Republic of the Philippines

NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Introduction

The new normal situation of the world caused by the

Covid-19 pandemic brought changes in which people’s normal life
were modified and aligned with the new sets of rules and guidelines
implemented by the government. Specifically, the traditional way
of education has been replaced in the new normal where face-to-
face classes are suspended and online learning were utilized. The
changes in education due to the pandemic brought extreme
difficulties to teachers and students.

The term new normal has no definitive meaning, but it

has been assumed by many people to be more technology-driven
teaching and learning nowadays. It has been expected that education
in the new normal will never be the same as in the traditional way
in pre-pandemic times (Culala, 2022). According to ChildHope
Philippines Foundation Inc, 2021, it goes without saying that
education in today’s new normal is burdensome, not just for the
students but for the teachers and the parents as well. To help
students shift into the sudden changes brought about by the
pandemic, distance learning methods have become part of the new
normal in education. Bozkurt and Sharma et al., 2020, stated that
new normal in education emerged and seems to be pointing in the
direction where using technology in education will be implemented.

According to the study of Hew, K.F., Jia, C., Gonda,

D.E. et al., the covid-19 pandemic forced all of the universities
to immediately move to online delivery of lessons where many
educators found out that developing effective teaching online in
a short period of time is very stressful and difficult.

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 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Review of Related Literature

The implementation of Flexible Learning in various

educational schools during the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in
a lot of struggles particularly in teaching Physical Education
(PE). This study aimed to explore the challenges experienced and
encountered by teachers in teaching PE amid the pandemic,
particularly during the first semester at Jose Rizal Memorial State
University wherein, Modular Learning Modality (MLM) was
implemented. The study utilized a qualitative research design,
particularly phenomenology, involving six teachers handling PE
subjects. Based on the result of the study, there were three
problems in Flexible learning, such as; (1) students' readiness
related challenges, which includes students' readiness, submission
of outputs, difficulty in following instructions, and the
difficulty of some learning activities and assessment; and (2)
teaching learning process-related challenges which include of not
enough of preparedness for instruction, making a hard time in
assessing and providing feedback, and difficulty in establishing
the validity of written outputs. Furthermore, an intervention plan
was proposed based on the result to address the identified
challenges appropriately (Delas Peñas, 2022).

The study of Aguinaldo (2021) stated that teachers are

having a hard time making the changeover from their traditional
pedagogy to active online learning pedagogy as a result of the
sudden changes in the delivery of classes from face-to-face to
online due to the coronavirus-19 epidemic. This study examined the
difficulties teachers faced when delivering virtual physical
education amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The researcher's
goal was to determine the techniques and strategy of teachers used

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 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

to deploy online learning and how they handled the difficulties

they ran across. According to the findings, among the challenges
they faced in online classes were slow Internet connections, a
lack of equipment and space, inactive students, and difficulties
in correcting students' execution. The main drawback of offering
classes online is the minimal transfer of knowledge and skills to
the students, but its benefits include comfort and safety. Although
online learning gave teachers and students new chances, it could
not compare to the efficiency of carrying out class activities in
the traditional classroom, on the school grounds, and in the gym.
However, even once the nation's health status returns to normal,
quality online physical education can be ensured with suitable
activity, inventive exercise routines, enhanced motivation, and
accurate instructions from moderators.

In light of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19),

this study investigated the challenges of conducting online
physical education classes and used the results to create an
effective operation strategy to deal with these challenges. Six
physical education teachers from middle and high schools took part;
three were specialists in online physical education and active in
the Korea Council School Physical Education Promotion, and three
were suggested teachers working to enhance the online courses
provided by the Korea Ministry of Education. To gather and examine
the data, a qualitative case study approach using phenomenological
techniques was applied. The monotony of the sessions within their
constrained environmental circumstances and constrained
instructional resources was one of the challenges of operating
middle and high school online physical education programs for the
first time (Hyun-Chul Jeong Wi-Young So, 2020).

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 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Synthesis

In this part of the study, the researchers showed the

integration of the challenges encountered by physical educators
brought by pandemic in utilizing technology in the new normal
education.

Due to the coronavirus-19 pandemic, physical educators

have left no choice in having difficulties transforming their
pedagogy wherein face-to-face teaching is feasible into online
delivery of lessons or what we called online classes in the new
normal situation of education. The most used medium to teach in
the middle of a pandemic is technology resulting in many
difficulties; poor internet connection in which teachers are
unable to meet their students in time especially when there is a
blackout, heavy rain or natural calamities, and sometimes because
of the geographical location where the bandwidth of internet is
low (Millan, 2022); lack of interaction and inefficient feedback
coming from students, conflict theoretical explanation because of
the unavailability of practical demonstration, uncomfortable area
and lack of working materials, need of individual correctness, and
the influence of weak critical thinking and creativity in
performing physical activities (Adela and Dana Badau, 2020).
Furthermore, because of the transformation of traditional pedagogy
to the online class, teachers having difficulties familiarizing
themselves with using technologies, and according to the study by
Jeong and So, 2020, teachers with little to no training and a lack
of expertise in remote PE instruction have resulted in trial-and-
error methods. In addition to that, the unavailability of
technological tools used to access internet connection such as
modems and router is also one of the major problems encountered by

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 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

physical education teachers. Belleza 2021, stated that the virtual

setup of classes requires internet in most of its features such as
WiFi modems, internet fiber connections, and mobile data plans,
and the absence of these tools will lead to issues and concerns
regarding the delivery of lessons.

The researchers further conclude that these challenges

brought by covid-19 pandemic has really brought a huge negative
impacts to the services of physical educators especially when it
comes about the lack of training and expertise in using technology
as a medium of instruction in this time of pandemic. In addition,
there are uncontrollable circumstances in which technologies are
prone to such us electricity and natural calamities.

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 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Bibliography

Centeio, E. (2021, June 21). The Success and Struggles of Physical

Education Teachers While Teaching Online During the COVID-19
Pandemic. Human
Kinetics. https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jtpe/
40/4/article-p667.xml

International Journal of Research Publications. (n.d.).

(n.d.).
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349684279_The_difficult
ies_perceived_by_students_from_the_specialization_of_physical_ed
ucation_and_sports_in_the_online_educational_process

Jerrwin C. Aguinaldo (2021)

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jerrwin-
Aguinaldo/publication/361206830_Challenges_Encountered_by_Physic
al_Education_Teachers_in_Online_Learning/links/62a2b91b6886635d5
cce1083/Challenges-Encountered-by-Physical-Education-Teachers-
in-Online-Learning.pdf.

Maricar C. Tegero (2021) Challenges Encountered by Physical

Education Teachers in Online Teaching in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic
file:///C:/Users/ADMIN/Downloads/1009011220212524.pdf

Jose D. Delas Peñas (2022) Challenges in Modular Learning: Teaching

Physical Education in the midst of COVID-19 Pandemic
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jose-Delas-
Penas/publication/358776980_Challenges_in_Modular_Learning_Teach
ing_Physical_Education_in_the_midst_of_COVID-

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 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

19_Pandemic/links/62540616cf60536e2354c002/Challenges-in-
Modular-Learning-Teaching-Physical-Education-in-the-midst-of-
COVID-19-Pandemic.pdf

Hyun-Chul Jeong Wi-Young So (2020) Difficulties of Online Physical

Education Classes in Middle and High School and an Efficient
Operation Plan to Address Them https://www.mdpi.com/1660-
4601/17/19/7279?fbclid=IwAR1bE9zOfY596d9GS-
9DwxGTQpiw6eE_HmCyLcVN4Y-XmR-RbadQB2DKkHs