CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

1.1 Background of the Study

Recent years proved that the Philippines shows promising progress in its growing

markets. It is now among one of the fastest in the world but despite that, it still holds the

highest unemployment rate in Asia. According to a survey of Social Weather Stations

(SWS) cited in a Philstar news article, around 21.4 % or roughly 9.1 million Filipinos are

without jobs in 2015. The unemployed Filipinos consisted of those who resigned and left

their jobs voluntarily.

One of the main reasons for unemployment is due to low quality jobs available

which forces the workers to seek high paying jobs overseas. The survey on Overseas

Filipinos conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows that 2.4 million

workers are employed abroad in 2015 and decreased to 2.3 million in 2018.

Another reason for unemployment is not meeting the job requirements.

According to Connolly (2014), high school enrollment does not reduce

underemployment since it is not certain they can afford college or finish their secondary

education. Moreover, if they finish college, there is no guarantee they will be hired

immediately. As a result, the Philippine government implemented RA 10533 which is

also known as ‘Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013” in order to overturn these

challenges.

The Enhanced Basic Education Act covers the K to 12 Basic Education Program.

It aims to provide quality education that is globally competitive and expand the goals for
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career opportunities (Official Gazette, 2015). The Department of Education (DepEd)

was mandated to guide the learners to pursue their preferred career tracks. As such,

Career advocacy activities are to be conducted by the councilors per school with the

guide of the career guidance manuals produced and distributed.

Career Guidance Program helps students identify where their passions lie that

would lead them to their future jobs. It assists the learners to distinguish their strengths

and weaknesses, and maps out the possible careers connected with their interests and

personality types. In this way, the students are able to conduct self-assessment

activities that explore all the possibilities they have. These assessments may also be an

inspiration for planning out the company or business they are aiming for, examine the

different job pay levels, and create an estimated household budget that would influence

their lifestyle in the near future. The program also includes dealing with external factors

that affect the learners’ career choice such as parents, family, and peer pressure. Most

importantly, it stresses the importance of having a choice in choosing a career goal in

mind.

The Career Guidance Program is implemented on the senior high school of

Marikina Science High School. The main objective of this study is to determine the

perception of Grade 12 students from Marikina Science High School on the Career

Guidance Program and how it affected their selection by weighing out the possible

benefits and difficulties of their chosen college courses. It also aims to identify the parts

of the program that are proven to be helpful and its impact to the relationship between

the students and their parents. The researchers will obtain the data through in-depth

interviews with selected respondents.

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1.2 Statement of the Problem

This study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the perception of Grade 12 students on Career Guidance in terms of the

following:

a. chosen college course; and

b. possible benefits and difficulties of the college course?

2. What part of Career Guidance is helpful to the students in choosing their

preferred college courses?

3. What is the impact of the Career Guidance subject to the relationship of the

students to their parents?

1.3 Theoretical Framework

Figure 1. Social Cognitive Career Theory

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Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) is theory developed by Robert W. Lent,

Steven D. Brown, and Gail Hackett in 1994 based on Albert Bandura’s general social

cognitive theory, an influential theory of cognitive and motivational processes that has

been extended to the study of many areas of psychosocial functioning. Robert W. Lent

is a professor at a counseling psychology program at the Ohio State University. While

Steven D. Brown is a licensed Psychoanalyst practicing and offering counseling in

Stuyvesant Landing, New York City. Gail Hackett, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology

and serves as Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth

University. This theory is aimed at explaining three correlating parts of career

development: (1) how simple academic and career preferences manifest, (2) how

educational and career choices are decided upon, and (3) how academic and career

success is achieved. The theory uses a variety of concepts (e.g., interests, abilities,

values, environmental factors) that show in prior career theories and have been found to

change and improve career development.

The researchers will focus on the possible preparations the respondents will

incur after guiding them about the career guidance education. The researcher’s

objective is to know if the social cognitive theory will be appropriate to the study due it

showing promising factors on how a certain individual must have to prepare for future

decisions regarding career preferences and college-courses to take. Analyzing the

several independent variables that can affect the impact of career guidance to a

student’s career choice through the model will help the researchers who aim to

differentiate and discover the effects of this on students after being educated about their

career preferences and possible career paths.

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1.4 Scopes and Limitations

The research process will start from January 2020 to March 2020 and will be

conducted in Marikina Science High School. The research is concerned with the

impacts of career guidance in the preferred college courses of Grade 12 students. The

participants of this study will only be limited to Grade 12 students of MSHS. An interview

will be conducted by the researchers to gather data. The researchers will do a

purposive sampling in choosing 6 participants (2 participants per section).

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study will be beneficial to Marikina Science High School community because

it will provide them information about the impacts of Career Guidance Program. It will be

benefitting the various sectors as follows:

The Students. This study would be able to provide knowledge to the students on the

impacts of career guidance in choosing their college course.

The Career Guidance Teachers/School Administration. This study will help them to

perform an effective method in teaching and implementing Career Guidance to the

students.

The Parents/Guardians. This study will help the parents develop the relationship with

their children in terms of planning a career path.

The Future Researchers. The researchers would be able to use this study as one of

their references for future studies about the topic discussed.

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1.6 Definition of Terms

1. Career. This refers to the profession that a person will pursue which relates to

his/her interests and personality traits after finishing secondary or tertiary education.

2. Career Guidance Program. This refers to the program under the RA 10533 that

aims to guide the learners to explore their skills and interests that would help them

choose from all the possible courses.

3. Enhanced Basic Education. This refers to the public act that covers the Career

Guidance Program and K to 12 Program which aims to prepare the learners to be

globally competitive.

4. Self-assessment Activities. These refer to the activities that help the learners

discover their strengths and weaknesses which are in line with their chosen course.

5. Unemployment Rate. This refers to the ratio between the number of people who

are currently not working nor self-employed and the labor force.

1.7 Research Paradigm

INPUT PROCESS
Participants’ perception on
OUTPUT
career guidance in choosing Construction of the interview The impacts of Career
their college courses in terms of guide Guidance Program to Grade
the following: 12 students of Marikina
Selection of respondents Science High School in
Possible benefits and difficulties
of the course choosing a college course
Conducting the interviews on
Helpful component selected residents
Impacts on the relationship
between the students and their Transcript of the recorded
parents interviews
Analysis and interpretation of
the gathered data
Effectiveness
Advantages
Disadvantages
Impacts

FEEDBACK

FIGURE 2. Research Paradigm

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The input includes the perceptions of the selected participants regarding the

Career Guidance Program in choosing their college courses in terms of the following:

(a) possible benefits and difficulties of the chosen course; (b) helpful component of the

program; and (c) impacts on the relationship between the students and their parents.

The process covers the entire procedure the researchers will conduct for the study.

The researchers will prepare an interview for the following specific matter concerning

the Career Guidance Program. In addition, it covers the selection process of the

participants who will undergo an interview. The researchers will then conduct the

interviews, transcribe it into text and analyze the transcribed interviews through content

analysis.

The output would determine the impacts of the Career Guidance Program to the

Grade 12 students of Marikina Science High School in choosing their college courses.