A Phenomenological Study Towards Developing an Evaluation Framework for Outcome-Based Professional Education Courses

The study explored factors that impact the development of outcome-based professional education courses in the pre-service teacher ducation program as basis of a proposed framework in evaluating if these courses are designed to be outcome-based. Specifically, it dentified how teacher- educators understand the development of outcome- based professional education courses, the hallenges they encountered during the development and actions taken to overcome these challenges, results of which became the basis of developing a framework to evaluate said courses. The study utilized phenomenological research design where lived experiences of the purposively-elected education leaders and teacher-educators of four Centers of Excellence (COEs) in Teacher Education at the National Capital Region (NCR) were captured through interview and document analysis. Further, content analysis of interview data and curriculum ocuments was undertaken.

The results revealed that challenges faced by teacher-educators on their understanding of outcome-based professional education courses cover three dimensions such as knowledge, skills, and practice. Suggested solutions to overcome these challenges are to focus on modified professional development program, flexibility to innovative strategies in the classroom, and maximum involvement in curriculum planning. It is recommended that the proposed framework be utilized by the TEIs in evaluating these courses.

Future research may be conducted to generate a more robust set of criteria in evaluating not only the professional education courses but other courses in teacher education program. Also, a research on involvement of other stakeholders to strengthen university- industry partnership for quality graduates ready to take part in the workforce of the country may be undertaken.