REGION 1

Pangasinan Division II
SAN QUINTIN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

San Quintin, Pangasinan

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PREPAREDNESS IN CHOOSING A STRAND

IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

RESEACHERS:

FRENZES ANDREA O. NAVARRO

ANTONETTE B. BUMATAY

VINCE ANDRE S. BELENA

JOSHUA KENNEDY I. BERMUDEZ

ALEXANDER T. CABADING

APOCALIPS M. DACARA

ANGELINA L. DELA CRUZ

KEAN CARL L. MANGAOANG

ISAGANI J. ORTIZ JR

JERALD KHRISTIAN P. URBANO

DAPHNE M. MAGNO
(Research Teacher)
Chapter 1

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Junior High School students are now facing struggles on what strand are they going to

choose for Senior High School. Junior High School students must fit their locality and interests

in the track they are going to choose. Choosing a track is highly risky for making the students

highly proficient in the field of his or her chosen track are related to, especially for the students

who wishes to work after they graduated.

In the case of every Junior High School student, they can find the better place for them in

terms of looking for any suggestions and advice. Your Senior High School can lead to a better

place so it must be cleared up their minds to hold and to end up a successful future. The best path

you can take is that the track you desired and could base to your skills and interests. With the

help of some concerned people will be a big help such are their advisers, co-students, parent and

guidance counselors will be. In which the goal is to educate the students so they can find the

more create and meaningful lives.

Junior High School students are confused on what they are going to choose from those

tracks including Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), General

Academic Strand (GAS), Accountancy and Business Management (ABM), Technical-Vocational

Livelihood (TECH. VOC.) tracks.

The Senior High School which is an upper secondary education program consists of a

common core curriculum with four tracks namely: Academic, Technical-Vocational Livelihood,

Sports and Arts. Each of the tracks has specialization strands which students with the help of

their parents and guidance counselors can choose from. The Philippine government declared the

start of a fundamental overhaul of the country’s educational system under a policy called K-12

program (Okabe, 2013).

The learning goal in the new K-12 curriculum is the acquisition of the following 21 st

century skills, learning and innovation skills, information technology and media skills, effective

communication skills, and life and career skills. The K-12 program aimed to promoting holistic

skills development leading to employment and higher education (SEAMEO INNOTECH, 2012).
For many years, the present curriculum has led to parents to spend so much money and

resources for education, yet many students drop out of school or up jobless after graduation.

Philippine economy has been suffering over the years partly due to its idle and jobless citizens

brought about by this job mismatch. According to Nicolas Antonio T. Mapa (n.d), associate

economist at the bank of the Philippines islands, despite robust economic growth, unemployment

among college graduates was expected to stay high due to a mismatch , CHED has consistently

encourage incoming freshmen to enroll in what it regarded were in demand courses. For

academic years 2014 to 2015, 2017 to 2018 the in-demand courses are agriculture, engineering,

science and math, information technology education and health sciences according to CHED

(Obang, 2014).

Since Junior High School students are not aware on what are they going to choose. These

students should be knowledgeable enough to face the life of senior high. In gaining skills, path

should lean to proven themselves more effort to come up their journey. There would be different

tracks that the students can choose from in which the students can base in here their skills and

interest probably most of the Junior High School students nowadays facing different kind of

preparedness and confusion. Most of them just satisfying on their peers influences rather than

they want.

In every student’s potential, they loosen up their knowledge and skills in such influences.

They able to choose from what their parents wanted or else their closed being desired to be. But

a fixing every student’s future, it must be prioritized in most of the people surrounded them. The

betterment of these students will be the hands of them and the guidance. The sake of their future

is still on going so it must be scared in choosing their track it could be done with a proper can

knowledge and appropriateness. The new curriculum intends to alleviate the economic status of

the country by providing better job opportunities and wider options for the graduates, as well as

to help students choose which programs are relevant to their interests

and career choices.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

strands for Senior High School. Specifically, it attempts to answer the following questions:

1.What is the level of preparedness of JHS students in choosing a strand in Senior High School?

2.What are the factors do the JHS students consider in choosing their strand?

3.What preparation do the JHS students make in choosing a SHS strand?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is about Junior High School students’ preparedness in choosing track for Senior

High in San Quintin National High School. The result of this research will benefit for further

research, Junior High School students and the teachers so that, they will be more aware on K-12

curriculum.

This study can help the incoming Senior High School students’ in choosing the strand and

track that they would take. The importance of the study is to be able to give people knowledge

on how the interest, family, peers, and socio-economic status will affect their career choices.

Senior High School. It will help them to pursue their passions and jumpstart their careers in the

future.

School Administrators. It will help them monitor and evaluate the Junior High School in

choosing a strand.

Junior High School. It will serve as a guide on what strand they will choose upon entering track

in Senior High.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This study is limited and focused on the preparedness of Junior High School in choosing a

strand for senior high school at San Quintin National High School. It aims to identify how

important to choose a right strand for Senior High School.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

The key terms in the study are given the following operational definitions:

Junior High School Student. The people who will choose a strand before entering SHS.

Preparedness. The level of ability of students to choose for his/her strand in SHS.
Strand. Is where you choose one of its different options before entering SHS under the academic

track.

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDY

This chapter presents various pertinent data sources regarding related literatures and studies

about Junior High School student’s preparedness in choosing strands in Senior High School. The

following theoretical insights will help the researcher in supporting the development of the

current study

FOREIGN

Everyone knows that choosing your career in life is a big decision. Having and doing a

career that you really love will make a huge impact in your life and you, yourself. An American

self-help author Steve Pavlina wrote an article about the challenge of choosing the right career.

According to him, those people who are conscious and deliberate in making decisions tend to

choose the wrong career. So, if you feel like you made a wrong choice of career, it's definitely

fine. Good choices rarely happen by accident, as Pavlina said. Staying in that bad decision can

also lead your health, relationship, and life into bad situation. But still, making good career

choice will most likely be hard unless you have tried it. Pavlina stated an example in his article

about a chef that he and his friend hired. When they gave a recipe to the chef for her to bake, the

result was unexpected. He said that the cake feels like a mattress when they try to chew on it.

Instead of telling the chef how the cake really tasted, they somehow told the chef that maybe the

recipe is the bad one. And that example made him make another lesson that if you ever made a

mistake, just the same as choosing bad career, all you must do is move on and forgive yourself.

Don't stay on the situation but learn from it.

Little by little, your decision making will improve. "A good career is One of the greatest

blessings you'll ever experience, and a bad career is One of life's greatest curse's" (Pavlina,

2007). Martin (n.d.) factors that affect a student's decision in choosing their college course

according to their research decision making is very important in your day-to-day life because in

everything we do we always make decisions. One of the most crucial people to decide are
adolescents because teenagers are unsteady and can easily believe in what they want, not in what

should they do. The research said that after high school, some students find it hard to choose

what career they will take for college and some, took it easy with not a care in the world as if

they were just deciding what candy to buy. There are a lot of factors affecting a student's

decision in choosing their strand, one of these factors are financial stability, university prestige or

practicality, peer pressure, school location, or parental preferences. It is important that a student

must decide what they really to take or in what career they are good at, for them to have

successful college Career. Students who took peer pressure as a consideration in choosing their

career mostly have a difficulty getting through college, while on the other hand. Students that

pursue their design course with no doubt, were able to graduate with high spirits.

So, to avoid having a wrong decision to make, parents must talk with their children and

guide them because their future is involved. They must also consider what their children is good

at, for them to be motivated enough to aim higher. "Continuous lifelong process of

developmental experiences that focuses on seeking, obtaining, and processing information about,

self-occupational and educational alternatives, lifestyle, and role option. "-Richard A. Hansen

defines career development. He is a researcher from the City College of the City University of

New York, he conducted a study and described career development among the high school

student based on his definition, he concluded that everything we had earned is determined by

what we learned and pertain to where we can apply this skill and because it's a non-stop process,

we must possess on how to improve our lives. Career development affect and influence the

career selection of a student and it is important to know how these factors relevant to the student.

A lot of factors must be considered in choosing a course. Gender is a crucial factor

among students in their choice of a course. Gender distinguishes female students to be inclined to

artistic related careers while male students select scientific-related careers. Gender differences

exist in selection of specialty medical courses. On the contrary, in choosing journalism

traditional sex-role stereotypes as careers become irrelevant. It does not make any variations of

influence of family members, peers, teachers, and guidance counsellors in the choice of career.

Gender differences ascertain preferred specialties. Also, similarity of career choice may be

depicted in cases like mother and daughter close relationship while in developing and
undeveloped countries, career decision making for college is influenced by parents particularly

the father.

Decision-making, negative thinking and career difficulties indicate undecidedness of a

student. In order for students to make a better decision, one can consider interest and intellectual

ability: interest in the subject, relationship with peers, members of the family and teachers, and

by assessment and research in the internet and other sources before making the decision. Many

students need career counselling for choosing correct career path as clinical researcher or clinical

practitioner. The approach to supporting student willingness is a potential influence. In terms of

personal qualities, low self-confidence in the classroom implicates the behavior to be less

motivated and do less effort while adjusting their aspirations. Confidence evolves through

experiences in student’s life and overconfidence is relevant to the good earning expectation of an

individual. Change of specialization is relevant with traits like optimism, sense of identity, work

drive and career decidedness together with extraversion, openness, emotional stability, and

conscientiousness (Foster, 2013).

Throughout a career, an individual seeks to accommodate the surroundings with one's

goals, while at the same period of time being assimilated into the environment. Career

development is stabilizing or recognizing and meeting requirements of the individual while at the

same time answering to the outer forces and realities of life. Career decision factors involve to

sets of input, the self and the world of work. The individual in a career has permanently

stabilized one's aspirations and how they have fitted into the reality of the workface. It is

important for students to have a good understanding of themselves, their personality, if they are

to make intelligent career plans. What they would like to be, and what they are like, is

determining factors in their career. The personality factors to be considered include their mental

abilities, special abilities, and interest. Considered factors of mental abilities to be verbal

comprehension, word fluency ability, spatial ability, numerical ability, reasoning ability, and

memory. Splaver matched careers with abilities in backing up her reasoning. Students become

familiar with their personality in order to guide their career choice. A developed career plan

included evaluation of personality through self-assessment, and communication with others

another trait that depended heavily on personality, according to Harris and Jones (2015).
Passion-based and practical-based are two perspectives that an individual can use as a

basic in choosing a career or strand. Careers are becoming interrelated (Ball, 2016). Career

choice involves creativity, trial, error, decision-making and future judgment in which in order for

the students to be able to make a right decision, they must be aware of this process as young as

they are (Kaneez & Medha, 2018). It is essential to have a prior knowledge about the career to

develop and upbringing the interest in that specific career (Nyamwange, 2016). Passion is

strongly inclined to self- defining activities which are essential to one’s soul, heart and power.

Moreover, two types of passion were identified namely, harmonious passion and obsessive

passion (Vallerand, 2007). Nevertheless, the people’s lives can be most worth living if they have

a harmonious passion towards an activity (Vallerand, Mageau, Leonard, Blanchard, Koestner &

Gagne, 2003). In fact, it was found out that the importance of pull – motivated entrepreneurship

for self – efficacy development greatly impacts harmonious passion (Dalborg & Wincent, 2014).

Career choices for the students were affected by various factors including grades, age,

personal interest, experiences, etc. and through their learning experiences that these students

decide what they would want to do in a relation to their future careers (Edward & Quinter, 2011).

Furthermore, the senior high school students found out various factors that also influences their

choices such as decision – making, motivation, peer pressure, institutional considerations and

future job opportunities (Quano, Delatorre, Japitan &Moneva, 2019). The career success of an

individual can be best realized if his guide choosing the course is based on the right career choice

that fits his ability, personality, background, and intellect (Braza & Guillo, 2015). Also, findings

have shown that the career – decision making of the students is highly affected by their personal

factors (Su, Chang, Wu, & Liao, 2016). But findings have shown that many students make

choices based on what they like rather than what is requires in the labor market (Titan, Ardelean,

Manea, Boboc & Andreea, 2015)

LOCAL

According to SEAMEO INNOTECH (2012), the learning goal in the new “K-12”

curriculum is the acquisition of the following 21st century skills, learning and innovation skills,
IT and media skills, effective communication skills, and life and career skills. The k-12 program

aimed to promoting holistic skills development leading to employment a higher education.

A comparative data on the length of basic education and pre-university education in

Asia was explained in the article “Additional years in the Philippines Basic Education” by

SEAMEO INNOTECH (2010). It showed that the Philippine education system provides only 10

years for the basic education cycle and as preparatory education for the collegiate level while

most of the countries worldwide have either 11 or 12 years of basic education. The Basic

Education System in the Philippines became a disadvantage for work abroad and students who

decides study outside the Philippines. (Cabansag, 2014)

According to Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa (n.d.) associate economist at the Bank of the

Philippine Island, despite robust economic growth, unemployment among college graduates was

expected to stay high due to a mismatch between the degrees completed and the jobs that were

available. To avoid mismatch, CHEd has consistently encouraged incoming freshmen to enroll in

what it regarded were “in-demand” courses.

According to CHEd, for academic years 2014-2015 to 2017-2018 the “in-desmand”

courses are agriculture, engineering, science and math, information technology, teacher

education and health sciences (Obang, 2014)

Using a quantitative-comparative design, this study compares the language proficiency of

the Senior High School Students of a certain University from the five (5) different strands;

Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM), Humanities-Education-Social Sciences

(HESS or HUMSS), Business-Accountancy-Management (BAM or ABM), Technical-

Vocational-Livelihood (TVL) and General Academic Strand (GAS) and determine on which of

these strands excels in the language proficiency test. There are 40 students randomly selected per

strand. They are tested using the Language Proficiency Test in English. The one-way Analysis of

Variance was utilized in the study. The findings reveal that there is a significant difference (p<

0.05) in the English language proficiency of the students from the five (5) strands. Moreover, the

students from the STEM strand excel from the other strands. This further indicates that the

STEM students are more superior and developed on the academic literacy, alternative
understandings and adequate formulation of theories and concepts in dealing with different

variations of linguistics skills.

Student Ownership details a specific set of strategies used by a case study school to

effectively triple the school’s number of college and/or career ready students over a two-year

period. The school moved from the bottom 5 percent in the state in transition readiness for

students to the top 5 percent by implementing strategies that helped the students take ownership

of their futures by implementing these strategies. In addition, companion strategies are included

that were used to change the minds of the teachers and administrators in order to establish

ownership in the minds of their students. This book will help you establish student empowerment

and ownership of their learning in your school culture.

In choosing a strand it’s not easy because some students based their decision-making

on their passion or on practicality. Some students follow their parents to choose a strand for their

children. The purpose of this study was to determine passion-based and practical-based

preference a senior high school student. The researcher used a descriptive-correlation survey that

consist of two adapted questionnaire and used Likert scaling. The researcher conducted and

gathered data at Jagobiao National High School both grade 10 Junior high school department

(JHS) and all grade 11 Senior high school students (SHS). The data have been analyzed using

Guttmann’s lambda to determine if there is significant association between Passion-based and

practical-based preference of strand in among senior high school. The study revealed that there

was a significant association between the two variables the passion-based and practical-based.

The result is failed to reject. Based on these findings that the students seek advice from teachers

or parents as to what strand in Senior High School they will prefer to choose that could be

advantageous and beneficial for them.

High School is an important period of time in an adolescent's life. It is the time that

students are making decisions about their course taking and future educational and career plans.

Every student carries the unique history of their past and this determines how they view the

world. In fact, one of the tasks of high school students is to explore and plan for their post-

secondary career options. According to Super's (2012) Developmental Theory of Career

Development, high school students are at the exploration stage of career development, which
involves crystallizing and specifying their occupational preferences, while also making

preliminary decisions about their career choice. The review of the Literature showed the areas of

a student's life affect the plans, decisions, and career choice they make. The study attempted to

identify and differentiate to what extent these factors played varying roles in future career

choice.

SYNTHESIS OF REVIEWED LITERATURE AND STUDY

Before choosing the desired track or strands, make sure to research. Identify possible

careers and job opportunities in the future and look into average salary offers. It should help you

start visualizing what you want to do, and therefore choosing the right track to jumpstart your

career. Next, consider yourself. Assess strengths, weaknesses, interests, and skills that will help

lead you to a fruitful academic journey and, eventually, a successful career. In addition, get

advice from school guidance counselors, seniors, or loved ones. People who have been down that

path before may help you weigh the pros and cons of a certain track or strand. In summary, your

chosen Senior High School strand will help you pursue your passions and jumpstart your careers

in the future. Whether you choose to enroll in ABM, Arts and Design, HUMSS, GAS, ICT-

Animation, ICT-Programming, or STEM, make sure to keep your goals, motivations, and

strengths in mind. Moreover, choose a school that is ready to provide you with a creative and

innovative environment and nurture your talents and potentials.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The figure presents the research paradigm of this study which will follow the Input-

Process-Output. The input variable will include the Statement if the Problem of JHS students in

choosing a stand in SHS. The process will involve the researchers to use o modified a

questionnaire to identify the level of preparedness of JHS students in choosing a strand in SHS.

The output will be a guide to serve as an overview to the students in choosing a strand in SHS.
1.What is the level of The researchers will A guide that will

PROCESS

OUTPUT
INPUT preparedness of JHS use a modified serve as an overview
students in choosing a questionnaires to to the students in
strand in Senior HIgh identify the level of choosing a strand in
School? preparendness of JHS SHS.
2. What are the students in choosing a
factors do the JHS strand in Senior High
students consider in School. As well as, to
choosing their determine the factors
strand? considered by JHS.
3. What preparation
do the JHS students
make in choosing a
Senior High strand?

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

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Grade 10 Students

Abuel, R.A. (2019). Opportunities and threats in choosing the General Academic Strand for the
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Madriaga, A. G. & Siobal, R. A. Factors affecting Senior High School Students to choose STEM
as their strand.

Magdadaro, L. P. (2020). Passion-based vs. Practical-based preference of strand in Senior High

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Padios, A. & Lejano, R. L. & Gorospe, S. T. & DC Asis, V. L. . (2021). Strand and statehood
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