EDUKASYON SA PAGPAPAHALAGA AS A VALUE-LADEN SUBJECT:

EXPLORING THE STORIES OF DISINTEREST AMONG LEARNERS

_____________________________

A Thesis
Presented to
The Faculty of the Graduate School
Assumption College of Nabunturan
Nabunturan, Compostela Valley Province

_________________________________

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts In Education
Major in Guidance Counseling

__________________________________

By:

JEFERSON C. OMADLEY

October 2019
 Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

The Problem and Its Background

What transforms education, is a transformed being in the world (Palmer, 1999).

This profound statement by Palmer (1999) hints at the importance of values and values

education. The importance of dealing with values effectively in schools is illustrated by

the fact that the current generation of youth, particularly from emerging economy

countries, countries in developing democracies and countries with scarce resources and

high need, has only known a society characterized by rampant change, cultural and

religious diversity, dislocated families, unemployment and increasing anxiety about risk.

In South Africa many schools are depicted as sites where disrespect for the law,

racial intolerance and violence proliferate. The Department of Education (DoE) has

recently publicly acknowledged that violence is, indeed, a problem in South African

schools based on data gleaned from a study undertaken by the Centre for Justice and

Crime Prevention and the teachers have to implement values education (Burton, 2008).

In today’s society, a growing demand by educators, governments, and the

community for the teaching of values in public schools has led to the implementation of

values education. In relation with this, the Department of Education promotes the K to

12 curriculum for the purpose of improving the educational system of the Philippines.

One the of the subject is EsP (Edukasyon sa Pagapapakatao) which dedicated to teach

human ethics and morality (DepEd. 2012). Students from grades 1–10 are required to

take this subject. Each grade level has corresponding competencies for students to

achieve before they could pass the subject. DepEd had issued Edukasyon sa
Pagpapakatao Gabay Pangkurikulum last December 2013 containing the necessary

information regarding the subject (DepEd. 2012).

In the past decade, Rawana (2011) stated that Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao

programs are designed to produce students who are thoughtful, ethical, morally

responsible, community oriented, and self-disciplined. But still it, teaching values was

the focus. But sad to note many did not see its real essence because some students

and teachers just look it for granted, thinking that it was nothing but additional burden.

Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao is the least prioritized subject that is being taught.

Teachers do not give it attention and sometimes take it for granted. There are times that

they are unable to teach the subject due to time constraints ( Burayag 2013).

It is nice to note that, in the public secondary educational system, it gives the

tools subjects like English, Math and Science more emphasis and importance than

Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (Values Education). Like for instance, English as a tool

subject is being taught four times a week to the students while Edukasyon sa

Pagpapakatao is only twice week (Miguel 2016). From that fact, learners have bigger

opportunity to excel academically but lesser opportunity to transform them morally.

In Monkayo National High School, the researcher observed that almost 70% of

the learners are not interested of the subject Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao. Some take

this subject lightly and even not serious with this subject. The basis of the researcher

claims is student’s grades which range 70-74, 75-78, 78-70 reflected on the report

cards. Taking up the results, it shows that learners are marginally passed the subject

EsP. It also observed that some of them are lack of disciplined.

 The phenomenon mentioned above has been observe in the schools even before

which challenged the researcher to undergo a qualitative research, specifically on the

Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao subject. He would like to explore the experiences of these

learners taken the Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao subject. As observed, the learners felt

disinterested and difficulty in the subject Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao. With this

scenario, the researcher was very interested to embark on this qualitative research.

Purpose of the Study

This phenomenological study envisioned to explore the journey of the learners

disinterested of the EsP subject. In this study, the researcher focused his investigation

on the experiences, emotions, challenges encountered, coping mechanisms and

insights of EsP learners of Monkayo National High School, Monkayo, Compostela

Valley Province. This study tries to explore the experience of the disinterested student.

The researcher believes that this study is substantial in the sense that it will help the

Department of Education to realize the very serious situation of the learners the main

client and recipient of Edukasyon sa Pagpapakato as value-laden subject.

Review of Related Literature

This section presents the related literature, studies and articles that are related

and could also support to the investigation on this study.

Values education. The process by which values, attitudes and habits are

formed as the learner interacts with the environment under the guidance of a teacher.

Studying values will not necessarily influence behaviour. Behaviour can only be

influenced when a value is experienced and a commitment made to it in belief and

attitude (Quisumbing, 1993). Values education is the process by which people give

moral values to others. It can be an activity that can take place in any organisation

during which people are assisted by others, who may be older, in a position of authority

or are more experienced, to make explicit those values underlying their own behaviour,

to assess the effectiveness of these values and associated behaviour for their own and

others' long term well-being and to reflect on and acquire other values and behaviour

which they recognise as being more effective for long term well-being of self and others.

There is a difference between literacy and education. Values education can take place

at home, as well as in schools, colleges, universities, jails and voluntary youth

organisations. There are two main approaches to values education, some see it as

inculcating or transmitting a set of values which often come from societal or religious

rules or cultural ethics while others see it as a type of Socratic dialogue where people

are gradually brought to their own realisation of what is good behaviours for themselves

and their community.

Moreover, Nickolov, (1991) indicated that human being can be identified in many

ways; however, primarily, human is a being that has values and creates values. Human

is a unique being that need to live together and deal with each other. The purpose of life

is not only to satisfy material desires and aspirations of life but also improve individual

as a human being and in spirit. While Manly Hall (2000) stated “a man without any ethic

values is a wild animal released to the world”, Theodore Roosevelt says that “to educate

a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” The purpose of the

values education is to create values and raise individuals who convert their values to

behaviours. Values cannot be gained by telling or describing. They should be

experienced directly, internalized and should be given with the feelings related to them.

Values become identities by experience. The precondition of the values education is to

prepare environment to the child where he can use his freewill. The education which is

given by insisting, oppression and conditioning leads to actualization others requests

rather than its own.

One of the primary goals of education according to Koening (2000) is to give the

individual confidence and the consciousness of being an individual. The individuals who

are not given that consciousness and subject to excessive socialization cannot be

creative. In the excessive socialization, uploading knowledge predominates rather than

knowledge generation. Lack of confidence and creativeness effects social development

in a negative way. In that case, the societies have to make the individuals become

active members of the society by teaching them the values that they have. Variables

such as, learner, teacher, school environment or atmosphere, family, society,

environment etc. are considerably important in the acquisition of values. To ensure that

individual develop a personality based on values is only possible with education.

Therefore, it is important to imprint values to minds of individuals for the sake society’s

existence, continuation and future.

The purpose of educational institutions is not only to provide knowledge but also

get the learners to gain values that make human beings human. The primary goals of

schools are to get learners to gain values that are stated explicitly or not stated in the

school programme, discipline the students according to the determinate rules, make

contributions to their moral values and affect their characters positively. Values are

dreams and ideals that a society wants to accomplish. The key institution in
accomplishing the ideals of a society is education. Halil Fikret Kanad states that

dynamic and creative factor of education is the ideal factor that is produces. Societies

without ideals cannot be happy (Kanad, 1942). The only way to be a values society,

information society and stay as a nation is education. Value education means to paint

people in a society to the same colour. Individuals in a society both separate

themselves from other societies and show predictable behaviour for each other by

making similar preferences. This means that people in a society show similar

preferences and behaviour (Bacali, 2011).

In addition, teaching is a moral activity in which teachers have to consider the

ethical complexity of teaching and the moral impact they have on their students (Carr,

2011). All kinds of activities in schools in which students learn or develop values and

morality are often referred to as values education as Lovat (2011) stated that a

distinction can be made between explicit and implicit values education. Whereas explicit

values education refers to schools’ official curriculum of what and how to teach values

and morality, including teachers’ explicit intentions and practices of values education,

implicit values education is associated with a hidden curriculum and implicit values,

embedded in school and classroom practices. Even though the concepts of values

education and moral education sometimes are used interchangeably, we use values

education in line with Taylor (2006) as an overarching concept including concepts such

as moral education, character education, and citizenship education, Taylor (1994)

concluded that the scope of values education is often complex and includes a number

of themes, many of which overlap, closely related to the historical and ideological
evolution of each country. Examples of identified themes are moral, religious, civic,

democratic, national, pastoral, personal, and social goals and issues.

Value-laden subject. In most of the seminars that the Department of Education has

offered to us, public school teachers, topics were mainly focused on the delivery of

instruction and unintentionally paid less attention to moral education which is the

bedrock of children learning and success. Even during curriculum designing, people in

the academe tend to forget the relevance of value-laden foundations. It is rare that

somebody from the highest level of the bureaucratic system of the Philippine education

would realize, plan and implement the integration of value-oriented instruction and

delivery inside the classroom. As a result, moral development seems to be just an

invisible part of a realistic whole.

The situation of public schools in our country dictates an ever longing for moral

socialization and training for our students since they are prone to becoming culprits if

not victims of behavioral deficiency. To name one, bullying in the form of physical and

emotional violence appears to be one of the most drastic dilemmas of learners. Though

there is an existing anti-bullying campaign in learning institutions, its emphasis is half-

baked because of the lack of drive towards better understanding, awareness and

implementation of programs or procedures that could convey the meaning of

establishing harmonious relations and mutual respect between students. Thus, a

behavior-centered action plan must be designed in order to empower all educational

stakeholders in fighting against abuses in school while taking into account the

formation of behavioral policies.

 Educational institutions according to Nanjundappa (2013) should give more

importance to value based education rather than preparing the students to get more

marks in examinations. Education should mould the personality of an individual.

Education should be a light of knowledge which should lead the world in a right path.

Those who get education should also turn towards their native villages and improve it,

else it would be a waste.

Based on my experience, one best way to help students develop acceptable and

appropriate behaviors is engaging them in vibrant religious activities. It is through this

way that we can focus on student moral development by involving them in highly

influential activities such as interfaith dialogue, charitable involvement, and meditation

exercises. However, the possibility of these activities depends on teachers’ active

integration of moral development in their plan of learning instructions and performances.

But since I was able to conduct these activities, then it only follows that others

(teachers) possess also the potential of doing the same thing.

Another way of integrating moral education in schools is through the conduct of

regular parents’ conferences. Development of students’ moral senses must not be a

one-hand operation. Teachers and parents should work together in character building of

learners. The participation of parents in moral development strengthens the drive and

force towards it. By informing parents about how their children behave in school, they

are most likely to show involvement in correcting learners’ misbehavior or misconduct.

In general, the school must develop a strong support system that secures

character education in all aspects of student’s life. With persistence, schools must strive

hard to apply all available solutions for behavior remediation. In the same way, we must
fulfill our duties and moral responsibilities by setting ourselves as role models to our

students. The level of maturity and influence that we show them leaves remarkable

impacts in their character and definitely improve their capacity to deal with moral

challenges not only in school but also outside its perimeters most especially in facing

life challenges at present and in the future.(

https://preachnology101.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/the-importance-of-moral-education-

in-philippine-schools/)

Disinterest Students

Schools are charged with the responsibility of preparing young people to become

productive citizens, capable of making a worthwhile contribution to society. Inherent in

this responsibility is the necessity to adequately engage students in their learning and

personal development so that this goal can be realized. For decades now, it has been

realized how crucial a role “interest” plays in the learning process . Hidi and Renninger

(2006) as cited that "The level of a person's interest has repeatedly been found to be a

powerful influence on learning". They believe that interest influences an individual’s

attention, goals, as well as levels of learning, while Schraw and Lehman (2001) are of

the opinion that it determines in part what we choose to learn, and how well we learn

this information. Interest is generally viewed as being of two types personal and

situational. The former is said to arise from an intrinsic desire to understand a particular

topic, which it is claimed can persist for a long time.

.It has both a cognitive and an affective quality that individuals carry with them

from place to place. In contrast, situational interest is extrinsic. It is a kind of

spontaneous interest that can fade as rapidly as it emerges, and is almost always place
specific (Schraw & Lehman , 2001). However, interest as a construct is not without its

own contradictions. In the first place, despite tremendous research, its origin remains an

enigma .Nobody knows for sure why some persons are interested in certain things,

while others are not. The only explanation offered is that “each person is an individual,

with his/her own set of psychological endowments and life experiences”, thereby

suggesting 2 that it could be either an innate or genetic characteristic or it could be the

result of stimulation from the child’s immediate environment. In some cases , it might

well be a combination of both ( Fontana, 1985).

Aside from its prevalence throughout the world, disinterest in schoolwork also

exists within all levels of the school system. It usually begins in small degrees at the

elementary level is manifested in middle school and becomes progressively worse in

high school . Lumsden (2000), reported that “by middle school, lack of interest in

schoolwork becomes increasingly apparent in more and more students, and by high

school, as dropout rates attest, too many students are not sufficiently motivated to

succeed in school. University students are not exempt from this problem of disinterest in

school work .In fact it has been reported that about 20% of US university students do

not complete their first year. While there is a suggestion that disinterest has been

observed even at the kindergarten level (Skinner ,et al,2008 ), However , this is not the

same with older students, who have been in the system for a number of years and are

fully aware of its debilitating effect on them. It is therefore no surprise to hear them

complain of constant boredom (High School Survey of Student Engagement, 2009).

They felt that the material presented to them was either uninteresting, irrelevant or
unchallenging. Matthews (2010) made similar findings as did Schunk, Pintrich & Meece

(2010) that identified poor teaching strategies as the cause of the boredom.

The whole enterprise of education is extricable linked with the development of

values. Devoid of the potential to nurture values, education losses its heart and soul. No

one who attempts to depict the spirit of age in which we live can possibly overlook the

importance of education for values. Peace and security are facing new challenges that

could have negative implications if we do not address them positively. The malleable

years of youth in schools are crucial. Whatever is learnt and imbibed will determine to

how students would live out their lives in future. The concern about value degradation is

not new to this era. Even before independence such concern were pronounced in policy

documents. Policy makers and educators have all along seriously mediated on this

concern and have been trying to discern the potential of schooling, pinning their hopes

on education to fulfill the aspirations and expectations of the public and the society.

Theoretical Lens

This study is anchored on the Social Development Theory of Lev Vygotsky

(1978). Vygotsky's theory pointed out that the role of a more knowledgeable other in

demonstrating ideas, values, strategies, speech patterns and so on that a child

internalises and learns from. In early stages of development, this is likely to be a

parent, but it can also be a teacher, peers, or a technology.

Vygotsky’s theory promotes learning contexts in which students play an active

role in learning. The role of the teacher should collaborate with his or her students in

order to help facilitate meaningful construction of knowledge in students. If the

teacher lacks the knowledge and the skills he or she cannot facilitate the learning

process and that he or she could not expect more participation from the students.

Learning therefore becomes a reciprocal experience for the students and teacher.
 Insights

EDUKASYON SA

PAGPAPAHALAGA AS A

VALUE-LADEN

SUBJECT: EXPLORING
Experiences
THE STORIES OF
Coping
Encountered
Mechanisms
DISINTEREST AMONG

LEARNERS

Figure 1 Schematic Diagram

Research Questions

The study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What are the experiences encountered by the disinterest learners who are

recipient of the EsP as a Values- laden Subject?

2. What are the coping mechanism of the learners consider Esp as Values-laden

subject?

3. What are the insights gained by the learners who are recipient of EsP as

Values-laden Subjects?

Delimitations and Limitations of the Study

The parameters of this study were focused on the experiences of EsP learners

that include the problems and challenges they encountered, their feelings and emotions,

and the insights they gained in their journey. This study was also delimited to seven

EsP learners in Monkayo National High School, as the participants for this investigation.

Thus, the teacher respondents were very small; as a result, this did not represent the

entire population of Esp learners in the said school.

This study was further considering several limitations, namely; negative attitudes

of the participants towards answering the questions and the truthfulness of the

participants on their responses. However, the researcher was trying the best he can do

to address the goal of the study while conducting an interview to the participants.

Significance of the Study

The results of this endeavour were beneficial to the following persons:

Learners. The results of this study would be of great help for the learners to
appreciate and learn more about the subject area, Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao. This is

because this curriculum is already designed for the learners to be equipped with the

knowledge and skills in the teaching-learning process.

Teachers. The results of this study would guide the EsP teachers more

particularly those who are teaching EsP subjects in discovering for appropriate

strategies that will help learners in their difficulties towards the subject area and

enhance learners knowledge and skills relative to the field. In addition, it will inspire the

teachers to keep engaging themselves to EsP related seminars and trainings to

continually gain knowledge and skills.

School Principals. The findings would contribute their awareness of the issues

and concerns about the disinterested learners. Moreover, the result of the study could

provide them some data that can be utilized in identifying some factors that could be

considered in designing programs and activities intended to improve learners

knowledge and skills in the field of Edukasyon sa Pagpapkatao.

Department of Education. The findings of this study would help the officials

come up with some proposals regarding more enhancement activities, seminars,

trainings and workshops that would help for the EsP teachers handling EsP subjects to

provide the needs of the learners. This would somehow provide them insights on the

budget allocation for the support system that teachers may call for to improve

knowledge and skills in the field of Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao.

Definition of Terms

The terms below are operationally defined to facilitate better understanding on

the findings of this study.

Value-laden. It refers to the Presupposing the acceptance of a particular set of values.

Carrying or holding a lot of values.

Disinterest. It refers to the experiences of the learners who are EsP subjects, this

includes the problems and challenges encountered feelings, emotions, insights and the

coping mechanisms of the learners.

Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (EsP). It refers to one of the subject areas in the Junior

High School level since the start of the implementation of the K-12 Curriculum. This

subject is given to the class with at least two hours every week. It is the subject in

replace of Values Education of the previous curriculum, with the same purpose of

inculcating with proper attitude, good values and virtues to learners.

 Chapter II

METHODOLOGY

Presented in this chapter are the methods employed in gathering the data. This includes

the research design, research locale, role of the researcher, research participants, data

collection procedure, trustworthiness and credibility, and the ethical considerations of

the study.

Research Design

This research was a qualitative-phenomenological in nature which aimed to gain

an in-depth understanding of the experiences of the participants. This is a

phenomenological research design where in in-depth interview (IDI) was employed. The

IDI was the best means for gathering the data on individual experiences especially on

the problems and challenges encountered; the feelings and emotions of the participants

and how they were able to cope with such phenomenon and the insights they gained

from the EsP subject.

Creswell (2013) defined phenomenology as an approach to qualitative research

that focuses on the commonality of a lived experience within a particular group; and its

fundamental goal is to arrive at a description of the nature of the particular

phenomenon. Interview is employed with a group of individuals who have first-hand

knowledge of the events, situation or experience. This interview attempts to answer the

experiences in terms of the phenomenon and the context or situation that have

influenced their experience.

Research Locale

This phenomenological qualitative research was conducted at the Monkayo

National High School, Monkayo, Compostela for the School Year 2019-2020. Monkayo

is one of the Municipalities of Compostela Valley and was selected as the site of

interest. The people celebrate its Town and Parochial Fiesta every 31th day of July. In

giving importance to the life of St. Ignatius de Loyola the Patron Saint of Monkayo.

There are 21 barangays in Monkayo, namely, Poblacion Monkayo (the central

barangay), where Monkayo National High School is located, Awao, Babag, Banlag,

Baylo, Casoon, Inambatan, Haguimitan, Macopa, Mamunga, Mount Diwata (Mt.

Diwalwal), Naboc, Olaycon, Pasian (Santa Filomena), Rizal, Salvacion, San Isidro, San

Jose, Tubo-tubo (New Del Monte), Upper Ulip, Union. Monkayo is an agricultural town

with over 40 Public Elementary Schools, 11 Public Secondary Schools, three Private

elementary Schools, two Private High School and one College funded the local

government.

The Monkayo National High School is located specifically at Magsaysay Street,

Poblacion, Monakyo, Compostela Valley Province adjacent to the Town Plaza and

Municipal office. Monkayo National High School is popularly known as the “Breeding

Ground of Achievers” and consistently received recognition from various competitions

like regional and national level. Currently, the school is managed by a school principal

and one head teacher, with 139 teachers. For the school year 2019-2020 the school

has over 4,000 students of this number.

Figure 2 on the next page shows the map of Monkayo where Monkayo National

High School is located.

Figure 2 Map of Monkayo
Role of the Researcher

In qualitative studies, the role of the researcher is quite different as Denzin &

Lincoln (2013) stated. Since this study used the phenomenological research design, it

relied on the responses and full cooperation of the participants.

Before the in-depth interview, I prepared the guide questions and other materials

needed like the voice recorder, a paper and pen for noting. Then, I set the venue or

location where the communications was conducted. This included the date and time of

the activity.

During the in-depth interview, I required the participants to feel comfortable prior

to the interview and discussion proper. Brainstorming was of great help so that the

respondents became aware of the possibilities on the flow of the conversation.

To ensure the validity of the research, I personally constructed the research

questions that were validated by external and internal validators. Proper coordination

was observed to make this endeavor official and legal.

It was my role to document and record the interviews using an audio recorder

and took some notes in case the recorder failed to function. After the in-depth interview,

I explained to my participants that some items were taken as confidential.

After the interview, I transcribed, put all the responses according to the themes

after which, interpretations followed. Aside from that, part of the my role was analyzing,

especially, that I provided the English language translation of the vernacular responses

of the participants. Analyzing these statements helped me in interpreting their thoughts.

Research Participants

The target research participants of this study were teachers in New Bataan

National High School teaching Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao but with different

specializations.

The IDI was used to gather the responses of the participants and the participants

were chosen purposively wherein the participants were selected based from the

characteristics relevant to the study. In the data recording, the participants had their

own code name to protect their identity and privacy with confidentiality being observed.

Table 1 shows the key profile of the participants.

Code Name Gender Age Section Grade level

Participant # 01 Female 16 Jadiete Grade 10

Participant # 02 Male 17 Iolite Grade 10
Participant # 03 Female 15 Sampaguita Grade 9
Participant # 04 Male 15 Daisy Grade 9
Participant # 05 Female 13 Nara Grade 8
Participant # 06 Male 14 Ipil-ipil Grade 8
Participant # 07 Female 12 Aluminum Grade 7
Participant # 08 Male 12 Gold Grade 7

Research Instruments

Qualitative data were gathered through the use of researcher made interview

guide questions which was validated by the panel of experts. The interview guide

questionnaire is composed of the demographic profile of the Non-EsP teachers teaching

EsP subjects and three major questions where the specific research question for each

was used during the in-depth interview.

 To collect the data, IDI was used to the selected participants of the study. With

the seven Non EsP teachers, I had the one-on-one and face to face discussion with

them. In the IDI, an involvement between me and the participant was observed one at a

time. At one setting, I was the facilitator at the same time asked questions to the

participants. The use of interview guide and recording instruments for proper

documentation of the responses of the participants were used.

After the data collection, transcription of the audio recording followed and I

listened to the recorded conversation and simultaneously transcribed the responses of

the participants. After which, I provided hard copies or print outs of the soft copy of the

documents. These hard copies were brought to the data analyst to draw out essential

themes with supporting statements. According to Bailey (2008), transcribing is a

straightforward technical task. It involves judgment about what level of detail to choose,

data interpretation and data presentation.

Further, keeping all the data together was very important in managing and

organizing them. Field notes, tape recordings and transcripts were kept properly to

secure its confidentiality.

Data Analysis

The data gathered underwent analysis. These data were submitted to the

assigned data analyst. The data analyst utilized the hard copies or print outs I made.

And all these data were systematized and interpreted.

The data analyst considered these common responses of the participants as the

essential themes of the research question. These essential themes were presented with
corresponding supporting statements of the respondents to strengthen the meaning and

validity. The supporting statements of the respondents were illustrated with the proper

codes assigned. The codes bore the name of the municipality of Monkayo while the

participants had numbers 01 to 08.

Trustworthiness and Credibility

In a phenomenological qualitative research, trustworthiness and credibility are

very significant in evaluating its worth. To ensure trustworthiness in this study,

establishing credibility, dependability, conformability and transferability were involved

(Lincoln & Guba, 2015).

To gain trustworthiness and credibility, a preliminary session was conducted to

establish a good relationship between parties. This was done to assure each participant

to share their real experiences and feelings. The participants were oriented not to worry

about their statements since everything was kept with utmost confidentiality. The

participants were encouraged to be honest during the session; and it was explained to

them that there were no right or wrong answers.

As the researcher, I informed the participants as part of the preliminary session

that they could contribute ideas and share their experiences and feelings without fear of

losing credibility in the eyes of their respective school and school head. It was explained

to them that the use of voice recording was only for proper documentation to ensure

that every bit of information coming from them was accurately recorded.
Furthermore, it was made clear to the participants that they had the right to withdraw

from the study at any point. They were also asked to be honest with their responses so

that reliable results of this investigation will be achieved.

Ethical Considerations

To consider research ethics in qualitative research, the researcher has to be

guided with the following ethical considerations: informed consent, respect for privacy

and confidentiality, no harm to research participants, and no deceptions of research

participants (Gilbert, 2008)

I considered that the participants must be dealt according to the ethical

guidelines set in conducting this study. Since they were asked about their experiences,

coping mechanisms, feelings and insights as they take the EsP as values subject, it was

vital to consider that they might be hesitant to share their personal experiences and felt

uncomfortable revealing the required information. As the researcher, I explained to them

not to worry for it was assured to them that their safety and protection were taken into

account; that the documents generated from this study will be kept safe. Moreover, the

participants were told to withdraw from their involvement in the study if they felt they

needed it.

Securing of consent and approval from the authorities and participants before the

interview were processed for formality and legality of the conduct of the study. Also, the

researcher gave an assurance to them regarding the confidentiality at some extent of

their personal information and that all their responses were secured under the

researchers’ custody and that no one could take it out.