PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY PATNANUNGAN DISTRICT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FLEXIBLE LEARNING: BASIS FOR AN ENHANCED INTERVENTION PROGRAM

The study aimed to identify the problems and challenges encountered by Patnanungan junior high school teachers in the implementation of flexible learning. It also sought to determine the strategies used to implement flexible learning. This served as basis for the development of an intervention program. Using descriptive research, the respondents of this study were the 57 junior high school teachers of the district. Complete enumeration was utilized in the selection of samples. The study used a survey questionnaire as main data gathering instrument. The data were treated and analyzed by using statistical treatment such as frequency, percentage, weighted mean, and ANOVA. Results revealed that the teachers agreed that offline e-learning enables students to have self-assessment of skills. They also agreed that they do not encounter difficulties in assessing and monitoring students’ output and that printed modular learning encourages parental involvement in order for students to learn the lessons effectively. Also, teachers agreed that in self-paced learning, they can easily organize students’ learning activities; that it allows students to work at their own pace to achieve the learning objectives; and that it suits a variety of learning styles of students and they can make changes or adjustments to ensure that students learned from the lessons and that they can easily monitor students’ performance tasks and outputs. Problems and challenges encountered in the implementation of flexible learning in terms of educational resources were perceived as serious, except for teacher’s age and physical condition affecting the efficiency of flexible learning delivery. Lastly, the study showed that there was a significant difference in the problems and challenges encountered by teachers in the implementation of flexible learning when they are grouped as to age, educational attainment, years of teaching experience, and trainings attended but did not vary when they are grouped as to sex. It is recommended that teachers should pursue and finish their master's degree for them to be more qualified, competent, and updated with the current trends in teaching. Teachers also need to strengthen the monitoring of students in flexible learning as some students are not taking the assessment tasks seriously.