higher than what the country has, thus,

creating an expansion in the global competency (DepEd, 2010).

K12 educational systems are additional years to secondary level. This research

contains some information about curriculum of K12. This means that the present four

years in high school will be called Junior High School and additional two years as Senior

High School. The model, which is being proposed, is K-6-4-2 where K means

Kindergarten (5 years old), 6 means six years in elementary (6 to 11 years old), 4 means

four years in Junior High School (12 to 15 years old) and 2 means two years in Senior

High School (16 to 17 years old) (DepEd, n.d).

Philippines is said to be the last and one of the three (3) Asian countries

worldwide with a 10-year pre-university cycle, the Angola and Djibouti are the other two.

According to the Department of Education (DepEd) a 12-year education program is

found to be the best period for learning under basic education. It was also the known

standard for students and professionals worldwide, the College General Education

curriculum had fewer units. Subjects that have been taken up in Basic Education will be

removed from the College General Education curriculum, the College General Education

curriculum will have fewer units. Subjects that have been taken up in Basic Education

will be removed from the College General Education curriculum (Parica, 2013).
 27

The DepEd had been transparent in the planning and implementation of K to 12.

They had regular consultations with various sectors since 2010, before the law was

passed during the crafting of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), and during

implementations. DepEd councils have also attended various fora and conferences,

including legislative inquiries, regarding K to12 (Philippine Education for All Review

Report, 2015).

Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 20,

series of 2013, otherwise known as the ―General Education Curriculum: Holistic

Understandings, Intellectual and Civic Competencies‖ is the policy cover for the revised

General Education Curriculum (GEC), which offers greater flexibility than the present

curriculum. The passage of the K to 12 Law enables such flexibility by releasing the GEC

from Science, Mathematics, English, Filipino, Literature, Humanities and Social Studies

subjects that are more appropriately taught in Senior High School. In so doing, the Law

paves the way for the exposure of undergraduate students to various dimensions of

knowledge and ways of comprehending social and natural realities ―that promise to

develop in the process, intellectual competencies—critical, analytical and creative

thinking and multiple forms of expression—and civic capacities demanded of members

of community, country and the world‖ (Commission on Higher Education [CHED],

2017).

Also, CHED (2017) stressed that the interdisciplinary approach underlying the

revised GEC hews proximately to the higher education mission of producing thoughtful

graduates imbued with values reflective of a humanist orientation (e.g., fundamental

 28

respect for others as human beings with intrinsic rights, cultural rootedness, a vocation to

serve); analytical and problem solving skills; the ability to think through the ethical and

social implications of a given course of action; and the competency to learn continuously

throughout life—that will enable them to live meaningfully in a complex, rapidly

changing and globalized world while engaging their community and the nation‘s

development issues and concerns.

Enhancing the quality of basic education in the Philippines is urgent and critical.

The poor quality of basic education is reflected in the low achievement scores of Filipino

students. One reason is that students do not get adequate instructional time or task.

Education in the Philippines has and always been a treasure for all Filipinos who

wish to improve life a little bit especially those belonging to the middle and low income

group. But with the advent of the K+12 Basic program of the Department of Education

where formal education starts from Kindergarten, six years in elementary, three years

junior high school and two years senior high school. Counting the number of years that

parents will devote to spending for their children's education means more work, more

efforts to exert, more waiting years before they will finally see their children graduate

from basic education. Parents think of the longer period before they can witness their

children earn their living, a common dream of a typical Filipino parent (Cruz, 2010)

However, Filipino graduates of basic education will become highly comparable

and competent like the other Asian and global counterparts if this program will fully

materialized. Parents might shell more for school necessities but they just have to think

that their children can already enroll in other countries, if they wish to, because of the
 29

competitive basic education curriculum. This should be the thinking of a rational parent,

a must for a progressive country like in the Philippines.

There are almost 40 – 45% of the young teachers aged 21-31 were assigned in the

upland or remote areas. Most of them are newly-hired teachers who were called from the

transition period of the K to 12 Basic Education Program (E.T. Siason, personal

communication, December 8, 2016)

The K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Program is the flagship program of the

Department of Education in its desire to offer a curriculum which is attuned to the 21st

century. This is in pursuance of the reform thrusts of the Basic Education Sector Reform

Agenda, a package of policy reforms that seeks to systematically improve critical

regulatory, institutional, structural, financial, cultural, physical and informational

conditions affecting basic education provision, access and delivery on the ground. The

Department seeks to create a basic education sector that is capable of attaining the

country‘s Education for All objectives and the Millennium Development Goals by the

year 2015 and President Benigno Aquino III‘s ten-point basic education agenda by 2016.

These policy reforms are expected to introduce critical changes necessary to further

accelerate, broaden, deepen and sustain the Department‘s effort in improving the quality

of basic education .

As shown on figure 2, the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum is geared towards

the development of a holistically developed Filipino with 21st century skills who is ready

for employment, entrepreneurship, middle level skills development and higher education

upon graduation from Grade 12.

 30

Figure 2. The K to 12 Graduate

The K to 12 graduates are equipped with the following 21st century skills: 1)

information, media and technology skills, 2) learning and innovation skills, 3) effective

communication skills, and 4) life and career skills. Information, media and technology

skills include 1) visual and information literacies, media literacy, basic, scientific,

economic and technological literacies and multicultural literacy and global awareness.

The learning and innovation skills are 1) creativity and curiosity; 2) critical thinking

problem solving skills and risk taking. To develop effective communication skills, the

following skills must be taught: 1) teaming, collaboration and interpersonal skills; 2)

personal, social, and civic responsibility and interactive communication, and local,

national and global orienteers. The life and career skills are: 1) flexibility and

adaptability; 2) initiative and self-direction; 3) social and cross-cultural skills; 4)

 31

productivity and accountability, 5) leadership and responsibility, and 6) ethical, moral

and spiritual values (Batomalaque, 2012).

The ideal K to 12 graduate is one who has discovered his/her potential in a child-

centered and value-driven teaching-learning environment, one who is enabled to create

his/her own destiny in a global community, one who is prepared to become a responsible

citizen and an enlightened leader who loves his/her country and is proud to be a Filipino.

The overarching goal of the K to 12 Curriculum is achieved when every K to 12 graduate

demonstrates the desired outcomes as illustrated below.

Figure 3. K to 12 Desired Outcomes

Furthermore, the Enhanced Basic Education Curriculum adheres to the full

implementation of the program on a part of a teacher, giving more priorities on its

 32

substantive elements: Mission – Vision, Curriculum, Competencies, Assessment,

Strategies and Instructional Planning.

On Mission and Vision

According to DEpEd Order No. 36 series of 2013, every teacher must cling on

their innate desire to teacher in the mandated Vision- Mission of the Department of

Education. The Vision and Mision of the Department of Education states that:

―We dream of Filipinos who passionately love their country and whose values and

competences enable them to realize their full potential and contribute meaningfully to

building the nation. As a learner-centered public institution, he department of Education

continuously improves itself to better serve its stakeholders.

To protect and promote the right of every Filipino to quality, equitable, culture-

based, and complete basic education where:

 Students learn in a child-friendly, gender-sensitive, sage and

motivating environment.

 Teachers facilitate learning and constantly nurture every learner.

 Administrators and staff, as stewards of the institution, ensure an

enabling and supportive environment for effective learning to happen.

 Family, community and other stakeholders are actively engaged and

share responsibility for developing life-long learners.‖

 33

Nevertheless, setting direction encompasses tasks such as the development and

articulation of a vision, mission, and goals for the school, the development of a positive

school culture and the creation of high performance expectations for both students and

staff. Leithwood et al. (2014), found that leaders who set sense of direction have a

significant impact on student achievement. Effective leaders know that a significant

investment of time will be required to develop a shared understanding of what the school

should look like and what will need to be done to get there. Developing a collective

understanding of the organization and its goals and activities will give the school

community a sense of purpose.

A school‘s vision is defined by Powell (2005) as being the dream of the

primcipal. A vision paints a picture of what a school can become. Successful principals

not only have a vision., but effectively articulate that vision to staff, parents and students.

Thr established vision leaves no doubt as to the school‘s priorities. A clearly defined

vision provides a destination for the future. The establishment of an all-encompassing,

well –articulated vision has been determined to be a key in the implementation of the

change process (St. German & Quinn, 2005).

Compelio et al (2015 ) conducted a study to determine the awareness,

understanding, and acceptance of the vision and mission of Benguet State University

(BSU) and the goals and objectives of the College of Nursing (CN). Specifically, it

sought to: determine the difference in the awareness, understanding, and acceptance of

the Vision, Mission, Goals and Ojectives (VMGO) according to year level and sex;

examine the correlation between the awareness, understanding, and acceptance of the
 34

students towards the VMGO; and, identify the means by which the students contribute to

the attainment of the VMGO. The results showed that Sex is a contributing factor;

notably, males are more aware and accepting of the VMGO.

The vision should be rooted in research on the best practices reflect the school‘s

vision that provides a profound sense of purpose for each of its members. The collective

vision emerges from the personal visions of each member (Barth, 2009). Without

common vision, decisions are made randomly. At best, policies, procedures, and

programs will lack unity and fail to support one another. At worst, they may actually

work against one another.

Powell (2005) defines a school‘s mission as a means to achieve the school‘ s

vision. The mission functions as the roadmap toward the destination. Successful schools

understand and model the mission of the school. Staff members are focused and engaged

and are all moving cooperatively in the same direction. A mission statement is created

and published as a means of giving those involved with the organization a clear

understanding of its purpose for existence. Mission statements are publicly displayed

throughout the school as frequent reminders. St. German and Quinn‘s (2005) research

refers to the principal‘s effective use of the school‘s mission as a guide when confronting

obstacles. The mission statement should serve as the vital lifeblood of the school‘s daily

activities and policies. It should be fundamental to every decision at every level. The

school‘s mission serves a polestar or guiding principle for the school to follow

(Blankstein, 2004).
 35

While school‘s vision and mission are primarily designed for long-range

planning. Short-term successes are also necessary to assists schools in staying focused

and motivated. These short-term successes can be achieved through the development and

implementation of a limited number of well-written, clearly focused, specific and

measurable goals. Goals can be defined as short-term mini-targets that schools aim for as

they move toward their ultimate destination; their vision (Harris et al., 2006).

In the study of Wasley (2012) which investigated the relationship between

teachers' and administrators' mission and vision, he clearly emphasized that it is

important. Administrators' visions tend to encompass the whole system; their vision is an

organizational vision. Teachers' visions appear to focus primarily on the individual or

personal actions for school change. However, closer examination of the two may reveal

that both groups of educators are attending to different aspects of the same vision. It is

because of the differences in teachers' and administrators' perspectives that makes the

development of a shared vision important. When it was grouped according to age, young

teachers and old teachers had the same perception regarding with their innate mission-

vision towards teaching and moulding their students.

Similarly, vision is generally seen as a picture of the future. It is a picture of

excellence, something that the person, team or organization wants to create in its best

possible future. Vision guides and perpetuates corporate existence. Vision is viewed as a

mental picture of a compelling future situation and originates from creative imagination,

the act or power of perceiving imaginative mental images, sort of foresightedness

(Joachim, 2010).
 36

On Curriculum

Indeed, the Department of Education emphasize on the Spiral Progression. Spiral

approach is a technique often used in teaching where first the basic facts of a subject are

learned, without worrying about details. Then as learning progresses, more and more

details are introduced, while at the same time they are related to the basics which are

reemphasized many times to help enter them into long-term memory (Hatuina, 2016).

Spiral Progression approach in curriculum is derived from Bruner‘s Spiral

curriculum model (Lucas, 2011). Bruner stressed that teaching should always lead

boosting cognitive development. Student will not understand the concept if teachers plan

to teach it using only the teacher‘s level of understanding.

Curriculum should be organized in spiral manner so that the student continually

builds upon what they have already learned. In congruence to Clark (2010) findings,

Bruner (1966) saw the role of the teacher as that of translating information into a format

appropriate to each child‘s current state of understanding. Davis (2007) added that Hilda

Taba also influenced the design of spiral curriculum that organized around concepts,

skills, or values in horizontal integration of learning. Based on the given arguments, the

effectiveness of the curriculum relies on the teacher‘s knowledge about the curriculum,

his/her teaching strategies and mastery of the subject matter (Duze, 2012).

The idea in spiral progression approach is to expose the learners into a wide

variety of concepts/topics and disciplines, until they mastered it by studying it over and

over again but with different deepening of complexity. Spiral progression approach

follows progressive type of curriculum. Progressive curriculum anchored to John Dewey

 37

is defined as the total learning experiences of the individual. Martin (2008) defined

progression as a thing that describes pupils‘ personal journeys through education and

ways, in which they acquire, apply, develop their skills, knowledge and understanding in

increasingly challenging situations.

On the other hand, Zulueta (2002) stressed that this approach refers to the

choosing and defining of the content of a certain discipline to be taught using prevalent

ideas against the traditional practice of determining content by isolated topics. Given

these descriptions, spiral curriculum can be understood as a design, a written plan, list of

subjects and expected outcomes of the students in which one concept are presented

repeatedly throughout the curriculum, but with deepening layers of complexity.

According to Martin (2008), spiral curriculum is a design framework which will

help science teachers construct lessons, activities or projects that target the development

of thinking skills and dispositions which do not stop at identification. It involves

progression and continuity in learning science. Progression describes pupils‘ personal

journeys through education and ways, in which they acquire, apply and develop their

skills, knowledge and understanding in increasingly challenging situations. Continuity is

concerned with ways in which the education system structures experience and provides

sufficient challenge and progress for learners in a recognizable curricular landscape.

Therefore, spiral progression approach is an approach or a way on how to implement the

spiral curriculum.

After the mastery of the initial topic, the student ―spirals upwards‖ as the new

knowledge is introduced in the next lesson, enabling him/her to reinforce what is already
 38

learned. In the end, a rich breadth and depth of knowledge is achieved. With this

procedure, the previously learned concept is reviewed hence improving its retention.

Also, the topic may be progressively elaborated when it is reintroduced leading to a

broadened understanding and transfer (Mantiza, 2013).

According to Snider (2014), spiral progression approach avoids disjunctions

between stages of schooling, it allows learners to learn topics and skills appropriate to

their developmental/cognitive stages, and it strengthens retention & mastery of topics &

skills as they are revisited & consolidated. But, the problem with the spiral design is that

the rate for introducing new concepts is often either too fast or too slow. All concepts are

allotted the same amount of time whether they are easy or difficult to master. Units are

approximately the same length, and each topic within a unit is a day‘s lesson and some

days will not be enough time to introduce. The fact that an entire class period must be

devoted to a single concept makes it difficult to sequence instruction to ensure that

students acquire necessary pre-skills before introducing a difficult skill.

In a spiral curriculum, many topics are covered but only briefly. On the average,

teachers devote less than 30 min of instructional time across an entire year to 70% of the

topics they cover the result of teaching for exposure is that many students fail to master

important concepts. Another disadvantage of the spiral design is that it does not promote

sufficient review once units are completed. There may be some review of previously

introduced topics within the chapter, but once students move on to the next chapter

previous concepts may not be seen again until they are covered the following year.
 39

The main philosophies behind Spiral progression approach are Constructivism,

Progressivism and Behaviorism. Jerome Bruner was the main proponent of spiral

curriculum and was also the proponent of constructivism (Haeusler, 2013.) A major

theme in the theory of Bruner is that learning is an active and dynamic process in which

learners construct new ideas or concepts new ideas or concepts based upon their

current/past knowledge. A learner is a purposive participant in the knowledge getting

process that selects structures, retains, and transforms information. The mental process

such as perception, concept attainment, and reasoning depends upon an imaginative

process of construction (Lucas, 2011).

Cherry (2014) added that behaviorism is another philosophy under the said

approach. According to her, it is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all

behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction

with the environment

Other than that, spiral progression can also be anchored to discovery-based

learning. This type of learning requires longer hours and fails without sufficient guidance

(Clark et al., 2009). The discovery-based learning method is also called inquiry method

or problem solving method. Corpuz (2011) explained that the teacher guides the students

as they explore and discover. As stated by a science teacher, ―We will never be able to

help children learn if we tell them everything they need to know. Rather, we must

provide them with opportunities to explore, inquire and discover new leanings. Houtz

(2010), emphasized inquiry method as all hands-on activities, no textbooks, and few or
 40

no directions from the teacher. The students are responsible for their own learning.

Students may decide what to do.

The spiral progression approach is said to be a ―child-centered approach‖.

According to Angeles (2013), the new curriculum is composed of set of activities like,

collaborative learning, peer tutoring, outcome-based performance or performance task. In

which the students are expose to socializing, sharing thoughts and ideas or brainstorming,

communicating, expressing their multiple intelligences, abilities and skills.

Spiral progression approach uses authentic assessment instead of traditional

classroom assessment. Authentic assessment means that the task the teacher asks the

students to perform is similar to a task they might have in the real world. Examples of

Authentic assessments are, Project Based Learning, Performance Task, Portfolio,

Collaborative works, and Online Examinations. Authentic Assessments measures and

evaluate how the learners apply what they learned by doing real-life learning activities. In

relation to Science spiral progression approach, authentic assessment are commonly used

through laboratory experiments, however it is much more focus to a certain area

compared to the traditional curriculum approach.

Learning is the way individual acquire knowledge. Learning is influenced by

social interpersonal relations and communications with others (Lucas, 2010. Bustos

(2005) furthered explained that the process of learning, memory and understanding are

directly related to behavior. Almost all human behavior is learned. Learning takes place

all the time. The brain keeps a track of all the events taking place in ones‘ life. Learning

is resulted from experience gained by the individual. Experience according to Smokler

 41

(2009) is anything that can be reflected upon. These complex learning experiences work

even better when students can share them with their peers.

Moreover, the K to 12 toolkit (2012) emphasizes the Main Features of the

Enhanced K to 12 Curriculum. In the old curriculum, so much knowledge, skills, and

values were expected to be learnt by students within a limited period of time. Moreover,

learning tended to be more focused on content, which was fragmented and disintegrated.

These could be some reasons why many Filipino students failed to master the

competencies and gain lifelong learning skills necessary for a productive life. The K to

12 Education Program addresses these shortcomings by reforming the basic education

curriculum. The following are some features of the curriculum:

The K to 12 curriculum is decongested. The new curriculum focuses on

understanding for mastery and has removed the unnecessarily repeated competencies.

The K to 12 curriculum is seamless. This ensures smooth transition between grade

levels and continuum of competencies through spiral progression where learning of

knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes increases in depth and breadth. There is also

continuity of competencies and standards from elementary to secondary level through a

unified curriculum framework. The unified standards and competencies ensures

integration of what learners learn across grade levels and across learning areas for a more

meaningful learning.

The K to 12 curriculum is relevant and responsive as it centers on the Filipino

learner; it is developmentally appropriate (age appropriate) and focuses on succeeding in

the 21st century. Moreover, the curriculum responds to the needs of the community: an
 42

agricultural town may offer agricultural elective courses; a coastal area, fishery elective

courses; an urban area, industrial arts. Learning will be systematically matched with labor

market requirements.

K to 12 Curriculum is enriched. It uses integrative, inquiry-based and constructive

approaches to develop the competencies of learners.

K to 12 curriculum is learner-centered. It focuses on the optimum development of

the Filipino child

In a detailed description the K to 12 curriculum must have the integration of

constructivism, differentiated instruction, Indigenous people education, and ICT

integration.

The K to 12 curriculum views learners as active constructors of knowledge. This

means that in planning lessons, teachers should provide learners with opportunities to

organize or re-organize their thinking and construct knowledge that is meaningful to them

(Piaget 1950). This can be done by ensuring that lessons engage and challenge learners

and tap into the learners‘ zone of proximal development (ZPD) or the distance between

the learners‘ actual development level and the level of potential development (Vygotsky

1978). Vygotsky (1978) suggests that to do this, teachers can employ strategies that allow

collaboration among learners, so that learners of varying skills can benefit from

interaction with one another.

All K to 12 teachers are encouraged to differentiate their teaching in order to help

different kinds of learners meet the outcomes expected in each lesson. Differentiation or

differentiated instruction means providing multiple learning options in the classroom so

 43

that learners of varying interests, abilities, and needs are able to take in the same content

appropriate to their needs, According to Ravitch (2007), differentiation is instruction that

aims to ―maximize each student's growth by recognizing that students have different

ways of learning, different interests, and different ways of responding to instruction.‖

Differentiation is just one of the strategies available to teachers in the K to 12

classroom. In planning lessons, teachers are encouraged to think about and include in

their lessons options for different kinds of learners to understand and learn the lesson‘s

topic. This means that teachers need to continually conduct formative assessment of

learners to be able to articulate these options for learners. However, it shall still be up to

the individual teacher to decide when to utilize differentiated instruction in the classroom.

Section 5 of RA 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 states that the K to

12 curriculum shall be learner-centered, inclusive and developmentally appropriate,

relevant, responsive, research-based, culture-sensitive, contextualized, global, and

flexible enough to allow schools to localize, indigenize, and enhance the same based on

their respective educational and social contexts. K to 12 teachers are allowed to use

contextualization strategies in their lessons.

ICTs are basically information-handling tools that are used to produce, store,

process, distribute, and exchange information (Anderson 2010). ICT integration in

teaching and learning involves all activities and processes with the use of technology that

will help promote learning and enhance the abilities and skills of both learners and

teachers. With the availability of ICTs in schools, teachers can integrate technology in the

planning, delivery, and assessment of instruction.

 44

Then, Kurga (2014) justified the findings regarding age influence on teachers‘

attitude towards integrated E-learning approach show that the teachers of the different

ages were all positive towards the approach. This indicates that age does not affect

teachers‘ attitude towards the new approach. The finding seems to negate the earlier

assertions that younger teachers were more innovative users of ICT.

On Competencies

The beauty of the curriculum is injected in its competencies which reflect in the

delivery of quality education to the learners which is anchored on how to create a

functional basic education system that will produce productive and responsible citizens

equipped with the essential competencies and skills for both life – long learning and

employment. This program will enhance the basic education system to full functionality

to fulfill the basic learning needs of students. This is in line with the agenda of the

President Aquino of having quality education as a long – term solution to poverty, in

order to achieve these goals. The program has the following twin objectives: To give

every student as opportunity to receive quality education based on an enhanced and

decongested curriculum that is internationally recognized and comparable; Develop a

curriculum that is rational and focus on excellence; Produce a pool of highly qualified

and adequately trained teachers; Achieve high academic standards, especially in

Mathematics, Science and English at all levels; Produce graduates who are globally

competitive and whose credential are recognized internationally; To change public

perception that high school education is just a preparation for college; rather, it should
 45

allow one to take advantage of opportunities for gainful career or employment and/or self

– employment in a rapidly changing and increasingly globalized environment; Produce

graduates who possess skills and competencies that will allow them to be productive

members of the society or pursue higher education; through coordination between the

academic and business sectors, to change industry hiring practices into account the

enhance skills and competencies of K – 12 graduates (DepEd Discussion Paper, 2010)

Competency-based learning or Competency-Based Education and Training is an

approach to teaching and learning more often used in learning concrete skills than

abstract learning. It differs from other non-related approaches in that the unit of learning

is extremely fine grained. Rather than a course or a module every individual skill/learning

outcome, known as a competency, is one single unit. Learners work on one competency

at a time, which is likely a small component of a larger learning goal. The student is

evaluated on the individual competency, and only once they have mastered it do they

move on to others. After that, higher or more complex competencies are learned to a

degree of mastery and isolated from other topics. Another common component of

Competency-based learning is the ability to skip learning modules entirely if the learner

can demonstrate they already have mastery. That can be done either through prior

learning assessment or formative testing (Lopez, 2014).

Also, the K to 12 competencies was based on the emerging 21st century skills.

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) in its publication, Digital Transformation: A

Literacy Framework for ICT Literacy (2007), defines 21st century learning skills as the

ability to a) collect and/or retrieve information, b) organize and manage information, c)

 46

evaluate the quality, relevance, and usefulness of information, and d) generate accurate

information through the use of existing resources. NCREL identifies broader 21st century

skills as achieving 21st century learning through digital age literacy, inventive thinking,

effective communication, and high productivity.

Thus, the challenges of daily life and work have undergone a transformation

brought about by rapid advances in technology and globalization. Many employers and

educators have noted that a new set of skills is required to succeed in this world of new

challenges. Old solutions of limited scope that rely on fixed knowledge and linear

thinking are being replaced by new solutions that require greater collaboration, flexibility

and innovation in order to assimilate a range of changing perspectives and new

technologies. The skills required have become known collectively as 21st century skills

and, increasingly, employers and educators have been calling for their introduction at all

levels of education and training. As a response to these emerging demands, many

organisations and countries have developed 21st century skills frameworks and a number

of research programs have been established to enquire into the teaching and assessment

of these skills.

According to the Pacific Policy Research Center (2010), the 21st Century Core

Subjects and Themes are the main guideposts in achieving competencies among the

learners. Traditional education models have often focused on learning identified content

for subject areas (i.e. math, science, language arts, and social studies), and then assessing

this content knowledge with quizzes, and tests at the end of a chapter or learning module.

Desired outcomes within 21st century learning frameworks include learning traditional
 47

school subject and contemporary content themes in combination with the

interdisciplinary 21st century themes. The core subjects and themes that frame 21st

century learning include traditional core subjects while emphasizing civic literacy, global

awareness, financial literacy, health literacy, and environmental literacy.

Civic literacy speaks to the need for students to be able to understand and

influence civic decision-making. This theme focuses on the importance of staying

informed and understanding governmental processes, being able to participate in civic

life, and recognizing the local and global implications of civic decisions.

The global awareness theme speaks to the need for students to be able to learn

from and work collaboratively with individuals from diverse cultures, religions,

ideologies, and lifestyles in an environment of openness and mutual respect. This theme

also references the ways in which students utilize 21st century skills to understand and

engage with global issues and diverse learning communities. In his study, Gragert noted

that students who participated in international collaborative e-learning projects showed

heightened motivation in class, improved reading and writing skills, and enhanced

engagement. Adams & Carfagna (2006) argues that cross-cultural deliberation through

Web 2.0 technologies helps to break down stereotypical notions regarding cultures other

than one‘s own.

Safeer & Keenan (2005) argue that inadequate health literacy can result in

―difficulty accessing health care, following instructions from a physician, and taking

medication properly
 48

Also, teaching Environmental Literacy: Across Campus and Across the

Curriculum (2009) contributing scientists, policy-makers, artists, and historians, as well

as experts in law, economics, and language argue that environmental issues are

profoundly entwined with all aspects of society and should not be limited to a few

science or science policy classrooms. They argue that environmental literacy needs to be

taught across the curriculum (Reynolds, Brondizio, & Robinson, 2009).

The 21st Century Critical Learning and Innovation Skills gives a great light in

honing the learners under the K to 12 Program.

Thus, learning is a fundamentally social activity—whether in schools,

workplaces, or other environments. The communication and collaboration skill sets refer

to the ability of individuals to communicate clearly, using oral, written, and non-verbal

languages, and collaborate effectively and responsibly with diverse populations. In the

area of communication skills, Eisenkraft (2009) argues that the growing diversity of the

U.S. student population poses new communication challenges. Eisenkraft (2009) provides

the example of the ways in which earth science and physics textbooks often refer to ice

on glaciers or waves on a beach, yet many students across the country have never actually

been to a mountain or to the beach.

While education has focused on the fundamentals of good communication –

speech, writing, and reading- the demands of social relations and global economy call for

a much more diverse set of communication and collaboration skills. Trilling & Fadel

(2009) argue that today‘s student should be able to:

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Communicate clearly, articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written

and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts., Listen effectively

to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes and intentions , Use

communication for a variety of purposes [e.g., to inform, instruct, motivate and persuade,

Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness a

priori as well as assess their impact, Communicate effectively in diverse environments

[including multi-lingual Collaborate with Others, Demonstrate the ability to work

effectively and respectfully with diverse teams, Exercise flexibility and willingness to be

helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal, Assume shared

responsibility for collaborative work, and value individual contributions made by each

team member (Trilling & Fadel, 2009) .

These communication and collaboration skills can be learned through a variety of

methods (e.g., project-based learning, problem-based learning, and design-based

learning). Research on teaching communication and collaboration skills encourages direct

and mediated communication, working with others on team projects, and performance-

based learning and assessment (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2009).

Critical thinking and problem solving skills include the ability of individuals to a)

reason effectively, b) ask pointed questions and solve problems, c) analyze and evaluate

alternative points of view, and d) reflect critically on decisions and processes. Trilling

and Fadel (2009) define critical thinking as the ability to analyze, interpret, evaluate,

summarize, and synthesize information. What gives these, perhaps traditional, critical

thinking skills a twist in the 21st Century is the availability of advanced technologies for
 50

accessing, manipulating, creating, analyzing, managing, storing, and communicating

information.

Lack of attention to developing creativity and innovation skills is often based on a

common misperception that creativity is only for artistic-types and geniuses – that

creativity is something one is born with or without (Trilling & Fadel, 2009). Creativity

can, Triling & Fadel argue, be nurtured by teachers and learning environments that

encourage questioning, openness to new ideas, and learning from mistakes and failures.

Creativity and innovation skills can be developed, like other skills, with practice and over

time (Wegerif & Dawes, 2004). Though it is difficult to assess creativity, there are

multiple instruments and assessments that have been designed to measure creativity in

specific fields such as problem solving and design.

The 21st century life and career skills focus on the ability of individuals to work

effectively with diverse teams, be open-minded to varying ideas and values, set and meet

goals, manage projects effectively, being accountable for results, demonstrate ethical

practices, and be responsible to both one‘s self and the larger community.

According to Samples (2013), a researcher-developed survey was used to collect

data from 242 elementary teachers from 22 West Virginia schools. Teachers reported

high or moderate knowledge and indicated they were implementing a majority of the 21st

century instructional practices on a daily or weekly basis. Teacher implementation levels

were not significantly different based on the variables investigated. The principal was

determined to be the most significant influence on teacher knowledge and

implementation levels. Lack of time, resources, and training were the biggest challenges
 51

to successful implementation of 21st century practices such as Information, media, and

Technology skills, Learning and innovation skills, Life and career skills, Effective

communication skills, Middle level skills, entrepreneurship and employment.

Also, the claim of Kivunja (2015) that Teaching the students so that they become

well-equipped with the 21st century skills is the new learning paradigm . These skills fall

into four domains which the Partnership for 21st Century Skills identify as the

Traditional Core Skills, the Learning and Innovation Skills, the Career and Life Skills,

and the Digital Literacy Skills; also known as the Information, Media, and Technology

Skills . Arguing that the traditional core skills, such as reading, -riting, and –rithmetic are

well known, and might need no elaboration. The study unpacked the Digital Literacy

Skills domain to extend an understanding of this domain in three ways. First, what is it

and what skills does it involve? Second, how can students taught the skills of this domain

so they will be job ready to use these skills on graduation? Third, what is the significance

of this domain to each of the other domains; and therefore to the success of studying,

working, living and being a productive citizen in the realities of the Digital Economy.

Meanwhile, the study of George (2004) detailed the study about the factors

affecting teacher effectiveness. He classified the factors into four (i) personal dimensions

(ii) psychological dimensions, (iii) sociological dimensions and (iv) institutional

dimensions. The major findings of his study are (i) Identification of factors that help for

effective teaching is possible (ii) The highest number of influential factors identified

belonged to psychological and institutional dimensions. (iii) The extraneous variables do

not influence teachers‘ professional efficiency and (iv) He identified influential factors
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that help in optimum utilization of teacher effectiveness by factor analysis. He found out

those teachers that teachers aged 32 to 42 years old have a great awareness on the

competencies of the Academe in reaching its goal to be effective in different areas of the

educational formation. He further emphasized that the age of the teachers has a great

impact in developing the children‘s innate skills in the field of language acquisition and

in learning.

Also on the competencies, the study of Goebel and Cashen (2012) revealed that

old teachers were rated lower on teaching skills than young or middle aged teachers. In

Rilary and Ryan (2010), younger teachers were rated contrary however; Dehanty (2010)

found no significant difference between the ratings of old and younger teachers.

Skills that fall into the ―productivity and accountability‖ category include: setting

and meeting goals, prioritizing needs, managing time, working ethically, and

collaborating and cooperating with colleagues and clients. The Partnership for 21st

Century Skills (2009) maintains that students should be able to manage projects; set and

meet goals; prioritize, plan, and manage work; produce results; multitask; work positively

and ethically; be accountable for results; and collaborate and cooperate effectively with

teams.

Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all

disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners

to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume

greater control over their own learning. In order to thrive in a digital economy, students

will need digital age proficiencies. It is important for the educational system to make
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parallel changes in order to fulfill its mission in society, namely the preparation of

students for the world beyond the classroom. Information literacy is ―the ability to

recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use

effectively the needed information‖ (LearnHigher, 2006). Information literacy skills

include: accessing information efficiently, evaluating information critically, and using

information accurately and creatively. These literacies form the basis for lifelong learning

(Andretta, 2005).

Due to the increasing volume of information available, teachers, students, and

other stakeholders are faced with diverse, abundant information choices. Additionally,

evermore so, information comes to individuals in unfiltered formats, raising questions

about its authenticity, validity, and reliability. The uncertain quality and expanding

quantity of information pose large challenges for the effectual application of relevant

information. The mere abundance of information will not in itself create a more informed

citizenry without a related set of abilities necessary to use information effectively

(LearnHigher, 2006).

Collaborative, computer-based learning environments can work to stimulate

student learning and the process of inquiry (Wasson et al., 2003; Laurillard, 2009).

McFarlane (2001) notes, ―It seems that use of ICT can impact favorably on a range of

attributes considered desirable in an effective learner: problem-solving capability; critical

thinking skill; information-handling ability‖

In supporting digital and learning literacies, support staff and faculty should work

to: design flexible learning opportunities, situate those learning opportunities, where
 54

possible and appropriate, in authentic contexts, continually review how technologies are

integrated into the curriculum, support students to use their own technologies and to

develop effective strategies for learning with technology, use assessment and feedback to

encourage innovation in learners‘ approaches to study, reward exploration as a process,

empowering students to navigate increasingly complex learning landscapes, and support

student self-assessment and review.

In the study of Beilock et al. (2015) who examined the relative effectiveness of

male and female teachers on the achievement outcomes of male and female students and

revealed that teachers‘ knowledge on the assessment have significant difference. It also,

revealed that teacher‘s awareness on the concepts of awareness resulted to a high impact

in delivering quality education to the learners.

On Assessment

Furthermore, the concept on assessment are further clarified with some of the

significant trends which further shows that assessment in the K to 12 brings about

difference in giving grades to the learners.

In line with the implementation of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013

(Republic Act No. 10533), the Department of Education adopted the enclosed Policy

Guidelines on Classroom Assessment for the K to 112 Basic Education Program. The

DepEd Order No 8 series of 2015, clarifies that classroom Assessment is an integral part

of curriculum implementation. It allows the teachers to track and measure learners‘

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progress and to adjust instruction accordingly. Classroom assessment informs the

learners, as well as their parents and guardians, of their progress.

The K to 12 curriculum will have specific assessment specifications and design

for each of the two delivery modes, the formal education and the alternative learning

system. K to 12 assessment is learner-centered and carefully considers its learning

environment system. It includes indicators of 21st century skills such as research,

analytical/critical, practical, and creative. Both cognitive and non-cognitive skills/tasks

such as values, motivation, attitude, behavior traits, and interpersonal are included in the

assessment.

As such the teaching- learning process of the learners focuses on various field of

learning. According to Mulkeen (2015) many countries report that teachers express a

strong preference for urban postings. In Ghana, for example, over 80% of teachers said

they preferred to teach in urban schools (Akyeampong & Lewin, 2012). There are a

number of rational reasons why teachers may prefer urban postings. One of the concerns

about working in rural areas is that the quality of life may not be as good. Teachers have

expressed concerns about the quality of accommodation the classroom facilities, the

school resources and the access to leisure activities (Akyeampong & Stephens, 2012).

Health concerns are a second major issue. Teachers may perceive that living in rural

areas involves a greater risk of disease (Akyeampong & Stephens, 2012), and less access

to healthcare. Teachers may also see rural areas as offering fewer opportunities for

professional advancement. Urban areas offer easier access to further education (Hedges,

2000).
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The analysis of data revealed by Clifford (2015) on the Gender Difference among

Social Studies Teachers‘ Competences in the Use of the Inquiry Method in South-South

Nigeria that there is no significant difference between male and female social studies

teachers‘ competencies and its awareness in the use of the inquiry teaching method. The

finding is not in consonance with finding of Hamdan, Ghafar and Hwali (2010) and

Ahmed, Nawaz, Nareed, Ali, Zeeshan, Lahore, Gujranwala and Usman (2010), who

found that there is significant difference between male and female teacher competencies

and awareness on the factors that affect teaching and learning process.

Moreover, the finding is in conformity with the study of Akiri and Ugborugbo

(2008) who found that there is no significant relationship between male and female

teachers‘ competencies and awareness. The possible reason for this result might be

deduced from the fact that the level of ones commitment to a particular job may influence

his or her performance (Okoro, 2008). Ogheneakoke (2014) noted that most male social

studies teachers at the primary and secondary schools sometimes do other works such as

riding of motorcycle/tricycle popularly known as ―Okada‖ and other form of businesses

to meet up their family responsibilities, while some of the female teachers also engage in

petty trading as well as other form of businesses. They have little or no time to study.

Consequently, their inputs on the job would be very low since they lack the dedication

demanded by the job.

According to Vygotsky, 1978, at the heart of assessment is the recognition and

deliberate consideration of the learner‘s zone of proximal development. Thus, appropriate

assessment is committed to ensure learners‘ success in moving from guided to

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independent display of knowledge, understanding, and skills, and to enable them to

transfer this successfully in future situations. From this point of view, assessment

facilitates the development of learners‘ higher-order thinking and 21st century skills.

According to DepEd Order No. 8 series of 2016, the K to 12 curriculum outlined

the learning standards which comprises the content standard, performance standard, and

learning competencies. Content standard identify and set the essential knowledge and

understanding that should be learned. They cover a specified scope of sequential topics

within each learning strand, domain, theme, or component. Content standards answer the

question, ―What should the learners know?‖ while performance standards describe the

abilities and skills of the learners are expected to demonstrate in relation to the content

standards and integration of 21st century skills. On the other hand, Learning

competencies refer to the knowledge. Understanding, skills and attitudes that students

need to demonstrate in every lesson and or learning activity.

The learning standards in the curriculum reflect progression of concept

development. The cognitive Process Dimension adapted from Anderson and Krathwohl

(2001) may be a good way to operationalize the progressions. It provides a scheme for

classifying educational goals, objectives, and standards. It also defines a broad range of

cognitive processes from basic to complex as follows: Remembering, Understanding,

Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating and Creating.

The guidelines reiterate that Written output, Performance and Periodical are the

three areas of concern in assessing the outcome of the learners.

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As such, assessment is a systematic process for collecting information that can be

used to make inferences about characteristics of people or objects (Reynolds,

Livingstone, & Wilson, 2009). Assessment is not just about collecting data, but is also a

processes used to appraise students‘ knowledge, understanding, abilities or skills and it is

inextricably linked to a course or program‘s intended learning outcomes (Marriot & Lau,

2008).

Teachers control classroom assessment environments by choosing how they

assess their students, the frequency of these assessments, how and when they give

students feedback. McMillan (2008) found that ―Assessment of students at classroom

level is very critical because effective decision making is based to some extent on the

ability of teachers to understand their students and to match actions with accurate

assessments‖. Effective assessment and grading practices are student-centered and focus

on measuring achievement. Teachers sometimes receive training and support in order to

utilize appropriate assessment and grading practices to enhance learning for their diverse

classroom populations. However, teachers need more opportunity to collaborate with

other professionals who can assist them in understanding the specific needs of each

student within their classrooms. In addition, if teachers demonstrate that students are

reaching the desired levels of achievement, then they need to be skilled in implementing

a variety of assessment techniques and utilizing specific purposes of assessment to target

learning goals. There are three main purposes of assessment are discussed below.

Summative assessments are those that primarily include traditional means of assessing

within the classroom. Summative activities can form the basis of future formative
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assessments. Or, formative assessments contribute to a final summative grade. Formative

assessment is focused on individual learners and incorporates a wide variety of strategies

that teachers and learners use in collaboration. Assessment as learning concerns students‘

understanding of their own learning. All three types of assessment can be effective

assessment practices. Importantly, effective assessments focus on individual strengths,

useful and meaningful activities, sound measurement criteria and principles, and

independent growth.

On Strategies

Another concept focuses on the strategies or the pedagogical approaches which

could be traced as integrative, constructivist, inquiry-based, reflective and collaborative.

According to Akpan and Beard (2016), the pedagogical approach constructivism

is a teaching model that essentially a model or metaphor of how people learn or how

learning takes place. It justifies the putting together of new ideas by interpreting new

experiences in light of prior knowledge so that the new ideas come to make sense to the

learner. The strengths of constructivism lie in the construction of knowledge and what

that means for students and teachers. Since knowledge cannot be transferred from one

individual to another like a commodity, the role of the teacher as knowledge giver in the

classroom becomes moot. Educators must accept the fact that knowledge is constructed

in action and must be constructed by individual knowers; instruction must be student-

dominated where teachers function as facilitators.

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Teaching of all the subjects is anchored on the belief that the learner is not an

empty receptacle who is mere recipient of instruction. Rather, the learner is an active

constructor of knowledge and a maker of meaning (Brandon & All, 2010).

As a result, teachers must enable students to think critically. As a student‘s ideas

change, their knowledge increases. The teacher facilitates this change by interacting with

students in positive ways such as asking questions, building appropriate challenges and

experiences, and offering new ways of thinking (Watts & Pope, 2009 ). Steele (2015)

states that students with special needs will benefit most from the constructivist model

because of their difficulty in adapting from the classroom to more interactive settings.

According to Snowman, et al., (2009), teachers should encourage students to express

their problems and then facilitate ways to aid students with solutions to their problems by

using what they already know to go beyond what they already think. When educators

work with students with special needs, guided discovery learning (GDL) becomes very

effective.

Furthermore, Buddin, Zimmer, Chau, Gill and Hamilton (2009) puts it that

teacher effectiveness is typically measured by traditional teacher qualification standards

such as age, experience, education, scores in examination at pre-service training

institutions. Harris and Sass (2007) concluded that of all the teacher characteristics that

there is good evidence that teacher‘s gain in effectiveness with additional years on the

job. Rice (2010) opined that teacher experience is strongest during the first few years of

teaching; after that, marginal returns diminish Clotfelter, Ladd and Vigdor (2007)

concluded that teachers with more experience are better teachers.

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Moreover, Kimani, Kara and Njagi (2013) established that teacher features such

as age, experience, gender, professional qualification were not significantly related to

academic achievement.

Myrberg (2015) supports that when it comes to awareness on the different areas

of the curriculum he emphasized that teaches with master‘s degree and bachelor‘s degree

have the same awareness. He further stressed the significance of high quality teacher

education program that prepare for teaching in specific grades. He justified that

effectiveness has been shown to be closely connected to appropriate teacher education.

Moreover, Darling- Hammond (2000) confirms that a master's degree was not

found to be associated with improved teacher skills. The estimates in this study suggested

that differences in teacher quality explained at least 7.5 percent of the variation in

measured achievement. However, measured factors captured just a small proportion of

the differences among teachers. From these results the authors drew the conclusion that

teacher education is a small component of variation in school quality. That a master's

degree had no influence on achievement,

According to White et al., (2008), inquiry-based teaching is a pedagogical

approach that invites students to explore academic content by posing, investigating, and

answering questions. Also known as problem-based teaching or simply as ‗inquiry,‘ this

approach puts students‘ questions at the center of the curriculum, and places just as much

value on the component skills of research as it does on knowledge and understanding of

content. Research on inquiry-based teaching has often focused on its application in

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science and math education, but the approach is equally well-suited to the teaching of the

humanities.

Likewise, some believe that an inquiry-based approach can‘t be implemented

until late in a student‘s school career, but the process of teaching and learning through

personal investigation is appropriate for students from preschool through graduate school.

The role of the teacher in an inquiry-based classroom is quite different from that of a

teacher in a conventional classroom. Instead of providing direct instruction to students,

teachers help students generate their own content-related questions and guide the

investigation that follows. Because of the role of the teacher in an inquiry-based

classroom is unconventional, it is sometimes misunderstood (Mccarthy et al, 2008).

Also, multifaceted activity that involves making observations; posing questions;

explorations and other sources of information to see what is already known (National

Science Education Standards, 2003) Inquiry refers to the means scientists use to study

nature and formulate explanations of what they observe. Students are engaged as they

pursue increased understanding of science (Anderson, 2001). Inquiry-based instruction

Inquiry-based instruction involves an active process that implies physical and mental

activity. ―Hands-on active‖ activities are not enough, students also must have ―minds-on‖

experiences. Science detaching must involve students in inquiry-oriented investigations

in which they interact with their teachers and peers. Students establish connections

between 7 their current knowledge of science and the scientific knowledge found in many

sources. (Lorsbach & Tobin, 2007).

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Furthermore, the curriculum ensures that the learners have the opportunity to

examine concepts, issues and information in various ways and from various perspectives.

It provides them opportunities to develop skills of creative and critical thinking, informed

decision-making, and hypothesis building and problem-solving. The learners are

encouraged to become active investigators by identifying a range of information,

understanding the sources of information and evaluating the objectivity of information.

They are thus better able to draw meaningful conclusions which are supported by

evidence. Rather than examining an issue from any one perspective, the learners are

challenged to explore other possibilities by applying higher order thinking skills in their

decision-making endeavours (K to 12 Basic Education Program, 2012).

. To develop the 21st century skills of critical and creative thinking, the use of the

inquiry approach in teaching is a must. With inquiry method, teaching departs from

simply memorizing fact laden instructional materials (Bruner, 1961). In Inquiry learning,

progress is assessed by how well learners develop experimental and analytical skills

rather than how much knowledge they possess. The teacher‘s role is to plan and facilitate

the exploration of the ideas and skills required in the curriculum.

Reflective teaching means making the learners look at what they do in the

classroom, think about why they do it, and think about if it works. Reflective teaching

encourages learners to engage in a process of self-observation and self-evaluation. By

collecting information about what goes on in their classroom, and by analyzing and

evaluating this information, they identify and explore their own practices and underlying
 64

beliefs. This may then lead to changes and improvements in their learning (K to 12 Basic

Education Program, 2012).

According to Grey (2016), the act of reflecting on the innate desires of the lesson

brings the students to the development of their values. The development of students‘

values would lead to the actual self-reflection of the learners in reaching the essential

focus of life – learning.

Collaborative learning is an instructional method in which students team together

on an assignment. In this method, students can produce the individual parts of a larger

assignment individually and then ―assemble‖ the final work together, as a team. Whether

for a semester-long project with several outcomes or a single question during class,

collaborative learning can vary greatly in scope and objectives. Cooperative learning,

sometimes confused with collaborative learning, describes a method where students work

together in small groups on a structured activity. Students are individually accountable

for their work but also for the work of the group as a whole, and both products are

assessed (Educause, 2016).

Thus, the learning process is a social activity and so must be collaborative.

Learning is intimately associated with connection with other human beings- classmates,

teachers, peers, family as well as community. The teaching-learning process is a rich

opportunity to teach what it means to ―live together‖, the fourth pillar of learning. The

teaching-learning process should be interactive and must promote teamwork.

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Teachers who have participated in a collaborative effort or on a team have

reported an increase in their belief of their efficacy in their classrooms (Wiggins &

McTighe, 2006).

Also, an integrated approach allows students to engage in purposeful, relevant

learning. Integrated learning encourages students to see the interconnectedness and

interrelationships between the curriculum areas. Rather than focusing on learning in

isolated curriculum areas, an integrated program is based on skill development around a

particular theme that is relevant to the children in the class (Pigdon & Woolley, 2009).

According to State University (2011), along with the learner outcomes the

strategy intended to produce and the syntax and learning environment required to make

the strategy effective. These are some of the instructional strategies used:

Direct Instruction- is a method for imparting basic knowledge or developing skills

in a goal-directed, teacher-controlled environment. The teacher identifies clearly defined

learning outcomes, transmits new information or demonstrates skills, and provides guided

practice. It has five phases: (1) Orientation phase, the teacher clarifies the goals of the

lesson, explains why the lesson is important, ties the lesson to previous lessons and

student‘s prior knowledge, and motivates students; (2) Presentation or demonstration, the

teacher demonstrates the skill or present new information; (3) Guided practice, the

teacher structures the initial practice by walking the students through, step-by-step, and

feedback on correct and incorrect practice; (4) Checks for understanding and provides

feedback, informally or formally, verbally or in writing; and (5) Extended practice, to

reinforces the knowledge or skill. It can be accomplished through seatwork or homework.

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Simulation- involves students playing roles in simulated situations in order to

learn skills and concepts transferable to ―real life‖. It can be used to practice skills in

driving, to teach concepts such as how political, social, and economic system work, or to

discern scientific principles. It has four phases: (1) The teacher begins the lesson by

explaining the purpose of the simulation and providing an overview of how it will

proceed; (2) The students are trained in the rules, procedures and goals of the simulation

and provided time for abbreviated practice; (3) The teacher serves as a coach, giving

feedback, clarifying misconceptions and maintaining the rules; and (4) Allows time to,

describe and analyze experiences, make comparisons to real world situations, and relate

the experience to the subject they are studying.

Presentation using advance organizers- is the most common used strategies for

knowledge acquisition and retention. It is more that teacher talking. Teacher use advance

organizers-powerful concepts to which subordinate ideas and facts can be linked to

provide structure and then involve students in processing the new information. There are

four phases in a presentation lesson. (1) The teacher begins the presentation by explaining

the goals, sequence, and expectation of the lesson, and by helping students retrieve

appropriate prior knowledge; (2) The advanced organizer is presented, this are

―scaffolds‖ that help learners link new information to what they already know: (3) The

presentation itself, as new learning material is presented, the teacher pays particular

attention to order and clarify, and provides concrete examples and illustrations that help

students make required connections to what they already know; and (4) The teacher
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checks for student understanding and helps them integrate what they have learned, asking

question to encourage precise and critical thinking.

Concept teaching- helps the students learn concepts and develop higher level

thinking skills. It serves as the foundation for knowledge, increase complex conceptual

understanding, and facilitate social communication. Its primary purpose is to learn new

concepts. It is also effective for teaching higher-level thinking, including reasoning,

hypothesis formation, logical reasoning, concept building strategies, and taking multiple

perspectives. It has four phases: (1) The teacher explains the purposes of the lesson,

describes why concepts are important, and gets students ready to learn; (2) The teacher

gives examples and examples, and the students strive to discover the concept and its

attributes through inductive reasoning; (3) The teacher gives more examples and

nonexamples, then the students to provide examples and nonexamples; and (4) The

teacher asking students to analyze their thinking patterns, strategies, and decisions in

order to develop more effective thinking skills and to help students integrate the new

concepts into existing knowledge.

Discussion- is the central aspect of teaching. It is an appropriate strategy for

improving student thinking; promoting engagement in academic content; and learning

communication and thinking skills in a social environment. It proceeds through five

phases: (1) The teacher introduces the discussion by providing a clear purpose for the

discussion and engaging students so they will become involved; (2) The teacher sets the

ground rules, then poses a question, raises an issue, or presents a puzzling situation; (3)

The teacher ask questions, uses wait-time, responds to students‘ ideas, and enforces the
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ground rules; (4) The teacher ask students to summarize the content and meaning of the

discussion and tying it back to the initial question or problem; and (5) The teacher

debriefs the process of the discussion by having students examine their thinking

processes and reflect on their participation.

Cooperative learning- the students‘ works together in small groups on a common

learning task, coordinates their efforts to complete the task, and depend on each other for

the outcome. It is characterized by students teams (of 2-6) working to master academic

goal. The three distinct goals of cooperative learning are academic achievement,

acceptance of diversity through interdependent work, and development of cooperative

social skills. In general, a cooperative learning has six phases. (1) The teacher begins the

lesson by presenting the goals of the lesson, motivating students, and connecting the

forthcoming lesson to the previous learning; (2) The teacher facilitates the acquisition of

the academic content that is the focus of the lesson; (3) The teacher explains how the

teams are formed and helps students make transitions into groups; (4) The students in a

team, work together on cooperative tasks and the teacher assists students and groups,

while reminding them of their interdependence; (5) The teacher tests the students‘

knowledge or groups present their work. Individual students and groups are assessed on

cooperation as well as academic achievement; (6) the effort of individuals and groups are

recognized through displays, newsletters, presentations, or other public forms.

Problem-based instruction- the students are presented with authentic, meaningful

problems as a basis for inquiry and investigation. It is designed to promote problem

solving and higher-level thinking skills and to involve students in the kinds of real-world
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thinking activities that they will encounter outside of school from childhood through

adulthood. The primary goal of problem-based instruction is learning content through

inquiry that can be applied in authentic situations. Students learn to think and behave like

adult workers, scholars, and problem solvers and to regulate their own learning. Problem-

based instruction involves five phases. (1) Orientation to the problem, the teacher

presents the problem or driving question, provides the parameters for students inquiry,

and motivates students to engage in problem-solving activities; (2) The teacher assists

students in forming study groups and assists the groups in defining, planning, and

organizing tasks and timeless, and by clarifying roles and responsibilities; (3) The teacher

encourages, question, and assists students in data/information gathering, hypothesis

formulation and testing, and the generation of explanations and solutions; (4) The teacher

assists students in planning, preparing, and presenting products that share their work with

others; and (5) The teacher helps students reconstruct and analyze their thinking

processes and integrate their learning.

A number of different teaching strategies can be used in the classroom setting.

The strategies selected will depend on the learning objectives, the technological resources

available, the overall course design and educational methodology, and the instructor‘s

training (Leamon, 2010).

Another area is on the instructional planning in which the Department of

Education reiterate in the Deped Order No. 42 s 2016 that planning lessons is

fundamental to ensuring the delivery of teaching and learning in schools. These

guidelines aim to support teachers in organizing and managing their classes and lessons
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effectively and efficiently and ensure the achievement of learning outcomes.

Furthermore, these guidelines affirm the role of the K to 12 teacher as a facilitator of

learning. Preparing for lessons through the Daily Lesson Log (DLL) or Detailed Lesson

Plan (DLP) and provides teachers with an opportunity for reflection on what learners

need to learn, how learners learn, and how best to facilitate the learning process. These

guidelines also aim to empower teachers to carry out quality instruction that recognizes

the diversity of learners inside the classroom, is committed to learners‘ success, allows

the use of varied instructional and formative assessment strategies including the use of

information and communications technologies (ICTs), and enables the teacher to guide,

mentor, and support learners in developing and assessing their learning across the

curriculum.

Also, Department of Education (DepEd) recognizes that instructional planning is

essential to successful teaching and learning (Dick & Reiser 1996). Instructional planning

is the process of determining what learning opportunities students in school will have by

planning ―the content of instruction, selecting teaching materials, designing the learning

activities and grouping methods, and deciding on the pacing and allocation of

instructional time‖ (Virginia Department of Education). According to Airasian (1994),

planning is a vital step in the instructional process.

It involves identifying expectations for learners and choosing the materials and

organizing the sequential activities that will help learners reach those expectations.

Instructional planning guarantees that teaching and learning are the central focus of

classroom activity. Furthermore, it helps ensure that the time spent inside the classroom
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is maximized for instruction, is responsive to learners‘ needs, and therefore

communicates expectations of achievement to learners (Stronge, 2007).

Odhiambo (2005) contends that there is a growing demand from the Kenyan

government and the public for teacher accountability. Schools are commonly evaluated

using students‘ achievement data (Heck, 2009). Teachers cannot be dissociated from the

schools they teach and academic results of schools. It would therefore be logical to use

standardized students‘ assessments results as the basis for judging the performance of

teachers. Teachers celebrate and are rewarded when their schools and teaching subjects

are highly ranked. In Chile, for instance, teachers are rewarded collectively when they

work in schools which are identified as high-performing by the National Performance

Evaluation System of Subsidized Schools (Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development, 2005). In Kenya teachers who excel in their teaching subjects are rewarded

during open education day held annually in every district (Cherongis, 2010). While

appreciating the value of rewarding teachers who produce better results, teachers should

also not escape a portion of blame when students perform poorly.

On Instructional Planning

Research shows that effective teachers organize and plan their instruction

(Misulis 1997; Stronge 2007). With content and performance standards and learning

competencies firmly articulated in the K to 12 curriculum, it is easier for teachers to carry

out both short-term and long-term instructional planning. Under the K to 12 Basic
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Education Program, teachers can in fact plan student learning for a year, a semester, a

quarter, a unit, or a lesson and secure coverage of the curriculum.

The idea of Adedoja and Oluwadara (2016) which revealed that effective

planning of instruction enables the teacher to set out different strategies that can make

both teachers and students achieve stated objectives. Teachers are expected to put a lot of

effort into planning their instruction, and with the emergence of different technologies

(hardware/software), planning can be done with considerable ease. These technologies

such as computers, mobile phones, tablets, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and so on

create a platform for teachers to explore, gather facts, sort, edit and re-arrange

information about a topic before teaching it. The results show that after the training, the

pre-service social studies teachers were able to acquire requisite skills to plan instruction

using mobile phones. Also, age does not significantly influence on the ability of pre-

service social studies teachers to plan instruction using mobiles.

DepEd issues DepEd Order No. 42, series of 2016, as guidelines on daily lesson

preparation based on the belief that planning is fundamental to ensuring the delivery of

teaching and learning in schools. Daily lesson preparation also encourages reflective

practice since it requires teachers to think about and reflect on their instructional practices

on a daily basis. Article IV, Section 2 of the Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers

adopted in 1997 through Board Resolution No. 435 by the Board of Professional

Teachers states that ―every teacher shall uphold the highest standards of quality

education, shall make the best preparations for the career of teaching, and shall be at his

best at all times in the practice of his profession.‖ This policy is therefore meant to
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support teachers in upholding quality education standards by affirming the importance of

instructional planning through Daily Lesson Log (DLL) or Detailed Lesson Plan (DLP)

preparation. These guidelines ultimately aim to assist teachers in not only effectively

managing instruction but also managing the performance of one of their core functions,

which is to facilitate learning inside their classrooms.

The DepEd Order provides the guidelines in the preparation of daily lessons

through the DLP and DLL by teachers from K to 12. This was also developed in

collaboration with teachers and school heads to ensure that those affected by the policy

would be consulted. Every teachers must have a Daily Lesson Log (DLL) and Detailed

Lesson Log (DLP). Daily Lesson Log (DLL) is a template teachers use to log parts of

their daily lesson. The DLL covers a day‘s or a week‘s worth of lessons and contains the

following parts: Objectives, Content, Learning Resources, Procedures, Remarks and

Reflection while Detailed Lesson Plan (DLP) is a teacher‘s ―roadmap‖ for a lesson. It

contains a detailed description of the steps a teacher will take to teach a particular topic.

A typical DLP contains the following parts: Objectives, Content, Learning Resources,

Procedures, Remarks and Reflection.

DepEd hereby issues the guidelines on daily lesson preparation to institutionalize

instructional planning as a critical part of the teaching and learning process. These

guidelines are meant to support teachers in effectively organizing and managing K to 12

classrooms to be genuinely responsive to learners‘ needs. Moreover, the guidelines in the

preparation of DLP and DLL shall inculcate reflective practice among teachers by

providing them opportunities to think about and reflect on their instructional practices.
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Daily lesson preparation is part of the teacher‘s core function as a facilitator of learning

inside the classroom as affirmed through DepEd‘s Results based Performance

Management System (RPMS). Well-prepared and well-planned lessons are fundamental

to ensuring the delivery of quality teaching and learning in schools.

. In planning lessons, teachers can choose from a variety of instructional models

and their corresponding strategies and methods. An instructional model is a teacher‘s

philosophical orientation to teaching. It is related to theories of learning including

behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, social interactionism, and others. An

instructional strategy is a teaching approach influenced by the abovementioned

educational philosophies, while an instructional method is the specific activity that

teachers and learners will do in the classroom.

Below are examples of different instructional strategies briefly explained

(Saskatchewan Education 1991):

a. Direct instruction is systematic, structured and sequential teaching. Its basic

steps include presenting the material, explaining, and reinforcing it. According to Borich

(2001), direct instruction methods are used to teach facts, rules, and action sequences.

Direct instruction methods include compare and contrast, demonstrations, didactic

questions, drill and practice, guides for reading, listening and viewing, lecture, etc.

b. Indirect instruction is a teaching strategy in which the learner is an active and

not passive participant. Indirect instruction methods are used for concept learning,

inquiry learning and problem-centered learning (Borich 2011). Indirect instruction

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methods include case study, cloze procedure, concept formation, inquiry, problem

solving, reflective discussion, etc.

c. Interactive instruction is teaching that addresses learners‘ need to be active in

their learning and interact with others including their teachers and peers. Interactive

methods of teaching include brainstorming, debates, cooperative learning, interviewing,

small group discussion, whole class discussion, etc.

d. Experiential instruction is teaching students by directly involving them in a

learning experience. This strategy emphasizes the process and not the product of learning.

Experiential learning methods include games, experiments, field trips, model building,

field observations, role play, simulations, etc.

e. Independent study is teaching in which the teacher‘s external control is reduced

and students interact more with the content. Independent study methods aim to develop

learners‘ initiative, self-reliance, and self-improvement and include assigned questions,

correspondence lessons, computer assisted instruction, essays, homework, learning

contracts, reports, research projects, etc.

In planning lessons, teachers can employ and combine a variety of teaching

strategies and methods to deliver instruction. In choosing strategies and methods to use in

teaching, the teacher has to consider learner diversity and whether or not the strategies or

methods will respond to what learners inside the classroom need.

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Synthesis

The K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Curriculum focuses different ideals and

changes in various field of teaching-learning process. It subsequently divided into

different concepts on: Vision and Mission, Curriculum, Competencies, Assessment,

Strategies and Instructional Planning.

Those related concepts show the different theories, practices and significance

which may support in the findings of the study. These related concepts were used by the

researcher in getting the gist of understanding and in supporting or negating such ideas

that may be helpful in investigating the truth behind the implementation of the K to 12

Program in the Philippine academe.

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Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methods of researcher used in this study. This includes

the following subtopics; research design, local of the study, participants of the study,

research instrument, validity, reliability, and data analysis.

Research Design

This study used the mixed methods approach in which the researcher used the

sequential explanatory design which consists of two distinct phases: quantitative followed

by qualitative (Creswell, 2003). The rationale for this approach is that the quantitative

data and their subsequent analysis provide a general understanding of the research

problem. The qualitative data and their analysis refine and explain those statistical results

by exploring participants‘ views in more depth (Creswell et al, 2003).

On the quantitative method, the researcher used the descriptive –survey which is

suitable whenever the subjects vary among themselves and one is interested to know the

extent to which different conditions and situations are obtained among these subjects

(Calmorin, 2016).

On the qualitative method, the researcher utilized the interview method which

seeks to explain the initial phase of quantitative findings in more depth by interviewing

with few of the participants from the initial phase and the researcher underscored the

lived experiences and the real meaning of being a teacher in the implementation of the K
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to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Program Scheler et al. (as cited in Causing, 2005). This

method appears to be the most appropriate in order to obtain the varied experiences of

teachers in the delivery of the K to 12 program to their clienteles (Johnson & Christensen,

2004).

Through interview method, the researcher analyzed inductively, recursively and

interactively in an attempt to search for the central or essential meaning of an experience.

―From the individual‘s description, general or universal meanings are derived, in other

words, the essences of structures of the experience‖. The ‗structures of the experiences‖

refer to the notion that all experiences have an underlying structures. (Creswell, 2007).

Participants

The participants of this study were the 54 Secondary teachers of the District of

Cauayan I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental. In the quantitative method, the

researcher included those teachers who are teaching in the upland areas with 6 secondary

schools in the District of Cauayan – I and one in District II that are located in the upland

areas. The researcher used random-sampling technique in getting the samples of the

study.

On the next page, the population of the teachers in the upland areas is shown.
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Table 1
Participants of the Study on Phase 1

District Population

Cauayan I 36

Cauayan II 18

Total 54

Furthermore in the qualitative method, the participants of the study were the three

(3) teachers who were drawn from the lists of upland teachers. The phase two primarily

used in-depth interviews (Creswell, 2007). Dukes (as cited in Creswell, 2007)

recommended the use of 3 to 10 participants. Below shows the participants for in-depth

interview:

Table 2
Participants of the Study on Phase 2

Participant Age Sex

1. Susan 25 F

2. Linda 28 F

3. Alicia 47 F

Participants in this study constructed their own reality from the unique

experiences and vantage points, so in order to protect their identities and warrant

confidentiality, pseudonyms were used. The original criteria for participation in this study
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were: (1) teachers who teach in the upland area in the District of Cauayan I and II , (2)

male or female teacher, (3) those who have Very Low Awareness in the Implementation

of the K to 12 Program.

Research Instrument

The researchers determined the level of awareness of the teacher of the District of

Cauayan I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental using a researcher-made

questionnaire focusing on the salient areas in the implementation of the K to 12 Enhanced

Basic Education Program. The instrument used in the study contains two parts. Part I

elicited information on the socio-demographic profile of the participants and the second

part measured the level of awareness on the key points in the implementation of the K to

12 Enhanced Basic Education Program namely Vision and Mission, Curriculum,

Competencies, Assessment, Strategies and Instructional Planning and the third part

contained an open-ended question focusing on challenges and difficulties encountered in

the implementation of the K to 12 Program. Likert-scale was the rating scale used. The

number codes and verbal interpretations are reflected below.

Table 3
Code and Interpretation of the Level of Awareness

Code Interpretation

4 Fully Aware
3 Moderately Aware
2 Slightly Aware
1 Not totally Aware
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The interview protocol used in this study was adapted from Creswell‘s

recommendation by including the title of the study, the study‘s guiding research question,

and other follow-up questions on a sample question documents that is provided to both

the interviewee and researcher during the interview (Jones et al., 2008).

Face to face interaction was made by the researchers to collect data. A formal

interview was utilized to gather salient information and experiences of teachers. The

researchers, known to be the best instrument, was the one who asked questions and may

rely on the open-ended questions guided by a systematic order of an Interview protocol to

gather data but depended on the art of questioning that was made by the researchers to

elicit reliable responses from the participants. Follow-up questions were done by the

interviewer to the interviewee.

Validity

In a survey questionnaire, the validity of the instrument shall be based depending

of the type of instrument used. Hence the instrument is a researcher-made questionnaire,

the researcher asked five (5) experts to establish its face and content validity using the

Good and Scates Rating Scale. The validity rating was 4.22 which mean that the survey

questionnaire was agreed to be valid.

On the other hand, the main emphasis and focus of many qualitative researches is

whether the findings of the study represent an accurate account. The principle of verity

that addresses consistency and authenticity of the research made the researcher to be

honest and truthful on their studies (Edmonds, 2008). Verification and proper analysis
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will be used to determine whether the findings are accurate from the point view of the

participants and what the events mean to the teachers engaged in the implementation

(Maxwell, 1992).

In this study, careful adherence to validity was established by choosing the

appropriate qualitative research methodology and by having in-depth face to face

interview was carefully documented.

Reliability

In indulging with the reliability of the instrument in a quantitative-survey, the

researcher used the Cronbach-Alpha. There were 30 teachers who were participants of

the reliability test and they were not included as the target participants of the study. The

result obtained from the solution is .95 which was interpreted as Very High positive

correlation.

In a qualitative method, the extent to which results are consistent over time and

accurate representation of the total population under study is referred to as reliability and

if the results of the study can be reproduced under a similar methodology, then the

research instrument is considered to be reliable (Joppe, 2000). In this study, the

researcher engaged in multiple methods, such as, observation, interviews, and video

recording which believed to lead to more reliable and diverse construction of realities.

During the interview process the researcher used the audio-video recorder and field note

in order to record and take note of all the verbal responses of the interviewee. The

participants were given a copy of each transcribed interviews in order to validate their

viewpoints regarding the phenomenon studied.

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Field notes are a secondary data storage method in qualitative research. Because

the human mind tends to forget quickly, field notes by the researcher are crucial in

qualitative research to retain data to be gathered (Lofland & Lofland, 1999 as cited by

Groenewald, 2004). This implies that the researcher must be disciplined to record,

subsequent to each interview, as comprehensively as possible, but without judgmental

evaluation.

Data Gathering Procedure

After the approval of the panelist and finalization of comments and suggestions,

data gathering commenced.

A permit from the Schools Division regarding the conduct of data gathering was

secured. A copy of the approval was furnished to the school heads and teachers for the

legality of data gathered.

The survey instruments were distributed to the participants. A period of two

months of distribution and retrieval for the survey instruments was allocated. After

collection of the instruments, data were tallied and subjected to statistical analysis.

Moreover, the three (3) participants, who were the subject of face to face

interview, were initially contacted by the researcher through cellular phones. Then the

time, date, and place of the participant‘s choice were set or to make it more meaningful

the researcher went to the assigned school of the teachers to conduct the interview. Prior

to the interview the participants were asked to sign the informed consent and for

participation and recordings of the interview and asked to respond: What are lived

experiences of teachers in the implementation of the K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education

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Program in the upland areas? Follow-up questions will be relied on the answers to the

central question to clarify, and probe their experiences. The researcher asked questions to

the participants everything and anything related to the phenomenon in order to

understand the real essence.

Before the interview, the researcher talked and bracketed their thoughts with

regards to the phenomenological methodologies. The interviews were conducted in

English and Hiligaynon with no specific time limit. The recorded conversations were

afterward transcribed literally.

Specific Objectives and Statistical Treatment

On quantitative data, the descriptive and inferential analyses on the data included

frequency count, percentage distribution, mode and Chi-square.

The specific statements of the problems were answered accordingly through the

following statistical treatment.

1. To determine the demographic profile of the Teachers in the District of Cauayan I

and II in the Division of Negros Occidental in terms of Age, Sex and Educational

Attainment, Frequency Count and Percentage Distribution were used.

2. To determine the level of K to 12 Awareness of the Teachers in the District of

Cauayan I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental when taken as a whole and

in terms of Vision and Mission, Curriculum, Competencies, Assessment,

Strategies, and Instructional Planning and when grouped according to Age, Sex,

and Educational Attainment, Mode was used.

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3. To ascertain the significant difference in the level of K to 12 Awareness of the

Teachers in the District of Cauayan I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental

when taken as a whole and in terms of Vision and Mission, Curriculum,

Competencies, Assessment, Strategies, and Instructional Planning and when

grouped according to Age, Sex, and Educational Attainment, Chi-square was

used.

4. To determine the challenges and difficulties of the teachers in the implementation

of the K to 12 Enhanced Basic Education Program in the upland areas of the

District of Cauayan I and II in the Division of Negros Occidental, Frequency

count and Percentage Distribution were used.

On qualitative data, the organization of data began by studying the transcribed

interviews where every statement was regarded as relevant. Then from these statements,

units were listed and clustered into common categories or themes in which overlapping

and redundant statements were removed (Moustaka, 1994). Each meaningful unit was

judge whether it is relevant to the phenomenon (Wolcott, 1994). Next, textural

information was developed into categories and themes. The themes and meaningful

clusters within each theme were used to develop a textural and structural description of

the experience of reveal the lived experiences (Moustakas, 1994).

Data were analyzed using modified version of the phenomenological data analysis

method outlined by Moustaka (1994). To further clarify on the step use, the researcher
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would consider the steps used by Maraňon (2011) and Ryals (2011) cited in Yogore

(2013) in their studies. These steps were as follows:

1. Conducting the qualitative or in-depth interview to the 3 participants to obtain

their lived experience in the implementation of the K to 12 Enhanced Basic

Education Program by obtaining descriptions of their experience. In interviewing,

the researcher considered informal and topical-guided interview using open-ended

questions.

2. Practicing Horizontalization or Developing Reflective Insights-

Phenomenological data analysis followed the establish protocol or

horizontalization of the data in which statements relevant to the topic were

identified, reorganization of the information into clusters of meaning, and the

meeting of these clusters making a general description of the phenomenon both

texturally and structurally. According to Creswell (as cited in Armstrong, 2009),

the textual description reviews ―what‖ was experienced, while the structured

descriptions review ―how‖ the phenomenon experienced. Statement that was

repetitive, vague, or overlapped were incorporated into other statements or

eliminated from the list. The resulting non- repetitive, non- overlapping

statements were invariants (Ryal,2011).

3. Epoch or mind-bracketing/ phenomenological reduction – Epoche in Greek

Philosophy, means ―suspension of Judgment‖, a principle originally espoused by

nondogmatic philosophical Skeptics of the Ancient Greek Academy who, viewing

the problem of knowledge as insoluble, proposed that, when controversy arises,

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an attitude of non- involvement should be adopted in order to gain peace of mind

for daily living (Britannica online, 2011). This was done through locating first

within the personal experience or self- story, key phrases and statement that

speaks directly to the phenomenon in question; second, interpreting the meaning

of these phrases, as a possible. Next, inspecting these meanings for what they

reveal about the essential recurring features of the phenomenon being studies.

Lastly, offer a tentative statement, or definition, of the phenomenon in terms of

the essential recurring features identified (Denzin, 1989).

4. Developing Thematic Insight- Themes were developed from these statements.

Statements were placed into clusters around each theme. Themes served as labels

for each cluster and represented core components of the experience. Themes were

compared to the transcript to determine if they are accurate reflections of the

experience. Themes that were not accurate reflections of the experience were

eliminated. This process contributed to the validity of the remaining statements

(Ryals, 2011).

5. Formulating Eidetic Insight- Individual textural and structural description of the

participants‘ experiences was combined to form composite textural and structural

narratives that encompass the each experience of the participant. These individual

composite textual-structural descriptions were combined to form a composite

textural structural description. In this composite description, common and

divergent themes, characteristics, and processes were included to provide a clear

understanding of the lived experiences of teachers.