Assessing the educational needs of Philippines indigenous Kalinga teachers and students in mathematics: Insights for researchers and policymakers

Society 5.0 and the post-pandemic trends in mathematics education have presented significant challenges, especially to the teachers and students of indigenous communities. Because of the uniqueness of these groups, different studies present varied ways of addressing problems particular to a certain group. Through an Exploratory Sequential Research Design (ESRD), this study identified and analysed the challenges encountered by the Philippines’ Indigenous Kalinga teachers and students in mathematics education with the goal of recommending evidence-based solutions to address emerging issues. The primary qualitative phase consisted of a presentation of the general landscape of teacher education and education in the community obtained from a systematic review of pertinent literature and records. Zooming in, a focused view of the Kalinga teachers and students was achieved through 2 focus group discussions integrated with a semi-structured interview. The secondary quantitative phase was subsequently conducted through the measurement of the teachers’ TPACK skills and students’ learning engagement. The results from both phases showed that the teachers are challenged to equip themselves with various technological resources, misalignment of instruction with the mandated framework, a mismatch between the teacher education program courses and the expected mathematical content knowledge for teachers, and a lack of pedagogical understanding regarding the interplay of culture and technology. For students, their emotional and social engagement is limited, affecting their overall engagement in learning mathematics. In the integration phase, practical solutions for how teachers can effectively integrate cultural elements into the design of technology-based instructional materials, such as authoring tools, are presented. By implementing these recommendations, we anticipate significant improvements in students’ engagement in mathematics from the teachers’ transformed pedagogical practices that conform to current trends.