National Pride Among Junior High School Students: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

The main purpose of the study is to describe the national pride of Filipino Junior High School (JHS) students. It specifically aimed to identify the facilitators, inhibitors, sources, and
descriptions of students’ national pride experience. The findings of the study served as a basis in the development of a framework for teaching national pride among learners. The goal of the K to 12 Araling Panlipunan to produce citizens who are critical and nationalistic served as an underlying factor for the conduct of the study. The study was qualitative research in design and was conducted following the qualitative descriptive research methodology. The research data were gathered through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The instrument used was a researcher-made interview guide, which was subjected to pilot tests and validations by experts in the field of social sciences and social studies education. Content analysis was used to analyze the data and formulate the themes following the purposes of the study. The participants of the study were twenty (20) purposively selected JHS students who are enrolled in the school year 2019-2020. They were grades seven (7) to ten (10) students.

The findings of the study reported that cultural awareness, socialization, formal education, and media engagement are the facilitators of JHS students’ national pride. On the contrary,
reluctance, inaccessibility of resources, and national embarrassment were revealed to be the inhibitors of national experience of students. Furthermore, sources of national pride among
Filipino JHS students are historical events, natural heritage, cultural heritage, and Filipino people. The findings of the study also suggested that there are four themes to describe students’ national pride experiences and these are positive experience, social engagement, nationalistic attachment, and civic responsibility. Finally, a framework for teaching national pride that is based on the findings of the study was developed.

It was concluded that there are several internal and external factors that either facilitate or inhibit the national pride experience of JHS students. More specifically, findings showed that it is
access to information that facilitates, and personal, socio-economic, and socio-political issues that inhibit national pride among students. 

Additionally, it was also concluded that there are different sources of national pride among Filipino JHS students. Their sources of national pride reflect Filipino identity and achievements
and do not include the political or economic status of the country. Moreover, the national pride experiences of students depict a positive and engaging experience with social, cultural, and civic dimensions. While students exhibit “proud to be Filipino” sentiments, it appears that their pride is inclined towards an uncritical type of esteem. Accordingly, the study recommends the study and learning of national pride in terms of its facilitators, inhibitors, sources, and descriptions. This is to enrich and strengthen national pride that eventually leads to the goal of K to 12 Araling Panlipunan of producing citizens who are critical and nationalistic. Importantly, the framework developed by the researcher can be used to teach national pride efficiently and effectively.