TEACHER’S JOURNEY: LIVED EXPERIENCES OF NOVICE TEACHERS

Introduction

Teachers are also referred to as "shift catalysts." They are people who have the

necessary competencies, expertise, and discipline.

Man is made by the instructor. He is the bedrock of all education, and therefore of

humanity's entire culture, past, current, and future. Teachers are crucial because they form

society as a whole. It is impossible to rebuild a nation without the help of teachers. Teachers

must be actively seeking knowledge, have a strong character, be highly motivated, and be

creative, inventive, and imaginative.

Teachers are aware that students have differing levels of intelligence, so they can have

learning opportunities that appeal to all of these learning styles. Teaching, according to the

NCBTS, includes the reflective and versatile application of technical expertise in ways that

facilitate student learning.

Need for interpersonal relationships; willingness to help others; the theme of sticking to

familiar school habits; material benefits of the job; and time balance with family demands are

some of the earlier reasons for deciding to teach as a career (Lortie, 1975). A study by Hao and

de Guzman (2007) idealistic, migratory, evolutionary, job protection and stability, superiority,

liberating, altruistic, and perpetual are some of the motivations for pursuing a career in

education. In the school year 2016-2017, one in every five students in college is taking-up

teacher education (CHED, 2017)

The field of education, especially the position of classroom teacher, presents a unique

set of challenges that are not faced by other professions. The majority of teachers enter the
profession recognizing that their salary would be lower than that of many other careers, but for

personal reasons, they choose to pursue teaching as a career.

Only success can be guaranteed in a school if teachers are well-educated, intellectually

alive, and enthusiastic about their work. In recent years, developing countries have been

increasingly worried about their citizens' level of financial literacy. Improving financial literacy

has risen to the forefront of public policy issues around the world.

 Statement of the Problem

This study aims to explore the lived experiences of married and non-married faculty, the

permanent and temporary permanent faculty members when it comes to their income and

spending preference. This study will be able to answer the query on what happen to the

spending preference of the said faculty members, what is the reason behind why there are

those single and permanent faculty members that at the end of the month, the income is not

enough. There are also those married and permanent faculty members that the spending habits

is quiet good compared to the singles.

Significance of the Study

This study will be helpful to the researcher and to the university community in

understanding the lived experiences of the faculty members of the university. The study will be

a source of information in motivating and protecting the financial status of the faculty members.

While much research has been conducted into the reasons why teachers leave the field of

education, there is a less research based on the challenging experiences of beginning teachers.

This study will provide insight and shed light into the challenges beginning teachers feel they to

deal with: diverse learners, managing classroom behavioural challenges, and the expectations

required daily. This will focus on the real-life, day-to day accounts experienced and told by
teachers. The researcher will understand how beginning teachers experience these challenges

and the impact these challenges present to their over all well being as educators.

Research Questions

The researcher will design an instrument that would examine the daily lived experiences of

beginning teachers. As a guide to this research, the following questions will be used:

1. What are the lived experiences of beginning teachers in terms of their preparedness to

instruction?

2. How do beginning teachers characterize their difficulties in classroom management?

3. How do beginning teachers describe the experiences based on these perspectives: Who

I Am, What I Do and the External Factors that influenced their teaching practice?

Methodology

This study will utilize a qualitative research methodology, particularly interview method.

More specifically this research will utilize the descriptive phenomenological analysis of the lived

experiences of the teachers in their own perspective. Reliability and validity will be

accomplished through audio recording, bracketing, and member checking.

Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

Introduction
 Education is the most powerful weapon for changing the world (USAID, 2013). Arne

Duncan, the former Secretary of Education of the United States during the World Bank Human

Development Forum have said that education eliminates gender inequality, reduce poverty,

create a sustainable planet, prevent needless deaths and illness and foster peace (USED, 2011).

This research focuses on three areas that have been present in much of the

corresponding literature examining challenges beginning teachers face, namely the

preparedness beginning teachers feel they have to differentiate instruction of all learners, the

challenges beginning teachers face when trying to manage a classroom effectively, and the

expectations beginning teachers have of themselves and of the job-related expectations of the

teaching profession.

Dr. Carol Ann Tomlinson, an expert in the field of differentiation, conceded that

classrooms today offer an abundance of technology-based instruction and learning, yet more

diversity and inclusion of diverse learners than perhaps ever before (Tomlinson, 2014).

According to Tomlinson (2014), differentiation is varying instructional methods and processes in

such a way that all learners are accommodated. Tomlinson (1999) stated, however, that pre-

service teachers must receive preparatory support in differentiating instruction; and further,

that all teachers, especially those new to education, must be supported in their efforts to

provide differentiated instruction. In 2005, Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, an expert in the area of

teacher preparation, along with Baratz-Snowden, conceded that “teachers are much more likely

to stay in the profession if they are supported in their early efforts to learn to teach. The

authors continued by stating that all too often beginning teachers are placed in classrooms

without needed support or access to seasoned professionals who could assist in their transitions

from transforming their book knowledge into action, thereby easing their transitions from

student into teacher (Darling-Hammond & Baratz-Snowden, 2005).

 The demand for quality teachers is increasing nationwide. The first few years in a

classroom are critical for beginning teachers’ survival. Smith (2004), award winning teacher,

education consultant, and international presenter, stated that being a new teacher is like trying

to fly an airplane while building it and added that unrealistic expectations beginning teachers

place on themselves is perhaps the single largest source of stress. The transition from being a

student teacher to that of a classroom teacher brings with it many challenges and difficult

situations unknown to most other professions.

David Berliner (2002) reported that anecdotal evidence from teachers in the U.S. noted

that three to five years of experience were required for a new teacher to not be surprised by

what happened in his school or classroom.

According to Quejada, Ailyn and Orale, Ronald (2018), it is a practice in the Philippines

that neophyte teachers are assigned in less attractive places, like far-flung schools. In some

cases, the desire of new teachers to gain employment for economic reasons is most of the time

the main reason why neophyte teachers accept teaching jobs in far-flung places.

Teachers are not present just to teach children, but they serve as a resource person,

confidante, a friend, and a model to the community. That is the reason why they have a great

impact, not only to their students, but also to the community they teach (Barcena, 2018).

Teaching has been identified as one of the most stressful professions, with a high attrition

rate resulting from teacher stress and burn out (Hartney, 2016).

The experience of reality shock for beginning teachers can be profound, influencing

feelings of belonging to the profession, capacity to teach effectively, and levels of teacher

retention (APJTE, 2015).

 Chapter 3

Methodology

This study will utilize a qualitative research methodology, particularly interview method.

More specifically this research will utilize the descriptive phenomenological analysis of the lived

experiences of the faculty members of Cebu Normal University faculty members in their own

perspective. Reliability and validity will be accomplished through audio recording, bracketing,

and member checking. Phenomenology is founded on the concept that through inquiry, one

may move past awareness of things, experiences or understandings to arrive at the very

essence of the thing itself or the phenomenon.

The method of data collection will be semi-structured interviews of the participants. This

will employ a method of inquiry because this research approach will originate from the internal

perspective of the participant and not from an external point of view. Although the researcher

will have a drafted list of possible interview questions, the participants’ responses will

determine probing of follow-up questions (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007).

Data will be analysed using Colaizzi’s (1978) method for qualitative data analysis.

Colaizzi’s method established a strict procedure to follow which resulted in uncovering the

meaning contained in the qualitative data. This method will outline in a series of steps: the

texts will be read and re-read, and words, phrases and fragments about how the informant

experienced the topic will be listed to create a non-repetitive, non-overlapping list of statements

(categories); the statements will be grouped into meaning units (sub-themes); the researcher

will reflect on his own descriptions to group the meaning units by varying frames of reference

to construct a description of how the phenomenon will be experienced (major themes); the

researcher will then construct an overall description of the essence of the phenomenon.