CHILD-REARING PRACTICES OF THE MANOBO AND MANDAYA TRIBES: INSIGHTS FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHING

In the 21^st century, teachers need to be culturally competent and be inclusive with their approaches within the classroom especially for pre-service teachers (MacQueen, 2020). They also have challenges in managing a classroom of diverse learners, e.g. students’ systems of beliefs and values as well as behavior leading to conflicts, and for a teacher to overcome the challenge they must be culturally aware of their students' differences (Sachkova, 2021), in this case, Manobo and Mandaya students in Davao City. However, students also face challenges if they are of different culture and of background with other students, they have to learn their culture and language (Alsubaie, 2015). Although a teacher's cultural awareness is critical part for students’ academic achievement, parents also play a role in school, they improve students’ attitude towards school, social skills, and behavior with the likelihood that they will take classes that are more challenging and pass them (Avnet, 2019). Moreover, parental involvement in children’s education concluded that significant relationship between parental involvement and student achievement exist but the relationship is not strong (Boonk, 2018).  There exist four parental styles namely: Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive, and Uninvolved; authoritarian parents creates rules and enforce consequences without taking their child’s feelings,  authoritative parenting is the opposite as rewards are given if appropriate behavior is done, Permissive parenting is creating rules but rarely enforces them, and uninvolved parenting is having no rules and guidance in raising their children (Bi, Yang, Li, Wang, Zhang & Deckard, 2018; Hosokowa & Katsura, 2019).

Child rearing practices play a pivotal role in child development. To explore further how it affects the development of Manobo/Mandaya children, the study adopted Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) by Vygotsky, Leontiev and Engeström. CHAT suggests that human actions are influenced by a variety of factors such as; cultural tools, social interactions, and historical context (Cong-Lem, 2022).

There have been several studies conducted on other indigenous people tribes in the Philippines in identifying perspectives of indigenous people about the right to education (Eduardo, 2021), but there is lack of information on indigenous people found in Davao Region specifically in Nuing Jose Abad Santos Davao Occidental and Brgy. Andap New Bataan Davao De Oro. The study will shed light to the child-rearing practices of Mandaya and Manobo tribes, specifically parents on their children's education.

The intent of this study is the distinct cultural backgrounds, geographical locations, and significance in the context of tribe communities. The importance of child-rearing practices discusses the critical role that child-rearing practices play in shaping a child’s education, emphasizing that these practices are deeply rooted in cultural traditions and values. Though, it emphasizes that vast diversity of child-rearing practices across different indigenous groups and how these practices may significantly influence educational outcomes. Lastly, to provide valuable insights about the child-rearing practices of the Manobo/Mandaya tribes to aspiring educators, tutors, and people in general who are interested about indigenous people’s child-rearing practices.

The information gathered in this research will be essential for Elementary Education, also be used to uncover new ideas and knowledge, especially providing benefits to individuals and to local, regional, national, and international communities involved in the teaching education. Researchers’ inclination to embark on this study hopes to provide an embodiment of knowledge and understanding of Child-rearing Practices of the Manobo and Mandaya Tribes to the following: Bachelor of Elementary Education students at the University of Mindanao, Parents, Institutions, and lastly future researchers.

The lack of understanding of child-rearing practices of Manobo and Mandaya parents hinders the ability of an educator to modify their strategies. Thus, study aims to gain information about child-rearing practices, differences, and their goals for their offspring's education. This study must be done to learn how parents foster their children both Mandaya and Manobo tribes. It aims to address the following: to determine the child-rearing practices of the Manobo and Mandaya tribes; To identify the coping mechanisms on child rearing practices of Manobo/Mandaya parents; and to analyze the insights from Mandaya/Manobo parents about the role of education in their children’s development.