THE EFFECTS OF THE NEW NORMAL SCHOOL POLICIES ON

THE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR OF THE GRADE 12 STUDENTS OF

OPOL NATIONAL SECONDARY TECHNICAL SCHOOL

A RESEARCH

Presented to
The Faculty of Opol National Secondary Technical School
Taboc, Opol, Misamis Oriental

In Partial Fulfilment
of the Requirements for the Course
Inquiries, Investigations, and Immersion

by

Hibaya, Nazar Raquel R.

Sale, Bradley Sheen
Abay Abay, Andre J.
Espinosa, Trisha G.
Jaraula, Fatima
February 2022
 CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Introduction

Covid 19 changed the lives of many people, especially the behavior of students.

In the new normal, many health protocols are put in place like, wearing of face mask,

observing physical distancing, and sanitizing through the use of alcohol and soap from

time to time. These are some factors which are believed to cause changes in the behavior

of students inside the classroom. These changes may cause distraction to students and may

limit what they can do inside the classroom which may affect their academic performance.

However, there might be some instances where these changes lead to positive behavioral

effects like being more hygienic and being more responsible when it comes to observation

of rules and regulations that needs to be followed. This study focuses on the effects of the

new normal school policies on the classroom behavior of the Grade 12 students of

ONSTS.

Despite the fact that some studies show positive working-from-home experiences

(e.g., Dubey and Tripathi, 2020), The students' experiences are generally described as

distorted and leading to feelings of insecurity, anxiety, and hopelessness (Hajdúk et al.,

2020; Wang and Zhao, 2020). Students express concerns about economic implications for

society, health implications for their families and society, and their own educational and

career plans (Cohen et al., 2020). Many studies present that the pandemic is a disruptive

event causing stress that negatively affects students' learning performance and

psychological well-being. For example, studies show such adverse effects of lockdowns

as increased levels of students' social avoidance (Al-Rabiaah et al., 2020), anxiety

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(Kaparounaki et al., 2020; Kapasiaa et al., 2020), and a decreased quality of general life

(Kaparounaki et al., 2020). Moreover, self-isolating students suffer from physical and

mental health problems (e.g., insomnia, and depression) more than those who do not self-

isolate (Tang et al., 2020; Zhao et al., 2020; Zhou et al., 2020).

In terms of study experience, students are often dissatisfied with remote learning,

as they miss interactions with peers and teachers (de Haas et al., 2020). They perceive

their academic experience as difficult and worse than before the pandemic due to the

chaotic organization of online learning and the lower quality of online classes as

compared to traditional ones (Wilczewski et al., 2020). Moreover, a lack of Internet

infrastructure in some underdeveloped locations or unfavorable study conditions in the

household prevents students from full engagement in online learning (Kapasiaa et al.,

2020).

In connection this study will seek to find the positive and negative effects of the

new normal school policies to the classroom behavior of the students.

Statement of the Problem

This study will focus on the effects of the new normal school policies on the

behavior of the grade 12 students of Opol National Secondary Technical School SY

2022-2023.

Specifically the study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the behavioral effects that the Grade 12 students of ONSTS face with the

implementation of the new normal school policies?

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 1.1 What are the negative behavioral effect/s?

1.2 What are the positive behavioral effect/s?

2. Is there a change in the classroom behavior of the grade 12 students of ONSTS caused

by the new normal school policies?

2.1 Did they become more hygienic?

2.2 Did they become more irritable?

2.3 Did they become insecure about how they looked?

2.4 Did they become introverted?

3. What kind of classroom behavior did the new normal school policies leave on the

grade 12 students of ONSTS?

3.1 Did that behavior affect their classroom performance?

3.2 Did that behavior affect their way of communicating with their classmates and

teachers inside the classroom?

Objective of the study

Since the Coronavirus has spread worldwide many schools across the world are

having a hard time dealing with the new normal school policies. The objectives of this

study are:

● Determining the behavioral effects of the new normal school policies on

the grade 12 students of ONSTS.

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 ● Seeing if there are changes caused by the new normal school policies to

the classroom behavior of the Grade 12 students of ONSTS

● and knowing what kind of behavior did the new normal school policies

leave on the Grade 12 students of ONSTS.

Significance of the Study

The importance of this study stems from the absolute benefit it will bring to

students, teachers, and parents, who are all genuinely concerned regarding students'

behavior and want to enhance their self-confidence in their ability to learn and develop a

spirit of self-help. It aims to gain student cooperation as well as create policies that will

guide the students, create standards of quality for learning and teaching, and set out

expectations and accountability. Without these, schools would lack the structure and

function necessary to meet the educational needs of students in the new normal. Through

this research, the respondent will find out how the core values and their influence on

behavior may affect their characteristics and their own personal thinking in the future.

The outcome of the study is relevant to the following:

● Students. The respondent of this survey will have awareness and

information regarding the effects of the new normal school policies on

their personal characteristics and thinking.

● Parents. The result of this study will help the parents give their children

the right guidance so they can give them a bright future.

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 ● Teachers. This study will be very beneficial to the teachers that guide the

students. Through this research, teachers may purposefully discover how

students adapt to new normal policies and behaviors.

Scope and Limitation

The primary aim of this study is to determine the effects of the new normal school

policies on the behavior of the G-12 students of ONSTS. Two hundred fifteen (215)

students are to be involved in this study. Students are going to be picked randomly

through the use of a random sampling method. Behavioral effects are to be determined

through the use of survey questionnaires. This research will be conducted in the second

semester of S.Y. 2022-2023.

Theoretical Framework

School policies are rules that are intended to help schools teach students

efficiently, fairly, and safely as per the regulatory norms, and the Board to which the

Institution is affiliated. However, due to the strike of the pandemic, many school policies

were changed to accommodate the students in the time of the pandemic. It is to ensure

their safety whenever they go to school. There are many policies that are created, such as

the Wear Facemasks policy, observing social distancing, and regularly using alcohol.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned policies still have an effect on the students, particularly,

behavioral effects. According to Manfred Spitzer, 2020, Face masks can prevent the

spread of the virus SARS-CoV-2, in particular as this spread can occur from people with

no symptoms.nonetheless, covering the lower half of the face reduces the ability to

communicate, interpret, and mimic the expressions of those with whom we interact.

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Positive emotions become less recognizable, and negative emotions are amplified.

Emotional mimicry, contagion, and emotionality, in general, are reduced and (thereby)

bonding between teachers and learners, group cohesion, and learning – of which

emotions are a major driver. According to an article in sciencedirect.com, by using hand

sanitizers, students became dependent on it and instead of taking bath, or just washing

their hands with soap and water, the students would only sanitize their hands and spray

disinfectant on their bodies.

Conceptual Framework

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

Figure 1: The schematic diagram above will illustrate the connection between

the independent and dependent variables of this study.

In the independent variables, three factors should be considered in the study: The

wearing of facemask, observing social distancing, and usage of hand sanitizer regularly.

The dependent variable is the Student’s Behavior and its indicators are being more

hygienic, being more irritable, being introvert and causing insecurity. Wearing facemasks

is fundamental due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic as it keeps the virus out of our

body. Despite its positive effect, it can also provide negative effects towards the wearer,

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especially if it is prolonged. Prolonged mask use can cause headaches, rashes, acne, skin

breakdown, and impaired cognition. (Elishera Rosner, 2020) Due to the said effects, the

students may experience behavioral change. An example of this is when some acne

occurs. Having acne may cause someone to feel insecure as they may think that having

some acne is unsanitary by nature. The second factor would be the social distancing

policy. Social distancing may present the danger of social rejection, growing

impersonality, individualism, and loss of a sense of community. (Kevin Sikali, 2020) And

the last factor would be the regular usage of hand sanitizer. Same as the first factor, using

hand sanitizer regularly may cause skin irritation, which can cause irritation towards the

user.

Being more hygienic can be one of the behavioral changes in the students as using

alcohol regularly can make them more hygienic. Following many new normal school

policies might also make the students more irritable, following the social distancing

policy might also make them an introvert person, also, having acnes due to prolonged

usage of facemask might also make the students insecure about how they look.

Hypothesis

The study will be tested using the given hypothesis which will be expected to be

true at the end of the study:

Null Hypothesis: The new normal school policies have no significant effect on the

classroom behavior of the Grade 12 students of ONSTS.

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Definition of Terms

For better understanding of the study, the following terms are defined conceptually

and operationally:

● Mental health – a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and

emotional well-being.

● Behavior – The way the students act or how they do actions, especially towards

others.

● Academic Performance – The way the students perform at school, the way

students perform in each subject they have.

● New Normal – A new way of living and going about our lives, work, and

interactions with other people.

● School Policies – Rules that are intended to help schools teach students

efficiently, fairly, and safely as per the regulatory norms, and the Board to which

the Institution is affiliated.

● Face Mask – It is a protective mask covering the nose and mouth or nose and

eyes, which is used in the pandemic as a barrier against the virus.

● Social Distancing – Social distancing is a public health practice that aims to

prevent sick people from coming in close contact with healthy people in order to

reduce opportunities for disease transmission. It can include large-scale measures

like canceling group events or closing public spaces, as well as individual

decisions such as avoiding crowds.

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 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the studies and literature that are relevant to our study,

which is titled as New Normal School policies and its effects on the behavior of the

Grade 12 students of ONSTS.

Local Literature

The Philippines is in the process of adapting to the New Normal form of

education at present, and continued innovation of educators and active involvement of

other stakeholders are the driving force for its success. For the continuity of education

and for every school to attain its mission and vision which is to provide the quality

education to every Filipino Learner, the Department of Education implemented the

Modular Distance Learning, Distance Learning refers to a learning delivery modality,

where learning takes place between the teacher and the learners and the learners are

geographically remote from each other during instruction.

Modular learning leads to emergence of facilitations disease which helps students

to perform better than before (Lopez, 2004)

Foreign Literature

During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In December 2019, a pandemic outbreak of

unknown origin was reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The World Health

Organization declared a pandemic on March 12, 2020 due to global spread of SARS-

CoV-2 and thousands of deaths caused by coronavirus disease ( COVID-19 ) (Ciotti et

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al., 2020). COVID-19, a novel coronavirus, is wreaking havoc on society. There had been

195 million instances as of July 27th 2021, with about 4.2 million deaths. Furthermore,

restrictions on human movement to combat disease's spread (e.g. lockdowns, curfews)

are having an impact on the behavior of the students.

The rapid and unplanned change to teaching and learning in the online format

brought by COVID-19 has likely impacted many. To contribute to the investigation of

this change, this study focuses on the effects of the pandemic on student well-being,

which has been found to be as important to student lifelong success as their academic

achievement. Student well-being has been linked to their engagement and performance in

curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities, intrinsic motivation, satisfaction,

meaning making, and mental health.

The relationship between the perceived impact of COVID-19 on degree

completion and future job prospects and levels of student well-being. Student well-being

is decreased by their concerns for their degree completion but not by their concerns for

future job prospects. In turn, concerns for future job prospects affect student well-being

over time. These results suggest that in a “new normal,” universities could increase

student well-being by making support to student studies a priority, especially for

undergraduates. Also, universities should be aware of the students' changing emotional

responses to crises and ensure the visibility and accessibility of student support.

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 CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

The research techniques and procedures that will be used by the researchers to

address the particular issues methodologically in this study are covered in this chapter.

Specifically, it presents the research setting, research design, sources of data, data

gathering procedures, data analysis, statistical treatment, and the research instrument.

Research Design

The researchers will utilize quantitative methods to conduct this research. The

researchers will look for answers to the previously mentioned problem in order to assist

and accomplish the goals of this research. Furthermore, it makes an attempt to

comprehend the various effects on their way of life. The researcher will adopt a

descriptive type research design to understand the effects of the new normal school

policies on the classroom behavior of the grade 12 students of ONSTS.

Sources of Data

Primary sources of data will be gathered from the respondents which will include

survey questionnaires and observations. The secondary sources will be citations from

other studies that can further enrich the study. This includes books, journals, articles, web

pages, blogs, etc.

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Research Setting

The study will take place in Opol National Secondary Technical School under the

supervision of Mrs. Susana Rosales Go in Practical Research II.

Opol National Secondary Technical School is located at Taboc, Opol, Misamis

Oriental Philippines. Opol National Secondary Technical School is a school that is

accredited with TESDA that offers Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Courses (TVET) under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority

(TESDA) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED), it is also one of the best pilot

public technical schools in the country.

Opol National Secondary Technical School is one of the twelve pilot schools to

implement Senior High School (SHS) modeling course starting school year 2012-2013

(under the Strengthened Technical Vocational Education Program.)

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Respondents and Sampling Procedure

The sampling method that will be used in this study is random sampling using ko

draw lots method in picking the students to be involved in the survey and the respondents

that are chosen randomly to participate are students from Grade 12 senior high school

who are enrolled in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Accountancy,

Business, and Management (ABM), Technical-Vocational-Livelihood (TVL) strands that

available at Opol National Secondary Technical School, the batch year 2022–2023..

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers will write a letter to the senior high coordinator, Ms. Maria

Cecilia N. Gabas and to our research teacher Mrs. Susana R. Go requesting permission to

conduct the study in the premises of Opol National Secondary Technical School. If

approved, the questionnaire checklist will be completed by the researchers under the

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supervision of the research teacher. The survey questionnaire will be handed out by the

researchers to the Grade 12 ABM, HUMSS, and TVL students of the senior high

department of Opol National Secondary Technical School. The gathered data will be

counted and interpreted.

Data Analysis

Descriptive analysis is used in the study. It is a sort of data analysis that aids in

constructively describing, displaying, or summarizing data points so that patterns can

develop and will fully satisfy the conditions of the data. It gives you a conclusion about

the distribution of your data, helps you spot errors and outliers, and enables you to find

commonalities across variables, laying the groundwork for additional statistical analysis.

Statistical Treatment

The statistical treatment to be used in this study is inferential statistics. It is to test

the hypothesis by making multiple speculations from the data gathered. This is to test

whether the new normal school policies really does affect the behavior of the Grade 12

students of ONSTS.

Research Instrument

The researchers will be using open-ended survey questionnaires as a method to

gather data. There will be different sections in the questionnaire. The first section will

contain the profile description of the respondents. There, they will fill up the first section

with their profile such as their name, gender, age, and what section they are from. The

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next section will contain the questions that will be asked to the respondents. The last

function will contain the answers provided by the respondents.

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