THE PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TAUGHT BY MAJOR AND NON-MAJOR TEACHERS

________________________________________

A Thesis Presented

To the Faculty of the

School of Graduate Studies

University of Nueva Caceres

City of Naga

________________________________________

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics

_________________________________________

JUMAR R. VELASCO

July 2011

APPROVAL SHEET

This Thesis entitled “THE PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TAUGHT BY MAJOR AND NON-MAJOR TEACHERS” prepared and submitted by JUMAR R. VELASCO, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING MATHEMATICS, has been examined and is recommended for acceptance and approval for Oral Examination.

MELINDA SB. GIMAL, Ph.D. Adviser

THESIS COMMITTEE

ANITA C. AUTOR, M.A.T.
Chairman

SALVADOR C. ARCILLA, JR. M.A.T. CLARA M. RANCES, M.A.T. Member Member
-------------------------------------------------

PANEL OF EXAMINEES

Approved by the Committee on Oral Examination on August 23, 2011 with a grade of 94%. ANITA C. AUTOR, M.A.T.
Chairman

SALVADOR C. ARCILLA, JR. M.A.T.CLARA M. RANCES, M.A.T. Member Member Accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics. Comprehensive examination passed on September 14, 2011.
EMELITA O. MENES, Ph.D. Dean
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF NUEVA CACERES
City of Naga

C E R T I F I C A T I O N

This is to certify that this thesis entitled THE PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TAUGHT BY MAJOR AND NON-MAJOR TEACHERS written by JUMAR R. VELASCO has been examined, edited and found to be in accordance with the suggestions and recommendations by the Panel of Examiners.

MELINDA SB. GIMAL, Ph.D. Adviser

EMELITA O. MENES, Ph.D. Dean

ACKNOWLEDGMENT The researcher wishes to express his appreciation and profound gratitude to the following:
Dr. EMELITA O. MENES, Dean of School of Graduate Studies, for her encouragement to the researcher starting from the proposal stage to completion of the thesis; Dr. MELINDA SB. GIMAL, his adviser, for her untiring guidance, encouragement, and intellectual inputs throughout the whole research process;

Professor CLARA M. RANCES and Professor SALVADOR C. ARCILLA and other members of the panel of examiners, for their valuable suggestions and constructive criticisms;
JEREMIAS F. MASAPOL, Jr., Principal of the Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School for his approval to conduct this study;
Reyna, his wife and Jureign his daughter, for being always there to inspire him in all his endeavors;
And above all, to Almighty God, the source of never ending knowledge and wisdom, who gave him grace to finish this study.

JRV

ABSTRACT

PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TAUGHT BY MAJOR AND NON-MAJOR TEACHERS

VELASCO, Jumar R., (Unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of Nueva Caceres, Naga City, 2011)

KEYWORDS: Field of expertise of High School Teachers, Proficiency Level of High School Students

This study was designed to determine the effect of the educational attainment and field of specialization of the high school teachers in the proficiency level of the high school students in Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School, Ragay, Camarines Sur, SY 2009-2010.

Particularly, this study wanted to answer the following questions: 1) What is the proficiency level of the high school students taught by major and non-major teachers? 2) What is the educational attainment of high school teachers in Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School,Ragay, Camarines Sur? 3) Is there a significant relationship between the proficiency level of high school students and the educational attainment of teachers handling different subjects? 4. Are there significant relationships in the proficiency level of the students among the age and length of service of the teachers? The parametric and correlational research was used as the method of investigation and interpretation of gathered data. The data were gathered from 375 students of Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School, Apad, Ragay, Camarines Sur, comprising the educational attainment of 18 teachers in the said educational institution and the examination results in the Centralized Examination given by the Department of Education, Division Office. Student’s T-test, Spearman’s rank correlation and Pearson product-moment correlation were the statistical tools used in this study. The salient findings of this study were as follows: 1) The computed t-value of the field of expertise of the teachers and the proficiency level of the students is (2.71) lower than the tabular t-value at 0.01 (2.898) and higher than the tabular value at 0.05 (2.110) level of significance thus, we can accept the null hypothesis at 0.01 level of significance and reject at 0.05 and can conclude that there are significant relationship between the field of expertise of the teachers and the proficiency level of the students at 0.05 level of significant. 2)Using the Spearman Rank Correlation test for correlating the Proficiency Level of the students and the length of service of the teachers, it was manifested that there was no significant relationship between the two since the computed correlation coefficient (-0.2061) and the t-value (0.8685) were less than the tabular values (2.110) and (2.898) at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significance respectively. 3) To associate the age of the teachers to the Proficiency Level of the students, the researcher also used the Spearman Rank Correlation test in computing the correlation coefficient and found out that there was no significant relationship between the said variables. The computed correlation coefficient (-0.2864) and t-value (1.2324) were less than the critical values (2.110) and (2.898) at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significant respectively.

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
TITLE PAGE i
APPROVAL SHEET ii
CERTIFICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
ABSTRACT V
CHAPTER I 1 Statement of the Problem 3 Scope and Delimitation 4 Theoretical Framework 4 Conceptual Framework 8 Assumptions 9 Hypotheses 9 Definition of Terms 9

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDY 10
CHAPTER III METHODS AND PROCEDURE 13
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 16
CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 19 APPENDICES 23 CURRICULUM VITAE 27

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Teaching is not just an art but a science as well thus, it must be done systematically. It needs careful planning and preparation to achieve its ultimate purpose, and that is learning. A good teacher must understand not only his/her lesson but his/her students too. There are several factors affecting the teaching and learning outcomes. Educational attainment and experience of the teachers play a vital role in molding the students. But experience alone can’t give one the assurance the learning outcome is fruitful as it is expected.
Much has been said about teaching but it is too idealistic if not unreachable at times. There are conflicting philosophies and beliefs underlying teaching and learning process. It is like the conflicting ideas of physiologist and behaviorist. The first claims that certain biological make up affects and contributes on one’s behavior or attitude while the latter suggests that attitude is a product of one’s personal experiences and influences of environment.
A teacher must have the numerical ability to transfer learning to his students. It is a must that he can manipulate numbers and other mathematical symbols if he is handling mathematics subjects. This is the product of four-year training in college and experience teaching the subject. The comprehension of the students lies on how dynamically the lesson is presented. Thus, the learning of the new mathematical concepts solely depends on the teacher. A good mathematics teacher helps the students synthesize their learned concepts through analysis and pattern searching. In less than a decade, PS-LINK (2009) said, more than 4,000 Filipino educators, including school principals who demoted themselves to teaching jobs, have moved to the US, Middle East and other Asian countries like China, Japan and Indonesia to teach. Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School is situated in the railroad part of Ragay, Camarines Sur. It offers secondary education for the past 23 years of its existence as educational institution. Presently, it has 18 teachers, 3 of which are locally assisted teachers, meaning, their compensation is provided by the Parents Teachers Association and the local government of Ragay. There are 5 or 26.7% of nineteen (19) teachers of Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School were fifty to fifty-nine (50-59) years old, 8 or 46.7% were forty to forty-nine (40-49) years old, and also 5 or 26.7% were thirty to thirty-nine (30-39) years old. From these figures we can conclude that majority of the teaching force of the said school were forty to forty-nine years old. It showed that only 1 or 6% of the its staff has teaching experience of one to five years (1-5), 4 or 20% has teaching experience of six to ten years (6-10), 1 or also 6% has the teaching experience of eleven to fifteen years (11-15), and 12 or 66.7% has been in the service for sixteen to twenty years. The numbers showed that majority of the teachers were in the service for more than sixteen (16) years. In its 23 years of existence, it produced students who won the Camarines Sur Ten Outstanding Students in three consecutive school years, one of which received the highest award. In 2009, student from this school achieved the First Rank during the Battle of the Wise Level 4 in Mathematics. The researcher, who is also a member of the faculty of STMHS won the Second Place in Mathematics Quest 2009 Teachers Category. Fishery is the main source of living of the community. Only few are relying on farming. Some of the students have to help their parents in fishing during night time. The consequence of this setup would be sleepy students during class that would result to low academic performance. Antonio Tinio (2010), said that there will be a shortage in the country’s educational resources such teachers, principals, classroom, seats and water and sanitations facilities. According to him the country will need 54,060 new appointments for teachers, 4,538 principals, 61,343 classrooms, 816,291 seats and 113,051 water and sanitation facilities to accommodate students for the School Year 2010-20111. These figures show that our educational system is deteriorating due to the shortage of the said educational resources all over the country. Migration of able and highly-qualified teachers to other countries to seek better salary and working condition adds to the problem, and as a result our teachers who opted to stay in the country faced unfavorable workload. Most of them, especially the high school teachers, are forced to handle subjects that are beyond their field of expertise. This idea propelled the researcher to investigate the effectiveness of teachers handling subjects which are out of their field of expertise and its effect on the Proficiency Level of High School students at Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School, Ragay, Camarines Sur.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This study tried to determine the effect of teachers handling subjects which are not their major on the proficiency level of the public secondary school students in different subjects at Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School, Ragay, Camarines Sur for the School Year 2011-2012. Specifically, it wanted to answer the following questions:
1. What is the profile of teachers at Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School, Apad, Ragay, Camarines Sur in terms of educational attainment, trainings, length of service, sex and age?
2. What is the Proficiency Level of students in the different subjects taught by teachers who are non-majors in these subjects and by teachers who are majors in the subject they are teaching?
3. Is there a significant difference in the proficiency level of the students taught by major and non-major teachers?
4. Is there significant relationship between the teachers’ educational qualification and students’ proficiency level?
5. What other factors associated with the students’ proficiency level?

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION The subjects of this study were the fifteen high school teachers and the universal population of 375 students for the School Year 2011-2012 at Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School, Ragay, Camarines Sur.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Teaching must be anchored on certain philosophies and theories of learning. Learning must be practical and can be used in dealing with the real world situation according to the Pragmatists and be utilized to promote beneficial co-existence in the society. Since philosophy is the guiding principle and set of beliefs on how to teach the students, it is necessary that one is critical and sensitive in selecting philosophy of education suited to his learners. Teacher must possess admirable qualities and traits, acts in accordance with the acceptable social norms and ethical standards and must have intellectual capability and superiority among his students to transfer effectively the intended knowledge based on the Idealist point of view. John Ruskin, an English art critic and social thinker, once uttered that “Education…is a painful, continual and difficult work to be done in kindness, by watching, by warning..by praise, but above all..by example.” He should also mold his students to survive in the real world, equip them with the fundamental abilities needed to face true challenges and tasks, expose them to the real-life problems and situations and carefully study their solutions and reactions. He must help them realize that education is the tool for them to cope up with the demand of their time from the idea of Realism. These philosophies were taught in college along with the skills and knowledge to students who are aspiring to be teachers. But philosophies alone will not assure one to be a good and effective teacher. He must possess the necessary knowledge to transfer learning as the old saying suggests that you cannot give, what you do not have. There are 9 types of intelligence (http://skyview.vansd.org/Ischmidt/Projects)(1994) namely, naturalist, musical, logical-mathematical, existential, interpersonal, bodily kinesthetic, linguistic, intra-personal and spatial-visual. Teacher who has bodily kinesthetic intelligence would find it hard to impart knowledge in the field of mathematics. Same goes to other teachers having different types of intelligence. Benjamin Bloom (1956) (http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic69.html) developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior in learning. This taxonomy contained overlapping domains: the cognitive, psychomotor and affective. Within the cognitive domain he identified six levels: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Categories of intelligence are arranged from the most basic to the most complex. One must gain first the knowledge because it is the basic mean of learning, apply and synthesis them then evaluate whether the application of those knowledge fruitful or not. Teachers must possess all these 6 categories for them to transfer learning effectively. Intelligence would be useless if not nurtured. Aspiring teachers must receive sound trainings on how to deal different types of students. These trainings must be suited and congruent to the type of intelligence of the teachers. Since learning is a continuous process, teachers must not stop discovering and learning new things. They have to acquire knowledge from everything. They must have this stock knowledge always ready to be shared. Although no one can monopolize knowledge, it is a must among teachers to have little knowledge of everything.

PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF STUDENTS IN DIFFERENT SUBJECTS
TEACHER

TEACHING AND LEARNING PHILOSOPHIES

LEVELS AND TYPES OF INTELLIGENCE

EDUCATION AND PROPER TRAININGS

Figure 1
Theoretical Framework

Conceptual Framework Figure 2 shows that there are several factors affecting the proficiency level of the students. Since the understanding of the lesson depends on how dynamically the lesson is presented, it is necessary to study the profile of the teachers and its relationship to students’ proficiency level. It is undeniably that learning is dependent on how knowledgeable the teacher is. This study is designed to establish the relationship of the two variables, the teachers’ profile and students’ proficiency level in different subjects. It also tried to determine if age and length of service of the teachers really guarantee good academic performance of the students. Educational qualification of the teachers must also be considered in determining the factors that contribute to the teaching-learning outcomes. The said variables are somewhat related but the degree of relationship of these variables must be measured and established.

Teachers’ Profile that Affects Students’ Proficiency Level of Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School, Apad, Ragay, Camarines Sur, School Year 2011-2012

STUDENTS
Proficiency Level of the students in different subjects
A. English
B. Mathematics
C. Science
D. Filipino
E. MAKABAYAN
TEACHERS
A. Educational Attainment
B. Trainings
C. Length of Service
D. Age
E. Sex

Figure 2
Conceptual Framework

Assumptions
1. The centralized test given by the Department of Education Division Office can measure the Proficiency Level of the students. 2. The teachers have different fields of specialization.

Hypothesis 1. There is a significant relationship between the field of specialization of teachers and the proficiency level of the students. 2. Factors such as sex, age, length of service and trainings of the teachers handling the subject are significantly related with the proficiency level of the students.

Definition of Terms To make this study easy to understand, the following terms used in this study were operationally and conceptually defined. Age. This refers to the biological and mental stage of the teacher relative to time. Length of Service. In this study, this refers to the duration of working as teacher from the date of appointment to present when this study is conducted. Major. In this study, it is defined as the field of specialization of the teachers obtained on their baccalaureate courses. Non-major. It is referred to as the subjects taught by teachers without any formal training on how to teach the subjects effectively on their bachelor’s degree. Proficiency Level. It is defined as the degree of knowledge and skill of the students measured using the score they obtained from the centralized tests given by the Division Office of the Department of Education relevant to the Philippine Secondary Schools Learning Competencies (PSSLC). Sex. It is defined as either male or female. Training. Refers to the programs that the teacher has attended with the purpose of gaining more knowledge regarding the subject and improving his/her teaching skills.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter discusses topics related to the present study which are gathered from different periodicals such as books, journals, theses and internet. This also includes citations of related studies and literature. Sufficient insights into the problem and the nature of the present research are also specified.
Related Literature http://anyfreepapers.com/author/admin (2011) Education is not the process of being told what to do. If teachers sat around telling their students what to do, the students would learn very little. A good example of teachers showing instead of telling students what to do is field trips. Students, especially younger students, retain more information if they have a first-hand memory of a topic, and not just have read about it in a book. Another good example of showing students in education is science labs. It is essential, especially in the subject of science, to actually see how things work. It is difficult for most people to picture complicated scientific processes in their head. A person would never understand exactly what a kidney, or a heart looked like, from a drawing or picture. That is why it is important to do dissections in high school and college. The band Live has a lyric in one of their songs that says, “The greatest of teachers won’t hesitate, to leave you there by yourself chained to die.” This example may be a bit extreme, but it does illustrate a good point. The greatest teachers do not bail their students out at the smallest hint of struggle. If they did, their students would never learn to do anything on their own, and would always rely on other people. Education is not based on unchangeable information. A student should have the right to question a teacher’s opinion, because all teachers were students at one point. Sometimes a student can bring a fresh perspective to a subject that the teacher would not have seen on their own. Our knowledge of the world is always changing and expanding. We as human beings need to bounce ideas off of each other to learn more about ourselves and our surroundings. Noda (2010) stated that the environment affects the learners and the learning process. Environment refers to all the factors affecting the outcome of the educational processes, including teachers. They play a major role in educating the learner. Students are greatly influenced by their mentors. The degree and type of intelligence of the teachers are key factors that greatly affect the learning of the child. NOTES

Rex T. Noda. Diwa Textbook Educators’ Forum.(February 13, 2010)

Chapter III

METHODS AND PROCEDURE

This chapter is a discussion of the research design used by the researcher in developing the study.
The researcher used the Student’s t-test for independence and Pearson product-moment correlation to determine the level of relationship of the proficiency level of the students and the field of expertise of the teachers furthermore, to establish if the level of proficiency of the students was actually influenced by the educational attainment of the teacher.
This study also used the Spearman’s Rank correlation to determine the level of relationship between the proficiency level of the students and the age and length of service of the teacher. According to Bermudo (2004) Spearman’s rank correlation is a nonparametric test that is used to measure the degree of relationships between two ordinal variables.
The researcher used the null and alternative hypotheses in validating the computed statistical results. According to Bolaῆos (1997) null hypothesis is the statement about the absence of any effect claimed for a certain action. This hypothesis also asserts the absence of difference between the observed and expected values while the alternative hypothesis denoted by Ha refers to the assertion contradicting the null hypothesis. Thus, if the null hypothesis is proven to be true, then the alternative hypothesis should be false.
The proficiency level of the students was based on the centralized test given by the Department of Education thru the Division Office. It is the overall mean of every subject in four grading periods, that is, the sum of the proficiency level in four grading periods divided by four.

CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION This chapter discusses the presentation, analysis and interpretation of gathered data regarding the proficiency level of the students in all the subjects in the secondary level of education as prescribed by the Department of Education, educational attainment and field of expertise of the teachers, their age and length of service. It was found out that there are 4 or 26.7% of fifteen (15) teachers of Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School were fifty to fifty-nine (50-59) years old, 7 or 46.7% were forty to forty-nine (40-49) years old, and also 4 or 26.7% were thirty to thirty-nine (30-39) years old. From these figures we can conclude that majority of the teaching force of the said school were forty to forty-nine years old. It showed that only 1 or 6% of the its staff has teaching experience of one to five years (1-5), 3 or 20% has teaching experience of six to ten years (6-10), 1 or also 6% has the teaching experience of eleven to fifteen years (11-15), and 10 or 66.7% has been in the service for sixteen to twenty years. The numbers showed that majority of the teachers were in the service for more than sixteen (16) years. The table showed that Mathematics comprises only 10.56% of the sum of the proficiency level, English has 10.99%, Science with 8.74%, Filipino 14.95%, AralingPanlipunan has 9.6%, Music Arts Physical Education and Health (MAPEH) has 13.1%, Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) has 14.95% and Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga with 17.1%. The subjects Mathematics, English and Science that use English language as the medium of instruction comprise 30.3% of the sum of all the PL’s with the combining average PL of 37.34, that is, 8.88 lower than the overall PL (46.23). The Subjects such as Filipino, Araling Panlipunan, MAPEH, TLE and EP, that use Filipino language as the medium of instruction, comprise the remaining 69.7% of the total proficiency level with the combining average proficiency level of 51.56, that is, 5.3325 above the overall PL (46.23). This study was not focused on establishing if there is significant difference between the proficiency level of the students in subjects taught using English and Filipino as the medium of instruction. The Student’s t-test was used to show if there was a significant difference between teachers with different field of expertise in terms of students’ proficiency level. The computed t-value of the field of expertise of the teachers and the proficiency level of the students is (2.71) lower than the tabular t-value at 0.01 (2.898) and higher than the tabular value at 0.05 (2.110) level of significance thus, we can accept the null hypothesis at 0.01 level of significance and reject at 0.05 and can conclude that there are significant relationship between the field of expertise of the teachers and the proficiency level of the students at 0.05 level of significant. The researcher utilized the Spearman Rank Correlation test to determine the degree of correlation between the Proficiency Level of the students and the length of service of the teachers. It was manifested that there was no significant relationship between the two since the computed coefficient of correlation (-0.2061) and the t-value (0.8685) were less than the tabular values (2.110) and (2.898) at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significance respectively. To associate the age of the teachers to the Proficiency Level of the students, the researcher also used the Spearman Rank Correlation test in computing the correlation coefficient and found out that there was no significant relationship between the said variables. The computed correlation coefficient (-0.2864) and t-value (1.2324) were less than the critical values (2.110) and (2.898) at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significant respectively.

CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This study aimed to determine the profile of fifteen (15) teachers of Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School and its relation to the proficiency level of the students. From the summary of findings, conclusions were drawn and recommendations are presented. Problem Number 1 What is the profile of teachers at Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School, Apad, Ragay, Camarines Sur in terms of educational attainment, length of service and age?
Findings
Out of fifteen teachers there were 26.7% or 4 teachers of Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School having the age ranging from fifty to fifty-nine (50-59) years old, 46.7% or 7 teachers were forty to forty-nine (40-49) years old, and also 26.7% or 4 teachers were thirty to thirty-nine (30-39) years old. There are twelve (12) out of fifteen (15) teachers handling subjects with their field of expertise and seven (7) out of fifteen (15) handling subjects which are not their field of specialization.
Conclusions
Majority of the teaching staff of Simeon Tycangco has the age ranging from forty to forty-nine. There are eight (8) teachers or 53.3% of fifteen teachers are handling in line with their area of specialization, three (3) teachers or 20% of fifteen teachers are handling subjects which are not their major and four (4) teachers or 26.7% are handling subjects which are their major and not.
Recommendations
The government should allocate enough funds to hire new teachers to avoid subject-teacher misfit. Problem Number 2 What is the Proficiency Level of students taught by major and non-major teachers?
Findings
The average proficiency level of the students taught by non-major teachers was 43.93 while the average proficiency level of the students taught by major teachers 48.72. Mathematics comprises only 10.56% of the sum of the proficiency level, English has 10.99%, Science with 8.74%, Filipino 14.95%, Araling Panlipunan has 9.6%, Music Arts Physical Education and Health (MAPEH) has 13.1%, Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) has 14.95% and Edukasyon sa Pagpapahalaga with 17.1%. The core subjects namely Mathematics, English and Science comprise 30.3% of the sum of all the PL’s with the combining average PL of 37.34, that is, 8.88 lower than the overall PL (46.23). Filipino and MAKABAYAN subjects such as Araling Panlipunan, MAPEH, TLE and EP, comprise the remaining 69.7% of the total proficiency level with the combining average proficiency level of 51.56, that is, 5.3325 above the overall PL (46.23).
Conclusion
The proficiency level of the students taught by major teachers is greater than of students taught by non-major teachers, although not significantly higher, it was revealed that the field of specialization affects the level of learning of the students.
Recommendations
The education managers should determine the necessary teachers with appropriate field of specialization to avoid hiring of the new teachers that are not congruent to the needs of their schools.
Problem Number 3 Is there a significant difference in the proficiency level of the students taught by major and non-major teachers?
Findings
The Student’s t-test was used to show if there was a significant difference between teachers with different field of expertise in terms of students’ proficiency level. The computed t-value of the field of expertise of the teachers and the proficiency level of the students is (2.71) lower than the tabular t-value at 0.01 (2.898) and higher than the tabular value at 0.05 (2.110) level of significance.

Conclusion Accept the null hypothesis at 0.01 level of significance and reject it at 0.05 and conclude that there are significant relationship between the field of expertise of the teachers and the proficiency level of the students at 0.05 level of significant.

Recommendations The government thru its education department should assess the needs of appropriate teachers in every school and allocate enough funds to finance the hiring of new teachers. There are thousands unemployed and underemployed but highly qualified teachers forced to leave the country to seek better salary and working condition. Better working condition means not forcing to handle class with more than the ideal number of student and teaching subjects that are not their field of specialization.

Problem Number 4 Are there significant relationships in the proficiency level of the students among the age and length of service of the teachers?
Findings
The researcher utilized the Spearman Rank Correlation test to determine the degree of correlation between the Proficiency Level of the students and the length of service of the teachers.
The computed coefficient of correlation (-0.2061) and the t-value (0.8685) were less than the tabular values (2.110) and (2.898) at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significance respectively. To associate the age of the teachers to the Proficiency Level of the students, the researcher also used the Spearman Rank Correlation test in computing the correlation coefficient and found out that there was no significant relationship between the said variables. The computed correlation coefficient (-0.2864) and t-value (1.2324) were less than the critical values (2.110) and (2.898) at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significant respectively.
Conclusions
It was manifested that there was no significant relationship between the proficiency level of the students and the length of service of the teachers since the computed coefficient of correlation (-0.2061) and the t-value (0.8685) were less than the tabular values (2.110) and (2.898) at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significance respectively. There was no significant relationship between the proficiency level of the students and age of the teachers because the computed correlation coefficient (-0.2864) and t-value (1.2324) were less than the critical values (2.110) and (2.898) at 0.05 and 0.01 level of significant respectively.
Recommendation
The time spent of the teachers in the teaching profession will not assure higher level of learning in part of the students as the figures revealed. If there is no significant relationship between the length of service of the teachers and the level of learning of the students, maybe the education and trainings of the teachers are the key factors that affect the proficiency level of the students. The Commission on Higher Education must review its existing curriculum, designed to train aspiring teachers, perhaps there are fields in higher education that are not fully nurtured by the prevailing curriculum. Likewise, the Professional Regulation Commission, the government agency in charge of regulating the teaching profession should as well review its standards.

CURRICULUM VITAE

PERSONAL BACKGROUND:
Name : JUMAR R. VELASCO
Address : Poblacion Ilaod, Ragay, Camarines Sur
Date of Birth : June 18, 1979
Civil Status : Married
Nationality : Filipino

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:
Elementary Education: Toro Hills Elementary School Project 8, Quezon City 1992
Secondary Education : Quezon-Camarines High School Ragay, Camarines Sur 1996
Tertiary Education :
Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English and Literature Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Ragay Extension Ragay, Camarines Sur 2000 Certificate Program in Teaching Mathematics
Bicol University Legazpi City
2007

ELIGIBITY Licensure Examination for Teachers (August, 2000) Civil Service Examination (October, 2011)
EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND: High School Teacher :Welworth Private School Santa Maria, Bulacan Mathematics Teacher : Simeon Tycangco Memorial High School Ragay, Camarines Sur
MEMBERSHIP/AFFILIATION :
Member : Mathematics Teachers Association of the Philippines 2003 to present
TRAINING AND SEMINAR ATTENDED: National Conference in Mathematics Education May 11-14, 2010, Teachers’ Camp, Baguio City
AWARD/HONOR RECEIVED: Second Placer, Mathematics Quiz, Teachers’ Category, Mathematics Quest 2009 Division Level 24 Units Scholar of Manila Teachers’ Mutual Aid System, Inc.