Home⇛International Journal of Multidisciplinary Educational Research and Innovation⇛vol. 2 no. 3 (2024)

Straight to Work: A Case Study on the Experiences of Filipino K-12 Graduates who Directly Ventured the World of Employment

Paul Adriel C. Loquias | Marleonie M. Bauyot

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

This study is aimed to describe the experiences and challenges of Filipino senior high school (SHS) graduates who joined the workforce when it comes to their employability, to look into the skills they were able to acquire in the K-12 curriculum which are relevant to their current jobs, and to gain knowledge as to the reasons why they chose to proceed to employment instead of the other K-12 exits. The respondents of the study were SHS graduates from batches 2018-2023 who joined the workforce with at least 10 months of employment experience. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview to obtain the experiences and insights of the respondents. After interpreting the data using Thematic Coding Analysis, results of the study reveal that Filipino SHS graduates experienced setbacks in their employability due to lack of job experience and absence of work background. In addition, the K-12 curriculum was able to equip SHS graduates with soft skills and technical skills which have been helpful in the current work of the respondents allowing them to excel and perform very well; however, some experienced a mismatch of their acquired skills to their jobs. Lastly, it appears that the main reasons why Filipino SHS graduates proceed to employment are due to financial barriers such as putting first their family’s immediate needs, college scholarships, and financial aids are inaccessible. With these, there is a need to explore the work preparation component of the K-12 curriculum and to keep on collaborating and working with industry stakeholders to provide them with more empirical evidence as to what SHS graduates can do and raise clarity as to the appropriate niche for them in the labor market. Overall, the findings of the study provide a viewpoint on the career readiness of SHS graduates in the Philippines, a call to revisit the current educational policies and to strengthen its objective in improving the employability of the graduates, and also provide a reason to promote a better alliance between the education sector and the labor market creating an easier transition of SHS graduates into profitable employment and contribute to the country's economic development.



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