ABSTRACTThe primary or elementary level of education is critical where young people depend on and are nurtured by teachers. The teaching profession is undeniably a job intertwined with stress. With the skills required to best perform their tasks, teachers expect to reach a certain level of proficiency in their profession. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the level of job stress and teaching competence among elementary teachers assigned to public elementary schools in the southern Oas district. This study will be descriptive-correlational as a methodology that aims to detect the competence and stress level of public elementary school teachers. This study also attempts to investigate the level of stress based on the competence level of teachers. It is hoped that the findings of this study will broaden the existing body of knowledge and contribute to the understanding of the nature of teachers' skills and job stress. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayKeywords: teaching competence, teacher stress, elementary educationINTRODUCTIONEducation is the body of knowledge that has the power to maximize an individual's capabilities. Human beings could not have the right mind or be intelligent today if they were not cultivated and educated. There is a strong belief that the quality of the nation depends on the quality of its people. The quality of its inhabitants depends on the quality of the education they have received and that quality depends on the commitment and competence of the teachers they have provided. Teaching is labeled as the noblest profession; it is not simply about earning money for a living, but it is a service rendered for the development of society. The responsibility for shaping the future lies with teachers. The nation depends on the skills and effectiveness of teachers. They were given the name creators, as they were creating other professions such as doctors, engineers, leaders, philosophers and many others; furthermore, their work will never be easy. Teachers exert hard and demanding efforts inside and outside the classroom where they interact with the community to which they belong. With these purposes, it is indeed a demand for a teacher to be trained precisely and imbibe the skills to do their job best. A teacher could be encouraged to improve their work that allows them to multitask in the classroom, school and community if they are required to acquire professional skills and commitment; these would help them carry out their work in a professional manner. With all the strength an individual must have to achieve work, one perceives such fluctuating difficulties in professional life. Literally, the concepts of stress are intertwined with work life and can no longer be escaped. Although several associations try to remedy the negative effects of work stress, this does not provide a complete guarantee that stress will decrease. TEACHER COMPETENCE Competence is the ability to use knowledge and skills to construct a necessary result. It is the ability to perform activities within the profession; function as expected and perform the task even under different circumstances. It cannot be perceived exactly so it must be collected through various performance-based tests. There are competence standards that could measure the usefulness of training, improve efficiency, productivityand employee recruitment, securely. (Trinder, 2008) The term “teacher competencies” is expressed as the set of knowledge, skills and approaches required by a teacher to successfully meet the requirements of the educational profession. (MEB, 2006 and Koksal, 2014). It is written in the Encyclopedia Dictionary of Education (1997) that teaching competence has been defined as the condition of being able to demonstrate one's abilities in the adequate execution of a learning task. For B K. Passi and M S Lalitha, teaching competence is an efficient implementation of all the evident behaviors of a teacher that could show the expected results of the student. From the suggestion of Bhargava & Pathy (2011), the well-defined set of skills are influenced by the authorities working in the field of education, it is the place where teaching counts. In the Philippines, there is a framework for teacher performance, the so-called National Competency Based Teacher Standards (NCBTS), in which the recommended competences of teachers are clearly explained. It has 7 domains as follows: Domain 1 – Social Respect for Learning, Domain 2 – The Learning Environment, Domain 3 – Student Diversity, Domain 4 – Curriculum, Domain 5 – Planning, Evaluation and Reporting, Domain 6 – Links and mastery with the community 7 – Personal growth and professional development. According to Pantic and Wubbels (2010), the most important competence from the teacher's perspective was professional identity and development. But on the other hand, what they consider less important is the teacher's involvement in the development of national education systems. Competence is created from the training acquired and experiences related to the profession. It is somewhat accrued through exposure to on-the-job training where such activities could test the individual's ability to survive in various situations and improve his or her ability to handle new challenges. As the individual gains different experiences and also improves the ability to manage them, a higher level of competence is achieved. In the Philippines, professionals are very familiar with Republic Act 10912 commonly known as the CPD Law of 2016. This is an act that mandates and strengthens the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program for all regulated professions, includes the professional teacher. CPD means educating innovative information, skills and values ​​in a professional field of study, to be adapted to professional method, lifelong learning and/or self-directed study. Under the CPD Act, professionals must earn credit units by participating in CPD schemes. This unit of credit indicates the value of learning from the CPD program that can be conveyed into a qualification. For professional teachers, before they can renew their license, they are required to complete 45 credit units over three (3) years. CPD programs are a collection of learning activities that provide professionals with the innovative information, skills and values ​​they need. Seminars, workshops, technical lectures, topical meetings, non-degree training lessons, modules and tours/visits are examples of CPD programs where a professional can improve their potential. To help people achieve the required outcome, competency-based training is designed whatever the task they are called upon to undertake. Training must be based on the set of competence standards. Bhargava & Pathy (2011) explored perceptions of teaching competence among student teachers, classifying thepersonal and professional skills. The result of the study showed that students' personal skills as a preferred teacher are self-confidence, intellect, sociability, kindness and persistence. As for the teacher's professional skills, they consist of subject matter expertise, effective communication skills, rigor, punctuality and broad understanding of the nature of child psychology. Furthermore, there is a study conducted by Oliva, et al (2009) which presented that pre-service training for teachers should be an in-depth process that emphasizes the skills needed and related to the management and organization of teaching-learning, the correct primary classroom use of advanced technology skills, social skills including engagement with students and families, values ​​education, and professional skills when working with professional groups. “The impact of professional competence and creativity on professional pleasure” is a study conducted by Kanakala Jayaram (2010) which aimed to find the relationship between the variables – creativity, professional pleasure, professional competence and especially socio demographic. The study reached the main conclusions that (1) there is a significant positive correlation between creativity and professional competence; (2) professional competence has a significant positive correlation with professional pleasure and finally (3) socio-demographic variables such as age, gender and location do not influence professional competence. TEACHER STRESS The idea of ​​stress was originally introduced by Hans Selye in 1936 as “the force, pressure, or tension exerted on a material object or person which resists these forces and attempts to maintain its original state.” According to him, as cited in (Pokhrel, 2017), every action and event whether useful or undesirable would become stressful as long as it embraces changes that need to be adopted by people. Stress is usually represented with a collection of negative emotional states and responses that has been associated with difficult and pressured situations (Cordon, 1997; Pohkrel, 2017). Fevre, Matheny & Kolt (2003) presented the 2 types of stress, Eustress and Distress. Eustress is often labeled as moderate, low stress, while distress equates to a high level of stress. Teacher stress according to Kyriacou (1987) is the stress felt by teachers in the course of dismissal of responsibilities, where hostile emotions such as depression, frustration, tension and anger are caused by the nature of teachers' work. Teachers who experience eustress may see it as a driving force to meet occupational demands and represent an increase in work-life value. Conversely, distress is damaging the teacher's source of power to be able to meet job demands and may result in a shortened work life. . (Newell, 2002; Fevre, et al, 2003; Leka, Griffiths & Cox, 2004; Millward, 2005) Traditionally, teaching has been considered a low-stress profession (French et al., 1982), but the situation was reversed after twenty years. (Olivier & Venter, 2003). Teaching as a profession has become more challenging due to paperwork, changing rules and regulations, and uncontrollable students. School teachers, among different professional groups, have been found to operate under high levels of stress as a profession. (Malik, Nudler, & Meinhe, 1998; Johnson et al., 2005; Newberry & Allsop, 2017). Teachers in many countries report high levels of stress (see for example Chaplain, 2008; Johnson & Birkeland, 2003; Kyriacou, 2001; Skaalvik &Skaalvik, 2015). There is a universal observation among teachers interviewed who reported that their work is highly or extremely stressful (Kyriacou & Sutcliffe, 1978; Boriles, 1982; Borg & Falzon, 1989; Soloman & Feld, 1989; O Connor & Guglielmi & Tatrow , 1998; Pithers and Soden, 1998). Hammond and Okinawa (1997) stated: “In education, stress increases day by day because teaching today's youth is not only arduous work, but can be dangerously stressful. Anxiety due to school reform efforts, minimal administrative support, poor working conditions, lack of involvement in school decision-making, burdensome paperwork, and lack of resources have been identified as factors that can cause stress among teachers ”. In Kaur's (2011) study, the stress experienced by teachers is the effect of unmet needs and demands from school management. Bachkirova (2005) added other causes of stress that are difficult to resolve, such as the dilemma faced by students, parents and school. According to him, providing greater responsiveness is a necessity to reduce the negative effects of work stress experienced by teachers. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines stress as “pressure, tension, or worry arising from a problem in one's life. It is considered a factor in several diseases. From the research conducted by Mingoa, the most common physical ailments that Filipino teachers in his study complain about are as follows: (1) fatigue – 71%, (2) neck and shoulder muscle pain – 41%, (3 ) lower back pain -39%, (4) sleep disorders and insomnia – 34%, (5) migraines – 22% and (6) menstrual disorders or irregularities – 22%. Complaints of neck, shoulder and lower back pain are linked to their job description. Furthermore, research evidence has specified that work-related stress among teachers could have serious effects on their job performance, health, and psychological state (Capel, 1987; Cooper, 1986; Pierce and Molly, 1990). Health and psychological status and achievement can lead to lower academic performance, reduced job satisfaction, increased absenteeism, poor decision making, and unethical judgments (Eckles, 1987; Quick and Quick, 1984). Countless studies have been conducted to measure stress level, teaching competence, cause and effect of stress, how stress might affect competence, and so on. However, there have been no similar or related studies investigating the level of stress by level of instructional proficiency among public elementary school teachers. Furthermore, secondary and higher education teachers in universities were always the chosen respondents, while researchers based on public elementary school teachers were few, even in the Philippines. Conducting research on the level of teaching competence and job stress among teachers and their relationship could contribute to the future planning of programs such as seminars and workshops for the well-being of primary school teachers. Furthermore, the result can be used as an appeal or request for an increase in salary or bonuses received to stimulate the enthusiasm of public elementary school teachers to work to increase their level of competence. Therefore, this paper attempted to find the level of teaching competence and the level of stress among public elementary school teachers in the southern district of Oas and find the relationship between the two variables through a quantitative correlation process.CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKThe conceptual framework defines.