Crossing horizons: lived experiences of second-career licensed professional teachers in teaching Science

Abstract

Second-career licensed professional teachers are being hired to teach in large number of classrooms in Antique because of the shortage of teachers during the start of the Senior High School curriculum implementation. Schools are clearly and quickly filling the science teacher gap by hiring Second-career licensed professional teachers to fill the openings in the Senior High School classrooms in Antique. The main purpose of this thesis was to study eight (8) Senior High School second career LPTs teaching Science in the four clusters of Antique province. This study utilized qualitative research design in the form of phenomenology and utilized the technique of phenomenological approach. Purposive sampling, also known as criterion-based sampling was used to select the participants that fit a given set of criteria for inclusion. Eight (8) second-career LPTs from the Province of Antique were the respondents of this study. Since the province of Antique is divided into four clusters, two (2) science teachers from each cluster were chosen. The data obtained from the informants was transcribed, analyzed, and interpreted using thematic analysis. Personal Qualification Questionnaire and interview protocol were employed as data gathering method. Mobile phone was used as a recorder for the shared experiences of the informants. The qualitative result revealed the following themes: First, dissatisfaction and sustainable employment are the reasons why they leave their previous work. They had become unsatisfied of their chosen career due to low salary, undesirable bosses, toxic working environment as well as stressful kind of work. Second, previous career experiences and lastly, family influence. Experiences in their previous career trigger their decision of changing career to teaching. Most second-career teachers who have family members who are already in the field of education had brought so much influence on their decision in changing their career. Furthermore, positive, and negative attributes of second-career teachers in teaching were also identified. The positive attributes of second-career teachers included their (1) in-depth content knowledge and (2) being equipped with general professional skills. On the other hand, the negative attributes or weaknesses of second-career teachers included their (1) teaching subject outside their area of expertise and (2) maturity over time. Second-career teachers encountered different challenges in their teaching journey. These are (1) Lack of preparation in teaching-learning process, (2) Difficulty to Implement Lessons Due to Unavailability of Materials, and (3) Student's Classroom Etiquette and Misbehavior. To counter those challenges, second-career LPTs identified their coping mechanisms (1) Being resilient, (2) Reactivates the knowledge, and (3) Reinvent teaching. The results of the present study have significance not only to those second-career teachers themselves but also to the various public and private academic institutions. Hiring second career teachers in teaching Science are beneficial since they have an in-depth content knowledge of the subject matter since they specialized in various Science-related fields. Their academic preparations and their experiences in the various industries could be helpful to learners as they were exposed to the real world of work. They will be able to impart their knowledge, skills and attitudes that would help prepare the learners when they opt to consider careers in the field of Science.