CHALLENGES IN TEACHING

The chapter focuses on the different challenges of teachers either in local or

global context. This starts with addressing cultural diversity, responding to the
needs of special learners, handling class size, dealing with various talents and
intelligences, and integrating ICT in teaching and learning process.

A. Teaching in Multicultural and Multilingual Classrooms

Multicultural education is an interesting and important topic for
teachers. At its heart is a deep concern about equity, respect for diversity,
cultural literacy, and fair treatment for everyone in school. Multicultural
education does not only concern itself with cultural minority groups and
indigenous people. Multicultural education is for every learner in school.
Given the growing diversity of the contemporary society, it is critical for
teachers to become culturally literate and instructionally effective in
teaching a culturally diverse class.
Learners are different in terms of language, religion, ethnicity, belief,
nationality and culture. This holds true in the Philippines where there are
more than 107 ethno linguistic groups. Each learner in the class may be a
member of a cultural group, have different religions, speaks a different
language, or behave differently. Everyday, bring these diversity and
individual differences in the classroom. Teachers are challe to use
pedagogical approaches that are culturally relevant and responsive.
encouraged to develop instructional materials and curriculum models that
are cult inclusive.
Another big issue and challenge in multicultural settings is
language. Language plays an important role in the teaching and
learning process. In real life, education and society are inseparable.
Education is a social activity that is important for all human beings.
 Various ideas and skills are transmitted and developed using the
language Of the people. Dewey (2001) elucidates that the language
instinct is the simplest form of social expression of the child. Hence, it
is the greatest of all the educational resources that is innate to the
child and can be utilized in learning. Language has been recognized as
an important tool in the production of knowledge and in the
development of culture because of its power to epitomize reality. It is
believed that learners create and construct meaning based on their
own experiences and use their first language in understanding and
processing ideas.
The Philippines is a country of many local languages. Recently, the
Department of Education has implemented the Mother Tongue-based
Multilingual Education in its K-12 Education Program. This enables
teachers to use the first language Of the learners to be the medium of
instruction form Kindergarten up to Grade Ill. Filipino and English
language proficiency is gradually developed from Kindergarten to Grade
3. The Mother Tongue is used in instruction and in learning materials of
Other learning areas. Through this program, learners are hoped to retain
their ethnic identity, culture, heritage, and values. Theories and
researches also confirm that children learn better and are more active
in class and learn a second language even faster when they are first
taught in a language they understand.
There are several instructional strategies that can be utilized in
addressing cultural diversity in the classroom. The following are examples
of the things that can promote the cause of multicultural education:
1. Content Integration — Cultural practices, cultural values, history, and
respect for cultural diversity can be integrated in the various contents
of the subjects taught in basic education.

2. cultural Immersion — Students can be immersed in different cultures.

This will allow the students to observe the life of Other people and to
have a first hand experience of their culture and values.

3. Celebrating Cultural Diversity— similar to what we do in the UN Month

Celebration, and in the Linggo ng Wika, students can experience and
enjoy different cultural dance, folk literature, music, visual arts, and
costumes.
4. Culture Responsive Pedagogy — Teachers use pedagogical methods,
approaches, and techniques that respect the cultural values, cultural
mindset, and cultural practices of the learners.
5. Teaching Local Culture — Teachers will introduce local culture to
students through lectures, fora, and symposia.
6. Using the Local Language as medium of Instruction — teachers need to
support the implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual
Education (MTB-MLE) program of the Department of Education. They should
 help in the development of instructional materials for teaching local
language and culture to the students.
The Philippines is also a home of various indigenous groups. The
Philippine 1987 Constitution encouraged the state to provide an education
that is relevant to their culture and indigenous practices of these indigenous
people. Pawilen (2013) identified several approaches that can be used to
integrate indigenous knowledge in the curriculum.
1. Real-Life Story Model — Indigenous knowledge is embedded in the
daily life experience of the young children as they grow up. They live and
grow in a society where indigenous knowledge is interwoven into the lives
of the people. Parents or old folks serve as teachers. The lessons are
related to the values and struggles of the people. Their views about
nature and their reflections on their experiences in daily life are
reflected in their literatures, arts, and music. Drake (1993) originally
proposed the idea to use stories called "story model" which develops a
personal, cultural, and global story as the context for any topic to be
learned.
2. Problem-based Approach — Learners are exposed to different lessons in
problem solving. By doing problem-solving activities, the learners are exposed
to some practical situations or issues that are important to them and to their
community.

3. Inviting Local Folks and Community Leaders as Resource Person in School

will allow community leaders and elders to share their knowledge and wisdom
tois the students.
4. Developing instructional Materials for Teaching Indigenous Knowledge —
Teachers can develop modules, worksheets, and learning kits that will help
introduce local history, community values, and indigenous knowledge of the
community to the learners.

B. Teaching Children with Special Needs

Special education is an area in education that seeks to understand the
nature and needs of different learners with special needs. As a field of
study, it trains teachers and other professionals to respond to needs of
special learners in terms of pedagogy, curriculum, and other forms of
educational interventions. In a regular classroom, we can only observe
students with learning difficulties, students with physical disabilities,
studentS with behavioral problems, and students who are gifted. With the
help of scholars and practitioners in the field of special education, we have
come to realize and learn that special learners can be classified in different
ways.
Wolery and Wilbers (1994) described the various classifications of
children with special needs according to the type of disability of each learner
 like dual-sensory impairments, deafness and hearing impairments, mental
retardation, multiple handicaps, orthopedic impairments, other health
impairments, serious emotional disturbance, specific learning disabilities,
speech (language) impairments, visual impairments and blindness, traumatic
brain injury, autism, and also those learners diagnosed with medical conditions.
Special learners also include children and youth living in difficult context like
those located in war zones and economically depressed areas. While there are
special schools to cater to the needs of special learners, many special learners
are attending regular classes and part of inclusive education program.
The category of special learners also includes those who are considered
as twice exceptional, intellectually genius, and gifted. In the Philippines, there
are only few schools offering programs for gifted students. These are the
science schools, special science classes in regular schools, and the Philippine
School for the Arts. There are many gifted learners who remain in regular
schools because they have no access to special schools for the gifted. The twice-
exceptional students äre sometimes unnoticed by teachers who seem to focus
only on the weakness of such students.
It is inevitable for teachers to encounter learners with special needs in their
classes. This poses an immense challenge not only in classroom management but
also in curriculum and instruction. Teachers need to modify the curriculum and
utilize instructional approaches that are relevant and responsive to the needs of
these special learners. It is also important to be careful in identifying a student
as special learner. This sometimes causes tension with parents, as many of them
until now are not ready to accept that their child is a special learner. Teachers
need to carefully observe their students' behavior, abilities, and characteristics.
They need to seek help from special education specialists or medical doctors
whenever it is needed.
Providing the needs of special education learners will certainly be one of
the greatest challenges of every teacher. Most teachers either in public or
private schools are not equipped to handle special learners. Responding to the
needs of each special learner cannot be addressed by teachers' years of teaching
experience. It requires special training in the field of special education. A
special education teacher needs to have deep devotion, commitment, and
passion to teach special learners. They need to work closely with co-teachers,
parents, and other professionals in order to understand the nature, behavior,
and needs of these learners.

C. Teaching Multigrade Classes

Multigrade teaching involves the teaching of students from different grade levels
in one classroom. This requires teachers to develop a skill in handling different
students' behavior and in addressing their needs and interests. Such situation
necessitates teachers to employ effective instructional methods and strategies and
apply an efficient system for classroom management. It also requires teachers'
 versatility to design an instructional plan that will cover all topics and activities for
all students from varying grade levels.
In some private schools, multigrade teaching is done when they have small
enrollment. In this case, classes could be smaller and can be financially cheaper to
operate than a complete school. The teacher assigned in one multigrade class is
required to develop separate worksheets and design different activities for each grade
level. This could be a difficult task for a teacher but teacher handling a multigrade
class is always ready to respond to the needs of the students. In the Philippines, the
Seventh Day Adventist Church has implemented numerous successful multigrade
classes in many of its mission schools in the country.
The Department of Education is also implementing multigrade classes in
many divisions in the country. Most of these public schools operating multigrade
classes are located in local communities that are geographically far. Thus, public
school teachers assigned in these schools are really facing difficult challenges
everyday. These teachers usually use their own money to buy materials for their
students and sometimes they also spend for the meals and snacks of their students.
They make use of local and indigenous resourœS for their instructional materials.
These teachers work with community leaders and parents to do the necessary repairs
needed for their classrooms.
Multigrade teachers in public schools are like teacher missionaries in far
communities. They are strong advocates of students' access to quality education.
These teachers usually travel at a long distance to reach the school and the
students. They are happy to share their life and their time to help young children
and youth to learn. During their free time, they engaged themselves in teaching
basic literacy to adult learners in the community.
The teacher in a multigrade class should be able to perform multiple tasks
for all the grade levels in the classroom, no matter what subject is being learned.
The teachers are expert facilitators of the learning process. They bring the magic
of learning in their classes; they plan effective lessons for their students, they
monitor student's progress, and they motivate students to learn. They are
resourceful, creative, patient, wise, and innovative.

D. Teaching in Multiple Intelligence Classrooms

The idea of learners having multiple intelligences came from the
research famous Harvard University professor Howard Gardner. In 1983,
Gardner his book titled Frames of Mind that presented the concept of
multiple intelligences Gardener's theory of Multiple Intelligences (Ml)
presents a powerful notion that there are different separate human
capacities namely:
1. Linguistic Intelligence — ability to analyze information and
create products involving oral and written language.
2. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence — ability to develop equations
and proofs make calculations, and solve abstract problems.
3. Spatial Intelligence— ability to recognize and manipulate large-
scale and fine_ grained spatial images
 4. Musical Intelligence — ability to produce, remember, and make
meaning of different patterns of sound.
5. Naturalist Intelligence — ability to identify and distinguish
among different types of plants, animals, and weather
formations that are found in the natural world.

6. Bodily Kinesthetic — ability to use one's own body to create

products or solve problems.
7. Interpersonal Intelligence — ability to recognize and
understand other people's moods, desires, motivations, and
intentions.
8. Intrapersonal Intelligence — ability to recognize and understand
his or her own moods, desires, motivations, and intentions.
Multiple Intelligence (Ml) theory became a powerful force that pushed many
educators and schools to radically change the educational system. It made many
teachers and schools conscious of designing curriculum and instruction that develop
these multiple intelligence. It has become a strong advocacy in education to provide
opportunities to develop the talents, skills, and gifted potentials of the learners. Ml
has become the guiding framework to design the curriculum in preschool and in some
private elementary schools.
In 2011, Gardner summarized the educational implications of Ml theory in education.
According to him, an educator convinced of the relevance of Ml theory should
'individualize' and 'pluralize.' Individualizing means that teachers shoutd know as much
as possible about the 'intelligences profile' of their students. They should know how
to utilize different teaching strategieS and assessment tools that bring out the
capacity of each individual learner. pluralizing means that teachers should decide
on which topics, concepts, or ideas are of greatest importance, and should then
present them in a variety of ways. This will help teachers reach out to more students
and to help them better understand their lessons.

E. Teaching in a Learner-Centered and Constructivist Classroom

In many teaching and learning documents in both public and private schools
teachers are always called to pay attention to the demand of learner-centered
education and constructivist teaching. Learner centered education is one of the
promising product of the progressive movement in education. Learner-centered
education refers to a kind Of education that considers the knowledge, skills,
abilities, attitudes, interests, and beliefs that the learners bring into the classroom.
It pays attention to the needs, concerns, and expectations of the learner and also
includes curricular and instructional practices that are developmentally appropriate
for the learners.
In learner-centered education, providing learner's social and emotional
development is an equally important aspect in planning the curriculum. Ladson (1995)
includes teaching practices and pedagogy that are "culturally relevant," "culturally
responsive," "culturally appropriate," and "culturally compatible" in the definition of a
learner-centered education. It recognizes the importance Of building on the
 conceptual and cultural knowledge that learners bring in the school. It reiterates the
importance of developing a curriculum that is based on the interest, needs,
developmental level, and culture, which includes indigenous knowledge of the
learners. It empowers the learners as active participants and leaders of the learning
process. This idea is well supported by the theory of constructivism.
Constructivism is a theory of learning that explains that knowledge is constructed
based on the prior knowledge and experiences of the learners. In constructivism,
humans are viewed as goal-directed agents who actively seek knowledge and
information. It believes that learners come to formal education with a range of prior
knowledge, skills, beliefs, and concepts that significantly influence what they notice
about the environment and how they organize and interpret it (National Research
Council 2000).
Constructivist paradigm posits that meaningful learning is constructed by the
learners as results of their sensory experiences with the world (Houtz and Thomas 1996).
Constructivist teaching and learning therefore lead to: (1) active learning; (2) learning
in a meaningful context; (3) reflective and intuitive problem solving; (4) doing
investigations; and (5) providing real-life and hands-on experiences to the learners. It
also gives opportunities for learners to interact with the larger world, and makes
connections between the new knowledge they acquired and prior knowledge to create
meaningful learning.

F. Brain-based Education
Another significant challenge to teachers is to understand and apply the
principles of brain-based education. Brain-based education was brought by research
in neuroscience. Significant neuroscience studies provided several ideas on how the
human brain functions and people learn. Caine and Caine (1997) consider curriculum
and instruction from a brain-based approach. They begin with "brain-mind learning
principles" derived from brain research findings and apply these principles in the
classroom:

1. The brain is a whole system and includes physiology, emotions,

imagination, and predisposition. These must all be considered as a whole.
2. The brain develops in relationship to interactions with the environment and
with others.
3. A quality of being human is the search for personal meaning.
4. People create meaning through perceiving certain patterns of
understanding.
5. Emotions are critical to the patterns people perceive.
6. The brain processes information into both parts and wholes at the same
time.
7. Learning includes both focused attention and peripheral input.
8. Learning is both unconscious and conscious.
 9. Information (meaningful and fragmented) is organized differently in
memory.
10. Learning is developmental.
11. The brain makes optimal number of connections in a supportive but
challenging environment, perceptions of threat inhibiting learning.
12. Every brain is unique in its organization.

G. ICT Integration in Teaching and Learning

Computer's entry into schools changed radically the landscape of
education. With computers, came educational programs in DVD, VCD, CD, and other
forms. Microsoft, Apple, and other companies developed different software that is
utilized in education nowadays. It is also the success of computer that gave birth to
the development of the Internet that goes with computer networks, World Wide Web,
search engines, and email that are very useful for everyone in the society. These
innovations removed the geographical distance between and among students,
teachers, schools, and other professionals and institutions. The success Of distance
education and other forms of online learning can be attributed to the innovations and
developments brought by the expanding influence of the new computer age.
The term ICT, short for Information and Communications Technology,
embraces all forms of technologies that enable all people to received
information and communicate or exchange information with others (Anderson
2010). ICT have marked significant effect in education particularly on teaching
and learning. At the school level, ICT is widely used in the everyday operations
and activities of the different offices and departments. Computers made
school operation system efficient from the accounting process, storing and
processing data, and in communication processes.
At the instructional level, the use of ICT in teaching and learning brought
many positive developments in the way teachers teach and how students learn.
Basically, computer software enhanced teachers' and students' presentations,
reports, and lectures. Through ICT integration in education, valuable
information in all different areas of life and in all academic disciplines are made
accessible to learners and teachers. The students and teachers became active
researchers engaged in a virtual world of ideas. They search the web for
whatever information they need. They experience to interact with other
scholars, students, and individuals through emails, blogs, chat, social
networking, and teleconferencing.
The growing influence of ICT in almost every aspect of life made ICT Literacy
essential among all teachers and students. In the Philippines, the students are taught
about computer as early as elementary although exposure to ICT already starts in the
preschool level. ICT skills dre part of the 21st century skills that must be developed
among students to become globally competitive. It is therefore imperative for
teachers to integrate ICT in their daily teaching. They also need to teach their
students to use ICT responsibly, observing media ethics, using information form
Internet responsibly, and respecting the privacy of individuals.
 UNESCO’S - FOUR PILLARS OF EDUCATION

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a United

Nations Organization to promote international corporation and underscored
the changes in the global scene and the implications of these changes for
educational policies and strategies.

learning to know learning

to do
learning to live together
learning to be
"Learning to Know, by combining a sufficiently broad general knowledge
with the opportunity to work in depth on a small number Of subjects; this also
means learning to learn...
Learning to DO, in order to acquire not only an occupation skill but also,
more broadly, the competence to deal with many situations and work in teams.
Learning to Live Together, by developing an understanding of other
people and an appreciation of interdependence — carrying out joint projects
and learning to manage conflicts — in a spirit ofpluralism, mutual understanding
and peace.
Learning to Be. so as to better develop one •s personality and be able to
act with greater autonomy judgement and personal responsibility. ' (Delors.
1998)

Education for All

The Philippines was a signatory in the World Conference on Education for all (EFA)
on a global plan to give every child in the world quality basic education. The EFA
commitment was translated into a ten-year EFA Philippine Plan of action, 1991-2000,
and committed to the Philippine EFA 2015 Plan. Priority areas are Early Childhood
Education, Formal Basic Education and Alternative Learning System.
Universal basic education is the central goal of the Philippine EFA strategy. Four
major interventions defined in the UNESCO's Framework for Action to Meet Basic
Learning Needs are as follows:
institutionalize early childhood care and development.
provide universal quality primary education eradicate
illiteracy.
• launch continuing education programs for adults and out-of-school youth.

The country "pledged to uphold appropriate standards by addressing access, equity,

quality, relevance and sustainability concerns relative to the flow of students Into and
within the system.
EFA has become "inextricably woven into the Department of Education fabric, the
Overriding responsibility of all its units." It has become an exemplar on vision asimilation
and organizational adaptation and integral part of the "overarching
philosophy and integral strategy of basic education in the Philippines."
The Philippine EFA Plan reaffirmed the commitment of the country during the
Millenium Summit of the member states of the United Nations towards "reducing
 poverty and the worst forms of human deprivation. The Millenium Development Goals
(MDGs) set within 2015 include the following:
1. reducing by half the number of people, who live in extreme poverty, with
little access to food and safe drinking water,
2. reducing death in mothers and children below five;
3. making primary education accessible to all;
4. reducing gender disparities;
5. providing access to reproductive health services;
6. pursuing national strategies for sustainable development;
7. reversing environmental resources losses; and
8. developing a global partnership for development

Multisectoral consultations among agencies are being conducted in collaboration

with the UN country team. A monitoring system has been developed so the government
can track down performance levels vis-à-vis international commitment.

Child Friendly School System

In 1999 the Philippine government through the Department of Education, the local
government units and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) initiated the Child
Friendly School System (CFSS). The CFSS project was piloted in the elementary schools.
For school year 2006-2007 the CFSS project is being piloted in selected secondary
schools.
The characteristics of a Child-Friendly School are:
gender sensitive and not-discriminating. Specifically, the CFS treats all
children equally regardless of gender, social status, cultural origin or religious
belief.
child-centered, imparts quality learning and encourages children to participate
in school and community activities
promotes good health practices and behaviors and guarantees that school
premises are safe and clean.
has the best interest of children in mind and seeks to provide an environment
that is safe, secure and a home away from home;
works closely with children's families and engages the support and interaction
of community institutions and other individual
 References:

Bilbao, P.P. Corpuz, B.B., Llagas, A.T., & Salandanan, G.G. (2015). The Teaching
Profession. Lorimar Publishing Inc., Quezon City, Philippines.

Pawilen, G.T (2016). Teaching Profession Passion and Mission. Rex Bookstore Inc.,
Sampaloc Manila, Philippines.