Unveiling the Triad's Struggles and Triumphs in MDL: Valuable Insights for Post-Pandemic Resiliency and Recovery Roadmap

For every educator to continue serving quality education to every Filipino learner amidst pandemic, the Department of Education transitioned to Modular Distance Learning (MDL) through printed modules. However, as frontline of this major shift, new changes were experienced by triad' (teachers, parents, and learners). Using phenomenological approach, this study aimed to uncover those experiences and how they cope with problems met. Participants comprised of 24 randomly selected teachers, parents, and learners each from four (4) districts of Maasin City via multi-stage cluster sampling. Semi-structured interviews both online and offline methods with validated instrument were employed to collect data alongside ethical considerations. Results of thematic analysis derived six themes from the lens of teachers namely work stress, readiness or adjustment, observed parental issues, time-management, delayed materials and communication problem. Likewise, parents' experiences extracted five themes namely disruption of work, difficulty in understanding the module, managing children's discipline, learning environment, and managing time. On learners' side, five major themes were generated such as difficulty to understand content, loaded modules and bulky tasks, limited interactions, poor basic Skills in literacy & numeracy, distractions that affect focus, and connectivity problems. Implications reflected major challenges that call for adaptive skills, innovative interventions and policies to ensure both welfare and safety in the process. Despite difficulties, the triad initiated coping strategies. Likewise, factors affecting the quality and efficiency of MDL were drawn such as quality of material, process, learner's foundation, facilitators' welfare and capacity, communication, and home situations. This study concludes that the struggles and triumphs experienced resulting from the new transition in education brought the triad new work atmosphere and influenced the level of learning among learners. This provides valuable insights for potential interventions and policy recommendation for future post-pandemic resiliency and recovery roadmap for every school in the DepEd.