Lived experiences of senior high school teachers teaching qualitative research without training

Abstract

A Husserlian phenomenological study was conducted in five public Senior High Schools in Maasin, Iloilo to describe the experiences of teachers who were teaching Qualitative Research but did not receive adequate training in the said field for the purpose of gaining deeper insights on their experience and how the prevailing issues can be addressed.

Five emerging themes were identified namely, 1) unproductive teaching, 2) difficulties in teaching, 3) insufficient infrastructure and logistical support to the teachers, 4) mental and emotional disturbances among teachers and 5) coping with technical inadequacy by these teachers. The participants perceived that their ability to teach qualitative research was unproductive due to excessive time in teaching preparations and their incompetence. Some attributed the difficulties to their students’ poor academic preparations that includes poor reading abilities and writing skills. All of them felt that there was insufficient logistical and infrastructure support especially limited internet connectivity and inadequate materials. All participants experienced mental and emotional disturbances such as helplessness, guilt and low self-esteem. The participants adopted various coping mechanisms for their inadequacies.

This research presents important implications for the Department of Education, academe and teaching practitioners. It is highly recommended that DepEd should be responsible for the needed training of their teachers in the different methods under qualitative research and provide substantial incentives to motivate teachers to conduct research. Further, a simple manual on the basic knowledge on how to process interviews based on the rigors of the four qualitative methods should also be developed.