School Problems That We Commonly Encounter

Apart from the issues mentioned. Give at least 3 school problems that you encounter on the following areas:

A) RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SUPERIOR

B) PHYSICAL FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT

C) FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

Give recommendations to solve the problems.

A) RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SUPERIOR

            1. Your superior gets moody over time.

            Maybe, the best thing that we can do is be consistent when it comes to personality-wise and work-wise. There are really some people who are moody. You can’t change who someone is. All you have to do is to be aware of your superior’s mood and then go on with your day like normal. The best thing that we can do for our superior’s mood swing is to act normally. And we should not let our superior’s mood affect us. We have no idea what he is dealing with, maybe it is just a bad day for him.

            2. Your superior does not recognize nor praise you.

Waiting for praise is being immature. Do we really need to hear from our superior that we are doing a good job? Why can’t we be just confident in the work that we are doing? There are some people who get so caught up in waiting for praise that they get frustrated when the accolades don’t come around frequently. Just be confident with our abilities. Our superior isn’t a mind-reader. We must also put into our mind, that we are always expected to do a good job and to do our work whether our superior praise us or not.

            3. Your superior’s communication style is too harsh and sometimes too offending.

First, you have to understand your superior’s communication style. If the words that comes out from his mouth do not really intend to hurt someone, then you don’t have to take it personally. Pick your battles wisely. There will come a time when something happens and you need to confront your superior. I think we all one day get to that point in our early careers. But we can’t pick every fight. Think long and hard about the battles you want to pick.

B) PHYSICAL FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT

                1. The use of ICT are not maximized.

In some schools, ICT facilities are not available. But in some schools, ICT facilities are available yet it is not properly maximized. Teachers are afraid  to use the computers. They think that they will just break it if they used it. Some teacher didn’t even bother to use the ICT facilities because the school heads would not allow them to use it. The lack of technical know-how has also hinder our teachers to properly operate ICT facilities. In our school, I only saw few teachers who used the ICT laboratory. When I asked them why they are not using it, they told me that every year these resources where gone under inventory. And if proven that they were the reason of the breakage of the material, they will be charge for it. So, they will not just used it anymore. What I think the best solution for it is to train teachers on how to properly used and operate those ICT facilities so they will not be afraid to use it.

2. There is no proper manintenance of school facilities.

When the government donated someting to schools, everything just end there. They dont bother to give the school the proper maintenance of thier donation. For example, after they have donated speech laboratory facilities, they will not send technician to check it regularly. They will not also send some technician to train the teacher on how to operate those facilities. So, what was basically happening, the facilities that they have donated do not undergone proper maintenance and it is becoming prone to breakdown. The solution that I am thinking so solve this problem is have Memorandum of Agreement that the government will give proper support to the donation that they donated including the maintenance of the facilities and the training for the teacher on how to operate such.

3. Classrooms are small and over-populated.

Over populated classroom are prone to different problems. One of which, students are not comfortable inside the class. They could not move freely. Ventilation is also affected when there is overpopulation. Also, learning will be affected. The teacher might get a hard time to allow his students to absorb what he is teaching. And sometimes, this will lead to rowdiness of the pupils inside the classroom. It is hard for the teacher to manage the class if their ratio is not properly distributed. This problem was there a long time ago, and the solution for it is not that easy. Maybe what we could do for this problem is to provide an engaging lessons for the students to properly manage them. Also, as a school, what you can do is to outsource for the possible partners where you can collect enough funds to build a new classroom.

C) FACULTY DEVELOPMENT

1. There is faction among teachers

In one school, you cannot avoid the existence of faction among teachers. There will always be a group that is against to another group. Sometimes, the faction that was existing was between the teachers and the schools heads. Due to different perspectives and beliefs in life, school formed subcultures. They both have things that they are fighting for, which I believe, is not wrong either. For this issue, it is where the school leader should come into place. He should provide a good leadership where his subordinates should follow. As a school leader, you must be aware of this faction. Do your part as their leader, and if they don’t listen, allow them to face the consequences of their doings. Let them realized that they are working under civil service code, so anything that affects their work especially when it comes to professionalism should be given proper sanction.

2. Some teachers took Professional Development Training just for Compliance

Most of time, when you are already in service, you will notice that most teachers when attending seminar or training, will look for the attendance first before anything else. This is to make sure that they will received a certificate after that training. They do not value the importance of the training. I personally experienced it during our Learning Action Cell and INSET training, attendance was the first thing that they are looking. After signing it, they will one-by-one disperse from the training. To address this issue, there should a monitoring and evaluation team from the division office to oversee what was happening during training and workshop.

3. There is no specific faculty development plan for public school teachers.

Aside from having your own career development plan, the Department of Education should be also providing their teachers a career development plan. For example, you entered public school at a teacher 1 position, there should be a guideline for example that after 5-10 years, you should have attained a higher position. It should be a continuous career development plan that after you have retired from the work you have at least attained the right position for the years of service you have rendered in the public school.