Author/s:
Abulon, Edna Luz Raymundo
Education Policy and Research Development Center, Philippine Normal University (abulon.elv@pnu.edu.ph)
Rungduin, Teresita T.*
Research Center for Teacher Quality, Philippine Normal University, Philippines (rungduin.tt@pnu.edu.ph)
Abstract:
Conversations with 74 Filipino pre-service teachers from 10 Teacher Education Institutions in the Philippines were qualitatively analyzed to explore their experiences in college, their motivations as well as life events, which hindered them from pursuing the teaching as a career. The rich narrative data gathered in the study showed that financial and economic reasons, which include perceptions of insufficient salary levels, are driving the graduates away from teaching. Likewise, a mismatch between personal characteristics, including health issues related to the demands of the teaching profession, was crystallized. Although a number of the respondents admitted that they do not see themselves as teachers even if they were trained as such, yet, they expressed seeing themselves as part of the allied professions in teaching. The graduates reported that they applied for jobs related to teaching such as those involved in child-care, guidance counselors, librarians, teacher assistants, and other teaching-related professions. A myriad of possible reforms and initiatives were considered in the study to address these concerns. In the pre-service phase, reforms starting with the recruitment and selection of students, provision of scholarships for deserving students, institutionalization of career-oriented programs to sustain motivation to pursue teaching, and curricular reviews of the aspects of the practice teaching course, as well as the basic teacher competencies, are recommended. In the in-service phase, reforms in the hiring process, provision of in-service enticements for beginning teachers, and most of all, review of the starting salary of teachers are deemed necessary and timely.
Keywords: motivation; teacher loss; admission and retention policies; narrative analysis
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2014.966
*Corresponding Author