Teachers’ Level of Inquiry-Based Approach in Teaching Social Studies in Banisilan South District

Teachers who have a thorough understanding of inquiry-based learning and its effectiveness are more likely to use it extensively in their teaching.  Moreover, the belief of teachers in the inquiry-based approach also plays a significant role in its implementation. Teachers who firmly believe in the power of this approach to enhance student learning will be more inclined to use it in their teaching. They understand that the traditional teacher-centered approach may not be effective in catering to the diverse learning needs of students. Therefore, they are open to trying new methods, and their belief in the inquiry-based approach motivates them to use it in their teaching practice. This study aimed to determine the level of inquiry of the teachers anchored to the theory of Bruner which includes different factors in applying the inquiry-based instruction. This study also aimed to enhance the critical thinking skills, analysis, and research abilities of the education students together with the researcher and the experts in the field of social studies who have also applied inquiry-based instruction. This study used the descriptive-correlational design. This involved a description of the quality of the respondents, the social studies teachers in the public school of the South District of Banisilan. The respondents of the study were the selected one hundred (100) public school teachers in Banisilan South district for the school year 2023-2024. The result revealed that the majority of respondents fall within the age range of 30 to 39 and have not attended such seminars, while they allocate between 3 to 4 hours for social studies discussions and the teaching strategy was very high. Moreover, the level of social studies-based inquiry instruction as reported by respondents, focusing specifically on confirmation inquiry, structured inquiry, guided inquiry, and open inquiry was very high. Another result revealed that there is no significant relationship in the level of inquiry of respondents when grouped according to age, seminars attended about Inquiry-Based Instruction and time allocated for social studies discussion. However, this suggests schools may increase the availability of professional development seminars and workshops for social studies educators, provide additional time for social studies discussions and activities in schools, encourage educators to continue exploring and implementing innovative teaching strategies and conduct regular evaluations of social studies curricula and teaching practices to ensure their effectiveness. And school may provide comprehensive professional development opportunities for teachers on IBI best practices, including strategies for engaging students in inquiry.