Chapter I

THE PROBLEM: RATIONALE AND BACKGROUND

Rationale

It is a parallel learning system in the Philippines

that provides a practical option to the existing formal

instruction. When one does not have or cannot access formal

education in schools, ALS is an alternate or substitute. ALS

includes both the non-formal and informal sources of

knowledge and skills.

At the turn of the century, major changes in the field

of Non-Formal Education in the Philippines occurred such as

the change in the concept, the approach, the focus, and the

outcomes. Consequently, various programs evolved as did

problems and issues related to these reforms in Non-Formal

Education. The principal area of reform was the shift in the

concept from Non-Formal Education to the Alternative

Learning System (ALS) which is generally recognized now as

“the other side of basic education” (where the one side is

the formal education).

Presently, Non-Formal Education is viewed as one of

two components of the Alternative Learning System, the other

being Informal Education. However, informal education is a

very new program unlike non-formal education. Therefore, the

major programs now in operation which are the Basic Literacy

Program, the Accreditation and Equivalency Program and the

Indigenous Peoples Education Program are all non-formal

education interventions.

Many Filipinos do not have a chance to attend and

finish formal basic education (Grades 1-6 and Year 1-4) due

to many reasons. Some drop out from schools while some do

not have schools in their communities. Since every Filipino

has a right to free basic education, the Government

establishes ALS to provide all Filipinos the chance to have

access to and complete basic education in a mode that fits

their distinct situations and needs.

There are lots of Alternative Learning System programs

offered to the needs of the ALS students in order to help

them educational yet to find easy job who will help them to

earn for a living. Such program which are basically existing

in the districts are Program for illiterates: The Basic

Literacy Program (BLP) is a program aimed at eradicating

illiteracy among out-of-schools youth and adults (in extreme

cases school-aged children) by developing basic literacy

skills of reading, writing and numeracy. The other one is

the program for dropouts of formal Elementary and Secondary

Levels: Continuing Education: Accreditation and Equivalency

(A&E) Program is a program aimed at providing an

alternative pathway of learning for out-of-school children,

youth and adults who are basically literate but who have not

completed the 10 years of basic education mandated by the

Philippine Constitution. Through this program, school

dropouts

are able to complete elementary and high school education

outside the formal school system.

The ALS evolved from the non-formal education that has

been conducted by the government of the Philippines.

Previously, non-formal education was mostly concentrated in

instructions in livelihood skills training with basic

reading and writing incorporated in the module. Under the

current system, skills training and livelihood training have

been excluded and established as a separate education

system. Skills training had become a stand-alone program

with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority ,

TESDA (Philippines) taking charge of the program.

The ALS is a way for the informal and busy students to

achieve elementary and high school education without need of

going to attend classroom instructions on a daily basis just

like the formal education system. Secondary education has

now become a prerequisite in vocational technology and

college education in the Philippines. Livelihood trainings,

however, do not need formal or non-formal education in the

Philippines.

On the question about a balance between program

categories, if one were to exclusively categorize these ALS

programs either as literacy/ numeracy, equivalency, social

and life skills, or income generation, then, we can say that

the Basic Literacy Program is categorized as literacy and

numeracy, the Accreditation and Equivalency Program is

categorized as equivalency, the

Informal Education Program is categorized as social and life

skills, and the Indigenous Peoples Education as cultural

education. There is no income-generation program existing.

The category on life skills however, is a common thread that

runs across all Alternative Learning System programs because

these programs apply the life skills approach in teaching

and learning.

Background

The 1987 Philippine Constitution provides for the

recognition and promotion of other forms of education other

than formal education. Article XIV, Section 2, Paragraph (1)

declares that the State shall establish, maintain and

support a complete, adequate and integrated system of

education relevant to the needs of the people and society;

and paragraph (4) concisely encourages non-formal, informal

and indigenous learning systems as well as self-learning,

independent and out-of-school study programs particularly

those that respond to community needs.

The Governance Act for Basic Education otherwise known

as the Republic Act 9155 stipulates the establishment of the

Alternative Learning System (ALS) to provide out-of-school

children, youth and adults population with basic education.

The Distance Learning Program is an alternative

strategy to the formal training programs. This learning

package allows the student to study the DLP modules at

their own place and pace.

There are two major programs on ALS that are being

implemented by the Department of Education, through the

Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS). One is the

Basic Literacy Program and the other is the Continuing

Education Program - Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E). 

Both programs are

modular and flexible. This means that learning can take

place anytime and any place, depending on the convenience

and availability of the learners.

Formal Education system is classroom-based, managed by

trained formal school teachers. While ALS Non-formal

Education happens outside the classroom, community-based,

usually conducted at community learning centers, barangay

multi-purpose hall, libraries or at home, managed by ALS

learning facilitators, such as mobile teachers, district ALS

Coordinators, instructional managers at an agreed schedule

and venue between the learners and facilitators.

ALS is intended for out-of-school children, youth and

adults who need basic and functional literacy skills,

knowledge and values. These people are usually located in

far-flung communities with no or limited access to formal

schools.

In 2008, it was estimated that 40.95 million or 45% of

the total Philippine population did not complete basic

education. This population is considered the target groups

of the alternative learning system.

ALS programs are delivered in various modes such as

face-to-face, radio-based, eskwela/computer-based or

independent learning. Learning sessions take place at the

Community Learning Center or at any place convenient to the

learners. Teaching and learning may also take place at

the homes of the

learners, under the shades of trees, inside a church or

mosque, playground and any other available space and venue.

Republic Act 9155 defines Non-formal Education as “any

organized, systematic educational activity carried outside

the framework of the formal school system to provide

selected types of learning to a segment of the population”.

BALS has developed Informal Education courses that

include self-interest and life experiences programs. With

this construct, greater learning needs will be addressed and

funneled to promote lifelong learning in all streams of

education.

It is in this point why the researcher chose this study

in order to know the effectiveness of the ALS program and if

it has already gained a lot of learners who were already

achieve success in their learning needs and development.

Theoretical Framework

The present study relates the Constructivism theory

which is based upon the thinking of John Dewey, an American

philosopher (1859-1952), who questioned traditional

epistemology, Dewey instead came to believe that:

“…the theory of knowledge must begin with a consideration of

the development of knowledge as an adaptive human response to

environing conditions aimed at an active restructuring of

these conditions.”

According to Sawyer (2006) there is sound evidence now

showing that the “deep conceptual understanding of complex

concepts, and the ability to work with

them creatively to generate new ideas, new theories, new

products, and new knowledge” is best achieved in complex

social settings enabling processes that involve learners,

tools and other people in the environment in activities in

which knowledge is being applied. Traditional structures of

schooling “make it very hard to create learning environments

that result in deeper understanding”. These findings provide

backing for the experiential, project-, problem-based and

collaborative learning that many alternative schools have been

focusing on.

According to Greeno (2006) in a constructivist learning

environments, students gain expertise from a variety of

sources beyond the teacher . There is also evidence that the

knowledge society’s need for more integrated and usable

knowledge is best met by more integrated and deep (rather than

broad) curricula, as used by many alternative schools.

Nonetheless, it needs to be said that so much depends on

the professionalism of individual teachers, be it in

mainstream or alternative education. To assess the

effectiveness of any alternative pedagogical approach, it

would thus be necessary to take a closer look at teacher

professionalism and the measurable effects of learning.

Deep understanding (Carver, 2006) develops when learning

is integrated with reflection or meta-cognition. Most

effective learning takes place when teachers help students to

achieve their learning goals and to articulate their

developing

understanding through scaffolding, which “is gradually added,

modified, and removed according to the needs of the learner”

Collins and Sawyer (2006) said that effective learning

requires a high level of teacher professionalism in the design

of learning environments and experiences and the scaffolding

of individual students’ learning. To foster effective

learning, teachers, at alternative and mainstream schools

alike, need the ability to facilitate learning in individual,

small group and class settings. Wherever educational

alternatives combine customized learning with collaborative

group learning in authentic, inquiry-oriented projects,

provide their students with access to diverse knowledge

sources and assess them for deeper understanding and further

learning, alternative schools seem to be ahead of mainstream

education and can serve as meaningful models for the renewal

of mainstream education across the globe.

Conceptual Framework

IV

DV

A. Profile of the respondents in terms of:1.1 Age1.2 Sex1.3 Parents

Educational Attainment

1.4 Family Income

1.5 Environment

1.6 Special Skills

B. Extent of the Distant Learning

Level of LearningDevelopment of theAlternative Learning

Students

Figure 1. A research paradigm showing the interplay of theDistant learning program offered by ALS and the learningdevelopment of ALS students in the Public Central Elementary Schools

Conceptual Framework

The paradigm of the study shows the profile of the

student respondents and extent of the distance learning

program in the first box, secondly it shows level of the

learning development of ALS students in the second box.

Statement of the Problem

This study regarding the distance learning program and

the learning development of the Alternative Learning System

students, more specifically, the study attempts to answer the

following questions:

1. What is the profile of the students respondents:

1.1 Age;

1.2 Sex;

1.3 Parents’ Educational attainment of parents;

1.4 Family Income

1.5 Environment

1.6 Special Skills

2. What is the extent of the distance learning program

offered in terms of:

a. Livelihood program

b. Literacy

3. What is the level of learning development of the ALS

students?

4. Is there a significant relationship between he profile of

the respondents and the extent of the distance learning

program?

5. Is there a significant relationship between the profile

of the respondents and the level of the learning

development of the ALS students?

6. Is there a significant relationship between the distance

learning program and the level of learning development of

ALS students?

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were formulated in relation to

the research problems.

1. There is no significant relationship between he profile

of the respondents and the extent of the distance

learning program?

2. There is no significant relationship between the profile

of the respondents and the level of the learning

development of the ALS students?

3. There is no significant relationship between the distance

learning program and the level of learning development of

ALS students?

Significance of the Study

The result of this study will also be beneficial to the

following:

To the students because they will be given chance to

acquire the knowledge and skills even they did not attend

formal schooling and find job for a short period of time.

To the parents to support and guide their children in

encouraging them to continue their studies even in non-

formal education.

To the ALS teachers who will continue reaching the out

school youth and bring them back to school through this

distance learning program.

To the principals, who will guide and support the ALS

teachers in giving more programs and project for the out of

school youth.

To supervisors, for them for the continues support

and assistance to ALS teachers in giving more programs and

project intended for the ALS students.

To the school administrators who will find ways and

means to look for more distance learning program in reaching

the out of school youth.

To the policy makers, in order for them to give an

emphasis and importance to the different distance learning

program for the out of school youth in realizing the EFA

goal 2015.

To the future researchers that will give as a helpful

data that will be useful in the future research information.

Scope and Limitation of study

The focus of the study will find out the relationship

of profile of the students and the distance learning

program and the learning development of the ALS students in

the selected public central schools, Division of Laguna,

S.Y. 2015-2016.

The research will utilize the descriptive method in

which self-structured questionnaire is the means use to

supplement the needed information in this study.

Definition of Terms

The following terms were operationally defined in order

to give the readers a better understanding of the variables

involved in the study:

Age. It refers to the length of time or the number of years

these students exist.

ALS Students. It refers to the out of school youth who

attend non-formal schooling through the Distance

Learning Program of ALS.

ALS Teacher/Mobile Teacher. A permanent public elementary

teachers hired by the Department of Education to take

charge of the learning environment of the ALS students.

Alternative Learning Program. It is a parallel learning

system in the Philippines that provides a practical

option to the existing formal instruction. When

one does not have or cannot access formal education in

schools, ALS is an alternate or substitute. ALS

includes both the non-formal and informal sources of

knowledge and skills.

BALS – Bureau of Alternative Learning System

Distance Learning Program. is an alternative strategy to

the formal training programs. This learning package

allows the student to study the DLP modules at their

own place and pace depending on the convenience and

availability of the learners.

Environment. It refers to the place or location where the

respondents lives.

Family Income. In this study, it refers to total

remuneration received by the parents from a certain

work or job.

Informal Education – is a lifelong process of learning by

which every person acquires and accumulates knowledge,

skills, attitudes and insights from daily experiences

at home, at work, at play and from life itself.

Learning Development. It refers to the acquisition of

knowledge and skills through the non-formal and

informal education.

Literacy Program. It refers to the program to teach the

basic literacy skills of reading, writing and numeracy.

Livelihood Program. It pertains to the ALS program in a

modular form teaching the student think for a sort of

living suited to their skills.

Non-formal Education (NFE) – is any organized, systematic

educational activity carried outside the framework of

the formal system to provide selected types of learning

to a segment of the population.

Parents Educational Attainment. It means as the highest

education pursue by the parents.

Sex. It refers the molecular and genetic mechanisms that

determine whether an organism will be male or female.

Special Skills. The ability of one person to certain things.