THE REPLACEMENT OF WORK IMMERSION WITH BUSINESS ENTERPRISE SIMULATION: EXPERIENCING REALITY THROUGH HANDS-ON ACTIVITY
To support dreams and nurture hopes have always been the goal of education. Having said that, the country’s educational system constantly improves along with the growing generation. It is to ensure that a student is given the best quality of learning that fits his expanding necessities perfectly and is capable of forming his strengths into opportunities. Not so long ago, this concept motivated an idea and now, according to the Enderun Colleges in their article entitled Promoting Global Competence: Advantages of K to 12 for the Philippines, it became a reality that changed the lives of everyone.
Basic education consisted of 6 years at the primary level and 4 years at a secondary level of education. However, as clarified on the official website of The Gazette, the official journal of the Republic of the Philippines, K to 12 is a program that covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education. An additional 2 years in high school were included which is called Senior High School. Furthermore, it has been explained that this program aims to provide adequate proficiency in skills so that the students will be well-prepared for tertiary education, employment, and entrepreneurship. Thus, work immersion is included in the program.
Cruz (2015) explained that work immersion refers to the part of the SHS curriculum wherein the students undergo a hands-on experience that reflects an actual on-the-job setting. Anyhow, as different strands in SHS specialize in various respective courses, the idea that work immersion needs to be more specified to target the core competencies needed to be developed in a student was promoted like that for the Accountancy, Business, and Management strand. Hence, replacing work immersion with business enterprise simulation for ABM students came to the discussion which is said to be a great opportunity for the learners since their goal is related to business and marketing. For this reason throughout the training, one’s existing knowledge can be enriched by being a business owner, a customer, an employee, and an aspiring business personality all in one.
*A Business Owner
A person who owns a business is like an author of a book who oversees the outcome of work by just reading the prologue of the story. It might look impossible to other people but a business owner must handle all sorts of things from planning to solving conflicts of the management which is why training is significant before doing such action. In an article written by Jakab in 2011, reasons, why business simulations are tools for better learning, were addressed which is topped by the words “risk-free learning and coping with uncertainty”. It simply means that business simulation allows the students to try despite the doubts and see for themselves the result of their decisions. With that, they will be able to assess their choices from the establishment to the operations of the business to make better ones in the future. Struggles and obstacles will always be part of being an enterprise owner yet, it is a matter of learning from them that makes the foundation of the business indestructible.
*A Customer and an Employee
Everyone is a customer may they be kids who buy candies in stores or adults who shop at boutiques. Some may not pay attention to what they buy before but growing older, one realizes to spot quality over quantity. This strategy can be mastered through self-exploration but what more if given enough facts and ideas. According to Stratx, a site that displays insights and teachings regarding simulations, this type of on-the-job training experience makes the participants knowledgeable about what it is like to be in an actual workplace. This helps the students to bring an employee out of them with their involvement in the preparations, service, and functions of the business that test their strength, patience, and dedication to work the same way that it assists them to become a wise and practical customer through knowing what a product made with fine quality looks like. Hence, expertise in both can be achieved which they can use in daily living as buying is already part of our lives like how having a job is included in our plans as students.
*An Aspiring Business Personality
ABM is a strand that specializes in courses related to accountancy, business, and management as suggested in its name. Usually, students who prefer the strand know what they will take in college. Nevertheless, there are few whose choices are broad such as simply being a business personality without including what type and kind of business to deal with. And with that being said, the purpose of business simulation occurs. An insight published on Sponge in 2016 stated that business simulation seeks to place an individual in situations that one can encounter in their jobs. And so, upon being part of the training, students can widen their perspectives by observing the effects of their decisions such as in earning a profit and usage of resources. With that, as an aspiring business personality, the learner will be able to identify his real goal in the industry by overviewing what factors to consider before putting up a business like the location, target market, and trends making him a potential business icon for the next generations.
Business enterprise simulation is a process of attaining knowledge and skills with the use of firsthand experiences. Through “learning by doing”, students are exposed to situations that mimic the instances at work. Hence, they can align their strengths for more opportunities as they are given a chance to become a business owner, a wise customer, an employee, and an aspiring business personality all at once which lessons can help their decision to be efficient and productive in the future. ABM students or not, true enough, the experience will always be a great teacher. Having said that, education, indeed, supports dreams and nurtures the hopes of the students toward the achievement of their goals.
-oOoThe author is Teacher III at Aliaga National High School