Recceing the step up scholars’ GWA andtheir perceived teaching skills competence: basis for identifying priority training areas

Constant efforts to produce quality pre-service teachers have been undertaken by teacher education institutions. As such, initiatives, like scholarships that promote the pre-service teachers’ acquisition of teaching competencies, have been widely supported by universities and colleges that offer teacher education programs. In order to identify the priority training areas to be developed, 45 STEP Up scholars' data from the Teaching Skills Survey (TSS) and their academic grades were obtained. Using weighted means, findings revealed ‘teamwork’ as the highly learned skill while ‘initiative and self-direction’ was identified the least. A significant difference of the TSS scores was noted only when the scholars were grouped by year level. A post hoc comparison using the Tukey HSD revealed that the CTP scholars’ mean scoresare significantly different from the Juniors and the Seniors’ scores. Considerably, the study showed a negative correlation between the scholars’ TSS and their grade weighted average. While ‘good’ grades are potent indicators of performance, constant effort of both the mentors and the mentees shall be done to deepen teaching competence. While level and program-specific interventions can be done to continually hone the teaching skills of the pre-service teachers, they can benefit from the activities that foster their sense of initiative and self-direction. It is imperative that scholars mentoring plan be anchored on the results of the TSS and unified mentoring activities may be done to enhance their academic performance along with their teaching competence.