Choice of Strand among Senior High School Students: Perspectives, Problems and Opportunities

Philippine Educational System has taken a great innovative stride in adopting the Senior High School (SHS) of K to 12 Program which was implemented School Year 2016 – 2017. One of the leaps that the program has introduced along with it was that a senior high school student is expected to be enrolled to the Senior High School Track that is in line with their interest, ability, skills and higher education course they wish to pursue. However, it has been a perplexing question among senior high school students what track and strand to take that is in line with their choice. The researcher as a teacher wanted to find out what are the choices of strand among students in senior high school focusing on the perspectives, problems and opportunities with the hope that it can give insight to senior high school students, parents and mentors to understand the choice of strand among senior high school students. And possibly the result of the study may lead to the understanding why the importance and the need on having a Career Guidance Program for Grade 10 students before taking Grade 11. For social entrepreneur Filipino French Henry Motte-Muñoz, the key is to help students determine the best senior high school track for them and the university courses they can eventually take should they wish to get a college degree. In the last quarter of 2015, Motte-Muñoz launched Edukasyon.ph, an online platform that aims to solve the labor mismatch by giving students a comprehensive look at where the choices will lead them: "Out of the one million and a half kids who will finish high school, only 300,000 at most will go on to higher education, graduate, and find a job," he said. That means there are more than one million Filipinos who are left behind because they cannot afford college, or because they go in and drop out or end up taking the wrong subjects (Schnabel, 2016). Thus, the senior high school students’ choice of track and strand must be in line with their capability and interest to avoid labor mismatch, unemployment and drop out. It is in this premise that the researcher was desirous to find out the choice of strand among senior high school students and their perspectives, problems and opportunities. The purpose of this research is for the senior high school students to have an overview on the status or challenges on a certain strand as well as the opportunities that could be available to them with their choice of strand. This research study also aims to provide an insight to stakeholders of education like the community constituencies, school administrators/ operators, parents, curriculum designers and educators in general and may provide direction also to senior high school students on their choice of strand and track.