"Pupils at Risk of Dropping Out in School (Pardos) ": Voice of The Learners
"Pupils at Risk of Dropping Out in School (Pardos) ": Voice of The Learners
"Pupils at Risk of Dropping Out in School (Pardos) ": Voice of The Learners
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements in the Course
Educational Program Evaluation and Development
By:
JOVITO P. LIMOT
October, 2019
“PUPILS AT RISK OF DROPPING OUT IN SCHOOL
(PARDOS): VOICE OF THE LEARNERS
INTRODUCTION
Education is a visa to the future (Malcom X, 2016). Today, the world needs smart and
and development. Without education the world will be blind, the truths will be withheld and
hidden behind the walls of ignorance and countless generations will be estranged from
knowledge and wisdom that only education can suffice. Thus, it is life itself. With the helping
hands of the teachers who enable the learners to see the difference between innovation and
stagnant the world begins to take shape and reshape into modification, improvement and speedy
progress. Parents apparently send their kids to school to acquire education which is a powerful
legacy that any child may inherit (Arum, Roksa and Budig, 2008).
It is a tool to explore limitless opportunities to improve the mind, enhance skills, and
draw out the best from each learner. Education connotes an implicit means of living – the
rationale that drives most parents to provide the best education to their children at all cost. It is
perceived that education is a ladder to employment, development and industry (Evan, Karen,
2009). Moreover, bringing children to school and making them stay therein until graduation is a
matter that involves a scrupulous effort of the parents, teachers and children themselves. It is
easier indeed to send them to school but to make them stay until the end of the school year is an
arduous task (Arum et al., 2008; Bridgeland et al., 2006; Oghuvbu, 2008; Wotherspoon, 2004).
The major concern in basic education is ensuring that students stay in school until they
complete their education. Dropping out is a serious problem because it hinders the individual
pupil to assert education as fundamental human right. Internationally, the individual right to
education has been purportedly affirmed in many treaties and conventions as in The 1948
Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1990 World Conference on Education for All
(UNESCO, 2008).
There is an across-the-board consensus that the school dropout problem has reached epidemic
proportions globally and has become a problem facing the education industry round the world.
The most important concept in preventing school dropout or promoting completion is learner
engagement. There is a great deal of proof that dropping out of school is a process of
disengagement from school and the learning that accumulates over the years, often beginning
early in elementary school (Arum et al., 2008; Bridgeland et al., 2006; Oghuvbu, 2008;
Wotherspoon, 2004).
Evaluand
The purpose of this phenomenological evaluation was to describe the pupils at risk of dropping
out. The evaluation involved Gigalaman Elementary School with the aim of increasing a deeper
It also visualized to document the distressing and discouraging experiences and sentiments of
pupils who were at risk of dropping out from school. This is also likewise revealed data about the
informants’ family background, activities, experiences and their capacity and self-motivation to
continue schooling despite the blocking circumstances (PARDO Quarterly Report, 2019)
Questions
What insights can the learners share to their peers and to the academe in general?
Methods
This section presented the nature of the evaluation, its design used with regard to presentation,
analysis and interpretation, the philosophical assumptions, role of the evaluator, participants, the
data collection process, data analysis, trustworthiness which includes the following: credibility,
transferability, dependability and conformity of the study and all individuals involve and the
Design
in the study and going deeper into their thoughts, identifying the essence of the experience as
described by the participants, through lengthy discussions (Campbell, 2011; Creswell, 2007;
understanding of human experiences, penetrating into their thoughts, feelings and actions in
order to gain insights from their experiences. It clearly illustrates the specific details of the
experience and how they are seen by the subjects in the situation. It is an appropriate instrument
in my study wherein I need to envision and explore the actual experiences of my participants
Many of our children nowadays are not in school because they help their parents earn for a
living. The Department of Education has initiated programs and projects to reduce or even
eradicate problems on dropping out of school but dropout rates have remained to be a major
problem for school heads, teachers and parents. There are children who are at risk of dropping
out of school for some other reasons. It is for this reason that I like this study, to find out if these
children who are at risk of dropping out of school have the same experiences and problems
which made them at risk of dropping out. As a School Head, I wanted to learn more on the
reasons of the learners and why they became at risk of dropping out and provide wider spectrum
Participants
Prior to the conduct of this study, I have identified my informants. The informants were learners
from Gigalaman Elementary School. After contacting these informants, I explained to them the
purpose of the study. To obtain a good quality of qualitative research, I opted to get just a
considerable number of participants for this investigation with eight informants for the in-depth
interviews and eight participants to engage in focus group discussions. Focus groups are
considered to work well with approximately 8 people (Hancock et al, 2009). I believe that this is
In the collection of data of the study, I have undergone these processes namely: in-depth
interview with the study-informants, conduct focus group discussion with the participants and
take note on crucial information. Before conducting the actual in-depth interviews and focus
group discussions with the study participants, I made sure that ethical considerations were
properly observed. I applied the key principles of ethical issues (Bloom and Crabtree, 2006;
Mack et al, 2005) that should be considered in any research study which are consent and
confidentiality.
Analysis of data
Analysis of data in this study involves summarizing the mass of data collected and presenting the
results in a way that communicates the most important features (Hancock et al, 2007). Data were
analyzed using a method which includes data reduction, data display, conclusion drawing and
verification (Zhang and Wildemuth, 2007), adding that qualitative content analysis is “any
qualitative data reduction and sense-making effort that takes a volume of qualitative material and
attempts to identify core consistencies and meanings”. Data reduction is the abstraction of data
from the transcriptions, deleting data which are not important and transforming it into a
comprehensible material, easily understood by many (Namey et al, 2007; Suter; 2012). This
pairing and sieving of data is often termed as thematic analysis, a form of sorting and
categorizing. With data reduction, I will employ the expertise of a professional data analyst for
data analysis.
The conceptual framework was interpreted with reference to the related literature on the subject
in an attempt to explain, with a theory, the phenomenon being studied by the researcher with the
assistance of two independent readers and analysts who were experts in the field of study to form
a triangulation team wherein each examined the data and compared individual findings to obtain
a deeper and broader understanding of how each investigator view the issue. Triangulation was
used to ensure the validity of the data by using more than one person to collect the data, thereby
Trustworthiness
To establish the trustworthiness of this study, I observed the following components: credibility,
the following techniques. First, I deliberately included three experiential learning initiatives
rather than just one or two. My intention here was to generate three layers of data from each
participant. Second, I made sure that all relevant data were included. Irrelevant data were
excluded. Third, I asked the assistance of my guidance counselor to be one of the independent
readers. We have read and analyzed the same data and compare our independent analyses. If we
have the same findings and analyses, these strengthen the confidence of the study. To address
transferability, I described in the detail research context and the assumptions that are central to
the research and showed all data as transparent as possible. To establish the dependability of my
study, I ensured consistency during the data collection and analysis by doing the code-recode
system during the data reduction and will apply the peer examination and investigator
triangulation of the data collected and analyzed. This made my study reliable. To address the
conformability of my study, personal opinions, assumptions and judgments were set aside so that
data were not distorted. The use of audio-taped interviews, note-taking and journals is one way
of ensuring conformability. As much as possible during the interview, there was less interference
in order to gain the true picture of the personal experiences of the participants. To ensure that the
findings of the study are free from biases and prejudice, triangulation and peer consensus were
applied.
Ethical Consideration
Since this study involved students who are at risk of dropping out of school, they were hesitant to
disclose information out of fear and withheld some data. However, as part of the evaluation
rigor, several safeguards were applied that eradicated their fears and promoted trust. I ensured
that the study was guided by ethical principles as described by (Mack et al, 2005), namely:
RESULTS
This section presents the participants’ experiences relating their insights and viewpoints which
include conclusions based from the information collected through in-depth interviews and focus
group discussion. The following questions supplied data results from the informants.
What insights can the students share to their peers and to the academe in general?
Figure 1. Root and Branch Codes on the experiences of pupils at risk of dropping out.
BRANCH
fees
We would have nothing to eat
Having no allowance discourage me from
going to school
POOR DISPOSITION
I would be teary-eyed because of our situation