FACTORS AFFECTING GRADE 10 STUDENTS IN CHOOSING THEIR PREERRED SHS

STRAND OF PNHS

A Research Paper Presented to the Faculty of Pinmilapil National High School

By:

Buadilla, Andrei L.

Dagadag, Reinzy Ann S.

De Vera, Mhel Clinton O,

Ofiaza, Edna Lyn D.

Bautista, Maria Princess S.

Introduction

Background of the Study

Education is a systematic process through which a child or an adult acquires knowledge,

experience, skill and sound attitude. It makes an individual civilized, refined, cultured and educated.

It ensures the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable individuals to increase their

productivity and improve their quality of life.

Senior High School (SHS) refers to Grades 11 and 12, the last two years of the K to 12

Basic Education Program. In SHS, students are required to go through a core curriculum and

subjects under a track of their choice.

The SHS Curriculum, as part of the K to 12 Program, aims to produce graduates who have

the following characteristics such as Holistically developed, Equipped with 21st century skills (i.e.,

learning and innovation skills, life and career skills, communication skills, and information media and

technology skills) and Prepared for the future, be it in pursuit of higher education or acquisition of

middle-level skills, or geared towards employment or entrepreneurship.

Strand selection is one of the important choices that the grade 10 students will make in

determining their preferred choice in determining future plans. The student can enhance their

academic program or abilities by selecting the appropriate strand, and they can also explore and

prepare for their professional alternatives. How the students view the world and their future will

determine whether they make a wise option when selecting the ideal strand.

Choosing the right strand will help the student to improve their skills or academic program, it

will also help them to explore and plan for their career options. Having a good decision in choosing

a preferred strand depends on how the students perceive the world and their future. Choosing the

best strand can be stressful to decide as well as thinking about the course that you will take for your

career choice.
 Career can be defined by the total pattern of one’s activities held during a person’s lifetime. It

can also be determining the individual personally because it describes who the person is. According

to NCDA (2003), therefore, choosing an appropriate career is very important for every individual as

this help to determine their future. Career choice is one of the major areas of concern for young

people nearing the end of their schooling. It is important to both parents and their children because

this decision will impact them throughout their lives.

Theoretical Framework

Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), developed by Albert Bandura in 1986, purports that

contextual variables such as social support, which includes friends, family and relatives, influence

the career choice of an individual stated by Choo, Norsia & Tan, (2012). Social persuasion also

affects an individual’s choice of career According to Lent, Brown & Hacket, (2002) because there is

dialogue between children and their environment. Similarly, Bandura posited that when individuals

watch their peers succeeding, they are likely to believe that they can also succeed mentioned by

Mills, (2009). In this career development model, a person’s background (or contextual factors) and

individual characteristics influence his/her learning experiences and consequently self-efficacy

(Tang, Pan & Newmeyer, 2008).

According to Bandura (1989) and Alexander, Seabi and Bischof (2010), because of the

bidirectionality of influence between behavior and environmental circumstances, people are both

products and producers of their environment. Lent & Brown (2000) Indicated that Social Cognitive

Theory focuses on several cognitive variables (for example, self efficacy, outcome expectations and

goals) and on how these variables interact with other aspects of the person and his or her

environment (for example, gender, ethnicity, social support and barriers) to shape the course of

career development

DEVELOPMETNAL THEORY OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT

According to Super’s (1990) 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: Gender, Parental Influence, and Peer Influence. The study attempted

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

Statement of the Problem

This study aims is to determine the various factors and the degree of influence each factors

have that affect the grade 10 students in choosing their preferred SHS strand.

The study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What are their preferred SHS Strand?

2. What are the factors affecting the Grade 10 Students in choosing their SHS Strand? In terms of:

2.1 Personal Interest

2.2 Parental Influence

2.3 Socio-economic Status

2.4 Peers

3. What has the greatest influence in the decision making of grade 10 students regarding to their

preferred SHS strand?

4. What is the relationship between the third quarter subject average and the chosen SHS Strand?

Significance of the study

This research in made to provide information and knowledge regarding the chosen topic

from respondents.

The result of the study will give advantage to the following:

The Respondents. This research will be beneficial to the students to determine the factors

that will affect on choosing their preferred Senior High School Strand.
 The Parents. Parents and guardians will be able to guide their children in terms of choosing

the appropriate strand for them. Additionally, they will be aware on what factors can be affect

regarding on the strand of their strand chosen.

Teachers. The given data would guide the teacher's to have a deeper understanding about

this study and for them to identify the different factors on choosing the preferred Senior High School

Strand of the students.

Future Researchers. The future researchers also can gain significance in this study. It may

serve as their guidance to gather information and it may serve them as a building blocks to have a

bigger study.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATIONS

This study deals with the factors influencing students in choosing senior academic track at

Pinmilapil National High School during the school year 2022-2023. No such part of the study will be

conducted outside the campus' premises.

In this study, the researchers do not go beyond boundaries. Every questions are fully filtered

before asking the respondents. It is assured that all of these questions are related to the study and

not with the respondent’s personal background. It is also assured that this study could not harm nor

wreck any natural habitats and impinge other people's right for every answers will be treated

confidentially. This examination was given to 59 respondents out of 62 grade 10 students in

Pinmilapil National High School.

Review of Related Literature

This chapter presents a selection of literature and studies that has a bearing on present

study. The researchers have gone through intensive readings of materials, online. Most of the

literature gathered talks about the factors that affect preferences/choices.

According to Super’s (1990) 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: Gender, Parental Influence, and Peer Influence. The study attempted

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

According to Pascual (2014), study revealed that Filipino immigrants and non-immigrants

rely heavily on their family’s decision-making. Furthermore, she stated that, “Sad to say but very few

studies are made to investigate success of career path used in the students of the Philippines, even

the factors that affect the career choice of Filipino students. This provides us with limited information

on how to help our students identify the proper career options and course choice they have to

pursue in the future. Students are not properly oriented as to what course to choose out of their

interest and skills but because of the thought that these courses will provide jobs in the future. More

so, students are opt career they think will give better paying job in the future. As what Salazar-

Clemena, Rose Marie. (2002), as cited by Pascual (2014) posits, “What college education can we

afford that can make you finish quickly, get a job, and start helping with family finances? In other

words, their concern is not finding guideposts in a career path, but peso signs that would lead them

out of poverty.

INTERESTS

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, (Slaver, 1977, p.13). 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 (1997).

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS

Socioeconomic status is a factor that influences the predisposition, search, and choice

stages of the college choice process (Cabrera & Nasa, 2000). Rendering to the National Centre for

Education Statistics’ Descriptive Summary of 2003-2004 Beginning Postsecondary Students: Thirty

percent of dependent start postsecondary students at 4-year organizations came from peoples with

annual incomes of 92,000 or more, matched with 17 percent of those at two-year foundations and 4

percent of those at less than two year associations. Paulsen (1990) noticed that when tuition

expenses, room and board costs, and distance from home increased; the college option became

less attractive to students.

PEER

Peer relationships were also found to be influential in students’ choices of careers. Kiuru

(2008) Purports that, in Finland, peer group members who are closely related are likely to end up in

similar Educational trajectories as they are likely to accept opinions from members who are similar

to themselves. Kiuru (2008) further states that peer group members resembled each other, not only

in their educational expectations, but also their subsequent educational trajectories. In a Nigerian

study By Bankole and Ogunsakin (2015), peer relationships were revealed as a significant factor in

helping Students choose careers. Pakistani students who were close to each other in terms of

friendship were Likely to influence each other to take certain careers (Naz et al., 2014).
 Alika (2010), Ho (2006) and Obwoge and Kibor (2016) espoused that peer encouragement

was Found to be a critical factor in influencing American students’ choice of careers. This is in line

with Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which states that realistic encouragement leads to greater

effort and eventually to greater success. Since high school students are adolescents, they may rely

on people of their own age. Hashim and Embong (2015) agree that the student’s peer group is the

single most potent source of Influence with regard to career choices. Adolescents are easily

influenced by their peers because they rely on their friends to provide validation of the choices that

they make, including career decisions. A number of challenges were raised about the effectiveness

of peer counselling in schools. Chireshe (2013), for example, cited lack of training among peer

counsellors, and Kamore and Tiego (2015) Enumerated that failure by Kenyan peer counsellors to

resolve their own problems impacted negatively on their duties as peer counsellors. Contrary to

earlier findings, it has been observed in America that there was no significant Relationship between

peer group influence and career choices in humanities among secondary school Adolescents (Alika,

2010). Peers were found to be less likely to influence high school students in choosing careers. The

American study only concentrated on students who were in humanities. The current study did not

look only at students specialising in a certain category but all students in Zimbabwean high schools.

Parental/Family Influence

(Taylor, Harris, 2004) Families, parents and guardians in particular, play a significant role in

the occupational aspirations and career goal development of their children. Without parental

approval or support, students and young adults are often reluctant to pursue—or even explore—

diverse career possibilities. Although parents acknowledge their role and attempt to support the

career development of their children, parental messages contain an underlying message of “don’t

make the same mistakes that I did.” These interactions may influence adolescents and young adults

to select specific collegiate majors or pursue particular occupations. Numerous studies (Knowles,

1998; Marjoribanks, 1997; Mau and Bikos, 2000; Smith, 1991; Wilson and Wilson, 1992) have found

that college students and young adults cite parents as an important influence on their choice of
career. Yet parents may be unaware of the influence they have on the career development and

vocational choice of their children. University career services of the University of North Carolina at

Chapel Hill (UNCChapel Hill) decided to survey parents of incoming freshmen in order to learn more

about parents’ beliefs regarding their college-age children’s career choice and the influences on that

choice. Studies find that the family appears to play a critical role in a child’s career development

(Guerra and Braungart-Rieker, 1999; Lankard, 1995; Mickelson and Valasco, 1998; Otto, 2000;

Mau, Hitchcock and Calvert, 1998).

Family size also appears to influence adolescent career aspirations because parents with

large families tend to have less money to aid the older children in attending college, while younger

children may receive more financial assistance since the financial strain is less once the older

children leave home (Schulenberg, et al., 1984).

Yet, in other studies (Boatwright, Ching, and Parr, 1992; Mau and Bikos, 2000), each of

these family variables has also been found to be insignificant in influencing aspirations.

Nevertheless, families appear to influence, at least to some extent, career aspirations of

adolescents and young adults. If these family factors are influential in career decision making, then

it becomes difficult to explain how an impoverished student from a broken home can go on to

become a wealthy, financially successful worker. As the paradigm of research shifts, it becomes

clear that family interactions are just as important as physical descriptors.

Other studies have separately examined the influences of each parent on the career choices

of their sons or daughters and have found that mothers tend to have more influence on the career

decisions/aspirations of their children than fathers. For instance, Mickelson and Velasco (1998)

cited their interviews conducted with 70 young adults in 1986. They found that mothers were the

most influential and that daughters’ occupational aspirations were often similar to their mothers’

chosen professions (Mickelson and Velasco, 1998). In similar studies, students were asked items

such as, “What do you want to do with your life?” and to indicate if they agree or disagree with

statements such as “My mother (father) encouraged me to make my own decisions.” The students’

responses were similar to those of their parents. These studies also found that students wanted to
discuss career planning primarily with their mothers. Overall, research supports the influence of

parental expectations and aspirations on the career decisions and aspirations of their children.

These expectations lay a foundation for parents’ behaviors and interactions with their children,

which then indirectly or directly influence choices they make in the future.

Chapter III

Methodology of the Study

In this chapter the researcher discussed the methodology and the procedure engaged in the
study. The following part includes the research design used in the conduct of the study, the locale,
the participants, procedure followed and statistical tool.

Research Design
The research design used the statistical information to see if dependent variables relating to
Parental Influence, Peer Influence, Parental Influence and Socio-economic Status were significant
factors influencing grade 10 students in choosing their track for senior high school.
Research Environment
This study was conducted at Pinmilapil National High School. The respondents of this study
were the fifty-nine (59) Grade 10 Students at Pinmilapil National High School Academic Year 2022-
2023 of Barangay Pinmilapil, Sison, Pangasinan.
Sampling Design and Selection of Respondents
We used total sampling method in this study. This means that the respondents were not
chosen but rather based on the list of the entire target population, with 59 students from the 62
Grade 10 students.
Research Instrument Data Gathering Procedure
The researchers designed a questionnaire checklist that aims to draw out proper responses
on the objectives of this study was conducted.
The questionnaire made by was checked and approved by the research adviser.
The researchers distributed the questionnaire to the respondents. Instructions were given
and in case where the respondents did not understand, an explanation was made through.
Data analysis
The researchers used measures of position specifically the quartile to obtain the results of
the questionnaire answered by the Grade 10 Students.