PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY GRADE III TEACHERS IN TEACHING ESP

INTRODUCTION

Value-Based Education provides pupils with necessary skills which will contribute

to the holistic development of themselves. The government believes it is very important

to introduce value-based education at primary level to promote good citizenship and

develop social values.

Nowadays, life has changed a lot where the world is more modernized and with

the influence of media, children tend to go astray. Before it was the role of the parents

and society to teach values to children, however, now that parents work and they give

less time to their children, values education tend to decrease in those situations. This is

the reason why values education has been integrated in the primary school curriculum.

The Department of Education (DepEd) provides and promotes values education at

all three levels of the educational system for the development of the human person

committed to the building "of a just and humane society" and an independent and

democratic nation.

Through Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EP) values are inculcated in the learner

under the guidance of the teacher and as he interacts with this environment. In Grade

Three classes the subject is taught in no more than 20 minutes. But it involves not just

any kind of teaching-learning process.

 First of all, the subject matter itself, values, has direct and immediate relevance to

the personal life of the learner.

Second, the process is not just cognitive but involves all the faculties of the

learner. The teacher must appeal not only to the mind but the hearts as well, in fact, the

total human person.

Third, one learns values the way children learn many things from their parents.

Children identify with parents, and this identification becomes the vehicle for the

transmission of learning, be it language or the values of thrift and hard work. Hence, the

teacher’s personal values play an important role in values learning.

Despite the inclusion of EP in public school, bullying and other forms of

aggression are still rampant. According to Peterson and Skiba (2002, in Corrigan, 2004),

“A student is being bullied or victimized when exposed repeatedly overtime, to

intentional injury or discomfort inflicted by one or more pupils. It implies an imbalance

of power or strength in which others victimize one child.

In Tinajeros Elementary School, Grade III pupils often go to the guidance office to

report unresolved conflicts with a classmate or other pupils. According to the Guidance

Counselor, there are at least 10 conflict cases in a month. Such conflicts emanate from

name calling, playing offensive jokes, hiding or getting someone’s personal belongings,
and inflicting physical injury. The pupils expect the guidance counselor to intervene by

calling the attention of the pupils complained about.

On the other hand, some pupils who experienced being bullied do not inform

others about it for fear of further being bullied. Such situation affects not only the

personal and social aspects of a pupil’s life but also his academic performance.

In view of the foregoing, it is necessary to conduct this inquiry to find out what

lapses there may be that causes the failure to curb bullying and aggression among Grade

III pupils despite the values indoctrination.

With this study, it is hoped that necessary modifications on the existing procedure

as regards the teaching of values education may be implemented. It is further hoped

that said modifications would become the means of providing Grade III pupils with better

way of teaching EP as mandated by the Department of Education.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The study seeks to determine the strength and weaknesses in teaching values

education among Grade III pupils of Tinajeros Elementary School. Specifically, it aims to

answer the following questions:

1. Is the present curriculum in Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao effective in teaching

values education among Grade III pupils in Tinajeros Elementary School?

2. Do majority of Grade III teachers religiously teach EP on a daily basis?

3. What hinders effective execution of lessons in EP?

4. How may these hindrances be overcome?

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study focuses on the strength and weaknesses in teaching values education

among Grade Three pupils in Tinajeros Elementary School alone.

There were twelve respondents, all of whom are Grade Three EP teachers of the

same school.

PRESENTATION OF DATA

Hereunder is the summary of respondents’ answers to the questions listed below.

a. Is the present curriculum in Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao effective in teaching

values education among Grade III pupils in Tinajeros Elementary School?

Response Number of Teachers Percentage

Yes 10 Teachers 80%

Sometimes 2 Teachers 20%

b. Do majority, but not all, of Grade III teachers religiously teach EP on a daily basis?

Yes 11 Teachers

Maybe 1 Teacher

c. What hinders effective execution of lessons in EP?

* The short time allotted in teaching EsP

 * Lack of teachers guide and other teaching materials

* Lack of knowledge on how to divide one topic lesson in five days time

4. How may these hindrances be overcome?

* Revision of the schedule to make it last in at least 30 minutes

* Provision of teaching materials

* Assignment of just one teacher who will teach the six morning classes

about values and another EsP teacher to teach all Grade III classes in the afternoon

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Majority of the twelve Grade Three teachers teach Values Education religiously. Others

don’t for the following reason:

EP is usually the first subject to be taught at 6:00 in the morning class and

12:00 in the afternoon class. The length of time (20 minutes) allotted in teaching EP is

too short. The time is spent mostly attending to other classroom concerns like cleaning

up of the room, entertaining parents’ query, sorting out of visual materials for other

subjects and the likes. There is also the tendency to use time allotment for EsP as

extension to other subject.

 Grade Three teachers believe shortage in time hinders effective

implementation of the curriculum. They couldn’t initiate varied teaching strategies that

will make the subject more interesting for the pupils. EsP turns out to be a story telling

routine which the pupils find boring.

Teachers are not provided with materials other than photocopies of the

budget of lesson. There is not even a book that will help them obtain idea on how to

make teaching strategies more impressive and the lesson to be learned more lasting and

worth pondering.

CONCLUSION

Grade Three teachers are committed to providing every pupils with effective

values education. It would be their crowning glory if these pupils entrusted to their care

grow up to be responsible individuals who love God, their countrymen and the nation.

To address the problem confronting the execution of lesson in EsP for Grade III,

the researcher recommends the following:

Empower a Master Teacher to establish a supervisory and managerial mentoring

program. The mentor is to meet with the teacher on a regular agreed schedule so the

latter may express their concerns particularly their needs for specific teaching materials

for specific dates.

 In providing the mentees with teaching devices, he is to harness the advantage of

information and communication technology to enhance teaching strategy in EP. With

the advent of digital technologies, pupils are exposed to modern media and traditional

kind of story telling no longer capture their interest.

If it is possible, EsP may be taught for 30 minutes in two days and in 40 minutes

for one day. All in all there will still be 100 minutes time allotment for the subject.

If this schedule revision cannot be done in the immediate future, at least there

should be a Master Teacher to demonstrate before the Grade III teachers how one topic

lesson may be taught in twenty minutes for at least three days using varied strategies.

Teachers will take turn watching the mentor depending on the scheduled which the

mentor himself may create.

One teacher may teach EsP in the six morning classes and another teacher in the

six afternoon classes. This way, the long material preparation is fully utilized as the

teacher is to use it for 100 minutes every day. Similarly, a teacher solely teaching the

subject in all the six subjects will feel more obliged to teach. EsP then will be taught

more seriously and it become a more effective tool in values transformation among

Grade III pupils.

Please answer the questions below.

1. Is the present curriculum in Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao effective in educating

our Grade III pupils about values and morality?

2. Do majority of Grade Three EsP teachers teach values religiously?

3. What aspect(s) of the present curriculum in EsP do you find most

effective/ineffective?

4. Cite some reasons as to why teachers fail to teach EsP sometimes?

5. What modifications would you want adopted as regards the teaching of EsP on
the belief that it will help improve the way values is taught?

DEFINING PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY GRADE III TEACHERS OF TINAJEROS

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN TEACHING EsP

A mini action research conducted by

Mrs. Maria Luisa V. Ighut

Master Teacher I