2098-Article Text-6473-1-10-20241224
2098-Article Text-6473-1-10-20241224
Research Article
to travel far from their homes to get to school, (Mirando, 2012, p. 117). Despite the challenges
kids are consequently more motivated to go to of teachers assigned in a multigrade environ-
school. ment, they give their best for their students'
Many of the multigrade schools in South- learning experience to be productive and
east Asia were also founded in response to in- meaningful (Naparan & Alinsug, 2021). They
ternational commitments to education for all, even shared part of their salaries to produce
including the Millennium Development Goals learning materials for their students (Castiga-
and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. dor, 2019).
According to UNESCO figures, there are 8,404 Multigrade teaching constitutes a work en-
multigrade schools in Vietnam, 1,353 multi- vironment full of difficulties and problems.
grade schools in 22 provinces of Cambodia, 135 Teachers' challenges should not be ignored, for
multigrade schools in Timor Leste, and 66% of they will be the basis on how to develop and
Indonesian schools are remote schools. There help them promote quality education. In this
are roughly 7,952 multigrade schools in the background, the researcher considers it neces-
Philippines. There are just four multigrade sary to investigate opportunities and chal-
schools left in Malaysia. lenges in multigrade teaching: experiences of
Multigrade teaching occurs when one primary school teachers in far-flung schools in
teacher handles more than one grade level (Lit- San Marcelino, Zambales.
tle, 2001). The implementation also of multi-
grade education in the Philippines was Methods
strengthened by DO 81, s. 2009, as the govern- Research Design
ment provided special hardship allowance, ad- This research is qualitative research adher-
equate training for multigrade teachers, giving ing to the phenomenological methods. Accord-
of resource package and other benefits. ing to Polit & Beck, (2012), the phenomenon or
There are areas in the Philippines where to- case can be a person, a group, an organization,
tal school enrolment is low, or there is a lack of or an event. The use of a single case study is an
teachers, making it necessary to combine dif- appropriate design for certain circumstances,
ferent grade levels. Hence, in remote places, including when the case represents (a) a criti-
multigrade schools are present to endure sig- cal situation to test the theory, (b) an authentic
nificant contributions to education for all case, (c) a regular case that can facilitate under-
movement. As of the Academic year 2008- standing of usual circumstances, (d) an open
2009, 12,225 of 37,697 public elementary case that previously has been inaccessible, or
schools were multigrade (Villalino, 2010). It is (e) a longitudinal case (Yin, 2014). The study is
not easy for a Multigrade teacher to experience considered “a common case that can capture an
that some pupils, especially the higher-grade understanding of usual circumstances” be-
level, who may not be listening while the cause of the experiences of teachers in the im-
teacher is discussing because they may already plementation of multigrade teaching.
know the topic.
In the Philippines, the most common prob- Participants
lems in multigrade classrooms are preparation The participants of the study were purpos-
and planning of daily lessons, the inadequacy of ively chosen teachers teaching multigrade to el-
instructional materials, classroom manage- ementary learners in the District of San Mar-
ment supervision, familiarity of different celino province of Zambales with at least one
schemes in teaching multigrade classes, appli- school year experience as such. This was con-
cation of teaching methodology in real teach- sidered because teachers who are new in the
ing-learning situations, lack of school facilities, service are most likely to experience challenges
schedule of activities, big class size, poor work- and difficulties. However, teachers who are
ing conditions of teachers, inadequate pre and more than a year in multigrade teaching may
in-service training of teachers in specific skills also encounter difficulties that need to be ad-
related to multigrade teaching, and concern dressed, hence they were also included.
about the academic achievement of children
IJMABER 5163 Volume 5 | Number 12 | December | 2024
Rondero & Casupanan, 2024 / Challenges and Opportunities in Multigrade Teaching
Emerging
Question Relevant Statements F
Themes
• Preparing different lessons for different level
of learners
• preparation of learning materials, execution
What are the
of the lessons and preparation of the multi
challenges you Difficulty in han-
grade lesson plan…
encountered as dling classroom
• Lack of references and ready-made lesson 6
multigrade and time manage-
plan of multigrade classes
teachers? ment
• As a multigrade teacher I experience insuffi-
cient time in handling classes……
• Insufficient time sometimes in handling clas-
ses
Emerging
Question Relevant Statements F
Themes
• As a multi grade teacher the challenges I en-
countered is insufficient time in handling clas-
ses and in the actual teaching.
• Cater the individual needs of each student…
• Teaching pupils with different personalities
and characters
• learners’ attitude towards learning
• Culture
• Undesirable attitude of some learners…. Failing to consider
• Guiding them with different intellectual dif- 7 the diversity of
ferences learners
• …..ensuring the effectiveness of prepared dif-
ferentiated instructions, strategy to be used
since they have different abilities; and limited
time to cope all the topics for 2 different grade
levels.
• Lack of training… Inadequacy in
• It was hard to teach two grades in one class- 2 Teaching Multiple
room. Grades
• …as multigrade teacher are the tons of coordi- Experiencing
nator ships and reports 2 burnout in teach-
• …amount of work ing
Based on the table presented, the chal- task, the teacher is occupied with another
lenges encountered by the teachers as multi- group's instruction, which poses a manage-
grade teachers in far-flung schools are: class- ment challenge for multi-graded teaching
room management, learners’ individual differ- (Taole & Mncube, 2012). The lack of time is one
ences, time management, lack of training and of the main issues that teachers face when in-
teachers’ workload. structing multigrade classes (Mulryan-Kyne,
2004). Lesson plans are created by teachers
Difficulty in handling classroom and time specifically for their classes. They must instruct
management kids in various grade levels, though. Therefore,
Mirando (2012), in his study, revealed that it frequently results in incomplete lectures. To
the most common problems in multigrade properly comprehend the teachings at each
classrooms were preparing different lessons grade level, they require more time. It can be
for different levels of learners on a day-to-day difficult for teachers to develop the skills of stu-
basis, mismatches of trainings received to mul- dents who are in different grade levels. To ena-
tigrade teaching (case-to-case basis), physical ble students of various year levels, learn more
conditions of the classrooms, and absence of effectively, they must effectively manage their
needed materials in teaching multigrade learn- time. Multigrade classrooms frequently lack or-
ers. The preparation and planning of daily les- ganization, don't practice peer tutoring, and
sons, inadequate instructional materials, class- don't provide material in a logical order
room supervision, familiarity with various (Sampson & Condy, 2016).
schemes for teaching multigrade classes, and
the use of teaching methodology in actual Failing to consider the diversity of learners
teaching-learning situations are the most fre- Individual differences play a variety of roles
quent issues in multigrade classrooms in the in how students perform and behave during in-
Philippines. While one group is working on a struction. Gender, age, IQ, ability, interest, prior
Emerging
Question Relevant Statements F
Themes
• Being flexible
• As teachers must develop flexible group prac-
tices and review the learning competencies and
meet the needs of our learners.
How do you
• I used to download from the internet for refer-
cope with the Teachers’ Re-
ences 5
challenges you sourcefulness
• the teacher will be more resourceful, creative,
experienced?
imaginative and strategic in managing multi
grade classes
• Give them different activities according to their
level.
Emerging
Question Relevant Statements F
Themes
• Understand the needs of the learners well… (2)
• Learn about their culture Understanding
4
• Doing my responsibility to understand and teach differences
them well.
• following a timetable in doing duties and respon-
sibilities (2) Teachers’ Re-
3
• I am usually doing these works during my extra siliency
time sometimes rendering overtime at work
• By attending seminar on multi grade
Teachers’ In-
• Attend seminars and trainings to enhance our 2
novativeness
skills on teaching multigrade
• … and assistance form coworkers and heads from
time to time.
• Seeking recommendations from colleagues who Support Group
3
have been teaching MG long enough to master the System
curriculum.
• Parent involvement in learners’ development
TOTAL 17
As gleaned from the table, the multigrade less power in the community, such as low-in-
teachers overcome challenges by teachers’ re- come families, indigenous children, and chil-
sourcefulness, understanding differences, dren of ethnic minorities (Jorgensen et al.,
teachers’ resiliency, dedicated to professional 2010; Biddle et al., 2018). Schools in remote ar-
growth and support group system. eas may be challenging to manage (OECD,
2019).
Teachers’ Resourcefulness
Teachers used their creativity to overcome Teachers’ Resiliency
their obstacles. Given their situation, teachers Despite the difficulties, teachers perse-
need to be creative. Teachers had to create vered and kept their strength. The best teach-
their own instructional materials due to a lack ers for them were their experiences. Despite
of resources and assistance (Taole, 2014). They the difficulties they faced, they keep developing
frequently bring items they've gathered them- and learning. They made every effort to com-
selves. Even so, they spent their own money to plete challenging activities, and they sought to
purchase materials (Ngubane, 2011). To assist teach many grades while accomplishing learn-
their pupils with their fundamental necessities, ing goals (Taole, 2014). 2020 (Rafiq & Sultana).
such as food, they worked along with other Multi-grade teachers can serve as role models
stakeholders. Additionally, they went to other for successful teaching through their pedagogi-
MG schools in an effort to find best practices. cal leadership attributes, resilience, and adapt-
These are a few examples of the inventiveness ability (Ramrathan and Ngubane, 2013).
displayed by teachers. Using what is available
and adapting to the situation, teachers in re- Teachers’ Innovativeness
mote places are frequently quite resourceful Teachers' innovativeness was developed
(Cornish, 2010; Quejada, & Orale, 2018). through multi-grade teaching. To address their
particular circumstances, they must be crea-
Understanding Differences tive. The teachers had to develop their own
Far-flung teachers and leaders must de- teaching and learning management techniques
velop communication skills with underrepre- due to a lack of training in multi-grade teaching.
sented or marginalized groups that may have They created their own plans of action that
were tailored to their circumstances (Ramra- (Heaney and Israel, 2008). Resilience was
than & Mzimela, 2016; Brown, 2010). To stay strongly predicted by social support networks
up with the necessary personal and organiza- (Stewart & Yuen, 2011). Involvement with
tional changes, teachers must innovate and other instructors and exchanges among them
build their skills (Lecat et al. 2017; Arocena et are highlighted by the need for social support
al. 2007). (Naparan, 2018).
Emerging
Question Relevant Statements F
Themes
• reward for us to become an effective teacher.
Enhancing the
• fulfilling experience
6 Self-Esteem of
• overwhelming but satisfying at the same time
Teachers
• challenge (3)
• empower his colleagues and to develop and pro-
duce as well
Recognizes
multi skilled 21st century learners
What are the shared respon-
• flexible and resourceful (2)
opportunities 7 sibility for fa-
• A motherly teacher, sometimes angry bird but at
you experi- cilitating stu-
the end fair enough to understand them.
enced in han- dent learning
• guide and engage students
dling multi-
• service oriented, patience (2)
grade classes?
• adopt the lesson and welling to teach multigrade
• The ability to be adaptable and knowledgeable
Increasing the
about various tactics. Multigrade teachers must
teaching profi-
be adaptable in order to tailor the curriculum to 4
ciency of
their multigrade classes.
teachers
• It is quite fascinating, as it opens an opportunity
for me to learn more about teaching MG.
TOTAL 17
As shown from the table there three (3) op- conviction that multi-grade instruction is valu-
portunities experienced by teachers in han- able and the best way to ensure that everyone
dling multi grade classes. has access to an education will be crucial to the
implementation of multi-grade instruction's
Enhancing the Self-Esteem of Teachers success (Kivunja and Sims, 2018).
Self-esteem can act as a fundamental psy-
chological building block by a driver of involve- Recognizes Shared Responsibility for Facili-
ment in academic work (Lim and Lee, 2017). tating Student Learning
The value of multi-grade teaching was According to McCollough and Gremler
acknowledged by teachers as a result of their (1999), one of the most important aspects of
experiences. The teacher's determination and education in the academic setting is the
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