Work Immersion: Real World Experience at Senior High

In the Philippines, youth unemployment hampers meaningful economic development. The sector’s lack of knowledge, skills, and work experience puts them at a disadvantage. One way to address this is through the Department of Education’s Senior High School (SHS) program, ushered by the K-12 education reform. One of its components, the work immersion program, provides students “real workplace” experience, giving students a set of technical-vocational and livelihood skills that can help them make more informed career choices and improve their employment prospects.

This story tells how the Coalitions for Change (CfC) program collaboratively worked with national and local governments and industries to address policy gaps in the SHS Work Immersion program. So far, the intervention is working well with a high passing rate in National Certification for tourism-related specializations and some graduates joining the workforce right after graduation.