Advancing Brilliance in Character Program: Basis for Human Resource Program

Chapter I
PRELIMINARIES

Abstract
This dissertation focus on values construction pedagogy as it manifest the understanding and teaching strategies of teachers engaging in the practice, and by the means in which the values education serves as a socio-constructivist concept and follow its application on diverse classrooms and the results of successes, hesitations and negotiations is of primary interest of this study. Further, the study will hopefully emphasize the possible relevance of the latest Department of Education thrust; the “Advancing Brilliance in Character Program” which is guided by the humanistic framework of the DepEd’s Values Education Program maintaining that at the core of development is the dignity of the human person as the subject and object of all initiatives, as well as maintaining the seven dimensions of a human person and puts in the related core values that are adhered to most significantly of all people.
The ABC program which aims to improve the teaching in values education and enhance the character of every student will be the focal topic of this dissertation; the study will determine how it will serve as a basis for a human resource development program. The study will propagate the idea that a values education program can serve as a basis for developing the human resource in the country. How values education is articulated, understood in the vocabulary or expressive techniques and what will it impart to an individual’s character development. The purpose is to understand the process by which the educational ideal translates the permanent values of the society and incorporate it to an individual. It seeks to find whether the enhanced values education program will produced any changes on the student’s level of humane values.
Research on values education takes place within many disciplines and at many levels, ranging from various analysis and field observations. Many studies have focused on tightly controlled and isolated phenomena that try to eliminate irrelevant data and providing stabilized results. Unfortunately, it is difficult to apply these results to realistic learning situations, which tend to be uncontrolled and strongly influenced by the environment. For this reason, such methodical approach is not feasible for the study.
In order to determine the absolute answer for the study, systematic methods of qualitative research and analysis will be use in conducting it, in which the study will not limit its data gathering in isolated phenomena but rather will try to broaden its network by also observing other schools which had already implemented the said program in order to come up with best results.
Moreover, the intricate circumstances of schools and teachers implementing this program will provide context for a qualitative case study that will be conducted from an interpretative epistemological perspective.

Introduction:
Values act as a powerful leaven in the life of people - the life which today is fraught with conflict-and-dissension-ridden situations in which the hearts are stricken by the canker of greed, corruption and incompetence; and its remedy, under the existing conditions is in noose, the more it thugs the more it chokes. It is for the reason that no system of human organization that is false in its very principle, in its very foundation can save itself by any amount of cleverness and efficiency in the means by which that falsehood is carried out and maintained in any amount of superficial adjustment and tinkering, let alone and only education based on permanent values that can withstand the test of time.
Typically, our society relies heavily on education when it comes to the character development of a certain individual, for the reason that education serves as a double edged tool with two distinct functions: first to provide adequate knowledge to its target clientele and the second one is to shape a person’s attitude and values that he/she may become a good and a productive citizen in the future.

Education has long evolved since it was conceived, from concentrating predominantly on the academic portion now it has come to incorporate in its system the importance of an education program which pertains to values and moral issues, not only as an academic exercise but rather partnered with obligations of schools and teachers in imparting personal and social development to their clientele.
Values education is now inherent in every learning institution as it seeks to provide character development for every individual it caters, considering that the broad objectives of this program in the primary and secondary levels to begin with lies on the development of an individual who recognizes, accepts and internalizes his/her role as a responsible person in accordance with the permanent values of a democratic society to the extent that his/her actions are governed within the boundaries of this values.
At present, man-made values are directly and indirectly in a subject or across the curriculum; aside from a values education program, values oriented contexts commonly occur in the teaching and learning of languages and social studies as well in physical education and social activities wherein extra-curricular activities like sports, clubs and societies also incorporates values as it also plays roles in the inculcation of desirable behaviors in terms of interaction with one another.

The school culture, referring to the total environment, both physical and non-physical has an influence for embedding values in the moral fiber of the student cartel. In some schools, values have been made centerpieces of the curriculum, special activities are being exercised for students to discuss the meaning of values and sometimes set a day in a week to undertake projects such as communication services, to put values in practice. In addition, values are sprinkled into the formal curriculum where texts are discussed from moral and ethical standpoints.
All of this is often done while the school adheres to the code of behavior collectively negotiated at the outset of the year that draws on the values of the national framework. Moreover, the values that is the focus of the curriculum in every school has been integrated through the discussion of the school community about the agreed code of desirable conduct, thus the learning and teaching process becomes saturated with values. (McGohlen, Meghan Kathleen, May 2004)
By putting values at the center of the curriculum, schools establish ideal conditions for learning invoking quality teaching. As the values becomes common practice, they have a positive effect on learning, giving respect for example requires that one should listen carefully to what other people is saying. Practicing care and compassion might involve helping someone in learning a task. Showing respect and compassion can lead the students to developing greater self-respect. Having greater self-respect helps one to do best, such environment in provides a more enhancing learning.
In implementing their values education program, schools often adopt a student-centered-teacher-guided approach, simply put it means that teachers identify the general terrain for teaching and learning. This is a methodical approach since the teachers are better equipped and placed to know where to commence, however with this approach then allow the students to take part and take the lead. The terrain is the set of values that has been broadly agreed upon by the school community and to be explored by the students. (McGoghlen, ibid. 2004)
The notion of exploration in this approach carries quite a particular meaning for the school since it involves a continuous process of trying to put the agreed values into practice, when teacher’s step back and let the pupil’s lead, they served as a model in which values is practiced wherein the teachers showed respect for the students and their contributions. For this reason, students may feel motivated by this; they develop a real appreciation of the values through the interpersonal interactions that occur in the classroom.
Through these classroom interactions the students acquire unfettered capability to reflect, think and look back to some event, inter-personal episode or personally confronting experience, consider the impact it had and how to plan things to work better next time. In doing so, students became self-reliant individuals as they gain self-knowledge and become self-managers. And as these interactions are formed by applications of the values, when added to the opportunities of putting it to practice, the school will begin to live out the values in the national framework.
The latest thrust of the Department of Education Regional Office VIII, “Advancing Brilliance in Character Program,” which is being initiated in schools within the region is the brainchild of its Regional Director Sol Matugas, is guided by the humanistic framework of the DepEd’s Values Education Program that maintains human dignity as subject and object of all initiatives even at the core of development, which also maintains the human person’s seven dimensions and put in the related core values that are adhered by most people.
The said program aims to improve the teaching in character values education and enhance the character development of every pupil and student through lesson exemplars, and the teachers were given task to inculcate in the minds of the children two or more positive values which are essential in character development. The Curriculum for Values Education under the “Advancing Brilliance in Character Program” would consist of values drawn from positive Filipino values such as being Makatao (Humane), Maka-Diyos (Godliness), Pagkamakabayan (Love of Country), Pakikipagkapwa (Brotherhood) and Pagkamakalikasan (Harmony with nature) which will be reflected through the teaching process. (DepEd, 2006)
These values would be essential to ensure the healthy interaction between the individual and his/her family, peers and society. For reinforcement, consolidation and inculcation, these values would be repeatedly taught at every level of teaching, though the values that would be taught would be the same, the scope and emphasis will differ according to the depth and complexity of the issues treated. The scope of discussion for every value would also widen up to keep at par with the maturity of the students. The reflection of these values in the student’s behavior would be the end product of the teaching-learning process and will be seen in the widening relationship being projected within his/her family, peer and school that would be expanded on national and inter-national level in the future.
One of the questions that the study seeks to answer is the relevance of the said program to the human resources management or in other words how can it served as a program that also opts develop the human resource by honing the character and the personality of individuals indulging in the working force that they may become globally competitive not only in terms of skill but also when it comes to moral fiber.
Personality and character is the core or the kernel of man’s morality. In the working field it serves as the basis for human resource recruitment, as magnified by the various requirements being asked by an employer as well a rigorous personal assessment of individual’s character in order to justify the their being a competent and responsible individual. Therefore, with the more integrated values education program which aims to inculcate early in the minds of the children positive values it would be suffice to make an assumption that the said program can also serve as a basis or in a more absolute point of view as a program for human resource development.
The study will seek to determine the possible result of the said program of the Department of Education, and as stated above know the contributions that it can provide to the development of the human resource as well as determining the possible socio-economic impact that the said values program can bring in the future. By and large, the ideological and social foundations of this assumption will be worked out by using systematic methods of research and analysis.
The ideological basis would provide the foundations for the cognitive inputs as well as all outputs of the socio-constructivism pedagogy of values, in which the foundations might give a positive economic foresight for an instance, if the said program will have positive output and potentially develop the future human resources of the country it will bring out economic stability, and as well as personal and social developments as values is embedded in our education system.







Statement of the Problem:
This dissertation seeks to determine the relevance of the ABC program to the character formation of the children and how will it correlates with the development of the human resources. It plans to expound the understanding on the core of the ABC program and the relevant circumstances that it could provide for societal change. In order to come up with a definite conclusion, the study will attempt to answer the following questions:
1. What is the Advance Brilliance in Character Program?
a. What is its composition?
b. What are the methods/strategies that will be use in implementing
the said program?

c. How do teachers understand the said program and the
conceptual core that fosters it?

2. Can it be an appropriate method for behavioral classroom
management? How can it help uplift the academic performance of the
children?

3. How can it help instill in the children the positive Filipino values and
how can it can it bring cultural development?

4. Can it be the solution for the prevalent moral issues in our society? How
effective is it in shaping an individual’s character?

5. What is its possible relation to human resource management? Can it
serve as a basis for a human resource program? How can it help
develop/improve the human resources in the country?






Purpose of the Study:
General:
This dissertation proposal aims to discover the composition of the Advancing Brilliance in Character Program of the DepEd altogether its over-all socio-constructivist concept and how it will foster values formation to the children. Further, this study aims to correlate the said program to human resources, and determine if it can serve as a basis for developing the latter.

Specific:
a. To know the nature of the program and its implementation of activities
b. Its conceptual and ideological framework
c. Its social and economic impact
d. To assess the effectiveness of the program in values formation
e. Its possible impact to the human resource

Scope and Limitation of the Study:
The scope of the study has two aspects namely, delimitation and limitation which will be explained as follows:
a. Delimitation
This covers and explores all the elements that serve as a mainstream to the implementation of the ABC program, such as its nature and its conceptual and ideological framework. In which the study will focus on the said program and its possible outcomes or how it can be correlated to the development of human resources. It shall also deals on factors that significantly influence and contributes to the sudden fluctuation of the situation of the environment that the study opts to observe.

b. Limitation:
The coverage of the study will be limited only to the discussion of the nature and activities of and how will it serve as a basis for a human resource program, it shall not deal on matters which is beyond the borders of this topic. This study is in nature literarily analytical which conveys observation method and uses a qualitative case study in order to determine its results. For these reasons the phenomenon of the implementation of values education program needs to be studied as it naturally occurs without the manipulation or control of the variables. Hence, the context of this study will be limited only to the data gathered in each setting. Therefore the context of each qualitative case study will limit the generalizability of the findings.

Hypothesis:
This dissertation proposal aims to prove the following hypothesis:
1. A values education program with a socio-constructivist concept can be
used as a model for a human resource development program.

Assumption:
The Advancing Brilliance in Character Program, an integrated values education program of the Department of Education that envisions to inculcate in the children positive Filipino values for character formation, due to its ideological framework can serve as a basis for a human resource program.

Significance of the Study:
This study will provide the readers a better understanding regarding on the values education program, and learn the factors that are involved in implementing it as well as its over-all societal impact. The bulk of this research, by and large, seeks to understand and expand the current knowledge on values education and character formation by identifying the elements that contribute or serves as barriers to values education. Possible benefits of this research study are by providing the readers with substantial information regarding values education and character formation. Additionally, this study can help institutions which deliver services regarding character formation.





Definition of Keyterms:
The following are terms that are used in the preparation of the study and their corresponding meanings as defined, for the better understanding of the readers:

ABC - (Advancing Brilliance in Character) Latest DepEd thrust that envisions to enhance the values education program in Region VIII
and inculcate in the children positive values for a potential
character formation.
DepEd - (Department of Education) The primary government
institution/agency which facilitates the educational system in the primary and secondary level.

Socio-constructivist - refers to the acknowledgement of cultural and
contextual is issues in learning situations as
opposed to strictly internal construction of
knowledge, that provides development
which adheres societal changes.





Values - refers to the qualities that are regarded by a person or a
group as important and desirable.
Personality - the collection of emotional or behavioral traits that
characterize a person.
Character - the complex of mental and ethical traits that marks a
person or a group.
Pedagogy - the art or profession of teaching.
Values Education - refers to an academic program which pertains to
values and character formation.
Human Resource - a term which pertains to individuals who are in
the working force.











CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In a research study made by Terence Lovat, he stated that teaching has undergone a revolution in the recent past which is once a profession whose systems focused primarily on the more academic selective portion of the population, specifically on the field of cultural preferences, essential literacy of languages, mathematics, history and the arts. However, the teaching profession has now a broader scope as it also tackles values education. It is now a profession whose systems have to point of relevance of education for students across a vast array of academic and socio-cultural starting points. Lovat pointed out that the teaching profession has now expanded beyond the lofty goals of its founders as it now addresses the dimensions of learning quite beyond even the lofty goals of its founders. It has now created an environment more conducive to the acceptance of values education as a natural attachment to the roles of the teacher and the school.
Moreover, teachers have now realized that values education is not only an academic exercise but rather a practical agency of moral formation. Recent and substantial insights provided by the research showed that teaching have overturned earlier conceptions about the limited capacity of teachers to make a difference in the lives of their students. The insights have showed that implementing a values education program is not only the academic responsibilities of the teachers and schools but also in their wider role in personal
and social development of every individual. (Lovat, Lawrence. “Values Education and Teacher’s Work: A Quality Teaching Perspective.” University of New Castle, Australia, May 2005)
In a certain point of his study Lovat, has put an emphasis to the relation of values education and quality teaching and how the program should be delivered to its perspective target. The latter pointed out that there are the underpinning philosophies which must be understood in order for the modern values education pursuit to be truly saturating in terms of the schooling system, religion and public preferences. Especially, in relation to the public system it is only through these linkages with the most updated educational theory and teaching philosophy. Lovat said that the implementation of values education reflects good practice of pedagogy.
Intellectual depth will ensure that values education never settles for its own surface learning which is a distinct possibility is. Students will develop in students the kind of communicative capacities, interpretative skills and powers of negotiation that are at the heart of a social conscience, and, moreover, be reflective and self-reflective growth that is the foundation of a personal morality. Similarly, the criterion of relevance will serve to ensure that Values Education is always connected with the real contexts and concerns of the students.
Furthermore, the criterion of supportiveness will underpin the credibility of the values educator as being someone who practises what they preach, and is a credible and authentic model of the care, respect and love they are proposing as the basis of personal morality and social citizenry.
In a word, it is a values-laden notion that marks out the single most important features of teacher impact, with the chestnut areas of content and method coming next in priorities. One is reminded many years on of the caution against instrumentalist approaches to education that were provided by the eminent John Dewey in the early days of public education. Dewey said that to depend overly on subject knowledge and methods was fatal to the best interests of education. He spoke, rather, of the need for a mindset on the part of teachers that was, at one and the same time, self-reflective and directed towards instilling reflectivity, inquiry and a capacity for moral judiciousness on the part of students.
Dewey would not be at all surprised with Ken Rowe’s findings, an Australian educationalist that made a study on quality teaching and values education. Dewey would also be very much at home, and possibly even feel vindicated, by the priority being given at present to Values Education in the broad and comprehensive way it is being conceived.
Furthermore, with the relationship of due care in place, the hard evidence before us is that a Values Education with an explicit curriculum can make a difference to the ways students perceive and speak about moral issues. In this way, Values Education becomes the firm basis for training in issues of personal and social morality, such as, for example, around drugs education and the addressing of mental health issues for youth, including around matters of depression and suicide. (Lovat & Schofield, 1998; 2004)
Values Education is no longer on the periphery of the central roles to be played by the teacher and the school in our society. It is at the very heart of these roles, unlike the assumptions that seem to underpin so many of our concerns around structures, curriculum and resources, Values Education is more clearly than anything could point to in contemporary education premised on the power of the teacher to make a difference. While the artefacts of structure, curriculum and resources are not denied, the focus is, appropriate to the insights of the day, on what John Hattie (2003) describes as the greatest source of variance that can make a difference.
In the case of Values Education, the belief is around the teacher’s capacity to make a difference by engaging students in the sophisticated and life-shaping learning of personal moral development. the nature, shape and intent of Values Education has potential to refocus the attention of teachers and their systems on the fundamental item of all effective teaching, namely the teacher her or himself, the quality of the teacher’s knowledge, content and pedagogy, and above all on the teacher’s capacity to form the kinds of relationships with students which convey their commitment and care and which become the basis of forming personal character and tomorrow’s citizenry. Simply put, values education if its goals will be realized is one charter which could bring monumental societal change. (Chakko, Sandy. 2002)
National reconstruction and character development are intrinsically linked with Values Education whether these be through democratic values, through the system of education and curriculum at all levels: primary, secondary and tertiary. Armed with adequate knowledge of values, we can, if we want, give and act in full accord with the immutable moral order of the universe.
The knowledge does not only consist in merely the recognition of a value as a value but involves a just estimate of the degree of worth possessed by it also, so that it may be compared with other values. Confronted with a situation where we are called upon to choose between two values, we can then promptly choose the higher and sacrifice the lower value for the sake of the higher. Character is strengthened by our voluntary sacrifice of a lower value to secure a higher one. When a man has to choose, for example, between life and money, he does not hesitate to throw away money and save his life.
Here instinct backs his choice; but the same man may be forced to choose between life and honour. It is a cruel choice and the man may not reconcile himself to the loss of either of the two extremely precious things. Choosing the higher and sacrificing the lower value is the character development. (Haque, Manzoor-ul. “Values Education Program and Operational Mechanism for Strategic Educationists of the New Millenium.” 2000)
Howard Kirschenbaum emphasized the role of values education in the society, as it has been to the American society. According to Kirschenbaum, schools took their role in values education for granted. Children were exhorted to be prompt, neat, and polite; to work hard succeed; to respect other's property - in short, to behave themselves. And that is as far as values education and moral education went. However, the recent socio-economic development has provided stirring impacts on moral issues. New attitudes toward and experimentation with human sexuality, religion, career options, lifestyles, and personal values were widespread.
Kirschenbaum had stated that as might be expected, values education and moral education began to reflect these changes in society. Instead of simply inculcating and modeling values, educators were now encouraged to help students clarify their own values, learn higher levels of moral reasoning, and learn the skills of value analysis. Educators were counseled to avoid imposing their own values and moral on their students - because, the argument went, in an increasingly pluralistic society.


A better course seemed to be to help young people learn the skills of moral reasoning and responsible decision making that would enable them to lead more personally satisfying and socially constructive lives. So, in these a concern for values and morality is back again.
This concern is spurred on by a national panic over our seeming inability to gain control over a country's drug problem; is supported by continuing dismay over crime, the disintegration of the family, teen pregnancy, teen suicide, and other indications of social upheaval and collapse; and is further fueled by a belated and reluctant recognition that the unprecedented number of political scandals throughout the past decade were symptomatic of a virtual ethical vacuum in government.
For these and other reasons, parents, educators, and community leaders are once again calling for the schools to become involved with educating young people about values and morals. in which the values clarification approach or the Comprehensive Values Education Program, might be the substantial one that should be initiated as a model values program.
The said program includes inculcating and modeling values, as well as preparing young people for independence by stressing responsible decision making and other life skills. All these approaches are necessary. Young people deserve to be exposed to the inculcation of values by adults who care: family members, teachers, and the community.
The children deserve to see models of adults with integrity and a joy for living. And the young people deserve to have opportunities that encourage them to think for themselves and to learn the skills for guiding their own lives. Comprehensive Values Education is comprehensive insofar as it takes place throughout the school - in the classroom, in extracurricular activities, in career education and counseling, in awards ceremonies, in all aspects of school life.
It takes place throughout the entire community to the extent that all these sources are consistent in their expectations, their modeling, their norms, and their rules, a comprehensive approach has a greater likelihood of succeeding in influencing community values and morals in youth and adults.
Kirschenbaum said that values clarification is containing four main ingredients, first, a value-laden topic or moral issue is selected - perhaps an issue related to politics, work, family, friends, love and sex, drugs, leisure time, or personal tastes. The issue may be selected by the teacher, the group leader, the class, or an individual student.


It should be noted that, before values clarification became popular, these matters were not generally considered worthy of attention in schools and other settings in which young people receive guidance. But, as the renowned psychologist Milton Rokeach noted in 1975, that a such a broadening of educational objectives now has a universal face validity, largely because of the pioneering work of the proponents of values clarification.
Second, the teacher or group leader introduces a question or activity - sometimes known as a values clarification "strategy" - to help the participants think, read, write, and talk about that topic. More than a hundred highly motivating values clarification techniques have been developed to facilitate reflection on and discussion of value-laden topics and moral issues. These practical strategies are probably the main reason for the popularity of the approach.
Third, during the course of the activity and discussion, the teacher or group leader ensures that all viewpoints are treated with respect and that an atmosphere of psychological safety pervades the classroom. Fourth, the activity itself and the discussion leader encourage the students to employ an array of "valuing processes" or "valuing skills" while considering the topic. These skills involve understanding one's feelings, examining alternative viewpoints, considering the consequences of various choices in a thoughtful manner, making a choice free from undue pressure, speaking up for one's views, and acting on one's beliefs.
The values clarification theory suggested that young people who used these valuing processes in making decisions would lead more personally satisfying and socially constructive lives, as well as do better in school. Initial research supported these claims, although there was disagreement over the quality of the research. Certainly, tens of thousands of teachers, parents, religious leaders, and helping professionals who used the approach - many of whom still use it - spoke positively of its effects on young people and the classroom climate. While the previous two explanations reflect larger social and professional trends, the next three reasons must be laid at the doorstep of the values clarification movement itself. For one thing, stagnation set in. The leading proponents of values clarification simply did not stick with the approach after it reached its peak of popularity. With rare exceptions, institutions did not continue to deepen the theory, sponsor and encourage the research, develop the curricula, or improve the training - efforts that together would have supported a growing field of professional accomplishment. In part decisions were based on the declining professional interests in values clarification. However, that declining interest must be explained, in part, by the lack of success in continuing to develop and enrich the field, so there was a reciprocal effect.
Relevance of Related Literature:
The different studies on values education have shown its importance for societal development. The morality of the society has been affected by the rapidly modernization of our environment, which contributes to the disturbing behaviors that leads to alarming moral issues. It was clearly presented that a values program is significant since it does not only form the character of individuals but rather also invokes quality teaching among learning institutions. The related literature has also pointed out that values education also leads to a more conducive learning process since it induce individuals to concentrate with their studies. In relation to the study, since this dissertation will tackle all aspects of the Advancing Brilliance Program, a values education program being initiated by the Department of Education, it is but suffice to say that these will give a sound background for the study. Moreover, it would provide the research with solid context on the impacts of values program in the character formation of individuals. Further, since this study seeks to determine the relevance of the ABC program to the development of the human resource, these studies will give an insight on how values education programs will give a model for a training program that is intended for the character development of those who in the human resource sector.

CHAPTER III
DATA AND METHODS

Conceptual Framework of the Study:
In providing ideological basis for the study, several concepts were use as an outline to give context to the problem that this dissertation seeks to answer. One of which is the “Cognitive Behavior Theory,” in which its underlying theory is related to the social learning theory and specifically to values education, there are many theoretical concepts which concerns in delineating a full understanding it. While it is easy to suggest the thought that controls behavior its simple construct is not easy since it requires much since it is self-reflective, that it need a varity of subjects.
The Advancing Brilliance Character is a program which applies this theory it underlies learning in relation to its social surrounding and is guided by the humanistic framework that held that values and dignity is the object of all even at the middle of an economic development. ABC which deals on the positive cultural values of the Filipino, by enhancing the teaching program through a more rigorous lesson exemplars and aims to provide positive character formation of the children and enhance their personality, uses the Cognitive Behavior Theory in the sense that it has been incorporated with the principles of the said theory.


The said program conveys to the children the importance of the cultural values to give them consciousness of those values, it is not something that can be observe directly since it is self-respective, and then only in retrospect. However, the consciousness of the children on the positive values can be predicted with considerable confidence that it indicates that conscious experience is something knowable and attainable. (Chakko, Shandy. 2002)
Aside from that, the program has it biological foundations, in which perceptual categorization of the values program is served as the first crucial learning. Based on the theoretical concepts of Hofstadter the process of getting from perceptions to conceptions involves what begins randomly as bottom-ups. As the organism is able to experience objects and relations, in the case of the ABC program the positive cultural Filipino values, a knowledge base is created upon which meaning and value can be abstracted.
As experiences and events gain meaning and value, the process becomes increasingly top down as the mind in attempt at an orderly process influences perception though beliefs, goals and external process - the more that is perceive and the more is expected what to perceive. The ABC program held that the values such as being Makabayan, Maka-Diyos, Makatao, and Makakalikasan is inherent and true in every Filipino this is a significant approach since what people believe to be true is that which is coherent to their already established cache of truisms.

This cache is developed over time and is significantly shaped by the significant people in the environment. Its development is monitored by the rigor with which each new proposition is analyzed in relationship to what already exists. But the child who has a poorly developed set of logical skills; whose information cache is personalized and moralized; and has little energy to deal with non-coherent propositions, will develop a reality which very likely depreciates his/her self concept which is likely to result in antisocial behaviors which set in motion a reality [pragmatics] which reinforces this perspective. (Chakko, Shandy. Ibid.)
For the implementation of the ABC program, communication is important since it serves as a medium in conveying the message regarding important values that are needed in character formation. The human behavior stream is contingent upon communication for social learning and the development of personal mental schema about, among other things, self, others and future prospects. Communication and information are coterminous constructs. Communication is information; and information is the means of communicating. Since communication has two distinct poles: the conveyor of information and the receiver of information; precepts become an important part of the creation of concepts. Thus the perception becomes a part of the communication process, that happens between perception and conception is also interesting. (Fu An-Lin. University of Texas at Austin. May2004)

Moreover, the ABC program incorporate in its principles cultural context which is very important in character formation since the scientific study of human social life concern itself with two different kinds of phenomena. On one hand, there are the thoughts and feelings that humans experience within their minds; on the other, there are the activities that constitute the human behavior stream. The relationship between mental and physical behavior events is significant. If beliefs are mental representations which predispose towards action, then the mental activities and context have some relationship to the physical outcomes. Further, the said program also looks upon the emotions of the children in implementing the values education program.
The process of learning values is dominated by analogy and metaphor. In learning we transform the strange into familiar as like the comparison between a heart and a pump. In innovating the learning process, the familiar is transformed into the strange, since such analogies and metaphors does not fit, the process of comparison of similarities and differences helps us to conceptualize a new perspective. In some ways, because of its multiple perspectives, provides the best concrete example of what lay people refer to as personality. The personality of an individual person is based on the attitudes and behaviors that they convey to others in various situations. Some attitudes and behaviors will only become apparent in certain situations, while others will be fairly obvious at all times.


Another theory that is implied in this study is the “Theory of Socio-Constructivist,” since the program had applied the philosophical and educational foundation of this theory as a means of pedagogy tool in implementing this values education program. In order to understand fully socioconstructivist frameworks in an educational sense, the epistemological assumptions of constructionism must be examined. Fosnot (2005) urges the transition of traditional classrooms into socioconstructivist learning environments --using socioconstructivist principles based on what is known about how students learn and the nature of knowledge,
Too often teaching strategies and procedures seem to spring from the naïve assumption that what we ourselves perceive and infer from our perceptions is there, ready-made, for the students to pick up, if only they had the will to do so. This overlooks the basic point that the way we segment the flow of our experience, and the way we related the pieces we have isolated, is and necessarily remains an essentially subjective matter. Hence, when the teacher intends to stimulate and enhance a student’s learning, the teacher cannot afford to forget that knowledge does not exist outside a person’s mind.
Further, the said study also tackles the Human Relations theory considering that values formation also pertains to the behavior that an individual may commit, in as much since values is being shown to another individual, this only means that the said study also invokes inter-action with other people or community and in which it also test how will an individual that has undergone this kind of values education will respond or react to a certain community.
Moreover, since it linked to the human resources, it but suffice to say that the said study has something to do with human relations since it seeks to determine whether the program can help improve the nature of an individual to make him/her a good citizen that indulge in the human resource sector with positive personalities.

Research Design
The study discusses a selection of major elements of values thought as related to education today. Values concepts which use socio-constructivist principles are currently championed by professionals; in whom they believe in student-centered orientation and its ability to elicit learning. Moreover, values education with its emphasis on character formation is considered to foster democratic learning where individuality and culture are supported. A specific manifestation of character formation is identified in the technique of implementing a values-oriented program. Values Education is a power social tool in a classroom situation for students to develop critical thinking and understanding as well as diverse views of values and character building by using primary source of material and other investigative activities.
The will be an experimental one as it seeks to determine the probability of the ABC program to serve as a model for a human resource program which aims to develop the moral fibre of the individuals indulging in that sector. The proponent will use a literary way of analytical thinking and quantitative analysis in order to determine the findings of the study. The proponent will apply the “onion skin approach,” in conducting the study in which there will be a multi-layered of systematic tasks of observations in order to come up with a more reasonable experimental results. The interpretative nature of this study will be grounded in the field of qualitative research as defined by Denzin and Lincoln, (2005):
Qualitative Research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world. It consists of a set of interpretive, material practices that make the world visible. These practices transform the world. They turn the world into a series of representations, including field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings, and memos to the self.
At this level, qualitative research involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Most importantly, qualitative research offers the opportunity to explore the directions that the participants and their experiences may take as well as to gain deeper understanding through natural interaction.
The design of this study is meant to provide guidance in accomplishing thefollowing characteristics of quality qualitative research as outlined by Garman (1994):
• verity (intellectual authenticity)
• integrity (structural soundness)
• rigor (depth of intellect)
• utility (professional usefulness)
• vitality (meaningfulness)
• aesthetics (enrichment)
• ethics (consideration of dignity and privacy of participants)
• verisimilitude (sufficient detail to warrant transferability)
As the research progresses, attention will turn and return to these elements to maintain steady progress thus avoiding the traps of tangents, irrelevance, data mismanagement or disorganization, shallow interpretation, bias, and weak analysis. The quantitative part of the study will provide substantial analysis by means of a statistical operations or variance analysis in order to determine the margin of error of the study.




Research Methodology
It is naturally fit for the study to use descriptive and quantitative method of approach for the study by applying qualitative studies on certain environmental settings in which the observation will provide context to the study. It is necessary for a case study in order to explore the nature of the ABC program and it correlation to the development of the human resource, since this dissertation aims to provide a deeper understanding of the said program, so classroom observations will be utilized by the researcher in order to determine the behavioral fluctuations in every learning session and how will it foster character formation of every individual.
Being an experimental research, quantitative method of approach is also significant in for determining the best results for the study, since the statistical operations and the variance method of analysis can provide the study with the optimum quantitative results and its margin of error, and in doing so might do random sampling in order to gather quantitative data.

Case Study:
This dissertation employs qualitative case study research as defined by Merriam(1998), “A qualitative case study is an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a bounded phenomenon” (p. xiii); and Yin (2003) who provides more specific boundaries for case study. It is an empirical inquiry that:
1) investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident;
2) Copes with the technically distinctive situation in which there will be many more variables of interest than data points: and as one result relies on multiple sources of evidence, with data needing to converge in a triangulating fashion; and as another result, benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions to guide data collection and analysis.
This case study is bounded by several contexts, the students/pupils, the teachers themselves and their experiences in the delivery of values education program and the response of the students/pupils to it. The study is situated within these interlocking contexts. Through qualitative research techniques, the relationships and resulting interactions between these contexts, values and character formation concepts will be uncovered. These facilitate the understanding of the Advancing Brilliance in Character Program and how can it become a model for a human resource program. These are the outermost boundaries for this study.




Research Site & Participants:
In order to gather data for the qualitative study, the researcher will personally observe the environment of a certain school which has implemented the ABC Program. The participants for this study are the teachers, administrators and students of the selected schools within the area of Region VIII that has implemented the DepEd thrust, and will serve as observation sites for the proponent and will provide data and context to the study, and being the variables will determine the result for this research. Significantly, the study will choose the Ormoc National High School in Ormoc City as one of the research sites that would provide context for this dissertation, since it is the school wherein the ABC program was launched and it is one of the forefront runners of the said program.
In accordance with the school’s policies, permissions will be requested from the school head in order to conduct observations within the school community. Interviews with the students, teachers, parents and school administrators will be conducted in order to gather data on the possible impact of the ABC program in relation to the character formation of the children, responses of the school community to the program will also be consider as a variable for the study by the proponent.



Data Collection:
Data collection will be done in selected learning institutions in Region VIII. All gathered data from participant resources will be collected with explicit permission from the participants and in full compliance with review board.
In accordance with qualitative research tradition multiple data sources will be collected. Data used in this dissertation is organized into four sets: the primary set is made up of interview data, which will comprise approximately three one-hour audio semi-structured interviews. This interview data will be triangulated by the following:
1) participant artifacts (lesson plans, classroom materials, personal reflection papers, and student/pupil participation or work), observations, and field notes (a minimum of five, one-hour field-based observations);
2) Teacher interviews
3) other resources including copies of district and state lesson design
guidelines for values education.
The use of interviews and observations are commonplace in qualitative case study research, it serves as one manner of obtaining an insider, or emic, perspective regarding the issues being studied.
The interaction between researcher and participant through the interview is, the establishment of human-to-human relation with the respondent and the desire to understand rather than to explain. Interviews with the participants will be semi-structured; this provides for consistent investigation of particular topics with the participant and basic introductory questions, but also affords flexibility to engage in natural conversation that provides deeper insight for the study.

Data Analysis:
Qualitative case study research amasses huge amounts of raw data; therefore, it is essential to maintain the data in an organized and timely fashion. More importantly, preliminary data analysis must be conducted immediately post-collection or better yet, the right way to analyze data in a qualitative study is to do it simultaneously with data collection.
More specifically, an outline for a detailed procedure of data gathering and analysis - will aid the simultaneous nature of the work.
• coding (organizing and theming data)
• policing (detecting bias and preventing tangents)
• dictating field notes (as opposed to verbatim recordings)
• connoisseurship (researcher knowledge of issues and context of the site)
• progressive focusing and funneling (winnowing data and investigative technique
as study progresses)
• interim site summaries (narrative reviews of research progress)
• memoing (formal noting and sharing of emerging issues), and,
• outlining (standardized writing formats)
While these procedures were used in a large, multi-site study, research for thisdissertation will utilize a similar format, making a few changes to accomplish a similar task for a smaller study with a single researcher. This particular data collection / analysis will substitute transcribed interviews and written field notes for the dictated field notes; and it will combine the elements of summaries, memos, and outlines into a reflective research journal kept by the researcher.
These procedures will attempt to organize the data as it is collected; such procedures mark a fine line between data collection and analysis, thus easing the task of simultaneous collection and analysis. After reviewing all the data sources, the materials will be manually coded and preliminary meaning generated from the interviews, observation field notes, and participant artifacts. The data analysis will proceed from noting patterns and themes to arriving at comparisons and contrasts to determining conceptual explanations of the case study.

Applied Economics...Pls. Read

As a graduate of Economics, I decided to pursue a masters in Economics, but in doing so I came up with a lot of choices: what concentration in Economics should I take up, stupid as I was or should I say crazy as I was, I choosed Masters of Science in Applied Economics not knowing what perils lies ahead the path that I had choosen. Of course I thought that life would be easy, I never really expected that it would turn out to be the other way around, it’s more like hell…as I succumb to lectures upon lectures on various theories and application of economic regression, mostly on sytematic, methodical, analytical application of economic regressions using mathematical and statistical computations (which are way out and definitely beyond my intellectual capabilities). But since I can’t waste my time, effort and money on low grades, I tried my best to work it out and face the five subjects that I have right now with flaming passion, tried to bend it like beckham. Though not really that good in mathematical computations, I strived hard to surmount from these obstacles and finally hurdle good grades which is the result of my hard work. Now I finally learn to love Applied Economics and had incorporate its theories into my personal being. I’ve used some of its concept in my work as a research analyst, credit analyst and marketing consultant and I was able to formulate sound economic decisions because of Applied Economics. Do you know why? Because Applied Economics focuses on the application of economic analysis to different emerging situation in both the private and public sector. It fosters quantitative studies, the result of which are of use in the practical field and thus helps bring economic theory nearer to reality. Contributions which makes use methods of mathematics, statistics and operations of research will be welcomed provided that the conclusions are factual and properly explained. As an area, applied economics is about the consideration of topics that are relevant to some group of Economic decision makers. Once an important and interesting question has been determined the study needs to contain a discussion of the relevant economic theory and some data analysis using appropriate econometric methods. One of its great assets, is that it is open to any applied area not just currently the fashionable mainstream topics. Applied Economics has been formulating solid empirical studies across an impressively broad range of issues. It fills a unique niche in the research field for the applied economist. Just perfect for someone who longs to be a famous econometrician just like the enigmatic Laureate In Economics the great Professor John Nash. At the end of the day, the blood, sweat, tears and folly that I have shed were not wasted after all, for the knowledge that I have gained in studying Applied Economic is something which I could definetely say unsurmountable,inspite of my personal or should I say academic torments,many great and happy things were returned.




P.S.

Just an Economic Joke!

Econometricians absolutely are mathematicans who are good in formulating quantitative and qualitative analysis but lacks the proper attitude to become engineers…what a thought! LOL, ROFL! hehehe!