Characterizing The G10 Plans for Senior High School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The number of senior high school learners (SHS) from Grade 11 in Calamba Bayside Integrated School (CBIS) is estimated at 30% to 55% of the Grade 10 enrollees only. This has been the case since the beginning of SHS at CBIS. Most of the G10 learners moved to the private schools for the SHS. The hypothesis for the low enrollees is the inadequate facilities of CBIS-SHS, the relatively new K-12 program of the Department of Education, choices of tracks/strands, cash or discount vouchers offered by government for the low-income family and the enticing new environment. This study aims to describe the actual data for this low enrollment status of CBIS-SHS despite its contrasting high potentials from the CBIS-JHS.

METHODS

A total of fifty-nine (59) selected Grade 10 learners from 2 sections in CBIS were given questionnaires to answer. Majority of the respondents (76%) were female and the rest (24%) were male. Respondents werea mixture of a pilot and regular sections. Purposive sampling was employed in this study.

RESULTS

The study shows that 98% of the respondents will proceed to SHS while 2% will find work. The first-choice tracks were Academics (78%), TechVoc (20%) and Sports (2%). The preferred strands were ABM (31%), STEM (25%), HUMSS (17%), HE (15%), GAS (5%) and the remaining for ICT and IA. Only 20% preferred TVL track. Private schools were the most preferred by the respondents (73%), followed by public schools (22%) and the rest are undecided (5%). Very few students (5% to 8%) chose CBIS as their SHS. The main reasons for moving to other schools were Vouchers (24%), new environment (22%) and the choices of tracks/strands (7%). Other minimal reasons were scholarship, accessibility, faculty and even the AC classrooms.

DISCUSSIONS

The study answered some fundamental questions on the preference track, strands, specializations, SHS and reasons for selecting or moving to that SHS. Indeed, the cash vouchers, the new environment and the availability of tracks/strands were the prevalent reasons for G10 to move to other SHS. As most of the respondents were academically inclined at 78%, it is highly recommended to conduct a further study to cover all the rest of the sections of grade 10 as the school is a Tech Voc school. This way the SHS could better prepare for the needs of their potential learners based on the preference track/strands of the G10 students.