Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

The K to 12 Curriculum is an advanced education system that is considered to be

the international standard set by countries. The new education system includes the

kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, and senior high school to be taken by

students for two more years. Three countries namely Angola, Djibouti, and the

Philippines are the only countries that do not follow this education system. Instead, they

have the basic education program which will take ten years for the students to finish. On

May 15, 2013, the “Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013” was signed in the

Philippines.

The Philippines shifted the education system during the administration of the

former President Benigno Aquino III. The old education system, “Basic Education

Curriculum” or BEC was changed to the new education system, the “K to 12 Basic

Education Program”. The introduction of the said curriculum added two years which

must be completed by students in order to finish their senior high school education. The

aim of the shift of the education system was to enhance the quality of education of the

country in the most efficient way possible and to align the Philippines with global

practice.

The main goal of the said program is to form an education system that will

enhance the skills of students and to produce responsible citizens with the vital skills

necessary for employment and education. Last April 2018, an estimate of 1.3 million

Senior High School students are said to be the first batch to graduate from the newly
introduced education system. These graduates, equipped with the skills and learning,

were expected to land a job regardless if they will continue to pursue their college

education. This research paper is done to identify if the purpose of the new education

system was met by the first batch of graduates of the K to 12 Program in the Philippines.

Theoretical Framework

Under the Aquino administration, the “Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013”

was signed into law. This republic act introduced the “K to 12 Program” in the

Philippines, replacing the old Basic Education Curriculum (BEC). One of the assumed

results after the K to 12 Program was introduced is the readiness of the graduates of the

senior high school education to work. According to previous researchers, there are

factors that affect the employment status of an individual. The researchers used these

references as their basis in this study.

The purpose of this paper is to identify if the qualifications of employers and

interview results has an effect on the openness of employers to employ the graduates

from K to 12 Program. The researchers based the variables on the study of Cillo (2015).

In his paper, he found out that the qualifications the firms consider the most is the

internship experience. Through his interviews with his respondents, he found out that the

performance during interview matters also. For the Interview Results, the paper of

Iacovou, Shirland and Thompson (2004) was used as a reference. In the said paper,

they found out that students consider work culture as one of the most considered

preference. Work culture includes the work conditions of a job. The two studies were

used by the researchers as references in this paper to identify if the two independent

variables namely, Qualifications for Employment and Interview Results affect the

Employer’s Openness to Employment of the K to 12 graduates.

Conceptual Framework
 As seen on Figure 1, the two variables served as the input of this research paper.

This input was gathered through the use of a survey questionnaire that consists of a

multiple-choice question and open-ended questions which served as a way for the

researchers to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. The two processes that this

paper undergone to is data collection (for quantitative data), and transcription (for

qualitative data). Then, the data is set to undergo the process of triangulation wherein

the quantitative data gathered was used to validate the qualitative data and vice versa.

The results of the interpretation of both types of data was analyzed and served as the

output of the research paper. The results of the analysis were interpreted by the

researchers to form recommendations on the policy this paper is assessing.

Figure 1. Factors affecting the Employer’s Openness to the Employment of

Graduates of the K to 12 Program
 INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Qualifications of Firms
for Employment
 Work Experience
(varies per
Strand/Track) “Employer’s
 Internship Openness to the
TRIANGULATION Employment
 Written Examination
Results of the K To 12
Quantitative to Graduates:
Interview Results Qualitative Batch 2018”
 Common Expectations ANALYSIS
 Position Applied for
 Preferred Working
Conditions
 Work Area

This framework can be also be mathematically expressed as:

(±) (±)
eOpenK 12=f (iResults ,qFirms)

Where:

eOpennessK12: Employer’s Openness to the Employment of the Graduates of

the K to 12 Program

iResults: Interview Results

qFirms: Qualifications of Employers for Employment

The dependent variable in this study is the Employer’s Openness to the

Employment of the K to 12 Graduates (eOpennessK12). The independent variables in

this study are the Interview Results (iResults) and the Qualifications of Employees for

Employment (qFirms).
 In this study, grades are not considered as a determinant. Instead, the

Qualifications of Employers for Employment depends on the (1) work experience

(internship), (2) internship hours, and (3) written examination results. It is assumed that

there is a relationship between the variables. Generally, one can understand that in order

for an applicant to be employed, the preferences of the applicant and qualifications for

employment of the firm must meet. An applicant who does not prefer certain factors will

not apply for the job, thus, will affect the applicant’s decision to apply for the job. Also, if

the applicant does not meet the qualifications that the employers have set, the applicant

will not be able to land the job, therefore, affecting the employment status of the

applicant. The paper of Cillo (2015) found out that in order for an applicant to land a job,

certain qualifications must be met like the Internship experience and Interview

performance. On the other hand, Iacovou, Shirland and Thompson (2004) found out in

their paper that applicants consider their preferences when applying for a job - this

includes the work culture, where under “work culture” it involves the work conditions of a

job.

Statement of the Problem

The principal objective of this study is to determine the Effect of the Qualifications

of Employers and Interview Results on the Employer’s Openness to the Employment of

the First Batch of K to 12 graduates.

Specifically, it aims to answer the following queries:

1. What are the Interview Results (of K to 12 graduates) upon applying in firms including

the: (a) common expectations, (b) position applied, (c) preferred working conditions,

and (d) work area?

2. Is there a significant linear relationship between the Qualifications of Employers and

the Interview Results?

3. Do the explanatory variables, such as (1) Qualification of Employers and (2) Interview

Results, have a significant effect to the Employer’s Openness to the Employment of

the K to 12 Graduates when taken collectively and individually?

4. Do the qualitative data agree with the quantitative data gathered? (a) Were the

qualifications of employers met by the applicants? (b) Did the common expectations

of the applicants meet their common interests?

Hypotheses

This study validates the following null hypotheses to serve as a guide in the

analysis of the study:

1. There is no significant linear relationship between the qualifications of employers

and the interview results.

2. The following explanatory variables such as (1) Qualification of Employers and (2)

Interview Results have no significant effect in the Employer’s Openness to the

Employment of the K to 12 Graduates when taken collectively and individually.

Significance of the Study

The results of this study proved if the purpose of the K to 12 Program was

achieved, wherein a student who has successfully graduated senior high school is able to

work in firms even if they have not completed their college education.

In addition, the study provided recommendations after drawing conclusions from

the results of the statistical treatments and presented possible points for improvement or

recommendations which were drawn and concluded from the selected respondents.

More importantly, this paper will help other researchers at providing better

recommendations on how to improve the K to 12 Program. This paper will be of use to

future researchers who will study the same topic and/or concept.

The results of this paper proved if the goal of the K to 12 Program was achieved.

This is important to the students as it will give them an idea about the results of the K to

12 Program. This paper can also serve as a basis for firms to identify if they are ready to

hire K to 12 graduates in the future or determine the things or factors they should

consider when deliberating the hiring of K to 12 graduate applicants.

 Moreover, this paper is significant for policy makers because it will provide

recommendations on the Republic Act concerning the K to 12 program; it can be a basis

for the improvement of the program; and it will give the board who manages the program

an idea about its status.

Finally, employers may evaluate and compare the results of this paper to future

data to check if the first batch of graduates of the K to 12 Program and the succeeding

batches are ready and qualified to work in the companies they plan to apply for.

This study is also be beneficial to other researchers as it will give insights on the

processes and methodology used to conduct this study. It can also be used as a

reference of other researchers in conducting the same field of study.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study identified if firms located in Ortigas Center, Pasig City are employing or

are hiring applicants coming from the first batch of K to 12 graduates. This study focused

on the Ortigas-based companies coming from the Top 100 Companies of JobStreet.com

ranked according to the reviews its employees.

This survey research aimed to determine if firms are open to hire or are employing

applicants coming from the first batch of K to 12 graduates. This study did not consider

the highest educational attainment of the applicants who applied in the selected firms as

the applicants are graduates of the K to 12 Program. The researchers also did not

consider the type of employment of the respondents (contractual, working student,

regular, or part-time); instead, the researchers considered them as employed or

unemployed and drew conclusions from the survey that was conducted on the

respondents (employers).

Definition of Terms
 The following words defined are necessary for the understanding of the study:

Employment Status. It refers to the status of a person in terms of employment.

This also refers to the type of explicit or implied agreement of employment with the

employer or the firm that employees works for (Organization for Economic Co-operation

and Development, 2003).

Interview.  A formal discussion where someone (interviewee) is asked with

questions evaluate if he or she is fit for a job, study, etc. (Longman Dictionary of

Contemporary English Online, n.d.)

K to 12 Program. The program that is recently introduced in the Philippines. This

covers the old education system with the addition of two years of Senior High School

education to give time for the students to master skills and develop lifelong learning. This

also trains the graduates for tertiary or college education, development of average yet

useful skills which may be used for employment and/or entrepreneurship (The Official

Gazette, n.d.).

Qualification of Employers for Employment. The criteria that a firm has for

applicants in order for them to be able to land a job in their institution (Career Builder,

2009).

Salary. A predetermined amount of money agreed by the employer and the

employee as payment for the labor that employee has done for the firm. It is usually

given through the employee bank account every agreed-upon salary date (Cambridge,

2019).