PERCEPTION OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL AND STUDENTS TOWARDS SCHOOL SAFETY

AND SECURITY AND ITS EFFECTS TO STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

A Concept Paper
Presented to the Faculty of
Senior High School
Mapúa University
Intramuros, Manila

In Partial Fulfillment to the Requirements in

IS120 – Murray
Chua, Kirsteen P.
Cifra, Mikhail S.
Delas Armas, Jericho D.
Suñega, Ma Samantha P.
Talavera, Joanna Elaine J.

Mapúa University
Senior High School Department
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
 Safety is a very critical and crucial factor that must be established and attained in every
place where people live and work. According to Arabaci (2016), students cannot focus on
learning if they do not feel themselves in a secure environment. In other words, school security
must mean that students can express themselves freely, secure, free from danger and fear, while
teachers and other officials help them while they are trying to learn. Without safety, students will
experience difficulty in learning. This is the reason behind the importance of implementing
safety in schools.

Throughout the years, disasters have been present in educational institutions ranging from
bullying, anthropological hazards and natural hazards. Because such hazards are always present
where people do their work, people are alarmed about the peril it brings. Gronna & Chin-Chance,
(2010) said that “Educators, parents and students are concerned about the increased levels of
violent incidences within schools and ensuing repercussions upon student performance” (p.4).

Since danger is always present in school environments, it poses a threat in every person
that dwells in it causing fear in each one of them. Fear results to the change of people’s
behaviour and it happens to students. Since fear affects the behaviour of students, it can greatly
affect how they perform in their academics. Goldstein, Young, and Boyd (2008) also stated that
“student achievement is dramatically reduced when students perceive their school as unsafe.
When students experience fear, intimidation, or bullying, they are less likely to focus on
academics” (p. 6). All of these hazards that cause fear to students would not be possible if hazard
mitigation and safety protocols are implemented properly. The perception of school personnel
and students towards school safety and security is not enough; the students are not oriented about
safety and precautions, school personnel are not aware of hazards present in the school and the
facilities are not always maintained well by the schools themselves. The security protocols in the
school environment greatly affect the students’ academic performance.
PRELIMINARY REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Disasters occur almost frequently nowadays in school environments. One way in
mitigating these disasters is assuring that people who dwell in such place are well informed of
the hazards that are present there and are taught about the institution’s safety protocols. As stated
by Markel (2019), each school should consider developing specific functional school safety
programs with the help of local school districts.
Disasters are also frequent in school environment because school personnel lack priority
in addressing the mitigation of hazards. Ali & Fozia (2016) found out that in institutions, school
personnel do not prioritize disaster mitigation that affects students' academic performance, thus
affecting their business. Because the lack of priority in mitigation impairs school safety, this
poses a greater threat to students thus causing a negative feedback in their academic
performance.
One of the factors that affect the lack of school safety is that facilities are not always
maintained well by the schools themselves. It is more likely for students to feel unsafe if their
health is prone to danger. Arabacı (2016) observed that “students do not feel themselves secure
enough regarding the school security, some physical elements pose danger, substances such as
alcohol and cigarettes threaten the health of students, and the schools, canteen and its
environment are not clean enough” (p.5). To address this problem, Glariana & Solar (2015)
suggested that the national and local government units should allocate appropriations that ensure
the overall safety and security of every pupils, students and teachers while in school. They
should also monitor the materials and building’s damages and reinforcement, as well as the
durability of the facilities. Hard facility mitigations are also helpful in implementing safety inside
campus.
Due to increasing levels of disaster that occurs frequently and hazards present in school
environments, it is not surprising that students feel fear in stepping foot on their respective
schools. The fear they feel inside the school greatly affects how they perform academically in
their classes. According to Hantman et al. (2008, as stated in Lake, 2015), “a school’s discipline
and safety practice can significantly impact a student’s perceived safety at school, and
significantly impact their academic performance” (p.55). The level of danger that is being posed
in an educational environment is indirectly proportional to the improvement that the student
experience in his academic performance. A student is more likely to fail if they feel unsafe at
their own school. Wolf (2009, as stated in Lake, 2015) furthered stating this, “students’ abilities
to solve cognitive problems are hampered, and they are more likely to fail in the classroom
environment when they are fearful” (p.55). On the other hand, a student is more likely to
experience improvement in their academic performance if they feel safe at school. Freiberg
(1998, as stated in Lake, 2015) asserted that “an atmosphere of safety and peace at school can
have a positive impact on the academic and social success of students and can greatly enhance
their experience and attitude toward school” (p.55).
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Most of the previous studies were conducted in foreign countries. The researchers did not also
define school safety. They also did not present data or solutions that will help solve how
students’ performance can be altered and they did not indicate the hazards that are present inside
and outside the schools.
Specifically, this paper would like to answer the following question:
1. What are the factors that contribute to the perception of students and school personnel
towards the safety of their school environment?
2. How does a student’s perception on school safety affect their academic performance?
3. What measures can be implemented to address issues regarding school safety?

ABRIDGED METHODOLOGY

For the students, the researchers will take into consideration their overall academic
performance and their perception towards their school’s safety procedures and precaution. For
the school personnel, the researchers will obtain their perception towards their workplace’s
safety measures including how their staff handle and foresee hazards present around their
workplace. The researchers will construct interview questions that will be composed of 9
questions for students and 7 questions for school personnel. After constructing interview
questions, the researchers will conduct a dry run to make sure that the interviewees comprehend
the questions easily. The interview will last approximately about 4 minutes and beyond to fully
acquire data, probing will be necessary if ever the interviewee did not answer the question. When
the interview questions are already revised, the researchers will construct a consent letter and
submit it to the principal’s office to be signed. When the consent letter is given back, the
researchers will use convenience sampling to gather data. After gathering data from interviews,
the researchers will transcribe the obtained data and saturate it to obtain results.
Both students and school personnel should be currently studying or working at Mapúa
University to be qualified for the interview. A questionnaire containing researcher-made
questions will serves as the instrument for data gathering. Once data are gathered, the
transcription of the interviews will undergo thematic coding for the analysis of data. According
to Maguire and Delahunt (2017), thematic analysis is the process of identifying patterns or
themes within qualitative data. It is suggested that it is the first qualitative method that should be
learned as ‘..it provides core skills that will be useful for conducting many other kinds of
analysis’ (Braun & Clarke, 2006, as stated in Maguire & Delahunt, 2017).
REFERENCES

Ali, S., & Fatima, F. (2016). Comparative Analysis of Safety and Security Measures in Public
and Private Schools at Secondary Level. Journal of Socialomics, 05(03).
doi:10.4172/2167-0358.1000169

Arabacı, I. B. (2016). High school student’s perceptions school security. In SHS Web of
Conferences (Vol. 31, p. 01001). EDP Sciences.

Glariana, C. E., & Solar, N. B. (2015). Status of School Safety and Security among Elementary
Schools in the Fifth Class Municipality. Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary
Research, 3(5), 10-18.

Goldstein, S. E., Young, A., & Boyd, C. (2007, May 16). Relational Aggression at School:
Associations with School Safety and Social Climate. Retrieved May 16, 2019, from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225392264_Relational_Aggression_at_School_
Associations_with_School_Safety_and_Social_Climate

Gronna, S. S., & Chin-Chance, S. A. (2010). Effects of School Safety and School Characteristics
on Grade 8 Achievement: A Multilevel Analysis. Retrieved from
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED430292.pdf

Lake, J. A. (2015). Student fears on secondary school campuses and their perceptions of policies
and procedures that increase feelings of safety and security, 55.

Maguire, M., & Delahunt, B. (2017). Doing a Thematic Analysis: A Practical, Step-by-Step
Guide for Learning and Teaching Scholars. Retrieved May 16, 2019, from
http://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/viewFile/335/553