The Challenges of Teachers in the Philippines

Being a teacher is really hard, whether you're just starting or have taught for decades.
Expectation are high from students, parents, department chairs and administrators. No
matter how much experience you have, there are always challenges to face in the
classroom and school. The challenges of teachers has big impact on how they will deal
with different situations within their classrooms. No matter what type of school,
teachers have to deal with a wide range of student needs. Some major challenges of
teachers in the Philippines are overpopulated classrooms, limited resources and
excessive paper works.

Some teachers are faced with overcrowding or have students who distract the rest of
the classroom and add a significant challenge. Overcrowded students and lack of school
rooms were the common problem here in the Philippines. Education means more than
just teaching a student to read, write, and manipulate numbers. But with lack of
classrooms and other school facilities, teachers have problems on how they can
accomodate the needs of every students when even in the first place having a classrom
cannot be provided by the schools. The effect of having shortages of rooms is the
difficulty in monitoring the entire class, most of the time teachers are unable to pay
attention to every student particularly, in the rush to complete the lessons on time.

Next is the limited resources, it may be a scary thought for teachers to imagine having
to teach classes without other teaching materials. It may also be worrying that students
may not find the classes as fun or interesting, and they may be limited to certain
activities. A disadvantage of teaching with limited resources is that teachers can be
tempted to surrender to ‘plain talk’. It can be frustrating to realize that if they only had a
certain piece of equipment, the class could be a lot easier to teach, more fun for
students, and more intersting too. Teaching in a school with limited resources they will
have to be more resourceful and find ways to use what is available in their school only.

Lastly, the excessive paper works, it takes a lot of time out of their regular schedules.
This can seriously impact the quality of work they deliver. It is seriously challenging for
them to handle all of this without giving space for criticism. It can also take a bad effect
over their health and many are finding it difficult even to have a proper work-life
balance. Teaching can be challenging at times, but teachers are all willing to be a good
role model to inspire students to live a better life in various means. At the same time,
the life of a teacher is not that flawless like everyone thinks it is. Like every other career,
teachers are also facing a lot of challenges.