Challenges Met and Coping Mechanisms of Teachers in Teaching Multigrade Classes and Performance of Pupils

AUTHOR(S)

RICHIE S. ONDE

ABSTRACT

—— Managing multigrade classes is challenging. It needs teacher to be resilient and pro-active in making learning happen every day in the class. It takes teacher to be resourceful and creative in teaching the pupils and providing appropriate learning materials and activities which aid them in the delivery of the lesson to make them effective teachers. With the recent study, multigrade teachers cannot do away of the challenges they met every day while teaching multigrade classes. They formulated and practiced some coping mechanisms to continually deliver the best lessons for the pupils. Thus, this is the premise why the researcher had conducted this study to determine the significant relationship between the challenges met by teachers in teaching multigrade classes, the coping mechanisms practiced and the academic performance of the pupils. Utilizing the two different survey questionnaires conducted to the teachers handling multigrade classes and gathering the result of the academic performance of the pupils, the data were statistically treated using the weighted mean, simple percentage, and Pearson r. The study revealed no significant relationship between the extent of challenges met by teachers in teaching multigrade classes in terms of lesson planning, resource materials, assessing learning, managing teaching and learning, monitoring of performance, and submitting reports and academic performance of pupils. On the other hand, the study revealed a significant relationship between the extent of coping mechanisms practiced by teachers to address the challenges met and academic performance. Further, the study also revealed a significant relationship between the challenges met by teachers in teaching multigrade classes in terms of lesson planning, resource materials, assessing learning, managing teaching and learning, monitoring of performance, and submitting reports and their coping mechanisms practiced addressing the challenges met. The effective coping mechanisms practiced by teachers have resulted in a very satisfactory academic performance among the pupils. It also resulted in an effective coping mechanism which teachers in multigrade classes tend to handle the challenges they met in teaching. Being resilient and versatile in managing the challenges met in teaching multigrade classes, effective coping mechanisms can be practiced by teachers to help improve the performance of the pupils. Keywords — Challenges Met, Coping Mechanisms, Teachers, Teaching Multigrade Classes, Performance, Pupils