The Research Capabilities of Selected Senior High School Teachers in the Division of Lucena City: Towards Developing Lesson Exemplars

Doing research is anathema to many students because they do not know how to do it correctly. Much of the blame can be laid on the doorstep of teachers who teach research because they themselves do not have enough skills and training to pass on to their students. Because it is a case of “the blind leading the blind”, so to speak, students develop an abhorrence for research that could have been transformed into a passionate love affair with discovering new ways of doing if they only had mentors who were trained and skilled in passing off their research expertise to their students. There is an immense need to develop a research culture in any educational institutions for the reason that it is only through research that codified knowledge is produced. This knowledge in turn helps improve the teaching theories, practices and instructional purposes. It is through research that the appropriate teaching approaches, strategies and instructional resources are determined for specific areas of specialization, particular disciplines or study programs. Just recently, the Department of Education (DepEd) adopts the enclosed Basic Education Research Agenda (DO.s2016_039) which provides guidance to DepEd and its stakeholders in the conduct of education research and in the utilization of research results. Since the Senior High School program has two research courses – Practical Research I and Research II – they are expected to hone the research skills of students in quantitative and qualitative approaches. However, the question is: do the current crop of research teachers have the capability to stir such passion among their students and develop the ferment to push the envelope of new knowledge among their wards?