Exploring Technical-Vocational Education Teachers’ Challenges and Adaptation Strategies in Teaching Courses Outside their Specializations

Abstract

Teaching subjects that are outside specialization is one of the major concerns of teachers in the Philippines, particularly in Ilocos Norte. This scenario also affects the learning of the students thus, creating gaps in their overall performance. Therefore, the study was conducted to explore the challenges and adaptation strategies of Technical and Vocational Education (TVE) Teachers in the northern part of the country who taught courses outside of their specialization. 85 teacher-respondents were involved in this study who were purposively selected. Qualitative design was used in the study that utilizes various data collection procedures, such us open-ended questionnaires and interview guide. Specifically, this study employed the phenomenological type of research where the TVE teachers’ challenges and adaptations are entangled in their everyday teaching strategies allowing for the presentation of authentic and unique experiences. Furthermore, this study captured the feelings and in-depth phenomena about the pressing needs in the teaching-learning process. Also, it utilized narrative research that basically included all the inputs of the teachers in data gathering that further strengthened the research. Data was analyzed using thematic and narrative analyses. Results show that the TVE teachers are assigned to different subjects outside their specialization because of the following factors: type of schools in which they are working, lack of human resources, limited number of students, financial factors, limited learning resources, lack of training or seminars, and motivational factors coming from the school or administration. Hence, they faced various problems and concerns that need to be taken seriously since these result in a gap in the teaching process. With these findings, TVE teachers adapt various strategies to overcome their challenges. This research aids in policy development as an intervention to address the identified problems of the concerned TVE teachers and to sustain or strengthen performances of the students.