Educational Attainment
The educational background of the 20 UC teachers is presented in Table 3. Of the five educational levels, the UC teachers belonged to three areas, one on the master’s level, 11 or 55 percent with Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED) and some master’s units, and 8 or 40 percent having completed the BEED course.
Table 3
Highest Educational Attainment
Educational Attainment | f | P* |
1. Ed. D. | 0 | 0 |
2. MA or MA with Ed. D. units | 1 | 5 |
3. BEEd with MA units | 11 | 55 |
4. BEEd | 8 | 40 |
5. Other course | 0 | 1 |
Total | 20 | 100 |
* Percentage
A closer look at the figures in Table 1 shows that the highest educational levels attained by the UC elementary teachers were MA by one teacher or 5 percent and BEEd with MA units by 11 teachers or 55 percent, giving a total of 60 percent describing their educational attainment as Adequate. Eight teachers or 40 percent just finished BEEd, not having pursued advanced courses in MA. Obtaining Master’s units is an add-on to their attainment and is a plus factor to their educational qualifications.
Since the average age of the teachers was 28. (Table 1, page 19), it was expected that there was still time for them to improve their Adequate institutional training. Furthermore, being single in status and tenured in employment could signify the likelihood for them to devote their time to advance in their educational pursuits.
A most important function of professional education for teachers is to provide the necessary experiences and best practices that will enrich their knowledge of content, develop their skill in using them at the same time helping them imbibe a sharing and caring attitude tempered by a futuristic outlook (Salandanan, 2001). Attaining higher educational levels will in effect motivate teachers with a strong self-confidence to update their knowledge and skills to catch up with the demands of changing paradigms. Several research studies had significantly cited the importance of educational qualification as a potential factor in developing work competency. Lumapas (2000) in her study with Southern Leyte State College administrations, found out that professional factors such as educational qualification and administration experience were significantly related to their performance competencies. The importance of educational qualification as a performance correlate was confirmed by Chua (1992).
Blanchard and his co-authors (1985) define competence as a function of knowledge and skills which can be gained from education, training, and/or experience. It is something that is learned.
It could therefore be deduced that with the Adequate educational background of the 20 UC elementary teachers, they were believed to be able
and competent to handle their tasks as grade teachers.
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