This study determined the extent of effectiveness of the Project C.A.R.E Program in improving the technical performance of Indigenous students. The research utilized the Pre-test and Post-Test single group design to establish a scientific basis on the effectiveness of the program. The rubrics for product and process authentic assessment were employed to determine the technical performance of the indigenous students.
The participants of this study were Indigenous Senior High School TVL students at Esperanza National High School. Technical performances of the participants were assessed and evaluated by the TLE teachers through rubrics. The program lasted for three months which included the skills demonstration, students’ skills demonstration and assessment, and community participation.
Results of the studies show that the pre-test scores of the respondents were revealed as fair, which means that the students were able to demonstrate the basic skills but had committed several errors on the given criteria and had failed to manage their time. However, when the post-test was administered after taking the CARE program, there was a significant difference interpreted as Good which means that the students were able to improve their technical skills. The result showed that the CARE program has brought positive changes on the technical performance of the students.
Thus, Community-Based Assistance for Relevant Education [CARE] program was deemed to have contributed to the improvement of technical skills of SHS IP students. Therefore, the results of the study conclude that the higher the extent of utilization of Project CARE program to the students, the better their technical performance.
Keywords: Technical Skills, Community-Based, Indigenous, Senior High School, Tech-voc
CONTEXT AND RATIONALE
“Sa Esperanza, ESKWELA ang UNA”, a slogan of Esperanza National High School, means that education is essential to the community. The school envisions offering education in a holistic approach relevant to the community and to accommodate all types of learners. These types of learners include the minority groups of the community like the indigenous students in Brgy. Esperanza. The indigenous students are struggling to cope up with the demand of the K to 12 curriculums with the limited financial resources and opportunity due to their socio-economic conditions and orientation. Also, this current condition is worsening due to the pandemic.
COVID-19 has drastic implications for the operation of school. It opens several challenges and opportunities that change how the teacher should teach and how the students should learn. The teaching and learning process is done remotely through the modules. However, there are limitations and disadvantages of the options being offered during pandemic especially on the Technical Vocational Livelihood (TVL) track. It aggravates the limited learning resources like tools and equipment needed, and unstable internet connections resulting in limited learning experiences and opportunities.
The TVL track focuses on practical skills and motivation to work. These practical skills are often acquired through hands-on activities in school workshops and laboratories, hands-on experience through work immersion and exposure to small industries. With the current situation, available approaches and alternatives being offered during the remote learning are insufficient to compensate for the hands-on learning experiences that can be offered by face-to-face set-up and these are not found in the respective home of indigenous students. Thus, the Community-Based Assistance for Relevant Education (CARE) program will be initiated to provide meaningful learning experiences and opportunities that can enrich and enhance the technical performance and skills of TVL indigenous students during this pandemic.
The closure of schools during pandemic and the needs of indigenous students motivates the teachers to innovate to surpass the challenges. The CARE program is advocating the Community-based Learning (CBL) framework. It is a teaching practice that incorporates students’ volunteerism, experiential learning, and curriculum for academic credit (Mooney & Edwards, 2001). Also, its models incorporate problem-based service-learning, direct service-learning, and community-based research (Mooney & Evans, 2001; Dallimore, Rochefort, & Simonelli, 2010). Thus, it is a high impact practice which can improve student retention and engagement, and help students better absorb, retain, and transfer knowledge.
Innovation, Intervention, and Strategy
The Community-based Assistance for Relevant Education or CARE program aims to enrich learning experiences and opportunities, and to improve the technical performance of indigenous TVL students by providing community assistance and relevant opportunities and meaningful learning experiences in the community. The CARE program will devise portable learning tools and equipment designed for the community in order for the indigenous students to perform the competencies set by the TVL curriculum. It has a series of skills demonstration activities that are community-based and realistic in nature. It includes student-demonstration activities with community participation and evaluation to ensure high expectations and performance from the TVL students. Also, it employs pretest and posttest single group design to establish the effectiveness of the program. If the CARE program is proven scientifically effective, then replication of this program is highly encouraged to sustain the mission-vision of DepEd Koronadal in advocating quality education.
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