INTERPLAY OF SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT AND EMPLOYABILITY ATTRIBUTES

OF COLLEGE GRADUATING STUDENTS OF CAPITOL UNIVERSITY

Rationale
Any institution for higher learning (HEI) strives to prepare its students for
employment by equipping them with skills, knowledge, and attitudes that employers of
today require for their workforce. Certainly, producing graduates who are highly employable
is the main order of business of all HEIs. The employment of the graduates is indicative of
their school’s success of shaping them into becoming productive individuals in the society
they live. Employability is generally referred to as the individual’s chances of getting
employed. The construct of employability is defined in several perspectives, either in the
macro or organizational or individual’s perspective. This study defines employability from
the individual’s perspective; that is, employability is the students’ appraisal of their
possibilities of getting employed (Rothwell and Arnold, 2007) based on their perceived
acquired or developed competencies – skills, knowledge, and personal attributes (Yorke,
2006, Zhang, 2012). Of these competencies that make students employable, the personal
dimension, which is also referred to as “soft skills” (Lloyd and O'Sullivan, 2004) or “character
capabilities” (Margo and Grant, 2010) or “practical skills” (Dewson, 2000), is the focal
interest of this study.

The importance of considering students’ perception of their employability attributes

is anchored on the idea that the individuals’ perception about themselves– their capabilities
or competencies – affects their self-confidence, which in turn affects the level of their intent
to pursue a behavior (i.e., employment) and their eventual performance in the workplace
(Fishbein and Ajzen, 2010). Students who perceive themselves to be employable because they
believe they possess what it takes to be employed take the challenges of getting employed,
thus having good chances of getting their desired job. Such belief or confidence gives them
the drive to pursue their desired job (Berntson, 2008). Having the right attitude towards
employment search is essential in making it through the process of getting employed. Being
so, students’ employability attributes must be nurtured while they are in school.
 HEIs provide students with learning experiences, both academic and non-academic,
to hone their capabilities to make them highly employable. Wide array of programs in place
are designed to facilitate knowledge acquisition, skills development, and character
formation of students. As assumed, the extent to which students have attained the desired
learning outcomes depends largely on their engagement in school affectively, behaviorally,
and cognitively (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004; National Center for School
Engagement/NCSE, 2006). In a study, graduates’ inadequate employability was linked to the
sharp decrease in school engagement among college students (Sun, 2009). It is, therefore,
imperative that HEI’s give serious attention to students’ school engagement, which is found
to be significantly linked to school outcomes, which have serious implications on the
employability of students. Thus, this study is of immense importance for it generates insights
into factors relevant to the future employment of its graduates. These insights can be used
as bases for re-setting educational priorities or re-designing programs that ensure students’
full school engagement to facilitate the effective development of their employability
attributes.

Introduction

Every higher education institution is accountable for the holistic development of its
students. To facilitate such development among students, the school must provide
students not only with academic opportunities but also with non-academic opportunities.
The latter opportunities pertain to extracurricular activities. According to Cadwallader,
Garza, and Wagner (2002), extracurricular activities are those activities that students
participate in outside the normal class time. Such activities include sports or athletics,
school-based clubs, student organizations, and cultural performances, among others.
Why are extracurricular activities important to students’ school life and
development? Reeves (2008) found a strong association between student participation
in extracurricular activities and improved attendance, behavior, and school performance.
It was further found that those who participated in some type of extracurricular activity
performed better than students who were not involved at all. In some cases where schools
impose an academic requirement for participation in athletics, students are motivated to
perform well academically for them to qualify for competitions (Cash, 2009).
Moreover, extracurricular activities allow the development of leadership skills of
students, create camaraderie or friendships among students, promotes teamwork and
sportsmanship, encourage students to give back to their community, develops in students
a sense of school family, and gives students the chance to find success outside
classroom. Overall, extracurricular activities can enhance the quality of student’s school
life and can give students additional skills that they can apply throughout the remainder
of their lives. Indeed, students’ participation in extracurricular activities has implications
to their overall school performance and development. Therefore, the researchers find it
important to conduct this study investigating the CAS students’ extent of participation in
extracurricular activities.
Since extracurricular activities positively impact students’ school life and
performance, students must be encouraged to participate actively in any of such activities.
Schools support the formation of a student organization or student body, which plays an
important role in the facilitation of extracurricular activities. A student body, like the
College of Arts and Sciences Student Body Organization (CASSBO), takes the initiative
of planning, communicating, promoting, leading, and holding student activities. Much of
the success or failure of a student activity can be attributed to the quality of leadership
the student body demonstrates. Being so, the researchers also explore the quality of
CASSBO leadership as perceived by the students in relation to the extent to which the
students in general participate in CASSBO-led extracurricular activities. Thus, this
present study will be conducted in the hope of promoting students’ participation in
extracurricular activities through quality student body leadership.

Introduction

It cannot be denied that students in college are faced with several challenges in their studies.
These challenges include completion of assignments and term requirements in all subjects, passing
term exams, preparing oral reports, dealing with hard teachers and unpleasant peers, attending to
multiple tasks and activities, and academic setbacks, among others. To students, these challenges
are stressors. The extent to which they will be stressed by these challenges will depend on their
ability to manage stress or to remain resilient or buoyant, which is the ability of students to respond
effectively to the academic challenges or to the ability to bounce back from setbacks in school
(Martin, 2014).
Research has shown that students’ academic resilience is associated with learning or school
outcomes (Martin, Colmar, Davey, & Marsh,2010). Students with greater persistence in school
academically perform better than those who lack persistence. Students with lower anxiety,
especially during examinations, have higher achievement than those who are highly anxious
(Martin, Ginns, Brackett, Malmberg, & Hall, 2013; Putwain & Daly, 2013). Furthermore, students
who have high self-beliefs in their ability to accomplish academic tasks score higher in academic
tasks than those who have low self-beliefs (Bandura in Cassidy, 2016). According to Martin and
Marsh (2008), persistence, control, and self-efficacy are closely associated with academic
resilience. Therefore, college students who have high level of academic resilience can better
weather the day-to-day challenges of school life, thus can academically succeed more.
The importance of developing academic resilience among college students lies in the
mandate of higher education institutions to facilitate effectively students’ learning to help them
achieve their academic goals. While external conditions that include teacher/school factor affect
students’ learning and academic performance, factors internal to students, such as academic
buoyancy, also impact significantly students’ learning and academic performance (Bartley,
Schoon, and Blane, 2010). Students who are academically resilient are described as ones who
achieve school success even though they experience stressful events that put to risk their school
performance (Tudor and Spray, 2018). Hence, to improve educational outcomes or academic
success among students, schools will do well by promoting academic resilience among their
students. Likewise, the researcher finds this study academically important as well.

FRAMEWORK
This study explores the concepts of employability and self-regulated learning and their
assumed correlation.
Generally, employability refers to an individual’s chances of getting employed. While the
construct of employability is defined in many ways as it is approached differently, either in the
macro or organizational or individual’s perspective, this study defines employability from the
perspective of an individual. That is, employability is the individual’s appraisal of his or her
possibilities of getting employed (Rothwell and Arnold, 2007) in the light of his or her perceived
achievements or competencies – skills, understanding, and personal attributes (Yorke, 2004). The
importance of taking into account the perception of an individual of getting employed in anchored
on the thought that one’s perception affects his or her behavior, reactions, and thoughts. Individuals
who feel employable believe that they have good chances of getting a job. Such belief or
confidence gives them the necessary motivation to pursue their desired job (Berntson, 2008) and
to take the challenges of getting employed. Having the right attitude towards employment search
is essential in making it through the process of getting employed.
There are determinants of employability. Berntson (2008) identified two types of
determinants – personal and non-personal. Non-personal factors include those situational factors
(labor market structure and labor market opportunities) and organizational factors. On the other
hand, the personal factors include the individuals’ knowledge and skills, attitudes (e.g.
adaptability, flexibility, resourcefulness, willingness), demographics, and dispositions (e.g. self-
esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control).
In other literature, determinants of employability are referred to as employability skills -
skills that everyone needs to get a job and to do the job. These skills are also termed differently,
such as soft skills (Lloyd and O'Sullivan, 2004), practical skills (Dewson, 2000), ‘life skills’, and
‘soft skills’ or ‘character capabilities’ (Margo and Grant, 2010). However, these terms refer to very
similar sets of skills or attributes that most employers in various industries or organizations require
of their employees. While hard skills – technical skills and knowledge – are important for
employment, they are no longer considered enough for sustaining employment (Fallows & Steven,
2000; Savickas et al., 2009), a premise that leads this present research to consider soft skills in the
assessment of the senior high school students’ employability. Specifically, these employability
skills include the following dimensions: (1) critical thinking, (2) interpersonal, (3) personal, (4)
communication, and (5) time management.
Students’ self-regulated learning is assumed to be associated with their perceived
employability. In the course of their studies, senior high students set goals either academic
(advance study) or non-academic (e.g. career if they forego college education and opt to work).
The realization of goals is caused by several factors such as motivation, attitude, and behaviors,
and strategies. These factors are reflected in self-regulatory processes. As defined, self-regulatory
learning is the ability of learners to control or regulate their feelings, thoughts, and actions in order
to achieve their academic goals (Zimmerman and Schunk, 2001).It is also defined as a meta
construct that involves a set of behaviors used flexibly to “guide, monitor, and direct” (Singer and
Bashir, 1999) a learner’s performance to ensure success. That is, a self-regulated learner is one
that is motivationally, metacognitively, and behaviorally active in his or her own learning.
Zimmerman underscored three aspects of self-regulation that are true to most of self-
regulated learning perspectives. First, there are specific processes or strategies that are purposively
used by learners to improve their academic work or achievement. Second, there is a self-oriented
feedback loop that students use to monitor the effectiveness of their learning strategies and to
respond to the feedback. Third, there is this motivational dimension that involves self-efficacy
beliefs. Complementing Zimmerman’s theoretical perspective of self-regulated learning is that of
Boekaerts (1999) whose conceptual model also involved three layers. These layers represent the
following: (1) regulation of cognitive strategies or learning styles, (2) metacognitive knowledge
and skills to direct learning (monitoring, evaluating, and correcting skills), and (3) regulation of
the self and motivation. In this study, the self-regulation in learning consisted of seven strategies
representing the different layers. These strategies relate to memory, goal setting, self-evaluation,
environmental structuring, seeking assistance, learning responsibility, and organizing.
Self-regulation, which is the adaptive tendency of learners used in the pursuit of goals
(Kuhl, Kazen, andKoole, 2006), fosters the development of employability. Individuals who are
more self-regulated in their learning have higher motivation, have better control over challenging
situations, and have better ability to manage their time and efforts in the desired direction (De Vos
et al., 2009; Fugate et al., 2004) than those learners who are less self-regulated. Therefore, highly
self-regulated students can accomplish their goals, and successful students develop confidence in
their employability. In a study, it was found that cognitive strategies (used for learning,
remembering, and understanding material), metacognitive strategies (used to monitor and modify
cognition), and effort management strategies (involving motivation, control beliefs, and self-
efficacy) were positively correlated with academic success (Pintrich and De Groot in Cassidy,
2012).Therefore, highly self-regulated students are able to accomplish their goals, and successful
students develop confidence in their employability. Such assertion is what this present study seeks
to explore.

METHODS
This descriptive-correlational study involved all the Senior High Vocational-Technology
students of Liceo de Cagayan University. Data were obtained using modified instruments. The
instrument for employability consisted of five dimensions, namely Critical Thinking Skills (8
items), Interpersonal Skills (8 items), Communication Skills (8 items), Personal Qualities (5
items), and Time Management (6 items). The instrument for self-regulated learning consisted of
seven factors as follows: Memory (14 items), Goal Setting (5 items), Self-Evaluation (12 items),
Environmental Structuring (5 items), Seeking Assistance (8 items), Learning Responsibility (5
items) and Organizing (6 items). Items of the instruments were answered by a five-point scale,
which ranges are as follows: 1.00-1.79 (Very Low), 1.80-2.59 (Low), 2.60-3.39 (Moderate), 3.40-
4.19 (High), and 4.20-5.00 (Very High). The instruments were pilot-tested to establish their
reliability. The reliability test using Cronbach’s Correlation Coefficient yielded the following
values: .9832 (Self-Regulated Learning) and .9747 (Employability Soft Skills). A Cronbach’s
alpha coefficient of .70 or higher is deemed reliable.
 Data collection was conducted following ethical practices such as obtaining the written
informed consent of the student participants, securing formally the permission of school authorities
for the conduct of the study, and coordinating with the class advisers in the administration of the
research instruments. The instruments were administered to the students by the class
advisers/subject teachers during classes. Data were statistically processed using descriptive
statistics (frequency, percentage, and mean) and inferential statistics (Pearson Correlation
Coefficient).

Methods

This descriptive-correlational study will assess the college graduating students’ level
of school engagement using the questionnaire developed by Fredrick et al. (2004). The
questionnaire covers three dimensions of school engagement as follows: affective,
behavioral, and cognitive. Each dimension consists of 10 items, which will be rated using a
five-point rating scale. To determine the graduating students’ self-perceived employability
attributes, the study will adopt a standardized questionnaire that covers critical thinking
skills (8 items), interpersonal skills (8 items), communication skills (8 items), personal
qualities (5 items), and time management (6 items). Likewise, the questionnaire will be
accomplished using a five-point rating scale.
The study will engage the participation of all program chairpersons/coordinators for
the administration of the questionnaires to all graduating students of this current school
year. Since the study takes all the members of the target population, no sampling of the
participants will be done.
In the gathering of data, the graduating students’ informed consent will be sought
prior to their participation in the study. The administration, accomplishment, and retrieval
of the questionnaires will be done during class sessions before the final term. Data will be
treated using descriptive and inferential statistics.
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Students’ Self-Assessed Employability Soft Skills

Table 1 shows the students’ assessment of their employability along the following
dimensions: Communication, Critical Thinking, Interpersonal, Personal Qualities, and Time
Management.
Table 1. Students’ Level of Employability Soft Skills

Soft Skills Overall Mean Interpretation

Communication Skills 3.95 High
Critical Thinking Skills 3.82 High
Interpersonal Skills 4.01 High
Personal Qualities 3.89 High
Time Management 3.88 High
Overall Mean 3.91 High

On communication skills, as self-assessed, the students had high communication skills as

reflected by the overall mean of 3.95. This finding implies that the students have developed high
confidence in their ability to communicate effectively. Among the communication skills, note
taking obtained the highest mean (4.12), closely followed by listening and asking questions to
understand instructions and the point of view of other people (4.11). Note taking is a basic and an
indispensable skill when listening to lectures or discussions and when doing library research. Years
of academic instruction and research activities must have fully developed the students’ note-taking
skill. Such skill will be very useful in their academic undertakings when they proceed to college
and way beyond their education when they find job. Moreover, in any communication setting,
effective listening is a necessary skill in understanding spoken messages. Poor communication is
often a result of poor listening, missing essential points of speech. In the world of work, effective
listening works to the advantage of the employee. Inability to listen well leads to failure to follow
instruction with precision, which does not reflect well on the employee and which can de damaging
to the work operations.
The rest of the communication skills also got high ratings. Worth noting are the students’
confidence in their ability to speak and write clearly for them to be understood by others (3.93)
and their ability to read and understand information in words, graphs, diagrams, or charts (3.93).
Any work requires an employee to speak and write. Inability to express one’s thought in any form
to others is a constraint to finding job and undesirable in any work organization. Many studies
have found a positive correlation between communication success and organization’s success
(Luthans, 2006). Communication failure is one factor to which organizational problems are
attributed. Furthermore, the advent of technological advancements makes communication even
more important and necessary. Information or data can now be presented in many forms.
Information Communication Technologies have revolutionized the way information is presented,
making plain text almost an obsolete form. Hence, it is very desirable for students preparing for
job in this 21st Century to develop the ability to understand graphical information and to present
information creatively using the ICTs.
On critical thinking, the overall mean of 3.82 shows that the students have developed high
confidence in their ability to think critically. Critical thinking is crucial in decision making, which
every employee makes when executing work functions day by day (Mustafa and Kingston, 2016).
Both employers and employees are faced with work-related problems and issues and options to
choose in addressing the problems. Right choice of an option requires understanding of the
problem or issue and each option’s advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, problems are
effectively addressed when a plan of actions is clearly in place. It is worth noting that the students
have confidence in their ability to plan steps, procedures, or approaches when addressing a task or
a problem – a skill that got the highest mean (3. 89) – and to assess options or choices (3.87). The
students’ development of such critical thinking skills could be attributed to the outcomes-based
approach to learning. Such approach trained them to explore ways of doing things by themselves,
thus making them creative, resourceful, critical, and independent learners.
On interpersonal skills, the students have gained high confidence in their ability to relate
themselves to others as shown by the overall mean of 4.01. Nowadays, work organizations put
premium on employees’ interpersonal skills other than the hard skills and knowledge (Patricia,
Nov.-Dec. 2015). Hence, for employees to thrive in the organization, they must possess not only
the required hard skills and knowledge but also the ability to relate themselves effectively with
their superiors and co-employees. Not only a healthy relationship keeps employees from leaving
the organization, it also boosts their work morale, thus making them more motivated to work and
productive. Among the interpersonal skills, the students’ highest rating on themselves was
respecting the thoughts, opinions, and contributions of others (4.24), followed by respecting the
different ideas of others (4.17), and responding positively to the constructive criticisms from others
(4.06). Showing others due respect is essential in establishing harmony in the work organization
with people of diverse personalities (Robles, 2012). Conflicts due to clashes of ideas are real in
any organization, but they create something good for the organization if they are taken positively
and respectfully. It is also worth emphasizing the students’ confidence in their ability to work in a
group (4.03). That is, they are team players who can contribute to the group’s success.
On personal qualities, the students were highly confident that they have developed personal
qualities desirable for employment as reflected by the overall mean of 3.89. With the highest mean
(3.98) was setting goals and managing time, money, and other resources to achieve goals, followed
by being honest (3.95). The former personal quality is related to work efficiency, which is directly
linked to high productivity or organizational success (Robles, 2012). Wastefulness in any of the
resources is counterproductive and undermines the organization’s efforts toward the attainment of
goals. Honesty is a personal quality that earns for one the trust of others. Trustworthy employees
are most likely to get promotion. Honesty is the other face of integrity, which is one of the core
values of the university. Having students with high sense of honesty is an attestation of the school’s
success in molding students according to the ideals of a Licean graduate.
On time management, the students gave themselves high rating along the ability to manage
time effectively as revealed by the overall mean of 3.88. The indicator that got the highest mean
was not allowing minor things to distract them from accomplishing a task at hand (3.94). This
finding implies that the students have developed focus on what they set to do. Having focus also
suggests doing things without procrastination and accomplishing the task on time, which are
indicators with high ratings (3.93 and 3.90, respectively). Knowing what to prioritize and setting
the attention to the priority allow one to achieve tasks without delay. One is more efficient in
achieving a goal if available time is managed well (Ferguson, 2007). Delay in task accomplishment
can be attributed to poor management of time. In any work organization, delays hamper operations
and may cause losses in profit. Thus, the graduates are well positioned for their chosen career and
can thrive in their workplace if they know how to manage their time for work very well.

Conclusion
Findings of this study lead to the conclusion that organization-based self-esteem
has significant bearing on the work engagement of the academic unit heads. This study
supports the findings of other studies (Kanning and Schnitker, 2004; Lee, 2003; Vecchio,
2000; Chattopadhyay and George, 2001) that organization-based self-esteem is
positively correlated with job-related outcomes such as vigor, dedication, and absorption,
which constitute the construct of work engagement. Since unit heads of small schools are
generally assigned multiple functions, they are highly vulnerable to work stress and
burnout, which will take toll on their work engagement, thus undermining the quality of
their work. Such reality and likelihood make it essential for school unit heads to be resilient
in their work. One way of enhancing their work resilience is to develop their organization-
based self-esteem, which is asserted by Pierce & Gardner (2004) as a “buffer” against
the conditions at the workplace. In other words, organization-based self-esteem finds its
importance in any workplace, such as the school, that expects its employees, such as the
unit/department heads, to fulfil their tasks efficiently and effectively for the attainment of
its organizational goals. Furthermore, findings of this study provide links between
organizational support and organization-based self-esteem among employees. In the
context of this study, the unit heads received to a high extent the support of the school
management and have high organization-based self-esteem, suggesting that the former
may affect the latter. It must be noted that the indicators of organization-based self-
esteem cover largely items that point to organizational support. Therefore, school
management should build the organization-based self-esteem of its unit heads by
extending them its full support.

Conclusion

Findings of this study point to the importance of teachers’ demonstration of desirable or

positive interpersonal skills – both verbal and non-verbal – to invite pupils to engage highly in
their learning affectively, behaviorally, and cognitively. Further supporting the theory of
developmental contextualism, this study recognizes the role teachers play in creating a learning
environment that is highly conducive to the learning engagement of pupils. Such learning
environment is characterized by a positive interpersonal relationship between teachers and pupils.
A positive teacher-pupil relationship is achieved in an environment that is caring, motivating,
supportive, encouraging, and fun-filled. Thus, teachers can make a great difference in the
facilitation of pupils’ classroom engagement by becoming fully aware of the impact of their spoken
and non-spoken language on pupils’ engagement and learning and taking extra care demonstrating
languages (verbal and non-verbal) that do not de-motivate and disengage pupils in the course of
their learning. At all times, teachers must demonstrate desirable interpersonal skills for such skills
invite pupils to engage fully in their learning. As further postulated by the theory of developmental
contextualism, pupils’ classroom engagement takes place when dynamic interaction between
teacher and pupils exists. Then again, how teachers interact with or relate to their pupils determine
the extent to which pupils will respond to the them. Hence, teachers must possess the necessary
relational skills to facilitate dynamic interaction in the classroom and thus classroom engagement
among pupils.

ABSTRACT

Teachers’ role in the classroom is to promote high learning engagement among their pupils
to achieve the desired learning outcomes. One effective way of facilitating classroom engagement
is by establishing positive teacher-pupil interaction. Thus, this descriptive-correlational study
determined the association between teachers’ resilience and interpersonal skills and pupils’
classroom engagement. Specifically, the study determined the teachers’ resilience in terms of
acceptance, optimism, resourcefulness, self-efficacy, and commitment; their quality of non-verbal
and verbal interpersonal skills; pupils’ affective, behavioral, and cognitive classroom; and any
significant association between and among the variables of the study. Involving 40 Grade 6
teachers and randomly chosen 400 Grade 6 pupils of a public elementary school in the Division of
Cagayan de Oro City, the study used modified instruments to gather pertinent data, which were
analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings of the study reveal
that the teachers had high levels of acceptance, optimism, resourcefulness, self-efficacy, and
commitment. That is, they were highly resilient. As to their interpersonal skills, they highly
demonstrated both non-verbal and verbal interpersonal skills in the classroom. In terms of
classroom engagement, the pupils had high affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement, which
was found to be significantly associated with their teachers’ quality of interpersonal skills but not
with the teachers’ resilience. On the other hand, the teachers’ quality of interpersonal skills was
not significantly associated with their resilience. In conclusion, the findings underscore the
importance of positive or desirable teachers’ interpersonal skills in motivating pupils to engage
highly in their learning.
Keywords: Interpersonal skills, relational skills, work resilience, classroom engagement, verbal
skills, non-verbal skills,