K to 12 Program: A Combat to Poverty

One of the crucial problems that Filipinos and the Philippine Government
are trying to combat every day is poverty. Filipinos are having difficulty on how
to live and survive in a society with a lot of expectation and high demands.
Given this scenario, our government has placed education on its top priority as
one of its strategies to lessen poverty as well as to help Filipino families
alleviate their ways of living and socio-economic status. In this context,
technical and vocational education under the K to 12 Program was envisioned
to serve as springboard of progress for those who cannot afford to enroll in
Tertiary Education or Baccalaureate Degree Courses.

In accordance to the statements mentioned above, a drastic change in

the Philippine Educational System which is the K to 12 Curriculum was
implemented. It aims to provide sufficient time for the mastery of concepts,
skills and competencies, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for
tertiary education, middle level skills development, employment and
entrepreneurship since there is need for the Filipino graduates to be globally
competitive and at par with the graduates of other countries. In this regard,
our mindset of not embracing the curriculum with an open mind and
welcoming heart must be changed for this was materialized for the best
interest, welfare and brighter future of the Filipino youths and graduates.

Moreover, the K to 12 graduates are expected to be holistically developed

and well equipped with 21st century skills. These will become their edge in the
local and international arena of labor market. The latest speculation suggests
that those individuals who will prosper in the field of work are those who
possess soft skills and organizational skills andit is evident that the K to 12
curriculum prepares our Filipino graduates to acquire and develop these
necessary skills. Therefore, we must support the undertakings and good
intention of our government and the Department of Education.

Career Decision Making for Senior High School Students

 Choosing the right track for Senior High School is one of the common problems
among incoming Grade 11 students. This is the reason why students must be given
proper orientation and guidance regarding this matter so to enlighten and lead them
towards the right path and future success. There is a need for them to be informed
with a lot of information about Senior High School career pathways to ensure that
they will not be misguided and misfitted in the end. Many things are to be considered
to come up with a decision that would matter on their future career. Thus, career
decision making should not be taken for granted by every student since it will create a
great impact on their life someday.

The implementation of K to 12 Curriculum has added two years education

which is known as Senior High School. There are four tracks offered – academic track,
arts and design, sports, technology and vocational track. Each track has its own target
competencies and skills to be learned, developed and acquired by the students
enrolled under a specific track. Thus, to address the needs of our students in decision
making, the Department of Education in partnership with the different government
and non-government organizations have facilitated and conducted several trainings
and seminar workshops to equip career guidance advocates with skills in helping our
students to have a better and fruitful career decision.

One of the important things that students must learn is the career decision
making process. This involves five stages namely self-assessment, career exploration,
analyzing information, making a career choice and developing a plan of action. Self-
assessment would mean knowing your personality and interests as a person, your
passion and hobbies should be considered in looking for a career; Career exploration
on the other hand asks the students to collect information, do some research and
look for information about various jobs and even experience some of these in their
immersion ; Analyzing information is venturing on what are the job descriptions that
they wanted to be likely engaged in and know whether these jobs are still in demand
and what are the opportunities of these in the future time; In making a career
decision, students must have three choices to be considered; and lastly, developing a
plan of action or to already figure out a career decision. It is said that delaying this
process would likely have a negative result. In this regard, guidance advocates are also
doing their best to do their responsibility in disseminating relevant information and
practice what they have learned for the benefit of these students in the walking
towards their career pathways.