Philippine E-Journals

Navigating Change: Lived Experiences of Science Teachers in the Pilot Implementation of the Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum

Ivan Lorayna | Cristine Jean Mirafuentes | Meliza P. Alo

Discipline: Teacher Training

 

Abstract:

This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of science teachers during the pilot implementation of the Strengthened Senior High School (SHS) Curriculum mandated by DepEd Memorandum No. 012, s. 2026. While the reform aims to strengthen competency-based and learnercentered education, limited research has examined how science teachers experience and negotiate curriculum change during pilot implementation. This study sought to describe how teachers interpret, adapt to, and make sense of the instructional, emotional, and professional demands of the strengthened curriculum. Using a qualitative phenomenological design, data were gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews with seven science teachers from Sta. Cruz National High School. Findings revealed that teachers experienced the reform as a dual condition of promise and pressure. While participants recognized the curriculum’s potential to promote deeper learning, real-world application, and learner-centered instruction, they also experienced uncertainty, increased workload, instructional adjustments, and resource limitations during implementation. Teachers described adaptation as a continuous process of improvisation, negotiation, and professional recalibration within constrained classroom conditions. The findings further revealed that professional development, collegial collaboration, administrative support, and resource availability served as critical structures that enabled teachers to sustain implementation despite ongoing pressures. The study concludes that the lived experience of science teachers during pilot implementation is characterized by continuous adaptation under conditions of uncertainty and constraint. Curriculum reform, therefore, is experienced not merely as a structural change in instruction but as an evolving professional process that requires resilience, institutional support, and sustained opportunities for teacher development.