Elementary Science teachers beliefs and practices in culturally responsive teaching in the new normal

Abstract

The improvement of teaching methods has always been given focus in the delivery of quality education. In this study, the researcher investigated the relationship between the beliefs and the practices of science teachers of the Schools District of Oton handling Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 for School Year 2021-2022 in the contextualization of culturally responsive teaching through localization and indigenization, aiming to preserve the local culture and tradition of the community. The respondents were identified through simple and stratified random sampling, and the research design used was the descriptive correlational research design. The extent to which the respondents agreed with the beliefs and the practices in culturally responsive teaching was assessed through a researcher-made survey and was measured through the weighted mean statistical treatment. Using Pearson product-moment correlation, it was determined that the respondents generally agreed with the beliefs in culturally responsive teaching in terms of localization and with the practices in culturally responsive teaching in terms of both localization and indigenization whereas they highly agreed with the beliefs in culturally responsive teaching in terms of indigenization. It was also discovered that there was a moderate positive correlation between the variables, such that the respondents who generally agreed with the beliefs in culturally responsive teaching in terms of localization and indigenization also exhibited positive reception toward its practices in terms of localization and indigenization. With these findings, recommendations were made to develop enhanced instructional guidelines for the locale and to promote a positive perception of the beliefs in culturally responsive teaching.