Intergenerational Relationship Building among Filipino Teachers: A Grounded Theory

Intergenerational relationships offer rich resources for professional and personal development of teachers. Hence, this grounded theory study looked into the process of intergenerational relationship building among Filipino teachers in basic education in order to articulate the theory that would emerge from the investigation of the nature of teachers’ relationship with colleagues, opportunities, challenges, strategies to build IG relationships, and consequences of these strategies. Data were gathered from 20 basic education male and female teachers from the young adult, middle-aged, and older adult generations from three schools in Central Luzon. The three schools represent three different types of basic education schools in the Philippines that have multigenerational teachers: (1) public elementary school, (2) national high school, and (3) private college that offers basic education. From the data that were gathered through semi-structured individual interviews and Facebook analysis, the Smooth IG Relationship Building Theory has emerged. This theory explains the process of building IG relationships among Filipino teachers in basic education schools. This theory lays the following theoretical propositions: (1) Multigenerational teacher community offers a wide range of resources for professional and personal development of teachers, and access to these resources is unlocked by smooth IG relationships; (2) Smooth IG relationships are hindered by generational gaps, seniority, and isolating structures and programs of the schools; (3) IG values are important to ensure that smooth IG relations do not have underlying tensions beyond the surface interactions; (4) The quality of opportunities and strategies influence the nature of relationships that could develop among colleagues; and (5) Development of smooth IG relationships among colleagues is influenced by the school culture, Filipino social relations, gender differences, and IG diversity. Derived grounded theory offers a glimpse of the smooth IG relationship building process among Filipino teachers which is anchored on a contextualized understanding of their IG diversity. This grounded theory could serve as a basis in the development of a Community of Practice as a schoolbased Continuous Professional Development program for teachers.