Retirement is a transition from paid occupation to other life venture. Retired educators face many challenges from physical, psychological to socio-economic ones. This study focuses on the life and aspirations of retired public school teachers of the REINA District (Real, Infanta and Nakar) in Quezon Province. This study was guided by disengagement theory (Cumming&Henry 1961) The research used purposive sampling hence, 5 participants were chosen of which 4 were female and 1 male. Portraiture methodology was used in this study, a kind of qualitative research which was defined by Lawrence- Lightfoot (2005) as the methodology that blends the study of beauty and arts and the emotion that they evoked with the principle of social science. Data collection was done through personal interview with each of the participant. The interviews were transcribed verbatimly and was thematically coded and analysed through content data. It is the purpose of this study to describe and reflect thematically on the life and aspirations of Retired Public School Educators in the study area, and see the clear picture of their journey called LIFE. The study found out that retired educators have health and financial problems. Study concluded that family was a primary factor in coping with the problems encountered by the participants. The study recommends that retired educators must keep a wellness program through proper nutrition, regular exercise. recreational, civic and religious activities and positive mental attitude.
Keywords: Aspiration, Coping Strategies, Problems, Retirement
INTRODUCTION
Retirement is a life-journey that everyone lives through. There are three (3) types of retirement namely: economic retirement which objective is no longer for money, psychological which is subjective, meaning one retires and does not consider himself/herself economically productive as when he or she can be considered as retired and sociologically retired which is seen by the society as that time when one leaves his or her career and occupies the position that one is allowed to be without work especially upon attaining the retirement age as per his/her employer's retirement policies (Weiss. 2009).
The rationale why portraiture has been chosen as the approach is because this is the most appropriate technique to capture their voices of the retirees by sharing their experiences, their testimonies, their aspirations, their feelings and emotions, likes and dislikes. From their sharing and stories, the researcher was able to paint their beautiful portraits with a caption: "The Life and Aspirations of the Retired Educators of the REINA District in Quezon Province."
It is also the intention of this approach to produce an explicit description and listen to the central story and the subsequent construction of the final narrative is accomplished through a systematic effort to observe, listen to, and interact with the participants over a period of time. This immersion results in the identification and interpretation of emergent themes of goodness. Consequently, themes combine with special attention to their context to form the final portrait (i.e., aesthetic whole). In the study, the role of the researcher irrefutably plays a hand in shaping the investigation and finding as is evident in the determination of the research questions, selection of participants chosen and performed analyses, and disclosure of the findings. In portraiture, however, the researcher also plays a critical role in the navigation and narration of the story.
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