Chapter I

Introduction

Policies and procedures are said to be vital and integral mechanisms in any

organization, company or institution in terms of advancing to its desired outcome.

In other words, they provide guidelines, promote adherence to rules and

regulation, encourage consistency of behavior and actions in an organization and

help the decision-makers identify the key programs and strategy on handling

issues and concerns as they arise. In school setting, policies and procedures

outline the educational and operational structure of the institution that are

essential to the over-all welfare of the learners against all form of harm. To

schools who strive to take the children’s well-being as its bosom philosophy, it’s

no doubt that organized policies would be at its peak of consideration.

Pursuant to Article XV Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution, it is the duty of

the state to defend the right of children to assistance, including proper care and

nutrition, and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty,

exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their development. Likewise,

Department Order No. 40 s. 2012 also known as DEPED Child Protection Policy

(CPP) was provided to ensure that all educational endeavors of any institution

shall be paramount to the best interest of the children. However, these policies

and procedures are sometimes rendered useless if the school neglect to adhere to

them or fail to effectively communicate them into systematized form of

procedural actions. In the height of achieving student’s development goal,

unsuccessful implementations of the Child Protection Policy hinder the attainment

on the ground of poor adherence and enforcement of the established policies and

procedures of the Department Order.

As observed, most of the Public elementary and secondary schools in

Unit I in the division of Surigao del Sur are having hard time in the

implementation of the mandate of the DepEd in ensuring that every Filipino

learner’s potential to development can be achieved and thereby providing a just,

safe, enticing and conducive learning environment that transcend differences and

individual upbringing. Setting to specific, there are schools who have not yet

adopted or crafted School-based Child Protection Policy and if they have,

implementation phase is particularly a failure and procedural phases aren’t

followed and use as source ground in resolving cases. Apparently, some

administrators attributed the gap to having lack of knowledge, adoption of CPP

fall short as mere compliance while other institutions adapt policy of other school

which is sometimes not truly responsive to their own context.

Hence, the researcher is prompted to study the extent of child protection

policy implementation in schools to determine the level of application of the

various institutions that is commensurate to DepEd’s mandate. Likewise, the

study will reveal the impact on the children’s education to schools of those

institutions that have successfully implemented the policy and those who were

not.
Theoretical Framework

In a large context in the country, this study is anchored on Anti-Bullying

Act. of 2013 (R.A 10627) wherein "bullying" is referred to as severe or repeated

use by one or more students of written, verbal or electronic expression , or a

physical act or gesture , or any combination thereof, directed at another student

that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in reasonable fear of

physical or emotional harm or damage to his property, or materially and

substantially disrupting the education process or the orderly operation of a school

(Congress of the Philippines,2012). Department of Education adopted the act by

anchoring on the Department Order No. 40 s. 2012 also known as DepEd Child

Protection Policy which invigorates schools to ensure effective adoption of child

protection policies, procedures, and compliance thereof. It stresses further that

schools are encouraged to conduct capacity building activities to guarantee that

members of Child Protection Committee are giving all means to the success of the

implementation with the intention of protecting the children in all forms of

neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their

development.

Jans (2004) supported this claim in his theory that children are viewed as

an object of adults’ protection and that should be always surrounded by their

attention in which policy should be made to encourage them to present themselves

in their own development through their rights. Likewise, United Nations

Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) believes in the same way taking
their aim that children should at all times be protected from all forms of physical

or mental violence, injury and abuse, neglect or negligent treatment maltreatment

and exploitation, including sexual abuse. As such, policy in school, which is

necessary to address related issues from arising as well as resolving, is indeed a

necessity in every institution, which can be seen in its implementation.

This study considers also several theories such as Complexity Theory and

Theory and Practices of Child Protection and Child Welfare. Complexity Theory

pointed out that the protection of children, whether living at home or in residential

care, is a core endeavor of residential and field social work with children (Oxford

University, 2007).

Child Protection and Child Welfare Theory and practices however viewed

child abuse, child protection and child welfare issues in families remained to be

one of the society's most challenging and complex issues. The theory exemplifies

that understanding child abuse, child protection and child welfare and being able

to effectively respond can be vital in dealing with a range of human service

practitioner concerns. As such, this child protection and child welfare can be

issues in a social and political context and highlights the impact of class, gender,

and race to the process of the policy development and implementation (University

of Newcastle Australia, 2005). The school is a place where violence against

children occurs and that the need for Child Protection Policy in schools is a

demand. It is therefore an important move for the school administrators to visit

from time to time the schools policy to measure its responsiveness to fostering

child-centered and child-friendly school.

 Implementation inevitably takes different shapes and forms in different

cultures and institutional settings. This point is particularly important in an era in

which processes of ‘government’ have been seen as transformed into those of

‘governance’ (Hill and Hupe,2002, p1). Despite support from politicians, policy

makers and the majority of the public for this work, child protection practice and

practitioners are frequently criticized for perceived or actual failures to protect.

Successive inquires produce reports with similar recommendation, yet children

continue to abused and harmed, sometimes fatally.

This study therefore emerged to give focus on the level of implementation

of child-protection as policy in school to fulfill in desired heights that the welfare

and development of the children and students is on par of the Department of

Education. Considering there are gaps and shortfalls observed in some schools as

to the extent of Child Protection Policy implementation, the researcher is inspired

to bridge missing puzzle in identifying school profile level of application and as

to whatever process of policy implementation would suit and could be developed

in the place and plight where the problem aroused. Apparently, this endeavor

would delve deeper on the different aspects of the implementations of why other

schools succeed and others were not. As such, this would eventually cite practices

that could be helpful in achieving successes in implementations. Moreover, this

will display an ideal setting of school where employing the child protection policy

is achieved.
 Conceptual Framework

School Size
-Small School Extent of Child
-Medium School Protection Policy -Information
-Large School Implementation dissemination
in the school - behavioral &
School Faculty & -Pre- academic related
Staff Profiles implementation/orientat changes
-Age ion stage -Compliance to
-Sex -Adoption/ standard
-Educational implementation
Attainment -Sustainability/
-Trainings attended Assessment of
compliance

Feedback

Figure 1: Schematic Diagram of Child Protection Policy

Implementation Extent with Potential Moderators

Shown in Figure 1 is the conceptual framework of the study manifested in

its important variables. As to the variables that affect the extent of CPP

implementation, the researcher included the school size in which small schools

referred to as schools with 9 and below teachers’ population; Medium schools

with 10 to 25 number of teachers, large schools with 30 to 50 numbers of teachers

while ranging from 51 and above is considered a mega school. The Institute for

Local Self-Reliance (ILSR, John Bailey 2012) pointed out that that big schools is

usually preferred during implementation of policy to see its success right away
since they are exposed to a broader array of information. The researcher also

considered the profile of the faculty and staff concerning their age, sex,

educational attainment, trainings attended related to policy implementation and

work experience. Fewer studies have been performed on age diversity in relation

to the workplace, but recently age diversity has been shown to have a positive

effect on team performance in situations where the task is complex (Wegge, Roth,

Kanfer, Neubach and Schmidt, 2008). In a certain study of the role of sex in

achieving goals, it shows that women are shown to have positive effects that

improve corporate performance (Catalyst, 2007). Bradshaw, Waasdorp,

O’Brennan, & Gulemetova (2011) argue in their study of bullying incidence that

some school policy implementation fails because many staff have not received

training or only half have received training related to the policy. With regards to

educational attainment, there is substantial evidence that individuals’ educational

attainments are associated with positive career outcomes and job mobility

(Cappelli, 2000; Howard, 1986; Lazear, 1981; Ng, Eby, Sorensen, & Feldman,

2005). Van Vugt (2006) considered also the importance of work experience in the

performance. He stated that: “In ancestral environments, some situations required

the possession of unique and specialized knowledge, for example, where to find a

waterhole that has not yet dried up. Knowledge about where to go would have

been more likely to be held by older or experienced individuals” and thus

experience will make a person perform better and hence dependable.

The extent of Child Protection Policy implementation can be seen in the

pre-implementation stage, Implementation stage and the post-implementation

phase. The early stage may have it focus on the trainings conducted related to the

implementation of the school policy and others while implementation or adoption

phase on the presence of observed requirements based on child protection survey

and so with its sustainability measures through local monitoring and evaluation.

The result of getting the level of implementation will be a source of feedback unto

what improves what to improve; what is the attainment, what is necessary to

attain and its height compared to standard compliancy.

Statement of the problem

This study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondent-school in terms of:

1.1 Size;

1.2 Number of students

1.3 Number of Teachers

2. What is the profile of the faculty and staff respondents in terms of:

2.1 Age

2.2 Sex

2.3 Educational Attainment

2.4 Trainings Attended

3. What is the extent of child protection policy implementation by the

respondent-school in terms of:

3.1 Pre-implementation / Orientation Stage

3.2 Adoption /Implementation stage

3.3 Sustainability
 4. Is there a significant difference between the faculty and staff

respondents’ profile and their extent of implementation?

5. Is there a significant difference among the types of schools based on

its size in the extent of implementation of child protection policy in

terms of:

5.1 Information Dissemination

5.2 Students/pupils’ Behavior

5.3 Compliance to child protection policy standard

6. What are the implementation strategies transpired based on the

findings of the study that are considered helpful in achieving goals of

the desired implementation?

Hypotheses

HO1: There is no significant relationship between faculty and staff profiles and the

extent of their Child Protection Policy implementation.

HO2: There is no significant difference among the types of schools based on its

size in the extent of implementation of child protection policy.

Significance of the Study

The result of this study would be greatly beneficial to the following:

School Administrators. The findings of this study would help the school

administration in the proper implementation of child protection policy, since this

study will show the best practices of the different school size as to how they attain

that level of implementation. This will serve also as starting point to guide other

administrators about the feedback that transpired in the study about various

implementation processes.

Teachers. the result of this study would also help teachers in implementing

classroom discipline which is in accordance to the mandate of DEPED through

effective implementation of Child Protection Policy.

Students. Student will be greatly benefited considering that they are the center of

the policy which aims at protecting them from all harm. As such, this study will

guarantee a school that welfare and development of the children is at its peak

consideration and priority.

Parents. This will give parents ease and assurance that the school where their

child attends gives assurance on defending their child in all forms of abuse,

negligence and violence.

Community. The study will give ideas to the community about protective factors

that the school is exercising as a help in building the children’s health and well-

being and this will eventually be practiced by the empowered community through

school community extension services.

Future Researchers. Findings on this study will guide future research endeavors

which will delve on assessing the best practices implementation strategies

transpired.

Scope and Limitation

 This study is conducted to determine the extent of Child Protection Policy

implementation in elementary and secondary schools of Carrascal I district school

year 2018-2019. The aspects looked into the profiles of faculty and staff of the

school including the size of their school as to how these facets affect pre-

implementation, implementation, and sustainability endeavors. Moreover, the

researcher will dig on extracting the relations of the profiles, both the respondents

and school type on the institution with successful practices in the course of whole

implementatioj processes.

Definition of Terms

Child Protection – refers to actions or programs of certain organization or

institution with the efforts to make sure children are

safe from abuse and neglect.

Implementation - The process of putting a decision or plan into effect;

Execution (Oxford Dictionary).

Policy - is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions

and achieve rational outcomes(Wikipedia).

School Size – a term used to categorize schools under DepEd which

is usually determine by the total population of students

and teachers.
 CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

Child Protection Policy is an indispensable mechanism that a nation or an

institution should never compromise. Child protection is vital both for children’s

well-being and for the growth and development of societies yet child protection is

amongst the least well-resourced sectors (Emily Delap, 2015). There are books

that we can use as a tool for studying different aspects of child protection and for

studying the present topic which is “The Extent of Child Protection Policy

Implementations in Carrascal I District schools. This chapter considers the

different literatures conducted by various researchers focusing on the extent of

child protection policy implementation. This effort on literature review is done to

explain the in-depth background of the study in order for the readers or audience

to know and grasp more on the study presented.

Foreign Review of Related Literature and Studies

In the book Human Rights in Child Protection: A Manual of Good

Practice by Asgeir Falch-Eriksen (2005), he emphasizes a legal understanding of

the child’s right to protection against maltreatment by care-takers, and it also

explores the obligations of states parties in implementing the right to protection in

professional practice and in policy. Eriksen added that rights and obligations form

the framework within which to exercise professional judgment in the area of child

protection, and specifying their content is a prerequisite for rights to be realized.

Lang and Hartill (2015) stress the need of child protection policy presently

to land in the area of sports. In their book Safeguarding, child protection and

abuse in sport : international perspectives in research, policy and practice, they

accentuate that the safeguarding of children and young people participating in

sport has become an increasingly prominent concern in policy-making and

research communities around the world. Major organizations such as the IOC and

UNICEF now officially recognize that children in sport can be at risk of

exploitation and abuse, and this concern has led to the emergence of new

initiatives and policies aimed at protecting vulnerable young people and athletes.

Children are the generation that will represent the country’s next

generation or future. As specified in the book National Systems of Child

Protection: Understanding the International Variability and Context for

Developing Policy and Practice by Holguin and Fluke (2018), national as well as

local authorities need to mobilize increased budgetary and service resources to

deal with the demanding challenges facing the child protective system. It is

therefore important for the national planning of budget to consider programs that

will take care of the welfare of the nation’s children.

According to recent U.S. statistics, over 770,000 children are victims of

child abuse and neglect each year. Experiencing child abuse and neglect

(maltreatment) is frequently associated with negative effects on children. Many

educational staff agreed that schools are at capacity in terms of taking on new

initiatives, so determining how to protect children and keep them safe may seem

like an additional daunting task. Effective implementation of policies and

procedures within school settings has been shown to prevent maltreatment within

schools. In addition, leadership is important to the success and sustainability of

school-based prevention programs. School administrator can send a clear message

that child protection is a priority and motivate staff to implement skills learned in

training.

Research by Yanowitz (2003) and colleagues underscores the importance

of emphasizing policies and procedures in child abuse training within the school

setting. According to them, administrators must assess their current child

protection policies, procedures and practices to develop a comprehensive child

protection strategy for their school. Moreover, a robust training for school

administrators that can help them assess their current child protection policies,

procedures, and practices is necessary. This helps them develop a comprehensive

child protection strategy that aligns with current research and best practice. A

strategy based on research and best practice includes policies and procedures

designed to protect children from abuse in a school or youth program setting,

establishing a staff code of conduct, creating procedures for screening and hiring

staff and volunteers, and reporting staff violations of protection policies.

Lussine Shahinyan (2004) in her study of child protection has revealed

evidence of improvement in the child protection system in Armenia, such a

reforms in legal fields, implementation of new program and cooperation between

different actors in child protection sphere. But the major change seen as a result of

the study was the three tired system, which, although, needs to past a long way in

order to read its full and effective operation.

Devorah Daro,PH.D. (2011) in her study Child Maltreatment Prevention :

Past , Present , Future pointed out that child abuse prevention efforts have grown

exponentially over the past 30 years. Some of this expansion reflects new public

policies and expanded formal services such as parents’ education classes, support

groups, home visitations programs and safety education for children. Preventing

Child Abuse is not simply matter of parents doing a better job, but rather it is

about creating a context in which “doing better “is easier. It remains important to

remind the public that the child abuse and neglect are serious treats to a child’s

healthy development and overt violence towards children and a persistent lack of

attention to their care and supervision are unacceptable. When the problem is

owned by all individuals and community’s prevention will progress, and fewer

children will remain risk.

Leading researchers and practitioners – both in Australia and overseas-

also supported the idea on the effects of having child protection policy being

implemented. They suggested that applying protection will deliver better

outcomes for our children and young people and their families (Holzer 2007;

O’Donnell, Scott, & Stanley 2008; Scott 2006; ARACY 2007). In the same way

negatively, Stephen (1996) labelled violence as a potential threat not only to the

health of the students but also to their academic success. Hence, implementation
of violence prevention programs is a must in every school but these programs

sometimes shows little success (McAllister 1995).

Local Review of Related Literature and Studies

Plan International Philippines has piloted successful projects as to the

functionality of local child protection mechanisms and structures including the

increased awareness and capacity of institution. Outcome of their study involves

having the following:

a. Government units at various levels are managing community-based child

protection systems that deal with prevention, monitoring, reporting, and

response to children and women abuses, even in emergencies.

b. Civil society organizations are promoting the protection of women and

children.

c. Schools and communities implement child protection measures especially

for women and adolescent girls.

d. Male and female parents and teachers are practicing positive discipline

toward girls and boys.

e. Schools and communities have increasing capacity to prevent, respond,

and cope with the effects of disasters.

f. And, Girls and boys especially survivors of abuse, exploitation, and

disasters are availing of child protection services. Children are

participating in disaster risk prevention, preparedness, and response.

 PWU-CWC- UNICEF in their study Towards A Child –Friendly Education

Environment (2009) stressed that there are 3 out of 10 children in Grades 1-3 and

almost 5 out of 10 from high school experienced physical violence (such as

pinching and hitting) committed by teachers;4 out of 10 children in Grades 1-3

and 7 out of 10 in higher grade levels experienced verbal abuse by their teachers;

36.53 % of children in Grades 4-6 and 42. 88% of high school students

experienced verbal sexual violence in school and 11.95% of children in Grades 4-

6 and 17.60% of high school students have experienced inappropriate touching. In

addition, 73.58% of children in Grades 4-6 and 78.36% in high school in urban

areas suffered verbal abuse violence from their peers; 30.17% of children in

Grades 4-6 and 37.57% in high school in rural areas experienced physical abuse

or violence committed by their peers; 26.74% of children in Grades 4-6 and 43.

71% in high school in urban areas experienced verbal sexual abuse committed by

their peers and 9.65% of Grades 4-6 and 17.71% of high school students

experienced inappropriate touching.

The Philippine 1987 Constitution provides that it is the duty of the state to

defend the right of every child to assistance, including proper care and nutrition,

and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and

other condition prejudicial to their development (Article XV, Section 3).

Presidential Decree No. 603 also called as The Child and Youth Welfare

Code gave weight on child as one of the most important assets of the nation. It

emphasizes in the act that every effort should be exerted to promote his welfare

and enhance his opportunities for a useful and happy life. Further, the decree
highlighted the biggest roles played by the family in molding the character of the

child which start at the home. In addition, the policy requires other institutions,

like the school, the church, the guild, and the community in general, should assist

the home and the State in the endeavor to prepare the child for the responsibilities

of adulthood.

Likewise, in the school setting, DepEd Order no. 40 s. 2012 also known as

DepEd Child Protection Policy Implementation guidelines is anchored on the

mandate of the constitution which direct all schools to craft responsive Child

Protection Policy. The policy aims to protect the child from all forms of violence

that may be inflicted by adults, persons in authority as well as their fellow

students, including bullying. This policy also provides special protection to

children who are gravely threatened or endangered by circumstances which affect

their normal development and over which they have no control, and to assist the

concerned agencies in their rehabilitation.

Jay A. Yacat (2011) in her study Child Protection in the Philippines: A

Situational Analysis brought attempts to link child protection with social

protection which has now become a trend especially among member countries of

the association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). According to her, the

Philippines has been cited as possessing a remarkably strong legislative

framework that enables the passing of child protection laws and policies, both at

the national and local levels. Certain groups of children will require specific

attention, as their exposure to threats and abuses is high either because they grow
up in an unstable environment, with no sufficient protection networks or because

the adults they deal with do not see their best as a top priority.

Bernadette J. Madrid et al. (2009) studied Child Maltreatment Prevention

in the Philippines situations where she recommends to have conduct of national

prevalence study on child maltreatment; working with communities to increase

their readiness and capacity to implement a primary prevention program on child

maltreatment and identify a central body with the legal mandate to implement the

national plan to end violence against children. Madrid added that a central

government body needs to be identified who will be responsible for the

implementation of the framework to end violence against children and should be

given in legal mandate and resource to do so.

Synthesis of the Study

The review of related literature and studies both foreign and local that is

included in this study will be a help to the researcher in the formulation of the

questions to be researched on. More so, the ideas and concepts as well as the

results and findings of related studies will be used as references in interpreting

and analyzing the data to be gathered in this study and most importantly, they will

be of great use in the formulation of assumptions and hypothesis if there should

be any in this research design.

 Chapter 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the research design, research environment,

participants of the study, data gathering procedure and statistical

instruments.

Research Design

The study will utilize a quantitative research in descriptive survey

design. The standard format in quantitative research design will be used

for each respondent will be asked the same questions, which ensures that

the entire data sample can be analyzed fairly.

Research Locale

The Municipality of Carrascal, Surigao del Sur is known for the

existing large –scale mining companies which is the source of

employment of the locals. The presence of mining companies operating in

the municipality has brought to the increase of population in the barangay.

As a result, more small businesses are blooming and an increase in the

school population is evident for students from other schools are also

transferring in the locality. The students enrolled in the schools also have

varied attitude depending on their upbringing.

Subjects of the Study

The subjects of the study are all the schoolteachers under the

Carrascal I District. These comprised both elementary and secondary

teachers with One Hundred Fifty Five (155) personnel.

Research Instrument

The research instrument is a researcher made and had undergone

the process of validation (test-research method) with the help of the

master teachers in the said district.

Data Gathering Procedure

The study began with the review of literature about various aspects

and current state of questions researched in the current study. Before the

administration of the study, the researcher sought the permission of the

Schools Division Superintendent of Surigao del Sur Division and

Secondary School Principal to allow the researcher to conduct the study to

respondent school.

During the conduct of the study the researcher will hand in

the questionnaire to the respondents, the data will then be tabulated and

analyzed through the use of Perason-r Correlation (PPMC). The study will

be conducted during the first quarter of the school year 2019-2020.

Statistical Treatment of Data

After the administration of the instruments, results will be tallied,

then the hypotheses of the study will be analyzed using Pearson-R

Moment Correlation.