Awareness to Engagement: A Mixed Methods Study of Political and Civic Development in a Philippine Senior High School

Abstract

Aims: To examine how political and civic awareness relate to political and civic engagement among Senior High School (SHS) students in the Philippines, and to identify the mechanisms through which awareness is converted into action. It advances civic education theory by refining the Input–Process–Output (IPO) framework to highlight mediating processes between awareness and engagement, and extends Freire’s critical consciousness and Bandura’s social learning perspectives to explain how awareness becomes participation in hybrid classroom/digital contexts. Study Design: An explanatory sequential mixed‑methods design was employed, combining quantitative analysis of awareness–engagement relationships with qualitative exploration of underlying mechanisms. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Domingo Lacson National High School, Banago, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines during the School Year 2025–2026. Methodology: Stratified random sampling yielded 400 students balanced by sex, grade level, and SHS track. A five‑part questionnaire, using Likert‑based scales, measured demographics, political awareness, civic awareness, political engagement, and civic engagement. Regression models controlled for demographic variables (sex, grade level, track). Extreme‑case purposive sampling selected 8 students for focus group discussions. Quantitative findings identified patterns that directly shaped focus group prompts, enabling qualitative insights to deepen interpretation of statistical trends. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, subgroup comparisons, correlations, and regressions, while qualitative data were examined through reflexive thematic analysis. Results:  Students were generally “Aware” in both domains, with civic engagement stronger than political engagement. Political awareness moderately predicted political engagement (r ≈ .40; R² ≈ .16), while civic awareness strongly predicted civic engagement (r ≈ .67; R² ≈ .45). Qualitative themes revealed mechanisms including digital political learning, curricular disparities, incentive‑dependent participation, and peer‑network socialization. Track differences were most pronounced for awareness, grade differences modest for engagement, and sex differences minimal. Conclusion: Awareness alone does not guarantee participation; civic pathways serve as bridges toward political learning. This study advances IPO theory by highlighting process‑level mediators that convert awareness into engagement, extends Freire’s and Bandura’s frameworks to hybrid classroom and digital contexts, and positions the Philippine SHS case as globally relevant for understanding youth civic development in digital democracies. Policy implications point to track‑inclusive experiential civics, stronger media and information literacy, and autonomy‑supportive school routines that reliably transform awareness into action.