JHS LEARNERS’ DECISION-MAKING IN CHOOSING SHS TRACK

Introduction

A career choice is important in determining your success in the next

stages of your life. One of the tasks of High School students is to
explore and plan for their post-secondary career options. High school
students are at their exploration stage of career development. Many
factors affects career choices of high school students. Identifying these
factors would give parents, educators and industry an idea as to where
students place most of their trust in career selection process.
(Super,1990)

The Philippines is the last country in Asia and one of only three
worldwide with a 10-year pre-university cycle. During the administration
of the former Philippine President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, the
Department of Education reformed the basic education set up in the
Philippines.

Then K-12 curriculum gives additional two (2) years in High School also
known as Senior High, implemented by the DEPED on 2012. In Senior High,
there are tracks offer which are Technical-Vocational Livelihood Track,
Arts and Design Track, Sports Track and Academic Track. The strands under
the Academic Track are Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS),
Accountancy, and Business Management(ABM), General Academic Strand(GAS)
and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Strand (STEM).

The Cesar E. Vergara Memorial High School (CEVMHS) offers two (2) tracks
in Senior High School but what are the factors that affect students in
choosing their tracks even though the Cesar E. Memorial High School
offers two (2) tracks.

The significance of this study is to help schools or other persons to

know their reasons in choosing their track. Further, this will aid JHS
students of CEVMHS in choosing right track fitted to them.

Statement of the Problem

1. How may the profile of the respondents be described in terms of:

1.1 Gender;

1.2 Age;

1.3 Family income;

1.4 Grade level;

2. How may respondents’ decision in choosing Senior High School track
be described in terms of:

2.1 School;

2.2 Financial consideration;

2.3 College course to pursue;

2.4 Peers’s Influence

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research Paradigm

•Interview
•Survey
INPUT •Responses of the respondents

•Transcribing
•Data Analysis
•Statistical treatment of Data
PROCESS •Revalidation of Data

•Factors that affect students decision-making in pursuing

Senior High School.
OUTPUT •Campaign Strategies Planning or School Advertisement

Conceptual Framework

The research flow as reflected in the paradigm was patterned after the
systems approach consisting of INPUT-PROCESS-OUTPUT.

This research entitled “JHS LEARNERS’ DECISION-MAKING IN CHOOSING SHS

TRACK”. Basis in the design of an informational material following the
systems approach wherein the input contains the profile variables of the
respondents as to age, gender and year level. The process on the other
hand contains the Transcribing, Data Analysis, Statistical treatment of
data and Revalidation of data. Lastly, the output contains the tool to
be used in order to know the factors that affects student decision-
making in pursuing SHS and Campaign strategies planning.

Scope and Limitation of the study

This study focused on determining and describing the JHS Learner’s

decision making in choosing SHS Track. The respondents will be Grade 9
and Grade 10 Learner’s of Cesar E. Vergara Memorial High School.

Total sampling technique was used, fifty nine (59) Learner’s are the
respondents. The study was conducted in the school of Cesar E. Vergara
Memorial High School, Cabanatuan City using the questionnaire as the
main tool in gathering.

Participants

The respondents will be coming from the chosen Grade 9 and Grade 10
students of Cesar E. Vergara Memorial High School.

Significance of the study

 To the Students- The respondents are the center of the research

because ultimately they developed the awareness of themselves,
strength, and weaknesses for their career development by
continually summarizing and reflecting upon what they are learning
from home, school, and community. In totality, students are in
charge of their own choice.
 To the Parents- In this study, parents will realize how important
they are as a source of encouragement in which children are free
to explore different areas of career preferences. This study will
look forward in giving their children an assurance to acquire
quality education that would enable them to obtain better job,
better income, brighter future.
 To the Teacher- This study will give information to the teacher of
CEVMHS as to the preferences of study such that they can focus on
the skills needed by the students if ever the latter would pursue
the career they have chosen.
 To the School Administration- The result of this study will help
the school administration in putting up an effective, integrated
career information and guidance system that place a very helpful
rule in guiding students towards making the best possible career
decisions.
  To the Researcher- The process and outcome of this study will
produce a great satisfaction, competence and professionalism to
the field. Although the topic of the study was focused on decision
making in pursuing SHS track.

Definition of terms

For better understanding of the footings used in the study in the study
these were defined theoretically and operationally.

Peer Influence: this refers to the influence of friends in choosing their

career track.

Financing: as used in this study, financing is other term for financial

consideration. It refers to the funds that provided on and how it is
spent or saved.

Kto12 Program: is the newly implemented system in the Philippines wherein

it covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education.

Senior High School: is the second part of secondary education under the
K-12 program, wherein the students would take up the subjects under their
career pathway specialization.

Decision-making: the thought process of selecting a logical choice from

the available options. When trying to make a good decision, a person
must weight the positives and negative of each option, and consider all
the alternatives.

CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

Local Literatures

There are two (2) main factors to consider when choosing Senior
High School track and strand in the K-12 Program— Availability and
College plans.

Availability

Not all tracks and strands will offer in schools in their area.
They will check the available options first and they will try to inquire.
Foreign Literature

According to Gubalane (2016), there are two (2) main factors that
student’s inquire in choosing Senior High School track and strand, which
are availability and college plans. The availability of the strand in
which the student’s parents can only afford financially and college
plans, which the students will pursue in the future.

The factors affecting decision making into three major groups: Perception
issues; Organizational Issues; and Environmental Issues,

Perception can be described as the way in which individuals

interpret their environment. An individuals perception can influence how
they make decisions and solve problems. For example, when information
about a problem needs to be gathered the individuals perception will
impact on where the information is sought and the type of information
regarded as relevant.

Perception can be influenced by the following: the perceiver; the

object; and the situation.

The perceiver: the individual perceiving the object, will be

heavily influenced by their personal characteristics. The object: which
refers to any person, item or event can have an impact on the way it is
perceived. The situation: time, location, and other situational factors
can influenced our perception of an object.

Organizations are made up of individuals with different beliefs,

values and interest. These differences are often the driving forces
behind organizational politics.

Environmental issues are the external factors that affect the

organization.

Past experiences can impact future decision making. Juliusson,

Karlsson and Garling (2005) indicated past decisions influence the
decisions people make in the future. It stands to reason that when
someone positive results from a decision, given a similar situation. On
the other hand, people tend to avoid repeating past mistakes (Sagi,
Friedland, 2007). These is significant to extent that future decisions
made based on past experiences are not necessarily the best decisions.
 In decision making, cognitive biases influence people by causing
them to over rely or lend more credence to expected observations and
previous knowledge, while dismissing information or observations that
are perceived as uncertain, without looking at the bigger picture. While
this influence may lead to poor decisions sometimes, the cognitive biases
enable individuals to make efficient decision with assistance of
heuristics (Shah & Oppenheimer, 2008)

Chapter III

METHOD, PROCEDURES, AND SOURCED OF DATA

This chapter presents the method of research that was used, the
instrument utilized, the subjects of the study, sampling design
and statistical treatment of data.

Research methodology

This study used the descriptive method of research because

this type of method describes the nature of phenomenon under
investigation after a survey of current trends, practices and
condition that relate to that phenomenon. Descriptive studies
involve analysis of an extremely broad range of phenomena. Its
result is comprehensive presentation and interpretation of
statistical tabulations of data yielded by a survey. (Barrientos-
Tan, 2005)

The descriptive research method was used in this study for

its attempted to describe the impact of awards and recognition for
SHS learners.

Research locale

This study aimed at identifying the JHS decision-making in

choosing SHS Track. In this regard, an educational institution was
selected to be the place in the conduct of this study which is
Cesar E. Vegara Memorial High School located in Cabanatuan City.

Sample and Sampling procedure

This study used the random sampling technique. In this

technique, each member of the population has an equal chance of
being selected as subject. The entire process of sampling is done
in a single step with each subject selected independently of the
other members of the population.

There are many methods to proceed with simple random sampling.

The most primitive and mechanical would be the lottery method.
Each member of the population is assigned a unique number. Each
number is placed in a bowl or a hat and mixed thoroughly. The
blind-folded researcher then picks numbered tags from the hat. All
the individuals bearing the numbers picked by the researcher are
the subjects for the study. Another way would be to let a computer
do a random selection from your population. For populations with
a small number of members, it is advisable to use the first method
but if the population has many members, a computer-aided random
selection is preferred.