ABSTRACT
This research study aimed to find out the implementation and impact of School Learning Action Cell (SLAC) on the professional development of teachers as basis for the Enhancement Program using the phenomenological approach under qualitative method. The participants of the study were eleven (11) SLAC coordinators and eleven (11) teachers in the District of Nueva Valencia North, Schools Division of Guimaras during the School Year 2024-2025. The data were gathered using a researcher-made questionnaire through in-depth interviews. The results revealed that teachers are becoming more effective and efficient if they collaborate with their colleague. The study also highlighted that through the SLAC sessions experienced teachers and those neophytes in the service can work together and could make the teaching-learning process more meaningful. Also, to SLAC can help teachers boost their morale and even improve their communication skills. To further develop teachers them professionally, an enhancement program was created to further maximize the teachers’ potential and skills.
Keywords: Implementation, Impact, Professional Development School Learning Action Cell, Enhancement Program
INTRODUCTION
Teachers are considered to be the best asset of the school. Having good teachers means that the school is producing competent graduates. Being in the field of education, educators need to be flexible enough in facing adversities and challenges that would come along the way most especially in this fast-changing world. These professional must be given full attention for the future leaders of our country is being molded in their hands.
Professional development that focuses on teaching strategies associated with specific curriculum content supports teacher learning within their classroom contexts. It helps the teacher to cope up with the skills and techniques in order to respond to the needs of the 21st Century learners. While it is necessary for a certain professional to recalibrate his or her professional status, professional development programs and activities play a vital role in making these actions possible.
The systematic use of appropriate strategies for delivering and assessing the learning objectives targeted for each lesson results to successful teaching (UNESCO GMR 2014). These educators are able to convert simple concepts and ideas into a comprehensive learning objectives where learners enables to relate with the topics or lessons presented, determine the most appropriate instructional strategies and learning materials and implement those to teach the target content objectives, draw sound and fair conclusion, intervention, remediation and enrichment activities based on the results of formative assessment, sincerely promote their students learning and holistic development, promote sincerely their students’ learning and holistic development, and possesses positive traits and fives emphasis on ethics towards his or her work(Stronge, 2007).
In the context of the Philippine Education System as being manned by the Department of Education, the School Learning Action Cell (SLAC) as the K to 12 Basic Education Program is a School-based Continuing Professional Development strategy intended for the improvement of teaching and learning as stated in the Department Order No. 35 series of 2016 dated June 07, 2016. There were several methods that the Department of Education is implementing for a more meaningful teaching-learning processes yet, most of these are top-down progressions wherein a traditional method is used that expert knowledge is shared or transferred. Examples of these are lectures or workshops during cascaded or echoed teacher training and short-term courses.
As the Department recognizes that the quality of learning is greatly influenced by the quality of teaching, organizing Professional Learning Communities was also adopted in order to aid teachers in the building of new facts about instruction as well as in brushing up traditional principles and norms about education, teaching community, and learning to suit the current needs of learners. Affirmative bases for this policy are also drawn from the learnings of many interventions in education such as the Program for Decentralized Education (PRODED), Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP), Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project (SEDIP) as well as empirical studies on similar professional development programs that demonstrate that teachers’ participation in professional development activities have a positive impact on teachers’ beliefs and practices, students’ learning, and the implementation of educational reforms (UNESCO ISO, 2006).
Hence, this study was hereby proposed by the researcher to further investigate in enhancing teachers’ professional development through the conduct of School Learning Action Cell (SLAC) as basis for enhancement program in the Schools District of Nueva Valencia North, Schools Division of Guimaras during the school year 2024-2025.
The researchers’ core on conducting a study on the School Learning Action Cell (SLAC) stem from the researcher's firsthand experience as a teacher in the area. The researcher have observed that while SLAC sessions were regularly conducted, the sessions often lacked depth in addressing specific professional development needs of teachers, especially in adapting to localized challenges such as multi-grade teaching, limited resources, or integrating culturally responsive pedagogies for indigenous learners.
This experience could have sparked a desire to investigate how effectively SLAC sessions are implemented and whether they truly impact teachers’ skills, knowledge, and classroom practices. By uncovering gaps and identifying strengths, the researcher aimed to develop an enhancement program that ensures SLAC sessions become a more targeted, impactful, and sustainable platform for professional growth, ultimately improving teaching practices and student learning outcomes in similar rural contexts.
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