Struggles of Senior High School Students with OFW Parents

         Parents would always want to give what is best for their children in order for them to live
a comfortable life, which leads them to work to earn more money and provide for their needs and
wants. Their choices to make money would be working for the government, working in a private
company, creating their own business, or working abroad. Overseas work has become a viable
solution in addressing the problems encountered by one out of every 12 Filipino families.
Although it has brought opportunities for a better and financially stable life, it has resulted in
inevitable consequences that could affect children who are left behind. (Lobos, 2019)

            In some parts of Poland, many parents work abroad and families are separated due to
parental migration. The result is less time strain on the absent parent and more strain on the
family at home. Children can then be affected emotionally because of the increased amount of
household chores and the need to engage in paid work. Immigrant parents may be absent for one
semester and return to Poland for another, which can affect academic performance. In the
Philippines, labor migration is a significant issue, and millions of Filipinos work abroad as
Overseas Filipino Workers. Many of these workers are parents who leave behind children in
order to provide for their families. The study on Overseas Filipino Workers with left-behind
children is locally relevant since it can provide insights into the experiences of Filipino Children
who are affected by migration and help identify strategies to support these children and mitigate
the negative impacts of labor.

         Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are an important source of income for many Filipino
families, but their absence can have a significant impact on children's well-being and academic
success. According to the Philippine Bureau of Statistics, the number of Overseas Filipino
Workers (OFW) or Filipino workers who worked abroad in the period from April to September
2021 is estimated at 1.83 million. Few studies show that older students who have two parents
influence their academic performance. Students with Overseas Filipino Worker parents can
experience feelings of abandonment and isolation, dissatisfaction, parental absence, and mental
illness, which can affect their academic performance and personal lives.

         Given the situation that may cause issues in social life, this type of problem
should be given adequate attention. Prior having to face problems in their academic performance
and lack of attention causing them to feel pressure towards their academics and drift apart from
their parents. The researcher wishes to learn if the children who were left behind had guardians
who served as primary teachers and emotional support givers. Examine their academic
achievement and behavior at school when their parents are absent. The researcher notices that
there is not enough attention given to the problem of how senior high school students struggle
with their academic performance but also with their daily life with the absence of their parents,
also having poor emotional support.

The purpose of this study is to identify the struggles of grade 11 senior high school
students with Overseas Filipino Worker parents in Kidapawan City National High School from
School Year 2022-2023. The results should help identify students' coping strategies in learning
and daily life. The current study deals with the struggles of high school students with Overseas
Filipino Worker parents. While efforts are being made to study their experiences, researchers
aim to focus on the difficulties they encountered so that the site can gain insight into their
situation. 

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study will help the researchers to assess the struggles of Senior
High School Students and what are their struggles and coping mechanisms while their OFW
parents are away. By conducting this research it will help us answer the following:

 To know what the Senior High School Students feel whenever their parents leave them
for a period of time.
 To know whether these students are pressured with their academic performance by their
OFW parents.
 To know how they get through the struggles with absence of their parents who work
abroad.

Statement of the Problem

The study seeks to uncover the difficulties that students face as a result of their parents'
absence while working overseas, both academically and on a daily level.

 What do these Senior High School Students feel every time they are separated from their
OFW parents during a short period of time?
 What are the factors that make them pressured with their academic performance while
their parents are away?
 How do they get through and what are their coping mechanisms for the struggles they
have with the absence of their parents?

Scope and Delimitation 

 This qualitative study aims to know the struggles among grade 11 senior high school
students with OFW parents. Using Case Study as a research design, the researchers will
investigate the struggles and coping mechanisms of the students. The study will be conducted in
Kidapawan City National High School within the school year 2022-2023, using the convenience
sampling method within 3-5 participants who are willing to participate in the study.

The study will collect data by doing a semi-structured interview with the participants on
what their struggles are as a senior high school student with OFW parents. The interview guide
for this research is research-made based on the objectives of the study. The interview questions
will be composed to collect information about the struggles and coping mechanisms of the
participants. To validate the study it will be checked by an expert panel to identify its relevance
and suitability to the research participants. 

In gathering the data it is done through an individual interview with the participants. The
interview will be secured through voice recording or video recording with the respondents'
consent. The respondents will remain as anonymous as well as the information given to us.
Narrative analysis will be done in analyzing the data given, it will help the researchers
understand their struggles and coping mechanisms from their own experiences.

Significance of the Study

The significance of this study will help identify the struggles of Grade 11 Senior High
School students with Overseas Filipino Working parents and how they cope up with it through
their daily lives, 

Senior High School Students - This study will benefit the students and help them realize and
allow them to show and express their own feelings towards their parents.

Parents -  Through this study, it will help parents, especially Overseas Filipino Worker parents,
understand the feelings of their children and raise awareness of the importance of their role in
improving the academics and growth of their children even if they are far apart.

Teachers - For the teachers to know how to help their students, to develop how to deal and 
understand what environment they are dealing with.

Definition of Terms

Overseas Filipino Workers – refers to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino
citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of time.

Migration - the movement of people over some distance and from the “usual place of distance”
to another.

Coping Strategies - actions or behaviors that individuals use to manage stress, often aimed at
reducing negative emotions or improving their overall well-being.

Hindrance - something that obstructs or delays progress or makes it difficult to achieve a goal.

Adequate - sufficient or satisfactory for a particular purpose; meeting the requirements or

expectations.

Struggle - a prolonged and difficult effort to achieve something, often involving obstacles or
opposition.

Viable - capable of working successfully; able to be done or achieve

Review of Related Literature (RRL)

Currently, more and more Filipinos are working abroad. Overseas Filipino Workers
choose to go abroad for various reasons, some say it is economically and politically superior to
other countries and some do it because they have no other choice. Working abroad can help find
better salaries and opportunities rather than staying in the Philippines. Children of the Overseas
Filipino Workers are oftentimes deprived of the attention and guidance from parents, which they
long for the care that their parents cannot fully give because of working away from them in order
to give their needs.

Based on Aquino (2019) as children begin to study, parents are important to help guide,
teach and lead their children; it is hard for a student to have no one to guide them especially in
their studies. . It is said that students with Overseas Filipino Worker parents are oftentimes
deprived of the attention and guidance from their parents, who long for their care that they fail to
provide due to working away from home to provide their basic needs and support them
financially 

In the study of Alano, Armada, Bermas, and Jumdain last 2019, with absence of time
investment in the family, this will result in dilemmas particularly to the children or the teenagers
in the family. This can influence the correspondence among parents and teenagers and  the
difficulties between the two parties.  Money is used to buy the necessities, pay for the children’s
education, and financial needs. Study says, children of  Overseas Filipino Workers parents are
prone to risk situations due to lack of effective supervision and absence of a real family
environment.

A comparative study by Lam and Yeoh (2019)  found that Increasing feminisation of
transnational labor migration has raised concerns over potential ‘care crises’ at home, and
consequently a ‘care deficit’ for children left in origin countries.Migrating for the sake of the
children’s future/education was the main reason why many Filipino parents in this study
undertook the migration gamble. Children with lengthy experiences of parental migration had
mixed feelings about their parents’ absence. Many were quick to cite the positive material
benefits gained from migration, including studying in a better school, having better toys and
wearing nicer clothes and shoes. However, they were fully aware that these perks came at the
price of a divided family and the pain of missing their absent parents.

A study by Muthukrishnan (2019) about Coping Strategies as Predictors of Academic

Acheivements, among the 11 coping strategies that were investigated during her study only 3
coping mechanisms ; problem focussed support; cognitive avoidance and seeking understanding
were identified as the significant predictors of academic achievement. Therefore, activities such
as discussions on building positive future orientation, seeking efficient social support, and
emotion regulation should also be included in the intervention programme as they enhance their
coping and better academic achievement. 
 Maculada (2018) concluded in their study that the impact of OFW parents on student
academic performance is understandable, but it does not mean that students and children have
not undergone some change or adjustment. At first, it can be very difficult to understand being
abandoned by their parents, especially small children. They may be emotional and stubborn, but
that is part of the process. Most heal over time when they reach the right age where our mindset
is in a state of maturity. As adults, we can easily perceive and appreciate the value of everything
in this world. One of those are the sacrifices of OFW parents. Aside from the fact that students
are striving for a better future, the main reason why they do well in their studies is to cultivate
the hard work of their parents. 

Family structure, household resources, the number of siblings competing for those
resources, and the parents' own educational attainment are often significant predictors of a child's
educational achievement. The long-term separation between parents and children is on the rise
due to parental migration from the Philippines. It was discovered by Arguillas and Williams
(2018), at least among older children, separations brought on by international migration
frequently have neutral or even favorable effects on educational attainment. Overall, girls
perform better than boys in terms of educational achievement, as males are frequently more
impacted by background factors, such as parent movement abroad.