More Than Just the Rank: Teachers' Lived Experiences with the Expanded Career Progression System

This study explored the lived experiences of public-school teachers navigating the Expanded Career Progression System (ECPS) in the Schools Division of Bohol, Philippines, during School Year 2025–2026. Guided by Van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology, it examined teachers’ opportunities and motivations, challenges, adaptive strategies, and career aspirations and well-being. Twelve public elementary school teachers promoted through ECPS reclassification were purposively selected. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, supplemented by field notes and a reflexive journal, and analyzed using holistic, selective, and detailed reading approaches. Fifteen themes emerged and were interpreted through Van Manen’s four lifeworld existentials. Lived time revealed how teachers revisited past accomplishments, reorganized present responsibilities, and envisioned renewed career possibilities, even near retirement. Lived space emerged as preparation moved from school into the home and unfamiliar demonstration classrooms became settings of uncertainty. Lived body illuminated the felt pressures of preparation and assessment, expressed through nervousness and stress and eased through breathing, prayer, and emotional preparation. Lived human relations revealed career progression as a shared undertaking sustained by school heads’ encouragement, collegial guidance, and continuing responsibility toward learners. Teachers experienced ECPS as an opportunity for advancement and recognition that also demanded time, financial resources, and personal effort, while renewing their professional self-worth, confidence, and commitment to continuous learning. The study concludes that ECPS is more than attaining a higher rank: it involves rediscovering professional worth, purpose, and possibility. The findings informed a proposed action plan emphasizing timely guidance, records management, collaborative preparation, and support for teachers’ well-being.