STRUGGLES AND COPING STRATEGIES

OF NOVICE TEACHERS IN TEACHING

SPIRAL PROGRESSION IN
MATHEMATICS 7

Joco M. Piamonte
Presenter
 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
• The Department of Education in the Philippines has restructured its curriculum
for teaching mathematics. The new approach involves a spiral progression,
where concepts are introduced in one grade and built upon in the following
grades, becoming more advanced and intricate. In Grades 7 to 10, teachers focus
on teaching five areas of mathematics, including Numbers and Number Sense,
Measurement, Geometry, Patterns and Algebra, and Probability and Statistics,
with increasing levels of complexity (Dep. Ed., 2014).
• Nevertheless, it is a common observation that many new mathematics teachers
have unrealistic expectations about their profession, which can lead to negative
experiences for them. It is widely acknowledged that the initial years of a novice
teacher in the classroom are the most challenging. (Dickson et.al, 2014).
 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Additionally, since they are accustomed to teaching just one mathematical
subject for the entire year, the majority of mathematics teachers found this spiral
progression challenging. They are required to teach five courses for a complete
academic year while also mastering them. The quick shift from pre-service
teacher to in-service teacher seems overwhelming. According to Darling-
Hammond et.al, 2016, attrition does have variations specifically concerning
teacher preparation. The more training a teacher received after starting their
employment, the two to three times greater their attrition rate would likely be
compared to those who finished their preparation program. Instantly, novice
teachers are given the same weight of responsibility as experienced teachers.
They are expected to meet the standards set by the school and expected to do
well. These expectations greatly affect novice teachers who have little or no
experience at all.
 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
• In the article on the issues with the K–12 curricula in Nueva Ecija, Bala (2017)
"It has been stated that teachers must receive training in various areas such as
pedagogy, educational research, measurement and evaluation, and classroom
management." Research has consistently demonstrated that novice teachers
often display several characteristics. They tend to feel a sense of enthusiasm
and optimism toward their teaching career and possess a strong passion for
children and education. Additionally, they often possess a deep sense of
mission and purpose in their profession (Esther, 2016). They enter the
classroom equipped with pedagogical theories with a sense of motivation and
enthusiasm and have high expectations for their students and feel that they
can make a change in the lives of their students for the betterment of society.
However, not enough research in the local area's why I decided to conduct this
study. On the other hand, the quick shift of novice teachers' roles from pre-
service teachers to professional teachers develops struggles.
 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
• Thus, there is a great need to investigate and conduct this study to
determine the struggles and adjustments of novice teachers in teaching the
spiral curriculum in Mathematics 7. This would be helpful the administrators
for to address the needs of pre-service teachers.
• This study will be conducted to determine the struggles and coping
strategies of novice mathematics teachers in teaching Mathematics 7 in
spiral progression.
• Although it is possible to argue that all studies are worthwhile, it is critical to
discuss the empirical, theoretical, and practical significance of this particular
study. We talk about the study's potential empirical value as well as how it
fills a gap left by earlier research. This section also discusses who may
theoretically and practically benefit from this research, as well as how
educators, colleges, and administrators might utilize the findings to create
programs for pre-service teachers or discover ways to influence professional
development. This research explains how instructors feel prepared and how
educational institutions may adjust as necessary.
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study will be conducted to know the struggles and coping
strategies of Grade 7 Novice teachers teaching in Spiral Progression.
More specifically, this study will pursue the following research
question:
1. What are the struggles of Grade 7 novice teachers teaching
in Spiral Progression?
2. How do Grade 7 Mathematics Novice teachers cope with
the struggles of teaching in Spiral progression?
3. What are their insights as novice teachers teaching
Mathematics 7 in spiral progression?
 THEORETICAL LENS
•According to Veenman (1984), teachers with higher levels of cognitive development
outperform teachers with lower classroom performance, are more adaptable, use a variety of
teaching methods, and have the necessary coping skills.  This was also the case for future
teachers at various developmental stages as their perspectives on the issues they faced in the
classroom changed. We also found that more developed learners are more empathetic, flexible,
aware of individual differences, and able to respond to student needs. I found that lower-level
beginners were defensive because they lacked the ability to inspire learners and
management skills.
•The teacher's socialization framework is also considered. This is because it plays an
important role in novice development and growth (McKenzie, 2005) and in developing effective
coping mechanisms. The teacher socialization framework is poorly developed and has not been
used in most research on future teachers. This framework considers the social interactions
teachers experience to become effective teachers, and the impact other individuals
and structures. They interact with in reinforcing and developing their educational theories and
beliefs. related (Koeberg, 1999; Jordell, 1987). According to Bahta (2003), socialization is based
on interaction and learning. By interacting with the people around them, new teachers learn and
develop better ways of coping with challenges. Socialization therefore enables new teachers to
learn and become accepted members of the culture of education. In addition, social processes
change future teachers, enabling them to better understand problems and develop effective
coping strategies.
IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY DELIMITATION AND
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

•This study will confine itself to exploring, documenting, and analyzing the struggles
and coping strategies of Grade 7 mathematics novice teachers teaching Mathematics in
Spiral Progression. As academic research, this study chooses to use the qualitative
approach of the study to determine its in-depth value. Also, the generalizability of this
study will become pertinent through triangulation and constant comparison of the
gathered data and proper documentation and audit of data.
•The researcher will use interviews with those novice teachers teaching Mathematics
7 in Spiral Progression in the secondary schools in the Province of North Cotabato. Thus,
it would anticipate affecting the openness of the participants to reveal their struggles and
how they cope.
•More so, the researcher will be using mobile phones to record probably to get some
of the important details that they should reveal in the study. Furthermore, copies of
documents that will support the narratives of participants will also be secure in this study.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
•Coping Strategies and Struggles
Learning mathematics may be demanding in terms of numbers, theories of
solutions, forms, and word comprehension. However, some people are adept at
using such case help practitioners to resolve real-world issues (Chinaveh,
2013).
• Novice Teachers
According to Pogdzinski (2012), novice teachers are teachers who've taught for
at least 2 years and a most of five years; however, for this study, novice
teachers are described as individuals who had taught for as a minimum 2
years.
•Spiral progression
In the Philippines, education, also known as K to 12 or Enhanced Basic
Education, is administered by the Department of Education (DepEd) and has
numerous variations of content and norms, styles, and methods of developing
generality to helical progression grades.
Research Design
• In this study, I will use a phenomenological research design as my qualitative research
approach. It is a technique used in qualitative research to look into and understand the
significance that individuals or groups assign to a social or human event (Creswell, 2014).
• In this study, the researcher will be utilized a phenomenological design as it was stated by
Giorgi (2009) and Moustakas (1994) as an investigational strategy derived from philosophy and
psychology in which I discussed the participants' struggles and their coping strategies in
teaching Spiral Progression in Mathematics 7 as a phenomenon.
Research Participants
• All mathematics teachers who teach Mathematics 7 in both public and private schools will be
the focus of this study. This study will focus on the mathematics teachers in different
secondary schools in the Municipality of Carmen, Province of Cotabato.
Data Sources
•The study will utilize three research questions that will be used as my basis in making more
in-depth guide questions to be used for the interview and focus group discussions (FGD). These
questions will be validated by experts in the field for their comments and suggestions before the
conduct of my study. The questions will focus mostly on the experiences of Mathematics teachers
teaching Spiral Progression in Mathematics 7. The interviews will be recorded to ensure that all
possible responses and details will be transcribed accurately.
Data Collection
•In collecting the data, the researcher will go through the following procedures such as asking
permission from the Graduate School Dean to conduct interviews and focused group discussion for
the participants to know the rationale behind the conduct of the interview. The ethical clearance
from the UIC-REC will be ask. In this manner, it will establish trust with the participants to open up
and describe their feelings, thoughts, and beliefs. These interviews will involve unstructured and
generally open-ended questions that are few in number and are intended to elicit views and
opinions from the participants (Creswell, 2014).
Data Collection
I will have an interview guide that will be followed. The guide questions with corresponding probe
questions and the interview will be administered personally to the respondents. In the interview, I will utilize a
conversational approach to put the interviewee at ease and be willing to give information during the IDI and
FGD. This approach allowed a degree of freedom and adaptability in getting information from the
interviewee.
It will also allow the participant to contribute as much detailed information as they desired and permitted
the researcher to ask probing questions as means of follow-up. This will be done through record information
from interviews by handwritten notes, audio taping, or by videotaping. I will make sure that I uphold the
ethical principle in collecting the data to ensure the safety of the participants. The questions will be asked in
English but I will also explain and rephrase these when the interviewees will ask for the Visayan or Tagalog
version. I will explain some areas that need clarification to avoid misinterpretation of the interview. At the end
of each interview, I will remind the participants about the need for a second contact with them via cellphone
calls or to see them personally to discuss the findings of the study and to make sure that the findings of the
study will reflect based on their own experiences.
Data Analysis
•Miles and Huberman (1994) three-phase procedure will used to described by which includes data
reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing and verification will be administered. First, the researcher will
used a mobiles phones to collect and validate the verbatim data. In data reduction, I will extract, select and
simplify the themes and patterns from the handwritten notes and transcripts that will be gathered from the
participants. I will accomplish this task, I will read and re-read the interview transcripts repeatedly for a time
while searching for similarities and differences in themes. I will assign code names to those themes that
emerged and organize them into categories of related topics, patterns, concepts, and ideas that emerged
from participants’ perspectives. For data displays, the displays will be used to incorporate information into an
accessible summary to facilitate later conclusion drawing. Display techniques will be used including matrices
and networks. Matrices are rows and columns of data that will be extracted from the coded transcripts and
organized according to themes, complete with supporting quotations from the themes. Networks are charts
that summarized information by providing the picture of reduced data, as it existed in the context of
participants’ perspectives.

•The final part of data analysis will consist of drawing initial conclusions based on cross-case data
displays and then subjecting these initial conclusions to verification procedures. These procedures are
anticipated to confirm that findings are appropriate before they will be labeled as conclusive results since in
qualitative research, results will be verified if it is deemed appropriate in terms of their trustworthiness.
 Trustworthiness of the Study

According to Denzin and Lincoln (2014), there are four factors to be considered in establishing the
trustworthiness of findings from qualitative research credibility, confirmability, transferability, and dependability.

•Credibility. I will consult an expert in the field to scrutinize the findings based on its conclusion,
participants’ perspectives, and the authenticity of the phenomena under the study. The credibility of the
respondent will be ensured by purposive sampling which means that the willing participants will be identified
members that will give credible information based on their firsthand experiences as identified members.

•Transferability. It is defined as how the research output could be used in application to other users
(Creswell, 1998). This particular study is seen to be transferable but only to a limited extent as the results and
analysis are all related to the described phenomenon. The degree of the findings and the conclusions drawn can
be applied to a similar situation. This means that the analysis and results can be applied when investigating and
researching other investment schemes and may be used as a baseline reference for future research.
 •Dependability. It refers to the reading, proofreading, and repetitive review of the themes that emerged
in this study whether it is consistent with the changes over time (Bernard, 2014). I prepared and presented
the research questions that were validated by the experts. In this study, to strengthen the gathered
information, I used triangulation by means of different data collection such as in-depth interviews, focus group
discussions, and field notes. I hired effective documenters, good transcribers, and an expert in thematic
analysis. I employed verbatim transcription and literal translations. This manner will help in lessening my
personal biases and assumptions in writing the report. I will address this by reporting the study in detail so
that the future researcher can readily replicate the study.

•Confirmability. It denotes that the results or outcomes of this research can be supported or helped
prove by other people who choose to study similar topics (Mann, 2006). The confirmability of this study will be
established by the use of an audit trail. It will be done by treating the participants’ responses and their identity
with confidentiality and through keeping the records of the interviews and careful observation of the
participants. After transcribing the videotape and the voice recorder, I will give this back to the participants for
them to verify the authenticity of the information they have shared and I will ask them to sign a verification
form still bearing their pseudonym. After the completion of the data analysis, results, and discussion, the
auditor will assess carefully the audit trail with original transcripts from the interview and data analysis
documents. It will be done by signing the verification letter and the auditor will ensure the dependability and
confirmability of the study.
 ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER

• Creswell (1994) stated that a good research undertaking starts with

the selection of the topic, problem, or area of interest as well as the
pattern of inquiry. It is in the light of my eagerness to learn and pursue
what has motivated me to pursue this study. It is timely and relevant to
the current phenomenon. Hence, I will browse the needed references
and documents that might help in my study. I will begin my research by
identifying good and reliable information related to my study,
formulating appropriate research questions with the help of an expert
in this field, and developing a comprehensive research plan. As a
researcher, I have to see to it that I will follow my semi-structured
protocol for the in-depth interview and FGD.
Ethical Considerations
• Research involves collecting data from people, about people (Punch, 2005). Researchers need to protect their
research participants; develop trust with them; promote the integrity of research; guard against misconduct; and
impropriety that might reflect on their organizations or institutions; and cope with new and challenging problems
(Israel & Hay, 2006)
• Social value. This study is of value to society for it can create a better understanding of the struggles of the novice
teachers.
• Informed consent. It is important to ask for consent and permission. Before I conducted this study. I prepared and
accomplished the informed consent forms that were approved by the Research Ethics Committee. I will use the
informed consent forms to obtain the consent of the participants asking for their voluntary participation. I will assure
that the participants received all of the information needed about the purpose of my study. Also, I will see to it that
the participants understood what it means to participate in the study so that they can decide in a deliberate way
whether they want to participate or not. I will explain to the participants that once they refuse the request, I will not
force them to give their consent. In addition, I will be very careful not to let out statements that could harm them
psychologically and emotionally. I will inform the participants that the study looked into their struggles and coping
strategies in teaching Mathematics 7 in spiral progression and that their participation is very important because they
were the only qualified and credible sources of data. I informed them about the methods that I used in this study such
as participating in the interview. More importantly, I will inform them that each of their identities will be protected
by confidentially. I will assure them that their names will not be disclosed in the reporting of findings. After a
thorough explanation to the participants, I will ask their permission. The participants must sign a written consent
form as proof of their voluntary participation in my study.
• Vulnerability of the participants. In considering the vulnerability of the research participant, I
will distribute informed consent forms to the possible respondents and participants before I will
conduct the Focus Group Discussion and In-Depth-Interviews. I ensured the confidentiality
about this matter that whatever organization they are a part of will not be identified, and their
names will not be mentioned in the study while their responses will be kept confidential
Privacy and Confidentiality. The privacy and anonymity of the participants were
observed in this study. I adhered to the principles of transparency, legitimate purpose,
and proportionality in the collection, retention, and processing of personal information
(Data Privacy Act of 2012).

Justice. The researcher was fair enough in selecting the participants of the study. There was
justice since it only covered participants who qualified to the standard given, without favoritism
and the like. The study only included the identified Grade 7 Mathematics teachers within the
locality. No restriction or qualification was set in choosing participants as long as the participants
are identified as Grade 7 Mathematics Teachers.
• Transparency. To provide transparency in this study, I laid everything down to the
participants. I made it certain that my process was a manifestation of transparency since it
may have an impact on the rights, health, and safety of the participants. The participants were
informed through informed consent

Qualification of the Researcher. The researcher of the study is a public-school

teacher and a student of Master of Arts in Education Major in Mathematics. The
researcher also engages in different seminars in writing research. The researcher also
followed the standards of the University of the Immaculate Conception Research Ethics
Committee for the guidelines of ethical consideration.

Adequacy of Facilities. As a researcher, I guaranteed the adequacy of materials which was

addressed to come up with a great output when I conducted my study. The library in the
university has accessible materials for me to read such as thesis, dissertation even journals and
research papers are made available, which helped me throughout the process when I
conducted the research. The university also has facilities conducive to peer review.
• Community Involvement. The final product of this research was articulated to have a
significant contribution to institution which will benefit the results of my study. Through this
study, a significant contribution to the schools, Districts, and Department of Education would
be made by understanding fully how the experiences of novice teachers struggles and coping
strategies give an impact on their teaching career. The outcome of this research served as an
avenue for the institutions to create a program or even a seminar for the teachers who are
new to this field of work. The findings of this study would involve the different affinities in our
students, teachers, and administrators and even the government agencies which provide
support as they are part of the community.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING! 