Benefits and Drawbacks of Collaboration in an Integrated School

This study, entitled “Benefits and Drawbacks of Collaboration in an Integrated School,” aimed to determine the impact on teachers in an integrated school in terms of professional development, enhancement of instructional design, improvement of professional task/related teaching tasks, and support from colleagues and administration at Congressional District I, Division of Nueva Ecija. The study used a descriptive-correlational design. Participants were purposively selected using total enumeration to meet the objective of the study, with a total of 199, as follows: 9 school heads, 69 elementary teachers, and 121 junior high school teachers of respective integrated schools in CD I. Survey questionnaires were the main instruments to gather needed data. The findings of the study are: teachers from integrated schools belonged to the ages 31-35, female, and married. They had a Master's Degree, taught Grade 5 pupils, and were permanent in a plantilla position. Using Spearman's rho analysis at p < 0.05 (2-tailed), the highest educational attainment was significantly related to the benefits and drawbacks of collaboration. The grade level taught was significantly related to the drawbacks of collaboration, particularly in terms of support from colleagues and administration. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between the benefits of collaboration, such as enhancement of instructional design, and the drawbacks, including professional development, enhancement of instructional design, improvement of professional tasks, and support from colleagues and administration. Moreover, there were significant differences in the responses of elementary teachers, Junior high school teachers, and school heads regarding their perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of collaboration in terms of improving professional tasks and receiving support from colleagues and administration.