Behavioral Manifestation: Spiritual Stewardship of Selected Elementary Public Schools

Abstract

The study aimed to describe the Behavioral Management of Selected Elementary Public Schools in the Lagonoy South District, Lagonoy, Camarines Sur SY 2019-2020. The specific problem objectives were: 1.) Describe the Spiritual Stewardship of students and teachers along with a.) Maka-tao b.) Makakalikasan, c.) Makabansa; 2.) Develop an intervention project to address the behavioral manifestation of students toward becoming spiritual stewards. The descriptive- evaluative method of research was used in this study. The population consisted of 70 classroom teachers at selected public elementary schools of the Lagonoy South District. Equal allocation of the teacher-respondents was taken per selected school from different areas in the District. The data were collected using the survey questionnaire, focus group interview, and document analysis. The data were treated statistically using frequency distribution and percentages, the measure of central tendency, Likert scale, weighted mean, and rank. Research finding revealed that along Maka-tao, Makakalikasan, and Makabansa, students manifested undesirable behavior that resulted in their low spiritual stewardship. With this, teachers’ behavior management strategies or interventions provided to students’ misbehavior were moderately effective. It was also found out in the interview conducted that DepEd Core Values were not fully implemented in every school; thus, teachers don’t have enough ideas as to how they could make DepEd Core values more visible in their classrooms. It can be concluded from the findings that the causes of the students’ low spiritual stewardship in the school factor was due to the academic focus of the curriculum implemented in every school, lack of well-written school policies, programs, and activities to students’ value formation. Furthermore, though students possessed low spiritual stewardship in Maka-tao, Makakalikasan and Makabansa still there are some aspects along with those areas that they are good in. Additionally, it was concluded that teachers are essential factors that could help students develop desirable values and they serve as an agent of change to make every student become a better steward. Major recommendations for schools in the district particularly for school heads and teachers are as follows: Improve the social and emotional environment of the students, emphasize the importance of waste management practices among the students and develop clear school rules and policies, and as well as highlights the expectations and responsibilities of every student in school. Based on the foregoing gap between the students’ behavioral manifestation and teachers’ behavior management strategies and practices, the researcher proposed a project entitled Dog HeALS which stands for Dogs Help Accelerate Learning Stewardship that could bridge the identified gap in the development of Spiritual Stewardship among the students through the presence of dogs in school or classroom setting. This intervention program highlights the incorporation of dogs in various activities in school which can help assist the teachers in working with students’ misbehaviors.