ABSTRACT
The Philippine educational system has come in this 21st century where fast-changing education is. The educational curricula are lengthy and comprehensive due to the K to 12 Education and other revisions in Higher Education. These changes adhere to the western system of education that most of our graduates land their jobs. This evolution gives ample of time in preparing the curricula, the school facilities, the teacher and learners. Teachers have devoted most of their time in professionalizing themselves in order to fit the 21st century students. Teachers project many roles in the classroom. They set the tone of their classrooms, build a warm environment, mentor and nurture students, become role models, listen to students’ stories and look for signs of trouble. Thus, the common role a teacher portrays in the classroom is to teach the students. It determine the roles of teachers and the extent these had been developed in terms of Effective Communicator, Learning Facilitator, Guidance Teacher, Coordinator, Innovator, and ICT facilitator; the significant agreement on the rank orders of the role of teachers in the development of skills among the groups of respondents; the activities the teachers gave in enhancing pupils learning; the significant agreement on the rank orders of the activities that the teachers give in enhancing students learning; and the policy recommendations formulated based from the findings of the study.
The descriptive-evaluative-correlational method was used to determine the roles of teachers in leading the 21st century learners and the formulated a policy recommendation
A questionnaire was used as the main data gathering tool.
The statistical tools used were frequency count, weighted mean, rank order, percentage, and Kendall Coefficient of Concordance W. The significance level was set at 0.05.
The following findings were derived:
The roles of teachers in developing the 21st century learners were: effective communicator, 4.29; learners facilitators, 4.33; guidance teachers, 4.34; coordinator, 4.39; innovator, 4.16; and ICT practitioner, 3.89, all interpreted Much Evident.
The test of significant agreement on the rank orders of the role of teachers in the development of skills among the groups of respondents had a computed coefficient of concordance and chi-square of: effective communicators, 0.769 and 16.149 (p<0.025); learning facilitator, 0.575 and 12.075 (p>0.05); guidance teacher, .774 and 20.090 (p<0.025); coordinator, .378 and 8.124 (p<0.05); innovator, .773 and 16.240 (p<0.025); and ICT facilitator, 0.480 and 10.070 (p>0.05). Thus, the null hypotheses was rejected in effective communicator, learning facilitator, and innovator.
The activities in enhancing the learners’ skills in the aforementioned areas were: critical thinking, 4.01; problem-solving, 3.98; creativity, 4.00; community immersion, 4.09; team building, 4.20; and research, 3.94. All indicators were interpreted Much Appropriate.
On the significant agreement on the rank orders of the activities that teachers give in enhancing students learning, the coefficient of concordance W and the X2 yielded to : critical thinking, 0.439 and 11.853 (p>0.05); problem solving, 0.445 and 12.015 (p>0.05); creativity, .411 and 11.093 (p>0.05); community immersion, .615 and 16.593 (p>0.05); team building, 0.720 and 14.684 (p<0.025); and research .796 and 14.684(p<0.025). The null hypothesis was rejected in team building and research.
The policy recommendations towards the improvement of quality education suggested to the teachers, school heads and curriculum makers were: Walk your Talk. It is setting good examples for the learners through modeling of appropriate behavior. It is also in adherence to the Child Protection Policy of the Department of Education that is for positive discipline as a form of intervention; Design an activity that will address diverse learners to understand fully a particular topic and showcase individual interests and skills; Learn the language of 21st century learners. They have a different tone of learning the subject. Engage them and facilitate their interest through activities that they are comfortable with; Upgrade in state-of-the-art learning through attendance in seminars, trainings and workshops, membership in different professional organizations, and present a research output in symposia or conventions. It will be beneficial for teachers’ enhancement and learners' learning, Strengthen partnerships with parents to ensure learners' education and safety. It can be through the parent-teacher conference, home visitation, family day activities and parenting seminars. It helps promote the child-friendly environment and good coordination with primary stakeholders, Extensive monitoring of teachers. It is necessary to monitor the teachers’ performance in order to know the progress in a specific learning area. This can also be a springboard for possible enhancement programs and activities in school, Improve facilities that withstand the demands of 21st century education. Continuous repairs of rooms and acquisition of needed equipment and supplies that benefit the learners, Set periodic community learning. It is necessary that even in the grade school level, they have the idea of community learning. It can be through one-day activity, that includes, teachers, learners and community, Encourage teachers to pursue their professional growth by attending seminars and continue further studies for them to be updated and be equipped with more substantial knowledge, Inspire the teachers to focus on their teaching job. It can be enhanced by engaging in teaching activities and classroom preparations. Refrain from asking them to do clerical jobs, Intensification of programs and activities appropriate for every grade level. This can be done through the enhancement of every program in order to discover every skills and interest of learners in accordance to 21st century education and global competitiveness, To generate a memorandum order that focus on the responsiveness and readiness of learners through the conduct of different activities anchored on the 21st century skills, Extension of linkages. To expand the connection to appropriate local and national agencies in order to provide basic facilities for learners’ hands-on experience in a particular skill competency, Innovate existing programs to provide more opportunities for teachers and learners to work with potential partners which an adaptation of particular program for enhancement can be accessible, and plan for more programs that will withstand the effects of a particular program or project and develop those that are not fairly suited for schools, teachers and learners.
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