Where are the students heroes? : teachers motivation and the K-12 education reform in the Philippines

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Master Thesis

Mi H. Nguyen

Student No. 11137738

mi.nguyen@student.uva.nl

Thesis for MSc Contemporary Asian Studies

Graduate School of Social Sciences

University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Gerben Nooteboom

27 June, 2016, Amsterdam

Word Count: 24,901

WHERE ARE THE STUDENTS’ HEROES?

Teachers’ Motivation and the K-12 Education Reform

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Cover photo: The Philippines Normal University- the national center for teacher education in the

Philippines.

All the photos in this thesis were taken by Mi H. Nguyen.

The names of all informants and schools have been changed to protect respondent confidentiality and privacy.

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Acknowledgements

I was doubting between coming back to Vietnam- my home country, or going to the Philippines- a new place, for my master research. Finally, I decided to take up the second choice and this is how far I could go.

I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks for my supervisor Dr. Gerben Nooteboom. Your comments, suggestions and feedbacks have always guided me whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had questions about my research or writing. I admire all of your encouragement and inspiration throughout this experience.

Thanks to Rosanne Rutten, although you are not my supervisor, you have been so supportive for helping me out with valuable advices and experiences in both my thesis and my fieldwork.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to all my Filipino informants who willingly shared their living and working experience; without you it would have been impossible to write this thesis.

To my adopted family, especially kuya Rudy, ate Bien and Yssa - you are always my reasons to come back to the Philippines.

My gratitude to my friends and everyone I met who made me feel more than welcome in the Philippines. Also, many thanks for helping me out with the language, finding interviewees, and discussing my research.

Furthermore, I am thankful for my proofreaders for the helpful comments and corrections. Last but not least, a special thanks to my family, who always trusted and supported me whenever I was in doubt or even had crazy ideas. This is for you.

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List of Abbreviations

ACT Alliance of Concerned Teacher

AHS Arianda High School

ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations

BA Bachelor of Arts

CHED The Commission on Higher Education

DepEd Department of Education

Educ College of Education

EFA Education for All

GDP Gross Domestic Product

LET Licensure Examination for Teachers

PHS Penn High School

PRC Professional Regulation Commission

PSHS Philippines Sciences High School

QHS Quisorio High School

SHS Senior High School

TEIs Teacher Education Institutes

THS Tarian High School

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Chapter I: Introduction

“Teaching is not to be regarded as a static accomplishment like riding a bicycle or keeping a ledger; it is, like all arts of high ambition, a strategy in the face of an impossible task”

(Stenhouse 1999: 95). It has been 4 years since I started my first part-time job as an English teacher with a simple thought that it would make me feel more independent when I could earn some money myself. Gradually, I felt fulfilled and I started to enjoy the teaching profession more. I had more classes, more students and some of them were even very close to me, like younger sisters and brothers. Now I realize that becoming a teacher is not only sharing knowledge and interacting with students in the classroom, but also training, supervision, caring, and understanding. It has been a wonderful experience to help students to improve their skills and give direction and inspiration to guide them towards a professional and fulfilling life. As a result of both the professional teaching role as well as personal coaching, teachers are, or can be regarded as heroes by their students. Good teachers are loved and respected and can make a life-long impact on the development and career of students. These heroes may not wear a cape, but to their students they are super. Good teachers are inspiring for young scholars to fulfill their potential (LEAD Magazine 2015).

One important characteristic of a good teacher is internal motivation (e.g. see Rahmawati 2015). Motivation could lead the teachers to deliver good quality work and best performance to further inspire their students. However, because of the unattractiveness of the teaching job, caused by for instance low salary, lack of government support and low appreciation from the society, not many people choose to pursue this profession (BBC 2001). On the other hand, some pupils get inspired to become a teacher because of their own teacher who was a role model for personal enrichment, or because of the desire to contribute to the development of the young generation. Others are motivated by the occupational prestige of the teaching profession. Therefore, it is clear that the reasons for becoming a teacher are not only a calling from the heart but are also driven by other motivational factors that could push potential teachers into the teaching profession. But how does motivation precisely come about and how it can be sustained when the working conditions and societal and political recognition often fall short? Approximately 15.7 percent of teachers leave their posts every year, and 40 percent of teachers who pursue undergraduate degrees in teaching never even enter the classroom at all (Riggs 2013). There are a lot of teachers leave every year. The question is why, and the answers are many! The teachers’ issues become more interesting in the Philippines’ case as currently, one of the most impressive educational reforms in Asia is taking place in the country, which the K- 12 programme will transfer the education system from a 10 to 12 year curriculum. In this thesis, the issues and challenges of teacher motivation in the context of educational reform and societal change will be studied for the case of the Philippines.

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1.1 Problem statement

Over the past few decades, many Asian developing nations have poured resources into enhancing the quality and availability of education systems as an important part of their efforts to achieve economic development (Rizvi et al. 2005: 8). The Philippines has experienced rapidly rising education levels that can be linked closely to specific policies they adopted in the 1960s (King and Lillard 1987: 167). According to UNESCO (2015: 19), the enrollment rates in the Philippines increased from 90.29% in 2002 to 95.24% in 2012 and 59% in 2002 to 64.61% in 2012 at the primary and secondary levels respectively. On the other hand, basic education in the Philippines has met problems such as the access of students to primary schools. The Education for All (EFA) policy has experienced a setback; access to and the level of enrollment in secondary education has remained almost the same but the dropout rate increased and the curricula got congested as a result of the number of courses that schools must cram into their curricula in order to fulfill the mandated educational requirements (Okabe 2013: 2). However, along with the need to increase access to basic education, the Philippines also need to improve the quality of education as well as pedagogy in education (Ibid).

In 2012, the Philippine government declared the start of a fundamental overhaul of the country’s educational system under a policy called the “K-12” Program, which would add two more years called Senior High School (SHS) to the educational system. It is considered “the most comprehensive basic education reform initiative ever done in the country since the establishment of the public education system more than a century ago” (SEMEO 2012).

Lengthening secondary schooling by two years will help decongest the curriculum. Content that had to be taught within 4 years will now be taught over 6 years. The K-12 program also makes possible the seamless continuity of education from kindergarten through elementary school to high school. Graduates will gain a high school diploma, and they can also acquire a Certificate of Competencies or a National Certification showing that they have acquired a mid-level of skill in their specialization when going on for higher education or getting a job.

Education is regarded widely as an essential factor in economic development. At the microeconomic level education has an important role in social mobility, equity, public health and gaining better opportunities for employment (Dalmeri, Munzir and Achirudin 2012: 1). Currently, education in developing countries, such as the Philippines, is at a critical juncture, a potential crisis in the teaching profession threatens the ability of national governments to reach internationally agreed targets to expand and improve education (VSO 2002). In a country as culturally and politically diverse as the Philippines, teachers and educational administrators continue to experience a sense of crisis (Rizvi et al. 2005: 4).

In the Philippines, the teaching force is gradually demoralized and fractured (VSO 2002). Teachers are frequently paid little and late, their professor development and training needed are neglected, and they are mired in bureaucracies that support neither their effective performance nor their

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career progression. Teachers, previously benefiting from considerable public respect and reasonable financial reward, feel that their status is in decline. As a result, the teaching profession is characterized by high attrition rates, high turnover, lack of confidence and varying levels of professional commitment (Ibid). Even though the starting rate salary now is around P18,000 (EUR345) for public school teachers, many Filipino teachers still remain financially burdened in contrary to, say, Singaporean teachers, who have the highest average salary in the world—close to US$4,000 (EUR3,584) a month; in Malaysia, it’s around US$2,200 (EUR1,971) and in Indonesia, US$1,400 (EUR1,254) (Angara 2014).

Demand and supply in local labor markets influence individuals’ career choices, and as skill shortages increase globally, teachers will seek better pay and working conditions outside the teaching profession. The reasons individuals are motivated to take up a job or demotivated during their career life in any profession are sophisticated and numerous, so understanding the motivational reasons is necessary before any changes can be advocated (Analoui 2007). At the same time, “K-12” is a recent change in the Philippines’ educational system, which was initiated in 2011 and was signed into law in 2013, adding two years to the country’s basic education curriculum. Among many articles and studies published about this new policy (e.g. see Okabe 2013), there has not been any single study focused on the linkage between Filipino teachers’ motivation and their perspective towards the “K-12” reform in the Philippines. Therefore, this research will demonstrate why some Filipino pre-service teachers1_and high school teachers are motivated for choosing and staying in the teaching profession. Moreover, it looks at the structural and personal reasons that have devaluated the teaching profession in the Philippines. Understanding the motivational drivers of these respondents and the challenges for teachers and schools may help provide further insights in the complex reasons in teacher career decision making. Taking such a multi-dimensional focus will blur the boundary between internal and external factors, categories often studied separately in the past (e.g. see Abulon 2012).

This study, on the relation between the motivation of Filipino teachers in the context of a challenging educational and inadequate policy regime in the Philippines- especially when the K-12 program just being implemented- aims to fill the gap in academic discussions on education development and reform in Asia, especially in ASEAN developing countries.The Philippines has induced the K-12 framework for educational development, in response and under the concept of EFA and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (Okabe 2013: 3). This country serves as an important case for social science and political science professionals, not only because of its important geographical position in the region, but also because of its own unique features. For example, many Filipino teachers are tapping in to fill in vacancies for teachers in other countries (Rappler 2015). In response, the Philippine government has expressed willingness to take in a large number of teachers due to the shortage in its own labor pool with the new education system. The meeting point between national choices and

1_{In this context, “pre-service teachers” or “student teachers” are students in teachers’ colleges, particularly in}

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personal responses will be highlighted in the complex arenas of the teacher experiences and their perspectives about the reform. In relation to this, this research also aims to analyze whether the practical implementation of the educational reforms increases or dilutes the space for job attraction and retention motivation in the Philippines.

Finally, the limitations of this study must also be noted. Since this is a study involving mostly Filipino teachers in Metro Manila, its findings may not be generalizable to the entire population of teachers in the Philippines. Moreover, all the perspectives are from the teachers’ and school administrators’ side, I did not have enough time to conduct any further interview with staff in the Department of Education (DepEd). If anything, its results should be taken to support other studies regarding the current social status and prestige of Filipino teachers (e.g. Aelterman et al 2002, Hoyle 2001, Jeffrey and Woods 1996).

In this research, the crush between individual motivation to become a teacher in the Philippines and job obstacles due to society pressure, national policies and reforms is a subject that need further understanding. Therefore, I attempt to answer the following questions: What are the motivational factors to become a Filipino teacher and how and on what basis are motivations formed, constituted, and maintained? What are the main challenges Filipino teachers face during their teaching profession? What are the economic and non-economic factors and/or structural and personal factors that transform teachers’ perceptions from satisfaction to dissatisfaction over time? How do Filipino professors express their concern about the K-12 program reform and link it with their career opportunities?

In order to answer those questions and support my main argument, I divided this thesis into six chapters. Chapter 1 comprises the introduction to the topic, the research questions and objectives, research population, research setting and methodology. Chapter 2 discusses the conceptual framework. Chapter 3 is the discussion of empirical data explaining motivations of Filipino to choose their career path as teaching professionals. Chapter 4 links teachers’ motivation with their experience in different aspects, which create job satisfaction and dissatisfaction and how they meet obstacles. Chapter 5 marshals the contents of the reform program from Filipino teachers’ perspective in order to link the program with the subject of teacher motivation in the Philippines. Chapter 6 concludes and provides recommendations for further study and for policy formulations.

1.2 Research setting

The Philippines has long had high levels of education compared with other developing member countries at the same level of per capita income (Behrman et al. 2002: 1). However, it was the last country in Asia and one of only three countries worldwide with a 10-year pre-university programme (Angola and Djibouti are the other two). Furthermore, when the Philippines government decided to implement a new educational reform- the K-12 program, which would add 2 more years in basic education to catch up with the globalization, there have been many critics from teachers’ side about its

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impacts on their career path. The teachers and schools studied are located in Quezon City, the largest city in Metro Manila in terms of land area and most populated local government unit in the country (Go Philippines Travel 2015). It was chosen as the center of school research because of its most populous city in the Philippines and it has several major educational institutions.

Figure 1. The map of Quezon City (Source: Google)

The history of the Philippine’s education system has been a story of continuity and change; with the pendulum swinging from the foremost centralist tendencies to ambivalent attempts at decentralization (Reyes 2005: 67). The Americans retained the system of government during the 400-year Spanish colonial occupation by seizing control over a majority of the islands. Therefore, the government system was highly centralized; local political power rested only at the municipality, where church, government offices, and centers of local commerce were located. In education, power was centralized along two ties: the Superior Advisory Body in the center of the country and the Division Offices at the municipal levels (Ibid: 75).

Education is regarded as the major contributor to the improvement of living standards of disadvantaged groups (UNESCO 2015: 11). For many poor Filipinos, education is a means to a better life. The EFA 2015 Plan asserts that: “Basic education as an anti-poverty instrument can provide the skills, attitudes, knowledge and values that people can use to organize themselves for common access to useful information, and a united approach to greater productivity. It can also empower the marginalized and prevent their exploitation and alienation from the development process.”

The latest reform initiative of the Philippine government is the international framework for educational development based on the concept of EFA and MDGs. Since the 1990s the global community has concentrated on issues related to poverty alleviation and human development (Okabe

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2013: 3). This effort has shifted the role of education towards human development. The Philippine government has sought to provide education to the Filipino people, especially basic education. The reform of the Constitution of the Philippines in 1987 mandated basic education. Primary education in public schools was made free and compulsory, and secondary education in public schools also became free (although not mandatory) (Ibid).

However, the downside of the Philippines globally outmoded 10-year basic education program are undeniable: dumping millions of underage high school graduates on the already bloated labor market, requiring three to four effectively wasted semesters of remedial work on the part of colleges and universities time, and, in the larger world, damaging the prospects of the nation’s youth both in foreign universities and foreign jobs (Shahani 2015). Restructuring the Philippines’s basic educational system through the K-12 Program is a tough but strategic move by the government to ensure that it produces competent graduates who can serve as the backbone for a highly skilled and employable work-force in either inside or outside of the country.

According to the projections of Varela- the Education Undersecretary, the full implementation of SHS (Grades 11 and 12) by 2016 will mean that the DepEd will have to be ready for the two million or so fourth-year students who will now continue to Grade 11 instead of graduating and leaving the public school system. Varela noted that the DepEd would need P40-50 billion annually just to provide for more teachers, classrooms and auxiliary equipment that the added enrollment would need (Hernandez 2013).

With the introduction of K-12, there will be an increase in student population, translating into a requirement for 20,000 to 28,000 additional classrooms for each additional year-level; 40,000 to 56,000 classrooms for the two years of SHS. Another pressing issue is the retrenchment of teaching and non-teaching college personnel (Shahani 2015). According to DepEd, 39,000 additional teachers will be hired in 2016 to meet the personnel requirements of the program.

Figure 2. Implementation of K-12 Program (Source: DepEd)

Under the “K-12” Program, the length of basic education is expanded. Two more years are added to the existing four years of secondary education, which will extend basic education to 12 years,

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with one year of kindergarten has been mandated as part of this basic education. The extension of secondary education means that students aged 16 and 17, will now be in SHS, and entry into tertiary education will be at age 18. The extension of secondary education through age 17 will bring the Philippines into conformity with the other countries of Southeast Asia (Okabe 2013: 10).

The Philippine Department of Education is a historic institution in Philippine public administration and considered to be one of the most corrupt national agencies of the country (Reyes 2005: 5). DepEd suffers greatly from severe implementation deficits. However, this deficit is not uniquely limited to DepEd, as it is a serious concern that besets Philippine public administration. A brief analysis of one of the major implementation pitfalls bedeviling the Philippines is that “it operates under conditions of extreme scarcity” (Quah 1987: xiii). The bureaucracy experiences difficulties in giving enough needed services to its populace because of the big differences in the size and scope that characterize the geographic and cultural landscape. The corruption problem in the country has been described as “a way of life” (Quah 2003: 81). In a recent Transparency International study on the “Ten Most Corrupt Leaders”, the Philippines turned out as the dubious distinction of having two ex-Presidents: Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Ejercito Estrada (Hodess et al. 2004: 13).

Besides a highly centralized set-up, DepEd is said to be remains one of the most controversial national agencies besieged by recurrent corruption scandals. From the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism, Chua (1999: 7) described the magnitude of corruption at DepEd, formerly known as DECS: “DECS is fertile ground for corruption because it is oozing with money. Education has always accounted for a huge chunk of government spending”. Beginning with hiring and training of teachers and provision of adequate classrooms and distribution of essential textbooks to around 15 million schoolchildren, DepEd has been typified by rampant corruption and concomitantly a severe implementation shortage. Corruption at DepEd has been described as “large-scale” and with “tragic results” that have not only “led to hundreds of millions of pesos of public funds going to pockets of corrupt individuals, but also to a critical shortage of textbooks and school desks” (Ibid: 52). This kind of systemic corruption also affects to the public school teachers. Chua described its insidiousness by noting that “many of the country’s half a million public school teachers are initiated into the culture of corruption at DECS early in their careers” (Ibid: 73).

DepEd is the biggest bureaucracy in the Philippines with over half a million people employed (Abad 2005: 2-3). Studying about teacher motivation in the Philippines, another relevant context takes place is its educational corruption situation since almost respondents mentioned about it. I believe that the systemic corruption also permeates the corps of public school teachers, which makes them feel it is either a challenge for the Philippines education in general as well as teacher position in society in particular.

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1.3 Research population

The basic education system in the Philippines could be divided into 3 categories: DepEd high school, non-DepEd high school2_{and private school. I selected respondents from 5 high schools in} different categories to further understand how working conditions affect teachers’ decision. Quisorio High School (QHS) and Tarian High School (THS) are DepEd schools, which means teachers have to follow DepEd’s curriculum, content and training programs; however, QHS is a top-ranking school while PHS is located in a dump-site and dangerous area in the North of Metro Manila and rated as a low-ranking one. Besides, Union High School (UHS) and Penn High School (PHS) are non-DepEd high schools. Although they are still state-funded, they could create their own curriculum with content based on the needs of students and somewhat be independent from DepEd’s curriculum. I chose Arianda High School (AHS) as the only private one to see the similarities and contrasts of teachers’ perspectives between public and private schools. Because of its excellence quality and high tuition fee, whenever people talk about AHS, they would assume that just top-rich families could afford for their children to study here. All private schools are not under DepEd, therefore they could create their own curriculum for teaching and studying. I also selected 2 public teacher education institutes for interviewing future teachers in the Philippines.

The research population consists of several Filipino actors in different categories related to education. After nearly three months in the field, I had conducted 50 in-depth interviews and the list of respondents is shown as in the Table 1. I also had surveys targeted to the same research population on which 30 responses were gathered.

No. Respondent Number of respondent

1. Pre-service teachers 13

2. Filipino teachers in public high schools 21 3. Filipino teachers in private high schools 6

4. School Administrators 8

5. Activists in a Teacher Organization 2

Table 1. List of Respondents

Because I could not conduct interviews with government officers in DepEd, school administrators offered an alternative choice such as Secretary, Director of the Department or Principal…etc. of the schools listed above. With the current criticism about the new program, their thoughts and insights about teachers’ working condition as well as policy processes gave me better

2_{“Non-DepEd” schools is a term to distinguish public schools controlled by DepEd from state-funded schools}

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knowledge about K-12 and Filipino governments’ implementation strategies. In addition, given the chance to further understand Philippine educational policies, I could analyze the gaps between the reform and the existing teacher issue in the Philippines.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) is the largest non-traditional teachers’ organization in the Philippines. It works for the economic and political well-being of teachers and all other education workers. They have organized many campaigns and activities to ask for the improvement of teacher’s rights, salary increase and to encourage active and dynamic participation of teachers and other educational workers. Talking with members of ACT gave me more criticized views about the teacher’s situation and the Philippines educational system. I received many opposite ideas about the K-12 program, so I believe that their information are resourceful enough for me to analyze in my objective opinion.

Gender balance in selecting the informants was not consciously employed but there were no glaring differences between the motivations of men and women among the population. Among 27 Filipino teachers, there were 15 female and 12 male teachers. In addition, I could interviewed 6 female students as well as 7 male students in the teacher education institutes. About the age, the oldest respondent is a 62 year-old-male teacher in a non-DepEd high school, while the youngest is a 19-year-old-female pre-service teacher in a teacher college.

1.4 Research methodology

Semi-structured interview and life histories

The semi-structured interviews usually took place in schools, offices, cafes or during events. All of them were conducted in English and recorded. The duration varied between 40 minutes to more than an hour. Besides recording the interviews, notes were taken. The semi-structured interview questions consisted of discussing topics, such as motivation, expectation, job experience, obstacles, working conditions, education policies and reforms in the Philippines. These flexible questions were adapted according to each individual’s English level and occupation. This was employed to know their socio-economic background, personal characteristics, aspirations in life and career, and their multiple motivations to become a teacher and challenges they had experienced so far in the teaching profession. Moreover, getting Filipino teachers’ perceptions on what they have done and faced, I could compare their answers with each other to formulate tentative conclusions for all sub-questions. This method was also used for conducting interviews with activists from ACT and schools’ administrators to understand their perspective about the challenges of teacher shortage issue in the country as well as their vision in K-12 program.

While one-time interviews have limitations in terms of making others feel comfortable to disclose their feelings about what dissatisfies them, they did reveal interesting issues to be identified across different kinds of teachers. Although these interviews could not fully reveal frequencies of

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experiences of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, they do highlight what teachers find emotionally satisfying and dissatisfying in their work and in respect to the reform.

Survey

As the aim is to construct a picture of teachers’ motivation, the survey was used to initially gauge basic information from respondents like factors contributing to teachers’ attraction and retention, items that attracted individuals to enter the teaching profession and their working experience. The respondents were asked to answer survey questions or to rank choices, and there were spaces for them to fill in their own opinion if they wanted to add something more.

Each informant filled in the survey form and I collected it immediately or in the next meeting. By scheduling another meeting, I could have another chance to meet them to ask for some further questions (if any). The first form is about teachers’ general view about the teaching attraction. The next one is about how they link some significant factors to their personal reasons for taking up teaching. My third form is about teachers’ personal experience in schools, during the interview, when I noticed that someone had transferred from a public to a private school or vice-versa, I would ask them to fill in an additional third form, one for the former one and another is for the current school. Therefore, I could compare those working conditions between those two as well as challenges from the previous one, which had led them decided to switch to another school.

According to Gideon (2012), surveys enjoy great ubiquity among data collection methods in social research: they are flexible in questioning techniques, in the number of questions asked, in the topics covered, and in the ways of interactions with respondents. This method was beneficial for this thesis because it gave an overview on the kind of responses informants would provide and what to expect in the field.

(The survey form is attached in the Appendix.)

Participant Observation

Since I did my research partially in a group focused setting, observations were very useful to know more about public high school teachers’ daily work. In my formal request letter to schools, I asked to observe some classes, especially classes of my informant teachers. Therefore I could spend more time with them before and after the class and make the interview later be more open and easier. I also paid attention to their interaction in schools with students and colleagues, the level of comfort they displayed through their body language, and how active they were in discussions. Moreover, focusing on the respondents’ hand gestures, body posture, eye contact and other non-verbal communication during the interview would allow for a deeper understanding about their attitudes in the issue. At the end of the research period, I could observe 18 classes in different grades and subjects.

I also attended a mobilization on the 8th of March- International Women’s Day. There were around 5000- 6000 people divided into groups and mobilized with banners and posters asking mainly

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for LGBT and women’s rights. Especially, ACT was running a campaign for their re-election as a party-list group which represents the teachers in the House of Representatives. They raised issues such as “120 days maternity leave”, “Empower women through education”, or even “Stop K-12!” This gave first-hand information on social opinions and additional concerns about education issues in the Philippines.

Newspaper/Internet/ Document analysis

I followed the website www.inquirer.net and www.philstar.com for forum discussions and threads on working opportunities and conditions of Filipino teachers and the Philippines education issues. Newspaper, internet reports, discussion fora and videos gave me valuable updated news about the implementation of K-12 program and its critics from different perspectives. I used media reports to contextualize the personal choice of professionals in the job attraction and retention motivation in the country’s education development.

Besides online studies and documents from the Philippines DepEd and researchers, I got several references from the International Journal of Research Studies in Education and Journal in Teacher Education, which were given by the Director of the Educational Policy Research and Development Center in PNU. Studies about pre-service teachers’ motivation and the wastage in teacher preparation investments in the Philippines would reflect the quality of education for education students. Furthermore, studies conducted from DepEd will contribute to collect data for answering sub-questions in the K-12 part because they would provide me data about the government´s strategies, discourses and how they implement the program step by step. However, because grade 11 will be started from the next school year (2016- 2017), all studies about K-12 program’s effects are just a prediction.

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Chapter II: Conceptual Framework

The study will attempt to undertake an in-depth study of how the educational policies make an impact on the students’ decision to take up teaching profession and on the teachers’ job satisfaction within a setting of educational reform in the Philippines. In conducting this analysis, the primary purpose of developing an agreed conceptual framework is to set out concepts that could give an overview of various theories that deal with career motivation, especially in the Filipino teachers’ case. Furthermore, it also provides theories that give new insights and broaden our knowledge about job satisfaction factors. This chapter deals with key concepts derived from the fieldwork research. It begins with a summary of the conceptual frameworks of the personal career decision and motivation to become a teacher. This is followed by sections that outline the job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, to be followed by the concept of professional self-esteem, occupational prestige. The final part of this chapter proposes the image of teacher supply and demand in the Philippines.

2.1 Personal career decision

The multiplicity of motives behind each behavior cannot be underestimated more, so when it comes to the choice of a lifelong career; a young adult has to make a crucial decision in a short time. The career choice process occurs throughout the life cycle as individuals make a series of decisions that have occupational consequences. “Sociologists who examine the processes by which individuals choose careers have focused primarily on later stages when individuals actually choose to enter jobs rather than on the decisions to move into activities at earlier stages on the paths leading to specific careers” (Shelley 2001: 1693).

Kocabas (2009) found that 70% of graduating students said they would review a job offer with their parents. Counsell (1996) found the top influences on career decisions were information and advice from parents and relatives, followed by friends and acquaintances; work experience was important as were the subjects studied at university and the advice from tutors. In Australia, Bright et al. (2005) also found that the social context, especially family, had an impact on career decisions, but that the impact lessens with time as students mature.

Salazar (2002: 246) found that although the Philippines was strongly influenced by the American system. Parental influence, which is often based on how to improve economic matter, is important to the career choice of adolescents. Actually, this reflects the high family-centric value of not only Filipinos, but also to the general point of potential making sacrifices for the family welfare (Salazar-Clemena 2002: 251). The primary concern of many a parent becomes "What college education can we afford that can make you finish quickly, get a job, and start helping with family finances?" (Ibid). In other words, family considerations are not a final guideposts in a career path, but economic signs that would lead them out of poverty. In a country in which quality education is, for the most part,

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inaccessible to the poor, economical concerns result in students getting into low-quality schools or programs that will not give them a competitive edge in the labor market. This situation raises a challenge for career counselors who work on the Western-based assumption "that individuals are able to economically afford choice" (Gysbers, Heppner, & Johnston 1998: 34). According to Baines (2009: 13), financial security and prestige in a career is important across all cultures as is the influence of parents. Other motivational factors are job security, opportunities for development, challenging work, a good work life balance, an international career and maybe selecting a career that gives something back to society. This could be applied for the case of Filipino teachers’ motivation. Next section will discuss more studies about the teaching profession in particular.

2.2 Motivation to become a teacher

Berelson and Steiner (1964) and Tracy (2000), cited in Ofoegbu (2004) defined motivation as “all those inner striving conditions, described as wishes, desires, and urges to stimulate the interest of a person in an activity”. Motivation could influence individuals in their performance and behavior at work. People who have a good motivation will try to give the best in the education process which might positively affect the students’ learning. Tolman (1958) referred to this as “an intervening variable”, which Kerlinger (1993: 187) identified as an internal and psychological process that were not directly observable but which in turn accounted for behavior. In other words, motivation is a factor that stimulates individuals to accomplish laid down institutional goals. It is intentional, designated and goal-oriented behavior that involves certain forces acting on or within the individual in order to initiate, sustain and direct behavior (Muhammad et al. 2012: 443).

Motivations to enter the teaching profession vary. According to Kyriacou and Coulthard (2000: 117), the reasons for pursuing a teaching career fall into three main categories: intrinsic reasons, extrinsic reasons, and altruistic reasons. Teachers who are intrinsically motivated will see educating people as a process which needs to be improved every time, such as trying to find more creative ways to give meaningful and interesting learning experiences for the students. It will also influence the teachers to think out-of-the-box in teaching strategies, evaluation, and interaction with their classes. Moreover, intrinsic factors may lead to performance to achieve some kind of result, such as earning rewards, respect and appreciation of the society or avoiding a negative consequence (Covington 2000: 24). Extrinsic motivation includes the benefits and perks offered such as good salary, long holidays, promotion prospects and/or the opinions of others (Reid & Caudwell 1997: 56). Finally, the third category of motives, termed altruistic factors, goes beyond any tangible benefits that the teaching profession offers. The study of Gokce (2010: 497) showed that if teachers are motivated, their students will become motivated, which will motivate the teachers to motivate the students and so on, like a cycle. Therefore, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation need to be concerned to attract more teachers and improve the quality and retention rate of teachers, which will influence the education process.

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A study in the United States (Padhy et al. 2015) found that factors related to expectancy environment (e.g. a pleasant and enjoyable working environment), intrinsic factors (e.g. reasonable workload, opportunity to care for others), social media education (e.g. social status), social experience (e.g. sharing knowledge with others, previous experiences), and social suggestions (e.g. friends’ and parents’ suggestions) were found to be significant motivation in choosing the teaching career.

Culture also plays an important role in students’ choice of careers as well as in their perceptions of the professions. Although researchers have focused on the role of culture in career choice, it is argued that “there still is a void in the literature in theoretical explanations of why and to what extent cultural context plays a role in career development” (Aycan & Fikret-Pasa 2003: 130).

Following the above overview, the purpose of the present study is to understand many motivational factors by which Filipino teachers could develop commitment to the teaching profession. In the next section, I will explain different aspects which create teachers’ job satisfaction and dissatisfaction over time in the context of developing countries, especially in the Philippines.

2.3 Job satisfaction and dissatisfaction

In terms of definitions, there is no generally agreed upon definition of what constitutes teacher job satisfaction. In general, Morse (1953: 28) viewed the strength of an individual’s ‘desire, or his/her level of aspiration in a particular area’ to be an important factor in job satisfaction. Those with the strongest desires or highest aspirations are least happy with their job, if the environment does not facilitate satisfaction of their needs.

Teacher satisfaction and dissatisfaction are influenced by a number of variables. Dinham and Scott (1998: 375-376) suggested that the reasons may be classified into three categories: (i) intrinsic rewards of teaching, (ii) factors extrinsic to the school, and (iii) school-based factors. The intrinsic benefits of teaching are the actual work of teaching, working with the students and seeing their development (Ibid: 363). Factors extrinsic to the school include imposed educational change, the evaluation of schools, negative portrayal of teachers in the media, and a decrease in the teaching status. School-based factors or contextual variables at school may be the relations with colleagues, parents, and the school leadership, as well as time pressure, disruptive student behavior, and the values emphasized at the local school.

Teachers view job dissatisfaction as principally contributed to by work overload, poor pay and perceptions of how teachers are viewed by society. For example, Nias (1996) mentioned a number of factors that subvert a teacher’s sense of job satisfaction are related to feelings of loss, disillusionment, vulnerability and negative perceptions of self-worth: the monotony of daily routines, a lack of motivation and discipline on the students’ part and a lack of support and appreciation from colleagues and administration.

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However, studies have also found variations in job satisfaction levels of teachers, depending on certain social and political characteristics in schools (Spear, Gould & Lee, 2000). Thus, it is argued that context seems to be the most powerful predictor of overall satisfaction (Dinham & Scott, 1998, 2000). As Cherniss (1995: 166) pointed out: ‘People can make their lives better or worse but what they think, how they feel and what they do are strongly shaped by the social contexts in which they live’. Although many studies on teacher job satisfaction have used quantitative methodologies to explore the relationship between ‘teacher job satisfaction’ and those factors that contribute to this feeling, there is a clear need for qualitative in-depth studies that explore each particular context in which teachers work.

Considering the above mentioned studies, there is a possibility that the job dissatisfaction of Filipino teachers in their teaching profession mostly come from extrinsic reasons. In general, it is the conflict between demands and lack of administrative support that fails to meet their goals. For government Filipino teachers, the average monthly salary of P10,000 (EUR192) is just enough for them to afford only for basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter and transportation, there would be no savings available for either recreation or emergency purposes as when the teachers themselves or their children get sick (Philippines Today 2008). Still some of them probably go into another job after their teaching schedule if only to “make both ends meet” in an economic environment characterized by high prices. Other reasons are work – related such as ‘hard’ working conditions in a class with the number of students ranging from 70 to 120, instead of the ideal size of 40 per class; poor pay, better job alternatives, difficult in working with supervisors, lack of training, and pressure from non-work related issues, such as domestic problems or ill-health (Ashiedu & Scott-Ladd 2012: 20). Last but not least, it is because the organizations’ goals do not match their own individual goals, interests and/or personality that Filipino teachers are dissatisfied with their job (Schneider 1987: 447). These reasons apply equally to schools.

The general perception is that teachers in government schools are dissatisfied with their profession. If the claim is true that the public school teachers are dissatisfied, what then is this dissatisfaction? In what aspects are they satisfied? It is necessary to probe into this matter through a careful study. Ultimately, the goal of this understanding is to discover ways that improve teacher motivation as it is widely acknowledged that improving teacher motivation is perhaps the trickiest task that governments in developing countries face in their effort to upgrade the teaching force (Lockheed & Verspoor 1991: 116).

2.4 Professional self-esteem

There are many social and personal factors that affect the success of the teaching profession. These factors may have a positive or negative effect on professional self-esteem by creating differences in the activities of the teacher (Campbell et al. 2003: 355). Teachers spend entire days with children to

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educate and share knowledge, motivations and problems. For this reason, they must be individuals with high professional self-esteem to deal with children.

Professional self-esteem is a multifaceted concept of professions’ lives as it touches their personality attributes and their authenticity for the idea of professionalism (Chi'ing-Jiang, 1994: 77). Tabassum (2012: 207) cited in Connel (1991), which defines the concept as “Occupational self-esteem is an organized view of one’s worth in the work role based on an evaluation of the self in relation to perceptions held about: (1) competency in work-related interpersonal relationships and (2) ability to achieve own role expectations”. This definition explains that professional/occupational self-esteem is achieved through professional competency and fulfillment of professional demands and expectations. Furthermore, Tinsely (2002) elucidates that the professional self-esteem of an individual specifies his or her professional position and acceptance in that professional role in respect of his or her personal self-regard.

It reveals the extent of self-acceptance and self-expectation on the part of teachers, their willingness to commit to teaching profession and their perception of the importance of teaching. How teachers view their profession may be reflected in their reason for choosing the profession and their job satisfaction. It can also be influenced by a number of factors including level of remuneration they receive.

According to Lin Chi'ing-Jiang (1994: 76), a Taiwanese scholar on the sociology of Education, another aspect worth studying related to the identities of teachers, besides teachers professional self-image, is the occupational prestige, which indicates how society look into the profession.

2.5 Occupational prestige

Prestige and status, unlike salary, power or professional development, at first glance, might seem very difficult to empirically assess because they are highly subjective. Hoyle (2001: 139) defined occupational prestige as the “public perception of the relative position of an occupation in a hierarchy of occupations”. The position in this social hierarchy is determined by factors such as salary, responsibility, social benefit and social influence (Aelterman et al. 2002). Perception of the social status of teachers, meanwhile, is partly influenced by the public opinion formulated about their profession (e.g. in the media) (Ibid).

Cross-cultural studies indicate that teachers’ occupational prestige is suffering from various status anomalies. From a positive angle, Hoyle (2001: 144) stated that the occupational status of teaching was both consistent over time and high compared with all occupations. For example, teaching scores are relatively high compared with other public service occupations (nursing, social work, and police) but lower than the major professions (medicine, law and architecture). However, in Africa, researchers pointed out that political instability and transition also contributed to low teacher status. Ogiegbaen and Uwameiye's (2005) surveys of parents and university students in Nigeria found negative

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attitudes toward teacher education were influenced by teachers' low status and low, irregular payments. Meanwhile, Osunde and Izevbigie's (2006: 426) surveys of 400 post-primary teachers showed the effect of low and delayed pay was a "lost a sense of belonging", while "poor conditions of service, wider negative influence and teachers' negative personal and professional behavior" contributed to teachers' low status and esteem.

The prestige of different groups of teachers within one country also varies. Results from international scales such as Standard International Occupational Prestige Scale (SIOPS), Saha and Dworkin (2009: 221) classified primary and early years teachers as having lower occupational prestige than secondary teachers, although their qualifications, training and pay may be equivalent.

After reviewing the relevant literature, in the Philippines, according to Lucman (2015: 51), all of the teachers he interviewed were in agreement in saying that teachers rank low in terms of social status, relative to other professions such as the medical and legal profession. In other words, they do not enjoy the same prestige as doctors and lawyers do. Besides, other benefits such as salary and fame also affect the social status of teachers. They believe that they do not earn as much as people from other professions with the same level of training.

Although the Philippines government just passed a bill for increasing teachers’ salary, educators in the Philippines have reacted strongly. They said it was just a ‘meagre’ and ‘insulting’ salary increase, while other sectors received a much higher salary raise. Under the 2015 Salary Standardization Law (SSL), teachers and nurses will receive a salary increase of under 12 per cent from P18, 549 (EUR355) a month to P20, 745 (EUR398). According to Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), this is only 2,205 PHP (EUR47), and when divided into four tranches, it would be EUR12 each quarter, which is not enough to offset the decline in the real value of money in the last three years that they did not get any raise.

According to ACT Teachers party list Representative Antonio Tinio, public school teachers, nurses, and rank-and-file employees will receive the lowest share of increase under Aquino's SSL 2015, ranging from 11% to 22% over the next four years. On the other hand, for executive-level positions, pay increases are 76.96% (Salary Grade 25) up to a whopping 233.12% (for Salary Grade 33, President of the Philippines). "That's why we have many unfilled position; the pay is low, thus, there are no takers”, he added. Perhaps, if teachers received more remuneration than they already do, their profession will be placed higher in the social ladder, and the number of teacher supply and demand would be balanced.

The next section will use literature about the components of teacher supply and demand and apply them to the case of Filipino teachers. It will also illustrate a serious needs of teachers in the country.

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2.6 Teacher supply and demand

The demand for teachers is much easier to predict than teacher supply or teacher drop out. The main factors determining teacher demand in any particular school year are the size of the school population, average class size, teaching load of teachers and enrollment and retention rates (Santiago 2002: 33). Each of these factors can be reasonably predictable with appropriate models and data, and data on these factors can generate reasonable estimates of future teacher demand. One uncertainty is whether the wave of recent systemic reforms that have changed the teaching environment will affect teacher enrollment and retention rates. According to Ingersoll (2001: 524), teacher turnover is a main and dominant factor driving demand for new teachers and, in turn, creating school staff problems. Meanwhile, the supply of public school teachers in a given year is defined as the number of eligible individuals available willing to supply their services under prevailing conditions (Santiago 2002: 54). Those conditions might include salaries, other benefits, working conditions, other alternative career opportunities, teaching career structure, or personal circumstances.

In the Philippines, there is a serious shortage of teachers trained in mathematics and science, especially for the upcoming senior high school level (Pazzibugan 2012). Only 1.5 percent of prospective teachers enrolled in the Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE) degrees chose the majors of mathematics and science. In the Philippine teacher training program, there are four BSE science programs (general science, biology, chemistry and physics) and a single mathematics program. The majority of training universities focus on non-science BSE subjects and mathematics. Besides, the general science is the only science major which is commonly offered in BSE programs, which prepares the teacher for the first year high school science curriculum. Programs which prepare teachers for specialized science (biology, physics and chemistry, taught in second, third and four school years) are only taught in a few institutions (Somerset 1998). This results in a general shortage of teachers in priority areas such as mathematics and sciences, and within sciences, especially in the specialization majors of physics and chemistry.

As a result, many Filipino teachers are teaching subjects for which they are not prepared. It is common knowledge that for lack of science and math teachers, many current teachers in these subjects had backgrounds in social studies, or even physical education (Llorito 2007). Therefore, in most high schools, there is also a lack of fit between the formal qualifications of mathematics and science teachers and the demands of the high school curriculum. In a study by Somerset, mathematics and biology teachers were in adequate supply, but there were shortages of chemistry and physics teachers and a substantial oversupply of general science teachers. Therefore, those general science teachers had to switch to teach physics or chemistry, areas for which they were not specifically trained, and many of them were unwilling to do so (Somerset 1998: 21).

According to the available data from Department of Education (DepEd), in 2010, the number of teacher shortage for public schools was 145,827 teachers. DepEd's Physical Plan as of December

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2014: The number of classrooms needed from kinder to high school is nearly 113,000; the number of textbooks needed is almost 24,000,000 and the number of teachers needed is roughly 57,000. Public high school teachers are required to handle a maximum of nine academic subjects. This situation not only drains the energy of teachers, but also affects the learning process of their students. Teachers with excess load, naturally tend to drop out or rest at some points because of stress and fatigue. In the process, the Philippines is losing many of its better, if not the best, teachers in specialty subjects like Science, Mathematics and English (Ubalde 2007).

Concluding Remarks

This chapter has explained the importance of several key concepts and debates that will help to answer the research question. Using personal career choice and motivational factors allows us to see reasons of why and how people are affected by economic and social motives to become a teacher. Those motives can be intrinsic, extrinsic, altruistic or even factor beyond individual teacher’s realm. In addition, we now understand that job satisfaction includes professional self-esteem and occupational prestige. In other words, it is the reflection of self-fulfillment as well as the perspective from society, which is, more or less based on the compensation. Last but not least, from all those studies, we also could collect a first impression of the imbalance of teacher supply and demand in the Philippines. The next chapters will connect this theoretical framework to the lives and experiences of Filipino teachers in Quezon city.

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Chapter III: Being a Students’ Hero

Motivation to Become a Teacher

This chapter will discuss the research findings regarding how and why Filipino teachers can be motivated to become a teacher. My interviews with some pre-service teachers and teachers will support the survey data by presenting more coherent stories about teachers’ motivation in the Philippines. I will use case studies to illustrate the complex reasons for decision making, which blur the boundaries between internal and external factors. From those motives of taking the teaching profession, professional self-esteem and occupational prestige are shown in teachers’ expectations and the family and patronage based society of the country. Furthermore, with major differences regarding to career decision-making I will also challenge the Eastern- Western notion of “personal choice”.

3.1 Survey findings

Filipino pre-service teachers and teachers were asked to fill in a survey with eighteen statements. By responding to a series of statements in terms of the extent to which they agree, I can tap into the cognitive and affective components of attitudes. These questions asked about the attraction to enter the teaching profession, such as the intellectual stimulation, interest in working with children and job security. Some questions about attraction included "I enjoy working with children” and “Teaching is intellectually fulfilling". The results of the 31 participants are shown in Table 1, these are grouped into two categories of intrinsic and extrinsic reasons based on the definition of Kyriacou and Coulthard (2000) in section 2.2, which the former arises from the task itself, while the latter comes from expectations of external rewards.

Reasons Strongly Disagree Somewhat Disagree Neutral Somewhat Agree Strongly Agree

Int I enjoy working with students 0% 0% 0% 3% 97%

Int Teaching is intellectually

fulfilling 0% 0% 0% 13% 87%

Int Teaching helps me contribute

to society 0% 0% 0% 10% 90%

Int Teaching allows me to work in

a subject area I love 0% 0% 0% 16% 84%

Int Teachers have a positive

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my decision to teach 26% 13% 39% 16% 6%

Int Schools offer educational

values 0% 0% 6% 29% 65%

Ext

Teaching offers me

opportunities for professional development

0% 0% 3% 35% 61%

Ext Teaching offers good job

security 0% 10% 6% 39% 45%

Ext Teaching offers me flexible

hours and sufficient holidays 0% 10% 23% 39% 29%

Ext Teacher’s salaries and benefits

are very reasonable 16% 35% 23% 19% 6%

Ext Teaching provides

opportunities to travel 10% 16% 29% 35% 10%

Ext The profession offers good

promotional prospects 6% 10% 42% 39% 3%

Ext

Teachers receive positive acknowledgements from society

3% 13% 26% 35% 23%

Ext Access to curriculum materials

benefits me as a parent 0% 0% 32% 39% 13% Ext A teaching recruitment campaign attracted me to teaching 29% 29% 29% 10% 0%

Ext My career as a teacher suits my

family needs 0% 10% 52% 29% 10%

Ext My own school experiences

attracted me to teaching 0% 10% 10% 52% 29%

Table 2. Reasons participants were attracted to teaching

Reasons are ranked as: Intrinsic – Int.; Extrinsic - Ext.

It was not by accident that 100% of the respondents agreed with the top 5 intrinsic factors since it would be curious if teachers disagreed. The theme “Enjoy working with students” ranks first. Ranked second is the theme that focuses on the notion of teaching as a contribution to society and help the next generation. This could also be related to their altruistic behavior, which is motivated by other-regarding

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concerns. According to Peacock et al. (2005:189), altruism is constituted by “a regard for the interests of others and a motivational disposition to act in their interests”. Informants showed that besides caring about themselves, contributing to the society is utmost important as being in the teaching profession itself. Moreover, with 94% of respondents being highly concerned about “educational values”, they believed that education is one of the key pillars for a country’s development.

Notable is the fact that while there is high agreement in internal factors except religious values which have not significantly affected teachers’ decision, some slight differences were visible among external reasons. Generally, extrinsic motives, such as opportunities for professional development, job security and sufficient holidays, were found to be moderately important. Getting benefits from schools and government such as free training and study courses to obtain a master degree or become professors are considered as opportunities for Filipino teachers to be promoted and enhance their knowledge in the educational field. However, just 41% agreed that they might have good promotional prospects. According to the findings, 51% of informants are dissatisfied with their salary while just 26% of them considered it as a reason to enter the teaching profession. Interestingly, most of those who targeted salary as a reason are teachers from a top-ranking private school. It is worth noting that more than half of the respondents were not attracted by any teaching recruitment campaign. This findings is close to a survey of teachers carried out in 2002 by Australia’s Ministerial Council on Education Employment Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA, 2003) found that approximately 31% of the respondents enjoyed working with children, 22.0% had a desire to teach, and just 11.5% were attracted through a recruitment campaign or the positive impact of a role model. This matches previous findings by Lester (1986), cited in Ashiedu and Scott-Ladd (2012: 19), who argued that people are attracted to this profession because it not only enables them to offer services, but also gives them personal satisfaction as they see their students’ accomplishments in later life.

Based on the survey data, the majority of the respondents were intrinsically motivated (especially the pre-service teachers) by the five top psychological reasons: the enjoyment of working with students, self-fulfilment, passion for teaching and contributing to society and being a role model. However, there is no denial that extrinsic aspects were also important even for participants who had ranked more intrinsic reasons as the most motivating reasons. However, when I think about the dichotomy of intrinsic versus extrinsic, it seems to be somewhat arbitrary. In other words, the distinction between internal and external factors could become blurred, as originally the outside forces could be transformed into inside drives (Bond 2010: 191), which I will show in the interview findings.

To have a deeper assessment of Filipino teachers’ motivation, the next section will investigate interview findings from the fieldwork, which will break motivational factors into more detailed components.

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3.2 Interview findings

Looking at the data in terms of the total sample, the similar outcomes were found out in the open interviews conducted, hence, the findings support my survey results of the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational preferences of teachers. According to pre-service Filipino teachers and current teachers, there are some particular main reasons which affect a person’s career choice such as a passion for teaching, the feeling of society contribution, rewarding experience, the family-centric culture, the concept of “Utang Na Loob” and the availability of career employment and development.

Passion for teaching and making a contribution to society

When Atela was doing her math major during her BA in the College of Science, and the subjects were getting more difficult, she thought of switching to another major. After a while, considered two options: the College of Home Economy with a major in Food Technology, which was encouraged by her mother or the College of Education with a Math major, which is her passion, she decided to take the latter because she knew that she wanted to keep studying math. After 25 years of teaching, Atela told me that she had started to enjoy this career when she interacted with students and that she met lots of people in one class. From then on, she decided to stay in the teaching profession as long as she still enjoys it and looks forward to another school year. She is not the only person who said to aspire and to enjoy teaching. The following passionate statements from other student teachers illustrate her story:

“It's my childhood dream and my passion to teach the children.”

“Since I was a child, I have already envisioned myself facing students and teaching!”

“I like teaching the children in kindergarten since I'm really into kids and it's easy for me to talk with them.”

“I want to make change in the lives of children, especially people having emotional or social problems.”

Particularly, my respondents presented much more abstract goals that related to changing society:

“I really want to start with the kids because as a teacher, you will teach a nation when you could guide them from the beginning.”

“I feel blessed when I teach my student because I have opportunity to teach these young leaders, young generation. I can give my inputs about what's going on in our society.”

The terms “teach a nation”, “young generation”, “inputs in society” show the intellectual fulfillment that comes from the ability of sharing knowledge and making an important contribution to