Experiences and Challenges of Grades 7, 8 and 9 Araling Panlipunan Teachers in Promoting Students’ Civic Competence

Abstract

Social Studies (Araling Panlipunan) educators play a crucial role in promoting civic competence, which is the academic content, critical thinking skills, and democratic values necessary for pupils to participate fully in society. Teachers of social studies continue to provide students with the knowledge, values, and attitudes they need to be productive and ideal members of society despite the difficulties they face. Although there is a study conducted in the Philippines revealing that Grades 7, 8, and 9 Social Studies subjects do not have direct discussions of civics and civic competency, there is still a shortage of published studies that address the experiences and challenges of Social Studies educators, specifically the grades 7-9 Araling Panlipunan teachers in promoting civic competence. The researchers used a transcendental phenomenological research design to examine the experiences and difficulties these teachers had in encouraging civic competency in their students. Following a demographic survey, they chose one teacher from grades 7, 8 and 9 of the Araling Panlipunan subject in a public high school and conducted interviews with them. The study revealed that they are motivated to promote civic competence because they aim to make their students acquire the values and responsibilities of an informed and active citizen in society. With that, they integrate the ideas of civic competence into their daily lesson/ discussion. However, they consider the complex topics in the grades 7-9 Araling Panlipunan curriculum as a hindrance to achieving their students' aims. Their challenges in promoting civic competence included difficulty preparing lessons, learners' diversity, and teachers' poor performance. The study also established specific effects on students when problems in promoting civic competence occur, such as poor civic competence development and students as irresponsible citizens.