One of the primary goals of educational institutions is to ensure that their teachers possess and practice academic excellence. It is striking, however, that much has been written about faculty growth and renewal, and how few campuses have developed comprehensive and systematic faculty development plans.
Faculty members are very instrumental in achieving the school’s goals since they are responsible for implementing the tasks that are directly associated with such goals. Therefore, educational institutions need effective faculty members who would stewards of learning and would transform learners into responsible citizens. Hence, faculty development plans are necessary to enhance the skills of faculty members and enable them to work more effectively. Faculty development has become an increasingly important component of education. Faculty development activities should be designed to improve teacher effectiveness at all levels of the educational continuum and diverse programs should be offered to faculty in many settings. The goal of faculty development is to teach faculty members the skills relevant to their institutional setting and faculty position, and to sustain their vitality both now and in the future.
The Department of Education gives high premium on the quality of education. It addresses the challenge of attracting students to pursue basic and advanced education in catholic institutions by ensuring that its faculty members are well equipped to improve the quality in their educational missions.
Therefore, this study was designed to be a guide for the application of faculty development plans in the public schools in Batangas by assessing the perceptions of the faculty and the top level administrators. The study identified the faculty development needs of public school member schools.
The proposed faculty development plan for the public schools in Batangas is meant to lead, plan and support faculty development in an effort to provide them with the knowledge, information, and resources to carry out the Department of Education’s mission and philosophy. The plan facilitates, supports, and encourages lifelong learning and continuous growth on the part of all member public schools particularly in Batangas.
The study used the descriptive research design to come up with the faculty development plan for the public schools in Batangas. The study utilized questionnaire, documentary analysis and focus group discussion to gather the necessary data and information.
Moreover, this study involved the three big and secondary schools in Batangas. Specifically, the study included the thirty administrators comprised of principals, and assistant principals, department heads and one hundred forty-one faculties.
The findings of the study showed that majority of the teachers are relatively young, female, married, with Master’s units, passers of licensure examination, have permanent status, with more than five years of teaching experience and receive a monthly income of less than Php 20,000.00. Moreover, both the administrators and teachers assessed that the faculty members’ spiritual formation is their strength and attending seminars and trainings is their limitation. The two groups of respondents did not differ on their assessments on the strengths and limitations of public school members. In addition, the administrators and teachers assessed that the main problem of faculty is the inability of students to foster critical thinking. Therefore, the proposed faculty development plan includes goals and undertakings intended for faculty and administrators of the public schools.
The proposed plan is designed to enhance the teachers’ professional growth and instructional competence, expose them to more relevant seminars and trainings, enhance their compensation and benefits received, and ensure their spiritual formation. Furthermore, this focuses on addressing the weak areas of faculty development particularly on the inability of students to foster critical thinking and teachers limited exposure to some seminars and trainings.
From the findings and conclusions of the study, the study recommends that the proposed faculty development plan may be shown to Department of Education management for their suggestions before it could be implemented. Public School administrators should also send their teachers to relevant seminars and trainings and encourage them to finish their Master’s degree for professional growth. A follow – up study may also be conducted to monitor the effectiveness of the proposed faculty development plan.