Junior high school teachers lived experiences in teaching science: A transition to Philippines' K to 12 spiral progression approach

• Main Author: Canizares, Monell John Fernandez
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: Curriculum change; Junior high school teachers; Science > Study and teaching; Curriculum and Instruction; Secondary Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdd_scied/2; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdd_scied/article/1001/viewcontent/2021_Canizares_Monell_Partial.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Curricular reform for the improvement of an educational system has been a continuous phenomenon among countries and the Philippines is no exception. This research explored the lived experiences of junior high school teachers in teaching science transitioning to the spiral progression approach in the Philippines’ reformed K to 12 basic education programs. To closely probe the transition of the teachers’ instructional practice, a descriptive phenomenology was employed. In analyzing the rich source of qualitative data, the researcher made use of Colaizzi’s method with added validating steps to improve its trustworthiness. Using the researcher developed and validated Phenomenological Personal Interview Protocol (PPIP), this study found out that spiral progression approach was perceived as teaching the basic to complex concepts connected vertically in a particular discipline and horizontally integrated with the four sciences. Due to the contextual circumstance that the schools were situated, two types of implementation scheme were experienced by the science teachers, one had separate specialist science teachers teach his/her area of specialization at different grade levels jumping from one quarter to another. The other implementation scheme had one science teacher teach all the four science subjects in a certain grade level with expressed difficulty in teaching their non-specialized discipline. Managing the change, slow transition to overcome the resistive attitude of teachers was introduced and cordial negotiation with the immediate administrator were being done. Two teaching models were proposed in this research; Ferris Wheel type of SPA focusing on the field expert vertical articulation and Merry Go Round type of SPA focusing on the integration of the four-science horizontal articulation. When implementing the spiral progression approach, there should be a striking balance with the integration of the concepts both horizontally and vertically. It is just a matter of choice, focus and balance accompanied by a guided teaching.