Teaching Engagement of Senior High School Teachers in Batangas Province

Abstract

Senior High School (SHS) teachers are at the forefront of providing quality and innovative education for students who would either enter the world of work or pursue tertiary education. Therefore, their commitment and dedication to their craft should be carefully delved into, and one of the dimensions where they manifest such attributes in the teaching profession is the level of their engagement in the delivery of instruction. Hence, this study was conducted in order to assess the engagement of selected SHS teachers in Batangas Province during the academic year 2019-2020. It specifically covered the extent of teachers’ engagement as characterized by their vigor, dedication and absorption, and explored on the factors that contribute to their engagement as to school policy, school culture, teacher empowerment, and interpersonal relationship. It also analyzed how teaching engagement is manifested in terms of cognitive, physical, and emotional domains and looked into the sources of burnout in teaching, with the end view of proposing effective measures to foster effective teaching engagement. The descriptive method of research was utilized in the study with the use of a questionnaire as the main data gathering instrument. Gathered data were further enriched through the focus group discussion and interviews. Respondents included 85 school heads and 322 SHS teachers in the province of Batangas. The statistical tools utilized were weighted mean, ranking, and t-test. Results from the findings revealed that teachers manifest moderate engagement in vigor, dedication, and absorption. It was also revealed that school policy and administration moderately contribute to teachers’ engagement, while school culture and interpersonal relationships greatly contribute to their engagement. On the other hand, school heads assessed that teacher empowerment greatly contributes to engagement, while teachers claimed that this factor affects their engagement moderately. Comparison on the assessments between the two groups of respondents revealed they concurred in vigor, absorption, teacher empowerment, and interpersonal relationship, but differed in their assessments on dedication and school culture. Moreover, work overload issues, absence of an awards and recognition system, and big class sizes were found to be the primary sources of teachers’ burnout.