Empowering Rural Science Teachers as Reflective and Action-Oriented Practitioners

Abstract

Teachers are aware of the presence, nature, and extent of classroom problem that they experience in daily teaching but they are not empowered enough to solve them as they aim to address learning losses. Thus, this paper described the profile of rural secondary science teachers; identified their problems encountered in daily teaching; and formulated policy recommendations that could empower them to be a reflective and action-oriented practitioner. Using qualitative case research design, eleven science teachers were purposively chosen as informants and data gathered were analyzed thematically. Three of them specializes in Biology, General Science, and Physics while the other two specializes in Chemistry; four of them were teaching Science in two or more grade levels; majority of science teachers were females; are Teachers I; and teaching experience of 0-5 years. Their problems meet was students’ poor performance, unfavorable behavior in class and teachers’ perceived difficulty. With these findings, the researcher recommends empowering teachers by developing their skills as reflective teachers and as classroom action researchers which could be strengthen by involving them in planning and designing professional development program, extending its implementation and evaluation in classrooms and by being part of a collaborative learning community.