Challenges in Muti-grade Teaching
The multigrade program in the Phiilppines was seen as a practical solution to address barriers to education such as access and inclusion. Multigrade program provides a learning delivery in remote, low-resourced, and underserved communities. Teachers are trained, they give different but appropriate activities to the learners based on their individual developmental level. In this, it allows teacher to engage and empower the learner by providing a multiple ways for the student to learn.
The interview from a multi-grade teacher
The activity and presentations about being a multi-grade teacher are interesting. First, let me share with you our experiences in this activity. Our group is lucky because our group leader is in the Province and Multi-grade exists in their location. The teacher that we found only goes home every Wednesday that’s why we seek Prof. Victoria for an extension in the LMS. As we wait for the teacher, we make sure that we already have clear and precise questions for the interview. Around 4’oclock last Wednesday, we met Ms. Ma. Carla S. Mantac she’s currently teaching in Aracay Elementary school and teaching in multi-grade class for 2 years and 8 months.
In the presentation, I’ve learned that being a multi-grade teacher is demanding, challenging, and difficult. It takes a lot of courage, confidence, and effort for you to be qualified as a multi-grade teacher. Every day they face challenges like travelling far from house to school, encountering a difficult pathway just to go to school, consuming a small space, lack of resources and materials, and too many or too few students enrolling. These challenges are overcome because of the teacher’s beliefs and qualities. Even though the teacher won’t tell their detailed characteristics, we can see it through their experiences.
One of my keys take away from this activity is that Multi-grade teacher teaches because they want to impart knowledge to the students especially in a far-flung area. Multi-grade teachers make things possible to inspire his/her student to become successful. The multi-grade teacher uses cooperative learning, collaborative learning, and differentiated instruction as teaching strategies to support students' individual needs. I am happy that we interviewed a multi-grade teacher because we now know what is the real events in a class of multi-grade.
“The greatest achievement as multi-grade teacher is the learning you gained and the knowledge you transpire to your learners where they can apply it in their daily lives” (Mantac, 2021)