Collaborative School Culture of Public Secondary Schools in the Municipality of Lebak

The study explored the collaborative school culture in all public secondary schools in the municipality of Lebak. The study aimed to determine the extent to which collaborative school culture is present in all public secondary schools in the municipality of Lebak and to describe their practices. The methodology employed quantitative research, utilizing a survey and a focus group discussion. Data were collected from all eight nationalized high schools in the municipality of Lebak, with 242 survey respondents. The focus group discussion (FGD) was conducted in four identified schools with seven participants for each FGD. The selection criteria include senior teachers, who had at least ten years of dedicated service in the field of teaching. For the data analysis, descriptive statistics was employed, and to the data gathered from the FGD, clustering of concepts or ideas were employed. Results revealed that, generally, the extent of the presence of collaborative school culture in all public secondary schools of the municipality of Lebak in all factors namely collaborative leadership, teachers’ collaboration, professional development, unity of purpose, collegial support, and learning partnership is of moderate extent. This signifies that school leaders and teachers are moderately involved in decision-making, program development and evaluation, supporting the attainment of the mission, fostering dialogue and planning across grades and subjects, and participating in problem-solving processes. The study identified good practices in terms of unity of purpose and learning partnership. Under the unity of purpose, the following practices were identified: integrating the schools’ vision and mission in the teaching-learning process, promoting equity and inclusivity, aligning with the DepEd’s mission in fostering holistic student development by employing collaborative learning strategies, incorporating technology in teaching, and integrating values in teaching. Under the learning partnership, practices include serving as role models in school and community, emphasizing parental and community involvement, promoting learning partnerships among parents and other stakeholders, using differentiated instruction in the learning process, ensuring formative assessment, and fostering sound classroom management.