Catch-Up Friday Program: Teachers' Practices as Basis for a Proposed Reading Literacy Program

Abstract

Aims: This study examined the practices of English teachers in the conduct of the Catch-Up Friday Program in selected secondary schools in Northern Samar and used the findings as the basis for a proposed reading literacy programme. Study Design: The study employed a descriptive-qualitative research design. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in six selected secondary schools in the Schools Division of Northern Samar during School Year 2025-2026. Methodology: The participants were six Grade 10 English teachers who were directly involved in planning, facilitating, or monitoring Catch-Up Friday reading sessions. Ten selected Grade 10 learners also participated in focus group discussions to provide supplementary learner perspectives. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and a review of Grade 10 Phil-IRI pretest results. Interview and focus group data were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis, while Phil-IRI results were used only as contextual baseline information. Results: Findings revealed that teachers conducted Catch-Up Friday through differentiated and responsive instruction, scaffolded reading support, peer-assisted learning, multimodal and contextualised materials, interactive reading activities, and assessment-guided monitoring. These practices reportedly supported word recognition, pronunciation, vocabulary development, fluency, comprehension, learner confidence, and participation. The programme was strengthened by dedicated reading time, routine-based implementation, teacher-learner interaction, and teacher commitment. However, implementation was challenged by limited level-appropriate materials, teacher preparation burden, financial strain, low attendance, mixed reading levels, limited parental support, inadequate training, and inconsistent programme delivery. Conclusion: Catch-Up Friday was found to be largely teacher-mediated and learner-responsive. Its sustainability depends not only on policy implementation but also on adequate resources, teacher capacity-building, protected reading time, learner engagement, parental support, and institutional monitoring.