Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM

Background of the Study

Co-curricular activities or CCA refers to activities, programs, and learning

experiences that complement, in some way, what students are learning in school—

i.e., experiences that are connected to or mirror the academic curriculum (Great

School Partnership , 2013) . Philippines is one of the country which implements this

activity as part of education curriculum. A few examples of co-curricular activities

done in the Philippines particularly in secondary education are quizbees, poster

making contest, sports, workshops and seminars, academic clubs, scouting,

camping etc.

It was proven by different observers and researchers that participating in co-

curricular activities provides a lot of benefits towards students. This will improve

and develop their personality, self-confidence, social skills,health, cognitive

abilities, as well as their academic performance (Kuh et al., 2012) .

According to the researchers own observation, despite of the advantages

taken in participating co-curricular activities, there are still several students who

have been found as non-participants of the said activities. Nearly half among the

students of Arboleda National Highschool participates in the organized activities.

According to research studies, several negative outcomes may arise in participating

co-curricular activities such as frustration, stress, burden for poor families,and being

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consumed by the activity and most importantly, participation in CCA may

compromise the academic aspect of students (Beneca et al.,) .These might be the

reason of other students' non-participation.

From all the findings said above, it was showed that there are contradicting

positions in terms of co-curricular activities – the possibilities that it may provide

toward students. And as co-curricular activities being one of the implementations of

the curriculum and participated by the students, could be evaluated through

describing what are students perceptions about it, as they are the one particularly

involved with this event. Hence, it's the purpose of the present study to describe

student's perception about co-curricular activities by determining the reason behind

why they join these activities and the benefits they gain in participation. Specifically,

this will be conducted to the Senior Highschool Students of Arboleda National

Highschool.

Statement of the Problem

The present study aims to describe the perception of the students about co-

curricular activities. Specifically, it will seek to answer the following questions:

1. What are the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of:

a. Sex

b. Economic Status

c. Order in the Family

2. What are the co-curricular activities which students joined?

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 3. What are the reasons of students behind their participation in co-curricular

activities?

4. What are the benefits taken in joining co-curricular activities?

Significance of the Study

The topic was chosen by the researcher to describe the perception of

students towards co-curricular activities and show the benefits that they could

gained on participating in this kind of activity. This study is significant since it will

benefit the following:

School Administration. This study will help the administration assessed

the perceptions of students, hence they will be able to further adjust the system of

the co-curricular activities implemented in school.

Teachers. The study will inform the teachers about the way students

perceive the co-curricular activities. As one of the initiator of these activities, they

will be able to determine the factors and reasons behind the participation and non-

participation of students in co-curricular activities, thus they will know how to guide

students and communicate with them with regards of CCA.

Students. This study will provide students information about their co-

students perception of co-curricular activities as well as the benefits that they could

gain. The positive feedbacks of co-curricular activities will influence other students

especially those non-participants to have the initiative to try co-curricular activities.

Parents. This study will inform the parents about the perception of students

regarding co-curricular activities, hence they will be able to further support their

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children in participating CCA. The benefits of CCA that will also be showed in this

study will make parents to encourage their children to participate in co-curricular

activities.

Future Researchers. The findings of this study will help future researchers

to support their study, and will also serve as a basis for their future research.

Scope and Delimitation

The study will focus on describing the perception of the students regarding

co-curricular activities. The coverage of this study will be the senior high school

students of Arboleda National Highschool, ages ranging from 16-18 years old both

male and female, and will be selected using convenience sampling method. The

research study will utilize descriptive study design and would make use of survey

questionnaire as the main instrumentation for data gathering.

Definition of Terms

The following terms are the most frequently used in the present study. The

following words are defined based on how they are being used in this research paper.

Benefits – this term as used in the present study pertains to the advantages taken

in participating co-curricular activities.

Co-curricular activities - refers to activities, programs, and learning

experiences that complement, in some way, what students are learning in school.

Extra-curricular activities – is the former term of co-curricular activities which

denotes activities outside the academic setting.

Perception – it refers to how the students describe and see co-curricular activities.

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 Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter includes the ideas, finished thesis, generalization and

conclusions. Those that were included in this chapter help in familiarizing

information that are relevant and similar to the present study.

Foreign Literature and Studies

Definition of Co-curricular Activities

Co-curricular activities or CCA may be defined as the activities undertaken to

strengthen the classroom learning as well as other activities both inside and

outside the classroom in order to develop the personality of the child (Bhatia,

2012). CCA include sports, school bands, student newspaper, various social and

other types of activities like literary, dramatic, social services etc. whichever

attracted the attention of the child CCA were mainly organized after school hours

( Aggarwal, 2012).

To sum up all the definitions said above, it is clearly defined that co-curricular

activities (CCA) are extra- activities in school aside from academics, yet are still

related to it. It is implemented and being practiced by educational institutions for

it is considered as essential part of student learning experience and process.

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Extracurricular vs. Co-curricular Activities

It should be noted that there is a definite, though sometimes fuzzy

difference between co-curricular and extracurricular activities. Where co-curricular

activities are connected in some way to the school and to academic learning,

extracurricular activities step outside of this realm. Extracurricular activities are

those activities that occur outside of the educational setting and do not provide

instruction or experience to supplement the academic curriculum (Study. com,

2017) .

The term "extra-curricular activities" are oftenly used to describe and define

these kind of activities in school. But due to the technical wording of "extra" which

is more describe as "outside" or a separate activities from academic setting. It

was interchange to co-curricular activities as it is more appropriate to use as a

terminology for these activities acknowledged by academic administration were

connected and related to academics and are still part of the learning process of

one's student.

The Benefits of CCA to students

According to Kuh (2012), participation in CCA contributes to (a) cognitive

complexity (e.g., critical thinking, intellectual flexibility, reflective judgment), (b)

knowledge acquisition and application, (c) humanitarianism (e.g., interest in the

welfare of others), (d) interpersonal and intrapersonal competence (e.g., self-

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confidence, self awareness, ability to relate to others), and (e) practical

competencies (e.g., decision making, vocational preparation).

In the case study conducted by Kwon (2018) in Indiana University, results

revealed that students perceiving the CCA system as helpful and easy to use

expressed that activities discovered through the CCA system were beneficial to

their curriculum learning.

Regarding the academic outcomes of co-curricular activities, participation

in CCA has been positively associated with academic achievement including better

grades and test scores, increased engagement in school, and educational

aspirations (Massoni, 2014). Overall CCA have a positive impact on basic skills

such as interpersonal skills, teamwork skills, presentation skills, self-direction and

project management skills, which can contribute to future employability and career

development, (Wood, 2011).

In general, all the advantages of co-curricular activities said above were

developing one's own cognitive skills which gives students more ability of thinking.

Psychological aspects such as developing one's interpersonal relationship, social

skills, confidence etc. Moreover, it is also found out that it is link to students'

academic achievement which further outgrows competencies in their future career.

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Disadvantages of Co-curricular activities

No matter how systematized and idealistic co-curricular activities were,

there will always be the other side of the coin. Disadvantages were still present

and were still being experienced by the students. It was showed in research that

participating in co-curricular activities will cause frustration, stress, and can be a

burden to poor families (Burie et al., 2015). Moreover according to Seneca et al.,

(2013) , some students may choose an activity that leaves enough time for school

work and other priorities, they choose to devote their extra time and attention to

that extracurricular interest, which in result ma comprise their studies

Local Literature

Yearly these co-curricular activities are being introduced and conducted in

the school, district, division, regional and even national level. Co-curricular

activities are those activities that fall outside the regular academic curriculum, yet

they are part of schooling. CCA earlier known as extracurricular activities are the

components of non-academic curriculum that help develop various facets of the

personality development of the child.

The types of Co-curricular Activities observed and participated by

most of the schools in the Philippines are investigatory project, quiz competition,

art and singing contest, games like Sci-Dama, Damath and Soduko, sports, Youth

for Environment in School Organization (YES-O), Supreme Student Government

(SSG), STEP and Scouting. These activities help in the earning extra points for the

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selection of honor pupils, self development, improve social relationships and

honing skills and talents of the students.

Local Studies

There are different extra-curricular activities for every university in the

world. The Philippines is no exception, universities such as De La Salle University

(DLSU), Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), and University of the Philippines

(UP) have their own extra-curricular activities that students actively take part in, (

Gatchalian, 2015).

In an interview with Briones (2015) he states that, “An active participant

is someone who finds time, devotes, and commits to extra-curricular activities.” He

further adds that, involvement with extra-curricular activities has taught him to be

committed, involved, accountable, responsible, and have a vision to both inspire

and empower people. Aside from that he had also discovered skills such as

speaking in public, event organization and management, and team building

facilitation.

It was clearly showed that co-curricular activities are as well practice

by educational institutions in the Philippines, for it provides essential needs of the

students especially towards their self - development. From primary to secondary

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school, CCA is implemented, even with the change of the educational curriculum

of the Philippines, the K + 12 Basic Education Curriculum. Senior Highschool

students are just one of the level of students who have the freedom to participate

in CCA, whatever they wanted or whatever suits their talent and skills such as in

sports, singing, dancing, poster-making, academic writing, public speaking or oral

communicating competitions. There's a lot of students who are highly competent

thus, actively participate to these kinds of activities. However, there are several

students who tend to just be an audience and merely seat to watch their co-

students doing these activities. What are their reasons from being a non-participant

anyway? What do they actually think about co-curricular activities that resist them

to join? How about the one who actively participates? What forces them to join

CCA? It is quite intriguing, right? Hence, it's the purpose of the present study to

determine the perceptions of students towards co-curricular activities specifically,

senior highschool students of Arboleda National Highschool to further strengthens

existing literatures and studies about co-curricular activities that may help in it's

future development.

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 Conceptual Framework

The flow of the study can be shown in the diagrammatic format showing the

independent variables and dependent variables as summarized below.

Demographic Profile of Co-curricular Activities (CCA)

the Respondents:
Survey STUDENTS'
 Sex
Reasons of students in
 Economic Researcher- PERCEPTION
participating CCA
Status Made
 Order in the questionnaire
Family
Benefits of participating CCA

Figure 1. Conceptual Paradigm showing the variables of the present study

The system approach (concept map) was used in describing the conceptual

framework of the present study. The main purpose of this research is to determine

the perception of students regarding co-curricular activities, therefore the variables

being presented above are necessary to construct the main objective of the present

study. The co-curricular activities serves as the independent variable while the

reasons of students in participating in CCA will serves as the dependent variable of

the study that will be further used to describe the students’ perception about the

CCA. The demographic profile of the respondents as clearly showed in the

framework was connected in the reason because it is considered to be a factor

behind the participation of the students in CCA. Aside from the reasons, it is also

valuable to determine the benefits received by the students in participating co-

curricular activities, because this is as well may serves as their key reason of

participation. Furthermore, to measure the following data and variables, the

researchers will conduct a survey using researcher-made questionnaire.

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