PRACTICAL RESEARCH IN THE MIDST OF ACADEMIC PURSUIT: THE TRAVAIL OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF KAPALONG NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Through the Enhanced Basic Education curriculum, all senior high school students need to undergo research writing through the core subjects Practical Research 1 and 2. This is to meet the newest trends in education which requires a productive research culture in the different academic institutions. With this premise, the purpose of this undertaking was to explore the experiences, coping mechanisms and insights of the students while taking up Practical Research 1 and 2. Furthermore, the study employed qualitative research using phenomenological approach. The data were gathered from 14 Grade 12 students of Kapalong National High School who were the participants of the study. Through the In-depth Interview (IDI) with seven (7) participants and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with seven (7) participants, the result showed that the latter had experienced apprehension, academic stress and pressure and financial and other resources pressure. In terms of coping mechanism, the emerging themes were grades, diversion of attention and peer-help seeking. Moreover, useless and impractical and fine-tuning of teachers’ virtues surfaced as themes for the insights of the participants. Hence, the Department of Education should conduct a periodic evaluation to the implementation of the curriculum. Such evaluation should be a collaborative works of practicing educators, DepEd personnel particularly the focal persons of the research program, school administrators, classroom instructors, students, parents and other stakeholders. Keywords: Academic Stress, Academic Pressure, Financial Pressure, Practical Research, Philippines