Hernono B. Lopez Jr.^1,, Dennis B. Roble¹

If students are well-trained by teachers who are adept and confident in teaching their subject matter, certainly learners will be developed as lifelong learners and capable of helping in the fast economic development of the country. This study aimed to determine the profile, content mastery, challenges, and adaptive strategies of out-of-field (OOF) mathematics teachers in the province of Misamis Oriental, Philippines. The investigation employed a descriptive research design with a total of eighty-six (86) sampled OOF mathematics teachers assigned to the prescribed research setting. Of the 86 OOF mathematics teachers, seventy-nine (79) in the sampled junior high schools are assigned to teach subjects other than their master piece. Hence, they are labeled as “out-of-field” teachers. In terms of the mathematics content mastery, results show that the respondents had a satisfactory performance while the majority of the respondents agreed that their respective schools have limited resources, equipment, and other learning facilities needed for teaching and learning. Furthermore, the findings revealed that OOF mathematics teachers used varied teaching approaches, engaged themselves in professional development training, and kept monitoring learners’ progress using varied assessment strategies from their carefully planned lessons and improvised instructional learning materials. Since this study has established that OOF teaching was prevalent in the research locale, the researchers recommended that school principals and school district supervisors look into this matter seriously so they can hire additional teachers with specific qualifications to augment the manpower of the district. A parallel study may also be conducted considering OOF teachers across all levels from other disciplines so that strategic interventions as well as policy on recruitment based on field of specialization must be properly implemented.

adaptive strategies, challenges, out-of-field teaching, out-of-field teachers