In between rock and a hard place: How teachers navigate internal and external pressures of the 21st century classrooms in the context of lived experiences of select teachers of media and information literacy curriculum in the Philippines

Teachers are navigating the pressures of the 21st century classroom brought by the rapid obsolescence of the curriculum and the shifting power dynamics with students in the context of Media and Information Literacy curriculum in the Philippines. This research aims to understand the challenges of teachers and depicts their coping strategies in this era of technology given the changes in their external environment (student and technology) and the long-standing internal bureaucratic institution that defines their role and actions (curriculum and structures). This research then intends to contribute to the practical and academic literature—providing clarity on where teacher tensions are coming from, which can be a tool to help determine how to address them, and contribution to the literature of street-level bureaucracy (SLB) theory situated within the context of technology as it illustrates the challenges that teachers face in the 21st century setting, especially within a developing country where education is highly bureaucratic. The research was conducted through qualitative interviews with teachers who are teaching or have taught Media and Information Literacy in the Philippines. There are two key findings in this research—(1) despite the changes in time, the core challenges of SLB’s (as explained by Lipsky’s theory of Street Level Bureaucracy) have persisted from lack of resources, (mainly psychological) threats, and uncertainty in role expectations, and (2) technology has a great impact not only in the implementation of the curriculum but the shifting power dynamics of the teacher-student relationship.