Teaching Competence and Attitude Towards the Teaching Profession of Senior High School Teachers Education Vs. Non-Education

In an effort to help improve the quality of education and student performance, the Philippines has implemented the K12 program, which led to a mass hiring of teachers to teach in senior high schools. Since the guidelines in the selection and recruitment of senior high school teachers do not specify the need to employ education graduates much more a licensed teacher, the implementation of K12 program has generated doubts as to the quality and competence of these newly appointed teachers especially those who are a non-education graduate. In line with this pressing concern, the present investigation has shed light on the critical question as to whether there exists a significant difference in the teaching competence and attitude of these teachers. The sample of the study comprised of 95 education graduate and 29 non-education graduates from among the various senior high schools in the Division of Romblon, MIMAROPA region. Findings revealed the existence of a significant difference in all the teaching competence dimensions of education and non-education respondents with the education graduate group having the edge over those who are non-education graduates. Moreover, the education graduates manifested a more positive attitude towards the teaching profession than those non- education respondents. A significant relationship was also confirmed between the type of education obtained at the undergraduate level and the teaching competence of both groups of respondents. The study provides a general implication to DepEd officials to consider revisiting the guidelines in the selection and recruitment of senior high school teachers.

Keywords – Attitude towards teaching, Education graduate, Non-education graduate, Teaching competence