Exploring Students’ Perception of Educational Environment in Alternative Learning System (ALS) Senior High School

This study was conducted to explore the perceptions of students in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) regarding their educational environment at Nabunturan National Comprehensive High School, Nabunturan Davao De Oro. While significant studies and researches have examined the educational environment in allied health sciences, consequently, there’s a notable lack or no studies have documented pertaining to perceptions of ALS students to their educational environment. Quantitative research method was used in this study employing descriptive design. The participants were composed of 104 senior high school students enrolled in ALS program. The data were gathered through face-to-face using DREEM survey questionnaire. The responses of the participants were analyzed and treated statistically using ANOVA to identify significant differences. The results shown that ALS students have generally positive perception in their educational environment with an overall mean of 3.17 interpreted as high. Notably, it was found out that there is no significant difference in demographic profiles of students such as sex, age, marital status, and grade level in the perceptions of educational environment. However, the academic self-perception domain has significant difference among grade 11 and grade 12 students indicating that they might have different experiences or challenges in the school. Nevertheless, the overall result shown that demographic factors of the respondents do not influence their perception. The study highlighted the pivotal role of a supportive educational environment within ALS program and the need for continuous support for educators to ALS students which considered according to law, as depressed, underserved and underprivilege.