The word immersion as it applies to the K to 12 curriculum is defined in the Department

of Education (DepEd) Order No. 40, series of 2015:

Work Immersion refers to the part of the Senior High School (SHS) Curriculum consisting
of 80 hours of hands-on experience or work simulation which the Grades 11 and 12
students will undergo to expose them to the actual workplace setting and to enrich the
competencies provided by the school under the supervision of the School Head and the
designated personnel of the Partner.

Immersion is done outside the school campus in a Workplace Immersion Venue, defined
as the place where work immersion of students is done. Examples of work immersion
venues include offices, factories, shops and project sites.

What could lead to confusion is that the word immersion actually has two meanings in
K to 12. The first meaning refers to a required SHS subject in the curriculum. The second
meaning refers not to a subject but to a preferred mode of delivery of Tech-Voc subjects.

Let us take the first meaning immersion as a subject in the curriculum.

In the Curriculum Guides posted on the DepEd website, the word immersion occurs in
the Specialized Subjects of the tracks (Academic, Technical-Vocational-Livelihood or
TVL, Sports, and Arts and Design).

Immersion is only one of four options under Work Immersion / Research / Career
Advocacy / Culminating Activity. In the Academic Track, the ninth required specialized
subject in the Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM), Humanities and Social
Sciences (HUMSS), and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
strands. WRCC is a required specialized subject in the Sports Track. In this particular
track, the phrase Apprenticeship (off-campus) is added as an example of a WRCC. The
use of this phrase is unfortunate, because the word apprenticeship has a legal meaning
in RA 1826 (National Apprenticeship Act of 1957). Legally, an apprentice is a worker of
at least 16 years of age who is covered by a written apprenticeship agreement with an
employer, an association of employers, an organization of workers, or an apprenticeship
committee registered with the Apprenticeship Division, which contract provides for not
less than two thousand hours of reasonably continuous employment for such worker and
for his participation in an approved schedule of work experience through employment and
supplemented by related classroom instruction. No person shall work or be engaged as
apprentice unless he is at least sixteen years of age, has completed the high school
course or such course or courses as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe.

There are two things that show that the word apprentice cannot be used within the
Sports track. First, the apprentice must already have finished high school, and second,
the apprentice must render at least 2,000 hours. Immersion as a subject covers only 80
hours, or if the student spends all day Monday to Friday, only two weeks out of the school
year.

WRCC is a required specialized subject in the Arts and Design Track. In this track, there
is another required specialized subject called Apprenticeship and Exploration of Different
Arts Fields. Here, the word apprenticeship does not fall under RA 1826, because the
word has an established meaning in the field of arts. In the US, for example, a Fine Arts
Apprentice Program provides specialized experiences beyond the regular art, music and
drama curriculum for selected high school students (rising 10th, 11th, or 12th graders).
Opportunities for students may include ensemble works, master classes, attendance at
professional rehearsals and performances, museum courses, small group instruction,
seminars, exhibit and performance opportunities. In the UK, there are apprenticeships
for new media, such as animation assistant, archive assistant, broadcast assistant, junior
designer, production runner, digital assistant. The use of the word apprentice in the
Arts and Design track may lead to legal confusion, but there is no choice. The word has
a longer history in the arts than it does in our laws.

The House of Representatives has approved a bill amending both RA 1826 and the Labor
Code, but the equivalent Senate Bill has not yet been passed. In House Bill 5303, the
word apprenticeship refers to a training within an enterprise involving a contract
between an apprentice and an enterprise on an approved apprenticeable occupation.
This House Bill specifies that it is the Technical Education and Skills Development
Authority (TESDA) that will supervise apprentices, as it does today, not DepEd.

As one of the options for WRCC, immersion is limited to at most 80 hours, because it is
merely one subject. It may not even be chosen by the student or the school to comply
with the requirement. DepEd Order No. 40 covers the procedures for a school that has
decided to use immersion as their WRCC.

The other meaning of the word immersion in K to 12 refers to a mode of delivery of

Tech-Voc subjects.

Here, immersion is not limited to 80 hours. In fact, the TVL curriculum posted on the
DepEd website specifies that immersion should take at least 640 hours.

IN ACCORDANCE with the K-12 curriculum of the Department of Education (DepEd), the
Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) has laid down guidelines regarding the work
immersion program for Senior High School (SHS) students. As provided by its Labor
Advisory, Dole said work immersion programs must be compliant to the just-released
guidelines in order to be considered as above-board. "Work immersion shall not be
considered as employment arrangement but only to serve the K-12 Program purpose of
exposing the students to actual workplace setting and augment the competencies
provided by the schools," said the Labor Advisory. First in the guidelines is the prohibition
on students having work immersion in industries and activities considered as hazardous
in accordance with Dole Department Order 149-2016. Under DO 149-16, among those
considered as hazardous industries are mining and quarrying; construction;
transportation and storage; water supply, sewerage, waste management, and
remediation activities; forestry and logging; fishing and aquaculture; hunting and trapping;
security and investigation; and manufacturing of alcoholic beverages, tobacco,
pyrotechnics, rubber and plastic products, chemicals, metals, and weapons and
ammunitions. The Labor Advisory said work immersion may be scheduled for no more
than eight consecutive hours per day and must only be between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also,
Dole said work immersion for students that are still below 15 years old must have
permission from their parents or guardians and should be no longer than four hours per
day. Lastly, Dole said the actual work immersion shall be held under the supervision of
the School Head and the designated personnel of the partner firm. Work immersion is
part of the SHS curriculum being implemented by the Department of Education (DepEd),
wherein Grades 11 and 12 students are required to undergo 80 hours of hands-on
experience of work simulation. The program aims to expose students to the actual
workplace setting and enrich their competencies. (