Navigating the Transition: Experiences of Senior High School Social Science Teachers in Teaching Alternative Learning System Completers

Student learning variability is deeply concerning. The teachers’ experiences in handling student variability were explored. Using phenomenological design, I interviewed ten purposively selected Social Studies teachers of ALS completers, and I thematized the data. As a result, I viewed UDL as insufficient. Designing flexible teaching approach does not directly based on the persisting learner variability. It needs to go through reviewing the academic gaps and instructional adjustments. Besides, flexible teaching approach goes up to the level of implementation and valuing. Consequently, teachers may importantly review student learning gap and their own instructional adjustment before designing flexible teaching approaches; implement and value differentiated and supportive pedagogical activities. Future research may use mediating analysis and EFA to examine how academic gaps and differentiated pedagogical designs mediate the relationship between learner variability, flexible teaching approaches, and UDL-driven pedagogical design, using the sub-themes from this study as variable indicators.