Science Teachers’ Experiences with the Spiral Progression Approach in the Philippines: A Scoping Review

Abstract

The Spiral Progression Approach (SPA) has been introduced into the science education curriculum in the Philippines for purposes of ensuring continuity, integration, and progressive learning of science concepts by students across different grade levels. However, the literature regarding the experiences of science teachers in implementing this approach is scattered across many areas. This scoping review was carried out in order to identify and consolidate all the available evidence regarding the experiences of science teachers in the implementation of the SPA in the Philippine context. This study used the scoping review methodology framework established by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), supported by JBI methodology and PRISMA-ScR reporting frameworks. Ten (10) studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. The results indicated that the experiences of the teachers were both positive and challenging at the same time. SPA was seen to be advantageous in fostering continuity of learning, concept reinforcement, engagement of the learners, and wider exposure to different fields of science. However, the persistent difficulties faced included teaching outside the specialization of the teachers, lack of mastery of the content taught, inability of the learners to retain the prerequisites to the concepts, lack of time to teach, lack of sufficient learning materials, inadequate laboratory facilities, and difficulties in linking concepts from different grade levels. Responses included peer mentoring, teamwork, cooperative learning, independent learning, internet searching, activity adaptation, and localization of teaching materials. From the above discussion, it can be noted from the literature that the implementation of SPA by teachers is affected by the curriculum, teacher preparedness, student preparedness, resourcefulness, and context. Thus, further research is needed on teachers' personal experiences, their strategies for dealing with these situations, and curriculum implementation in different Philippine contexts.