Bicol University

College of Education

Mid-term Exam in Guidance and Counseling

Name: Jason Roson Ecal

I. Make a psychological critique on the following issues/events. Explain your theory as they affect the
counselor in the organization and how they adopt to the demands of the workplace.

1. Trends, Challenges and Cultural Diversity in the School System.

2. Bureaucracy in your own School System
3. Professional Roles and Responsibilities

Trends, challenges and cultural diversities in the Philippine educational system.

Changing the educational system of the Philippines had been a tough challenge for both lower and
higher congress. If not with the strong support of the then President Benigno S. Aquino III, changing of
the Philippine basic education from 10 years to 12 will not be realized.

The idea of changing the educational system in the Philippines encountered a lot of criticisms from
skeptics. But the government of the then Pres. Aquino was determined to give utmost priority to the
proposed new curriculum. Below are some of the many reasons that justify the action of the
government in changing the trend in the Philippine education system.

1. The Philippines was the sole country in Asia that follow the 10 years basic education curriculum; and
one of the only three nations in the world with 10 years basic education.

2. When degree holders go abroad to find a better job, employers from other countries would ask them
to go schooling to at least compliment the 2 years lacking in their basic education, or if not, employers
will assign them to a position lower than what they have applied for.

3. The long time low National Achievement Test scores of students and the trends in International Math
and Science Study reflects the quality of education in our country. This only means that we need to
adapt the global educational system and we need to train and equip our teachers of the skills needed to
produce competent students with skills recognized by the world.

A woman who will give birth for the first time will certainly experience a very painful delivery. If I am to
apply parallelism in this psychological critiquing, I could say that the Philippine government had been
brave enough in realizing the change in the educational system despite many criticisms from people
including youth organizations, civic organizations, students, teachers and other academic institutions.

I believe that the skeptics will learn to support and appreciate the move of the then Pres. Aquino in
changing the educational system when the Philippines start to reap the fruits of the k+12 curriculum in
the near future. It is important to start the change now because ever y day or year that will pass will be
equal to every day or year that will be wasted.
The predicaments that students in the Philippines are experiencing at this present time are the same
challenges that the teachers, educational institutions and the Philippine government are facing, because
everything is interconnected.

The changing of the Philippine educational system is easier said than done. It is easy to plan but it will
take patience, resources and time to implement the change. If we are to bake a cake, we need to use
exact ingredients, measurements and we also need to consider the time element to complete the
baking process. The K12 curriculum was made into reality without carefully preparing all the ingredients,
measurements and the time element . The government of Pres. Aquino made it a point to implement
the k12 program before he ends his term as president. They have overlooked many things like:

1. Well-equipped teachers with regard to the new subjects that the k12 curriculum requires. Because of
the new tracks that the new curriculum requires, DepEd also needs to look for highly qualified and well-
trained teachers to teach the subjects in grades 11 and 12. Although the Technical Education Skills and
Development Authority (TESDA) helped the DepEd to train teachers in support to the k12 curriculum,
many of the newly-trained teachers lack the mastery in the subjects that they are to teach. As a result,
new high school graduates will receive low quality of education when they finish high school.

2. Lack of classrooms and school facilities. Despite the government's allocation of funds to the DepEd. to
build additional classrooms and improvement of school facilities, many schools up to this point in time
are still having hard time building and finishing school infrastructure; until now, some schools still
implement the morning and afternoon sessions. This strategy affects the quality of learning of students
and will affect the quality of the learners and future manpower of the Philippines.

3. Books production. It is not a secret to all that some public school books contain information that are
not factual, some are discriminatory to other profession and some are discriminatory to other culture. It
is important that the DepEd. as a government agency directed to assure the credibility of public school
materials, should create a commission or a separate agency that will once and for all review all the
public school books to ensure credibility and reliability of contents.

4. Decline of quality English. English is the second language of the Philippines, but do Filipinos really can
speak English? Maybe yes, but What kind of English do most Filipinos use? The Philippines was named as
the World's best country in business English proficiency according to a recent study by Global English
Corporation in 2012, even beating the United States, but if we will notice nowadays, mainstream media
would dub English movies with the Tagalog language to catch the attention of Filipinos who do not feel
comfortable with the English language. As a result, a decline in the English proficiency of most Filipino
students.

With regards to cultural diversity in the Philippine education system, the Philippine government and the
National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Department of Education should also keep an eye
to the effect of cultural diversities in the Philippine education. Although exploring other countries'
culture is not a bad thing, it is important the Philippine government, DepEd. and the national
Commission for Culture and the Arts should give emphasis in our own culture to maintain and
strengthen nationalism and patriotism which shows significant decline because of the influence of other
culture like the Korean culture, Western and many others. Filipino students are fond of embracing the
culture of other countries for the sake of being in line with fashion and trends.
Bureaucracy in our own school system.

Bureaucracy as defined by Merriam Dictionary is a system of government in which most of the important
decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.

Bureaucracy is not bad at all because even if the bureaucrats are not officially elected
individuals in the government, they possess the skills that will make the task of the president easier.
Through the bureaucrats, laws and rules will be implemented by them.
In the school where I worked with for the past three years, I have observed extreme bureaucratic
governance. Even if there are existing laws and regulations that should be followed by Higher Education
Institutions, they make their own rules and regulations that serves their vested interests.

For example: the no permit, no exam policy of the school. The Commission on Higher Education served a
memorandum that "no permit, no exam policy" is prohibited during final examination. Meaning, all
students should be allowed to take the final exam even if in the absence of an exam permit. But the HEI
where I worked with have imposed their own rule and did not recognize the memo served by the CHED.

Bureaucratic governance in school affects the chance of students to enjoy their privileges as
students. Another example is the collection of athletic fees, athletic fees are supposed to be used during
intramurals, but the school where I served did not use the said fund religiously, because the moment
they receive the athletic fee from students, they would use them or redirect the money in other projects
or expenses of the school. As a result, during intramurals, the admin will tell the student council that
they have no money to fund the activity and would ask the student council to help the admin solicit or
raise funds to make the activity happen.

The disadvantage of bureaucratic governance is when the bureaucrats serve their own vested
interest and let the institution, students, teachers and employees suffer.

The trends, challenges and Cultural Diversity in the school system and the bureaucracy in school system
are things that a counselor should be knowledgeable about. He has to be updated of any changes in the
school system, nationally or locally. A counselor must have independence in organizing his strategies in
order to serve according to his purpose as a counselor. Change as we know is- constant and so the
different approaches of a counselor. Changes could affect counselor's organization, but the most
important thing is that he adopt appropriately to the demands of the workplace. appropriate adoption
means, going with the change without sacrificing the integrity of his profession as a counselor.

II. Create an action-oriented guidelines that tell heads of institutions what they can do to "humanize "
the system.

Bureaucracy, other school policies and global pressure to produce globally competitive students have
led to dehumanization of schools in our country. The government is now very keen in producing globally
competitive graduates. They changed the educational system from k10 to k12 to assure that students
will be recognized as real professional by the world. Students nowadays are taught intensively giving too
much attention on skill development. They are taught to have pride in gaining recognitions around the
world at the expense of preserving the Filipino values and traditions. To dehumanize the system, I
propose to the DepEd. the following guidelines:
1. Identify the dehumanizing sections of the current educational system of the Philippines.
2. Study the effects of these dehumanizing sections to the following:

a. Filipino traits and values

b. educational institutions
c. personal development
d. professional development
e. nationalism
f. patriotism
g. family
h. community
i. country as a whole
j. competitiveness
k. youth
l. economy

2. From there, the DepEd. shall make recommendations before the congress should there be a need to
amend any existing flaws in the current educational system.

3. Upon passing the bill into a law, the concerned government agencies like the DepEd. and Ched shall
call for a assembly of school divisions superintendents and school heads who will also disseminate the
said information to all the teachers in the entire Philippines for proper implementation.

4. Concerned government agencies shall consistently monitor the implementation of the new laws that
will dehumanize school systems.

III. " A happy child is a productive child". Are they?

Happiness leads to happy life. Scientifically, if a person is generally not happy, his health will be affected
by the his thoughts, thus, an unhealthy body, mind and spirit. The two motivations in psychology-
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation both motivates a child in doing a task. Although extrinsic motivation
can make a child be productive, this kind of motivation is limited especially if the child is not fed with
love, attention and care. If it is so, the child will become unhappy and unproductive, even in the
presence of extrinsic motivation. The happiness of a child is very simple, it is not difficult to make a child
happy and productive. If we are to consider the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a child has to enjoy his
basic needs. When the parents satisfy the basic needs of their child, the next need can easily be met
until he meets love and belonging needs. This third needs affects the real happiness of a child. When
you are fed with love, care and belonging of your parents, you will be motivated by the feeling that your
parents supports your every endeavor. Since a child want to make his parents proud and the child
learned how to show gratitude to his parents, his motivation is intrinsic. He will become productive even
in the absence of extrinsic motivation, because he likes the feeling of being loved by his parents. The
love and care from his parents will lead him to be genuinely happy and productive child.
IV. Describe your work profile and explain the psychological implications of your response to your career
path as future counselor.

V. As teacher/head teacher, you often handle disciplinary cases. Over the past six months, one of the
teachers has referred an unusually large number of cases to your attention. This fact, combined with
other information you have received, leads you to believe that there is a serious breakdown of discipline
in school. Would you:

____a. Ask the teacher to be more conscious of the problem and to take steps to remedy the situation.
Leave the future steps to the teacher.

____b. decide to have the teachers be reassigned to a group of students where fewer disciplinary
problems have existed, using the information you already have in hand.

____c. consult with the teacher to get an overview of the problem or, you make a decision on the
appropriate action of the teacher using your own opinion of what should be done.

____d. sit down and discuss the problem at length with the teacher. Together you would try to find the
problem sources and solution.

Why? Explain your answer.

My answer would be "d" - sit down and discuss the problem at length with the teacher. Together you
would try to find problem sources and solution.

In the situation mentioned in the problem, I, as a counselor should not jump into a conclusion that the
teacher is at fault. I should not judge very fast without considering every detail of the problem.

First, I will request for the attention of the teacher and ask him to say something about his students in
general.
Second, I will also ask him to profile his students to check their individual family background including
their parents' educational attainment, jobs and other factors concerning his students' families way of
living.
Third, I will ask the teacher to categorize the problems that he encountered from the worst problem to
the least problem.
Fourth, I will ask the teacher questions like: how much does he love his job, how much does he like
teaching, how much does he like kids, how patient he is when dealing with kids and other questions
concerning his profession and personal life (with his permission). I will ask him to submit his own
assessment of his own problem and his students' problems.

I will do these things because I need to understand where the teacher is coming from, his way of
disciplining his students, his point of views with regards to the problems of the students and his
recommendations. From there, I will assess the root cause of the problems. Could it be because of the
teacher, students, community or inside their families? After assessing everything, I will call again the
attention of the teacher to sit down and discuss the problem at length to help the teacher address his
problems with his students.
http://www.academia.edu/1525168/K12_Educational_System_in_the_Philippines_-_A_Policy_Paper
http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/05/30/rushed-trainings-lack-of-materials-mar-implementation-of-k-to-
12/
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ph--world-s-best-country-in-business-english.html
 Bicol University
College of Education

Mid-term Exam in Guidance and Counseling

Name: Marites Balantes Futol

I. Make a psychological critique on the following issues/events. Explain your theory as they affect the
counselor in the organization and how they adopt to the demands of the workplace.

1. Trends, Challenges and Cultural Diversity in the School System.

2. Bureaucracy in your own School System
3. Professional Roles and Responsibilities

The educational system of the Philippines is a complicated system. The government let so many years
passed before they realize the need to change the system. During the time after the liberation from the
United States, after the Philippines gained independence, the teachers during those times are those
people who are available to teach, regardless of their educational attainment. if we will realize, people
then can speak both Spanish and English language. The Filipinos during those times are competitive and
popular in the world and in Asia. The Philippines was the first to have an airport, and trains in Asia. We
even taught people from China and Vietnam in agriculture. But what happened to the Philippines? As
time goes by, educational systems' quality goes down compared to the educational systems of other
countries like Singapore, Japan and South Korea.

The Bureaucratic governance may have affected the educational system of the Philippines because of
politics, bureaucratic ambitions and corruptions. These factors affect the entire school system of the
Philippines. The effect manifests in the rate of scores in the National Achievement Test and other
international-based examinations. The standard of education dropped. The government should take this
problem seriously as it will affect every Filipino and status of our country as a whole.

II. Create an action-oriented guidelines that tell heads of institutions what they can do to "humanize "
the system.

1. Search for the real culprit why the educational system in the Philippines is dehumanizing the system.

2. Make new regulations that will address the identified problems in the educational systems.

3. Send teachers to proper education and training to equip themselves in strengthening the educational
system of the country.
4. identify the real needs of Filipino students and address the needs promptly.

5. involve the parents in honing Filipino students' behavior and competence.

III. " A happy child is a productive child". Are they?

Yes, they are! Happiness is the bottom line why children do what they do. If they are happy with what
they do, they will make the best out of it will soon have mastery of it. In school, if children are given
stars whenever they give right answers to a question, they look forward to go to school again the
following day. They are motivated to learn and be productive because of the feeling they get whenever
they are given stars. They feel happy and this proves that a happy child is a productive child.

V. As teacher/head teacher, you often handle disciplinary cases. Over the past six months, one of the
teachers has referred an unusually large number of cases to your attention. This fact, combined with
other information you have received, leads you to believe that there is a serious breakdown of discipline
in school. Would you:

____a. Ask the teacher to be more conscious of the problem and to take steps to remedy the situation.
Leave the future steps to the teacher.

____b. decide to have the teachers be reassigned to a group of students where fewer disciplinary
problems have existed, using the information you already have in hand.

____c. consult with the teacher to get an overview of the problem or, you make a decision on the
appropriate action of the teacher using your own opinion of what should be done.

____d. sit down and discuss the problem at length with the teacher. Together you would try to find the
problem sources and solution.

Why? Explain your answer.

My answer is letter D. I will call the attention of the teacher and will ask him everything about how,
when, why and where do these problems take place. I will solicit explanations from the teacher for me
to understand the very root of the problem. also, I will call the attention of the involved students to ask
them of their opinion of the matter. I will try to gauge where the problems started. Base from the
information that I will get from both of them, I will try to weigh things to arrive into a sound conclusion.
I will again, invite the teacher and will explain to him the very root of the problem to help him give
solution to the problem.