Models Of Professional Development Education Essay

One of the foremost provisioning factors of the development of a nation is its education, including its quality of teachers, students, as well as education facilities and infrastructures. Therefore, education is defined as fundamental to national development and it is also a process and tool of which to contribute in sustainable development of the nation (Seubsang, & Boonphadung, 2011). Besides, all over the world, and not being exaggerated to argue that education as the gateway to future economic prosperity, the instrument for combating unemployment, the driving force behind scientific and technological progress, the safeguard of democratic values and the passport to personal success, (Panggabean, 2010). In fact that, with globalization became a universal concept since 1990’s and the need of the national development many countries had consistently fashioned its educational policies to make the country relevant to development of economics and subsequently through education, integrate it into the global economy, (Misra, & Bajpai, 2010).

In respect of the important education, further with the global challenges, viewing that the development of education means also the development of human being, since people are the greatest and most valuable asset for any country; its development should receive the greatest attention. This is because once the educational development is successful in true sense; the people will be quite ready to solve their own individual, local and national problems and improve their standards of living, while at the same time contribute to the solution of world problems (Madya, 2001).

Following its notions, there is a vital aspect that always plays important roles, although the government of any country has performed with any kinds of reforms such as curriculum, it is not just been enough to exclaim that education lays down on government side, all parties including teacher who precisely influential factor in the classroom is the most prominent actor to sustain such of the development. For that reason, the demand of the reform is needed to which directly answers the question concerned with the characteristics of the coming era and possible problems to be encountered. Thus, the notion of the reform in education specifically teacher should perform a significant function of perpetuating society’s heritage and energizing human resources towards social progress, additionally Misra and Bajpai verbalized that “the level of nation’s education cannot rise far above the quality of the teacher of that nation, this therefore, makes the preparation and selection of teachers a significant social concern” (Misra, & Bijpai, 2010, p. 6).

In advance, the notion of the global challenges and the need of the reform educational system in order to be competitive and meet the national’s need stretching out the pattern that the teacher’s role shifted from the traditional practice into more complex challenges, such as increasingly diverse students population, new technologies and rigorous academic standards and goals have led to the emergence of the concept of continuing professional development (Eurydice, 1995 as cited in Karagiorgi, & Symeou, 2005). The term of professional development however ensued because of the teacher’s role are not static but dynamic as the continue changing as per demands of the society (Misra, & Bijpai, 2010). Somehow, its term refers implicitly to the teacher professional development who anybody cannot denies that teachers are also the most important factor in student achievement (Carey, 2004 in Smith, & Gillespie, 2007). Yet, although the term used to any fields related to doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, and people in a wide variety of professions and business, in education effective professional development affects students, student learning and achievement increase when educators engage in effective professional development focused on the skills educators need in order to address students’ major learning challenges (Mizell, 2010).

The growing and challenging of teacher professional development today is rooted by the evolution that teacher is not only one of the variables to be changed in order to improve the educational system but also the most significant agent in this reform. Jamil (2010) highlights that “teachers in today’s world are under a growing pressure to perform, higher expectations and greater needs now pressure the teachers to perform effectively in classroom, it all comes down to quality teachers who are the determinants of student achievement” (Jamil et.al, 2010, p. 85). Straightforward, with above scenario the need of the quality teaching affects to improve teacher professional development by enhancing pre-service and in-service education program, in another reason with a lot of information and communication that are provided today bring new possibilities and paradigm to them, they must be adequately and appropriately trained through education programs, and access to these ongoing professional development is a prerequisite.

Teacher professional development (also known as “in-service” or “teacher education”) is the instruction provided to teachers to promote their development in a certain area (Hooker, 2008), in ESL/EFL context ̶ this study ̶ teacher professional development is undoubtedly important because and also of an impact of the era of globalization where English teacher must have competency in grammar, sociolinguistics, discursively and strategically proficient in English language, moreover, they need to have awareness about language learners, process of learning, classroom teaching strategies, and adequate experience and practice in English language (Yuwono & Harbon, 2010).

To date, with empirical studies done, especially in Indonesian context where English is taught as a foreign language, the demand to have a quality English teaching generates the country to re-examines the policies of teaching this language to be no longer as a subject matter, but it is initiated as a compulsory course for which the learners are directed similar as those who have learnt English as a second language. Likewise, the reason to just “re-examine” the language into core subject is considerately being fruitful, but in another hand, the policy to develop teacher’s teaching quality must in line thoroughly. They must assure the subjects which are students learned in the classroom meet the students’ need both in term of national and international competitiveness, thus the involvement of teachers toward education reform and the continuation of in-service program is a necessity, moreover for those teachers who are in secondary vocational high school where the development of new technologies require them to assist the students either being communicatively in English or integrating the subject into core activities related to students’ skill programs.

Studies show that the quality of in-service teacher program mediates the opportunities for teachers to improve the quality of their practice, Starkey et. al., (2009) affirm, the education reform however indicates that the importance of external expertise at all stages, an in particular, working with teachers to interpret policy for enactment in classrooms (Starkey et al., 2009, in Parson, & Higgins, 2011). Similarly Coburn, & Russel (2008) explain that The engagement of teachers is necessary because substantive new learning requires them to understand new content, learn new skill and think about their existing practice in new ways (as cited in Parson, & Higgins, 2011).

From 2005 to 2013, in response to increase awareness of the importance of professional learning and development as a mechanism to improve the quality of teaching and student outcomes, a national research and development initiative focused on building in-service teacher educator knowledge and skills was undertaken in Indonesia, several programs handed on, for instance, the government of Indonesia together with World Bank conducts a project named BERMUTU (Better Education through Reform Management and Universal Teacher Upgrading 2007-2013) where the objective is to contribute to the improvement of the overall quality and performance of teachers through enhancing teachers’ knowledge of subject matter and pedagogical skills in the classroom, (World Bank, 2012), in addition, the Teacher and Lecturer Act No, 14/2005, the central government of Indonesia by this act enhance the teachers’ quality through teacher certification program, provision of block-grant to school, establishment of subject-matter teacher association, organization of scientific forum and publication of scientific journals, and empowerment of subject matter teacher cluster the so-called “MGMP” (“Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran”), (Jalal, 2011).

As the time being, the ongoing programs mentioned above, require more description to gain enlightenment, hence this research attempts to describe the needs of EFL teachers in selected public vocational high school in Riau Province of Indonesia.

Statement of the Problem

The issue to improve the teacher education program or teacher professional development in Indonesia becomes more relevant since 2005, when the central government launched the Teacher and Lecturer act under the law No. 14/2005, one of the ground-breaking legislations and government regulations in the education sector deliberated during the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (current president) administration, (Setiawan, 2009). With the act, millions of public and private “in-service” school teachers are still participating through the certification program; the government enhances this program by hoping that all in-service teachers meet the 4 years academic qualification either diploma or an undergraduate degree.

Therefore, from the qualification stand point, only 51 percent out of 2,92 million teachers passed their bachelors’ degree or higher, this also applies to certification requirements where only 2,06 million or 70,5 percent meet the certification standard, by the fact, this situation impacted that the result of teacher initial competency test before taking a certification program (UKA: Uji Kompetensi Awal) in February 2012 was still below expectation, (Sampoerna Foundation, 2012). Similarly the data from Unesco in 2011, Indonesia has more than 3.4 million teachers, however, according to the MoNE, only 16,9% or 575,000 teachers in Indonesia were certified professional teachers, (Unesco, 2011). Likewise, the current data from World Bank stated that the increase of teachers who meet academic qualification has significantly increased; its current report showed over 1,5 million out of 2,9 million teachers have already acquired the mandated 4-year college degree, (World Bank, 2012).

The statistical provided above, however, it grasps the understanding of the current teacher education development problem in Indonesia, with million teachers who are spread into 33 provinces in Indonesia, especially for primary and secondary teachers, some of them are still not qualified to certification program, meanwhile the certification program aims is to improve their teaching academically. From this point of view, one can agree that the teachers’ academic qualification in Indonesia is still facing a big problem to unravel.

Despite, many other things commonly affect the quality of teacher education in Indonesia, not only about the issue of where most of the teachers are not qualified their profession academically, but also the largest population and areas around Indonesia resulted the teachers distribution to the district or rural area still has a problematic, it is the most populated country in the world with around 237,5 million people comprising of around 300 distinct native ethnicities, encompasses more than 742 different languages and dialects, (Gordon, 2005, in Setiawan, 2009; Global Education, 2009; Katadinata, 2010). But therefore, since the decentralization policy on 2001, it has addressed some important points such as financing and in which province has its independence to implement the national education policies according to the local’s priorities, the provincial level which gave education authorities the role as decision makers, but in another hand, its authority raises the disparity among 33 provinces in Indonesia, thus, the central government has an obstacle to provide equitable education for all Indonesian, (Lim, et.al. 2009).

The situation around, although the current education system in Indonesia being decentralized, but to date, regard and especially for “teacher professional development” tends to be centralized, the reason for this is just because the teacher is not given any roles in decision making toward the professional development program that are provided by government, they are supported to conduct several programs, but in any case they are less cooperative to implement the programs, they do when monitoring and supervision take place, Sajidin wrote that the motive of such its argument can be proved when the ends of the program they return to their previous style of teaching, then the slogan which is embedded in curriculum (KTSP, KBK, CBSA, CTL, etc.) is only the slogan which might be eventually forgotten, (Sajidin, 2010).

Supriatna, (2009) has given similar argument regards of this situation; he noted that the current in-service teacher training at provincial level did not work well, his research where was located in west java resulted that the teachers have not had an opportunity to refresh and update their knowledge and skills since their teaching appointment, means that, some cases for those teachers who already passed their certification program were not maintained to continue professional development.

Furthermore, the provincial Department of Education who maintains the current in-service teacher training has not had systematic program to manage, (Supriatna, 2009), it is just like a season program where few subject teachers being invited for intensive three days training at hotel, additionally he calculated that the numbers of teachers in junior secondary schools who participated in the in-service training from 26 districts (West Java study) for 6 subjects as equal to 312 (2 person/subject/districts x 26 districts x 6 subjects), meaning that out of 82,229 teachers or only 0.4 percent of teachers who have access to in-service training, (Supriatna, 2009). Despite the fact this study was located in Java but the situation would not much differ among provinces as java is the first location which going to be public test before a certain program launched by the central government.

Distinctively, the same situation also generates into the district level, it looks like the training which are provided by the local Department of Education has not facilitated the teachers to disseminate or share experiences with others, this phenomenon justified by Supriatna who explored that the design of the top-down training program did not give opportunity to teachers to disseminate what the real problems are, thus the result on in-service training benefited only for individual teacher, moreover, he insisted that in most cases, the result of in-service training were not easy to put into practice, so they kept to the traditional way of teaching, (Supriatna, 2009; Sajidin, 2010; Saito et al,. 2006).

The writer on the preliminary research has investigated the current situation at the district level where this study located; the phenomenon occurred as similarly as what has been described at the provincial level. Generally, by the government regulation since year 1978 Indonesia had begun its history on professional development programs for teachers, beginning on 1978 government had launched the program named PKG (Teacher Empowerment Program) to strengthen teachers’ competencies, this project was initially supported by UNDP (United Nation of Development Program) which ran from 1978 to 1984, then continue after the deadline till 1990 which fully supported by World Bank, (Somerset, 1997 as cited in Hadi, & Wiraatmaja, 2007), three levels of this project training were focused on national (Training for supervisor), provincial (training for key-teacher who supervise at district) and district level (Training for MGMP and KKG teachers).

KKG (School Cluster) is a group of “primary schools” teachers which consist of six to eight schools that has the same goal to improve the quality of education, and MGPM (Subject Matter Teachers Forum) is a group focused on “secondary schools” which consist of several subject teachers from different schools in a district. The program of KKG and MGPM however are still running in this current date, but the different is the project supported by World Bank under “BERMUTU” program since 2007 to 2013.

But steamily, we can now focus that the current in-service teachers training in Indonesia is only initially conducted by BERMUTU program (under government), the report shows over 1,5 million (of total 2,9 million teachers) teachers have acquired the mandated 4-year college degree, this exceed the final target of 1.4 million, likewise the improvement of teachers pedagogic skills is significantly increase, 214,380 teachers are participating in the 6,135 teacher professional working groups and principal and supervisor groups under BERMUTU project, (World Bank, 2012).

With above situation, the writer inspects that the current in-service teacher education in Indonesia is less comprehensive for subject matter teachers, although the program under BERMUTU consists of subject matter teacher forum (MGMP), but in another hand the program for secondary school teachers which is this study focused on, the realization of the program however need to be analyzed especially on what the teachers needs are. The current data from World Bank however only shows the quantity improvement of the teachers who participate in the program, nevertheless for subject matter teachers the realization of this program is contended, the issue is the teachers try to attend as many program such as training, seminars or discussion sessions and any professional development activities as possible, even though for those who live in remote areas, the opportunity is very scare, (Setiawan, 2009). The reason supported by Supriatna’s study that the transportation access in remote areas is problematic since the time consuming to reach the forum is far. In addition, he noted that there are three commonly issues rise on the different levels: national, provincial, and district, on the national term the issue not to regularly maintain the teachers’ education development after passing the certification, on provincial is the very small numbers of teachers and supervisors who represent their municipals, and on the district is the transportation access and time, (Supriatna, 2009).

Moving forward to the issue of EFL teachers professional development, the current practice of the training of in-service EFL teacher seems not different with the some commons issues that has been illustrated before, the training of MGMP which more focus on the subject matters teachers (English teachers included), as it was implied that teachers are government employees rather than as professional educators, in addition, public-serving teachers have been accustomed to receiving and following orders from the center rather than actively participating in professional development (see page. 7), Finding from the earlier study by Yuwono (2005) suggests that most English teachers in Indonesia however are aware of the importance of developing and learning as professional as well as the recent change of today’s globalization era in technologies and education system itself or in any changes in curriculum and ELT practice, but yet the realities of them are often forced to work in isolation and with inadequate support from policymakers and/or related stakeholders, such a condition could eventually lead to English teachers’ skepticism, confusion, ignorance, reluctance, unwillingness, or even resistance instead of growing as professional toward their professional development, (Yuwono, 2005, as cited in Yuwono, & Harbon, 2010).

Thus, once again, the general practice of the current in-service teacher training, even though in term of EFL teachers the case is almost like the same with others, this paper however intends to explore how English teachers in Indonesia especially in local regency of Riau province define and construct their needs ongoing professional development amidst recent changes and complexities appeared.

Purpose of the Study

The present study aims to explore the nature of professionalism as perceived by Indonesian EFL teachers regard to their needs in ongoing practice of their professional development, especially for Secondary Vocational High Schools teachers who teach in INHIL regency of Riau province Indonesia, existing issues and notions about the in-service education teacher will also be provided. Procedurally here are the systematic of the purposes of this study:

To examine the needs of EFL teachers at Secondary Vocational High Schools on their professional development within the educational system policy.

To generate the basic dimensions of in-service training provision in INHIL Regency of Riau province Indonesia and the lay foundation for in-depth study on the emerging issues.

Hence, 5 doors theory will be applied since this theory is a generic theory of change, works as a checklist of factors to keep in mind when designing a program and it is guide for research question to ask, (Robinson, 2011).

Review of the Literature

Because of in-service teacher training is a kind of teacher professional development (TPD) scaffold, consequently this session, first, trends in teacher professional development will be comprehensively discussed; it would be more specifically focus on term of TPD in English language teaching. Then, the distinctive contextual characteristics and structures of the specific educational system and the existing in-service training scheme at secondary vocational high school teacher in Indonesia will also be described.

Teacher Professional Development

To make clear, the concept of professional development and in-service training have slightly different meaning in relevant literature, with the first refers to signifying a range of activities including personal study and reflection, and the second refers to identifiable structured training activities, (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 1998, as cited in Karagiorgi, & Symeou, 2005). Based on this explanation, the writer would also use both concepts interchangeably in this paper; the reason is the concept of in-service training extends beyond the professional development, (Karagiorgi, & Symeo, 2005). Additionally, in-service teacher training is considered to incorporate the professional development of teacher through certain activities which aims improving their professionalism to acquire or deepen knowledge about subject matter, content, teaching skills, assessment methods, implement an existing or new curriculum, (USAID, 2011).

In advance and broad sense, the term of professional development is normally applied in different types of professional works, be it teacher, lawyer, engineer or doctor and so forth (Jamil, et al, 2010). Besides, Mizell (2010) describes that the term of professional development can be used either formal or informal context, the formal process usually mean when people use it in a formal context such as conference, seminar, or workshop; collaborative learning among members of a work team; or a course at college or university, while informal context, for instance, discussion among work colleagues, independent reading and research, observation of colleagues’ work, or other learning from peer, (Mizell, 2010).

Purposely, in the context of education, the term of professional development is commonly known as “teacher professional development” (TPD), the incorporation and the need for teacher evolving in professional development, because the teacher is one of the most influential factors in improving education, (Fullan, 2001), and one of the pivotal purposes is to equip teachers with the most relevant techniques that can be used in their daily classroom practices, (Al-Wreikat, 2010). His or her rules in today’s world is dynamic as the changing so-rapidly of globalization and technologies era, although it might be argued that the school or classroom effects is relatively small compared to other factors like family and individual efforts, he or she is nevertheless large in terms of placement in curricular tracks and further development, (Doorland, 1999, as cited in Azkiyah, et al, 2010).

In line with the teacher involvement, Glatthorn (1995) states that, “Teacher development is the professional growth a teacher achieves as a result of gaining increased experience and examining his or her teaching systematically” (Glatthorn, 1995, p. 41). Likewise, Diaz-Maggioli, (2003) notes that “it refers to a process in which teachers work under supervision to gain tenure or to enhance their professional practice”, (para.1). It is systematic effort to bring about change in the classroom practices of teachers, in their attitudes and beliefs, and in the learning outcomes of the students, (Guskey, 2002). Nevertheless, with so many definitions on TPD, whatever the term, the purpose is the same: to improve learning for educators and students, (Mizell, 2010).

Supported by Darling-Hammond (1998), he makes a strong argument for quality professional development by stating that each dollar spent on improving teachers’ qualifications nets greater gains in student learning than any other use of and education dollar, that is many research argue that the quality of a teacher is the most important predictor of student success, (Darling-Hammond, 1998). Likewise, former research demonstrated that teachers who received substantial professional development can boost their students’ achievement by about 21 percentile points, (Yoon, et al, 2007). Therefore, professional development for teachers cannot deny, as it is as compulsory as the education for students that can sustain the development of the nations.

Aside of that, evidence that TPD has a significant impact on teachers’ practice and beliefs, students’ learning, and the implementation of educational reforms, the impact on teachers’ practice and student learning however has been previously described. Additionally, the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their practice is not straightforward or simple; on the contrary, it is dialectic, “moving back and forth between change in belief and change in classroom practice” (Cobb, Wood and Yackel, 1990; Franke et al., 1997; Thompson, 1992, in Nelson, 1999, p. 6, as cited in Eleonora Villegas-Reimers, 2003, p. 20). Furthermore, Wood and Bennett (2000) support this statement with the results of a study, in which a group of early childhood educators in England were helping to collect data concerning their own theories of play and their relationship to practice. As a result, these educators changed their own theories or teaching practices, or even both, (Villegas-Reimers, 2003, p. 20). Besides, Similar results are reported by Kettle and Sellars (1996) in a study of the development of the ‘practical theory’ of student-teachers in Australia; by Kallestad and Olweus (1998) in a study involving Norwegian teachers, which shows that teachers’ professional development has a large impact on defining teachers’ goals for their students, and these goals in turn affect the teachers’ behaviour in the classrooms and schools, (Villegas-Reimers, 2003).

With regard to the effect of TPD on educational reform, currently in the world, most of countries are engaged in some of educational reform, some of these reforms are focused on the national level, while another focused on the local level. Regardless, we can see so many associations and forums are established to enhance the reform for better education among the countries, such as E-9 forum of high-populated nine countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan), which formed to achieve “Education for All” through cooperation. Such this forum which considers that teachers’ professional development need a comprehensive policy in order to empower the education, shortage and structural imbalance of teachers in rural or urban areas, or even the issues of the teachers’ welfare as well as their continuous professional development.

Moreover, academically, the research also showed the impact of TPD on the educational reform, for instance, (Morris, Chan and Ling, 2000, as cited in Villegas-Reimers, 2003):

“Report on the Target Oriented Curriculum (TOC), an educational reform of primary schools in Hong Kong which was introduced in the 1990s, and which the authors consider unsuccessful, even though the third stage of the reform is just beginning. According to their account, and that of Walker and Cheong (1996), the curriculum reform was designed by policy-makers with little, if any, input from the teachers. The schools and the public in general responded negatively to the proposed changes as they were complex, impractical, and not flexibl to accommodate to the needs of certain schools. Even though some modifications were made in response to the requests of teachers and schools in general, the reform was clearly imposed on teachers who felt they were being told what to do without any regard to their knowledge and day-to-day practice” (Villegas-Reimers, 2003, p. 21).

Yet, no matter how good pre-service training for teachers is, it cannot be expected to prepare teachers for all the challenges they will face throughout their careers. Education systems therefore seek to provide teachers with opportunities for in-service professional development in order to maintain a high standard of teaching and to retain a high-quality teacher workforce. Strengthened by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on comparative review on teachers, (2005) notes that:

“Effective professional development is on-going, includes training, practice and feedback, and provides adequate time and follow-up support. Successful programmes involve teachers in learning activities that are similar to ones they will use with their students, and encourage the development of teachers’ learning communities. There is growing interest in developing schools as learning organisations, and in ways for teachers to share their expertise and experience more systematically”, (As cited in TALIS, OECD, 2009, p. 49).

Concisely, the professional development of teachers is a key factor in ensuring that reforms at any level are effective. Successful professional-development opportunities for teachers have a significant positive effect on students’ performance and learning. Thus, when the goal is to increase students’ learning and to improve their performance, the professional development of teachers should be considered a key factor, and this at the same time must feature as an element in a larger reform.

Pedagogically, teachers need changes for more better, according to Altan, (1999, as cited in Panggabean, 2010) pedagogical changes imply changes in teachers’ mind, classroom practice, content lesson, and teachers-students roles or relationship. Thus, the roles of teachers will inevitably change to being more that of change agent than expert, counselor, facilitator, coordinator of project, or team leader. Furthermore, educational change involves learning how to do something new, and considering this, TPD is one crucial factor to change. In its broader definition, TPD encompasses what teachers bring to the profession and what happens to them throughout their careers, (Panggabean, 2010).

Apart of that, the model of TPD nowadays is rooted from two ways, one is “traditional model”, and secondly is the “job-embedded” professional development. Short-term or one-session workshops, trainings, seminars, lectures, and conference sessions are the mainstay of the traditional professional development model. While TPD which under the job-embedded model is located within a school, program, or other local context as part of an effort to create on going professional communities, the activities include for instance: study circles, sharing groups, or inquiry groups made up of teachers from the same school or division. Furthermore, the job-embedded professional development is focus on developing teacher knowledge in the content area, analyzing student thinking, and identifying how that knowledge can be applied to changes in instructional practices tailored to the local educational context, (Smith, & Gillespie, 2007). Although there is overlap between these two models, they can be distinguished by different goals, formats, and content, as shown below:

Table 1

Models of Professional Development (Smith, & Gillespie, 2007)

Models of Professional Development

Features

Traditional

Job-Embedded

Primary goal

Increase individual teacher general knowledge, skills, and teaching competency; introduce new instructional models or methodologies

Improve student learning, help teachers with specific teaching problem they face

Location (in or out)

Mostly off-site

On-site

Intensity

Single season or series

Long term, ongoing

Common Format

Workshop, seminars, conference

Study circles, practitioner research, inquiry projects

Content

Competencies, special issues, new approach to teaching

Examining student work, teaching problems

Obviously, even though these two models are different, but somehow the models are incorporate one another, because some strategic plan from central government or local government lead to imply the practice based on the local situation, and geographic site, but in another hand, the important point that the job-embedded is encourage the practice to put within the local site or school based practice, this seeing more conducive, effective for those educators and teachers who are in a rural area. Furthermore, five characteristics of the high-quality of TPD as described by Sarah- Archibald, et al, (2011) from his research, are as follow:

Alignment with school goals, state and district standards and assessments, and other professional learning activities including formative teacher evaluation

Focus on core content and modeling of teaching strategies for the content

Inclusion of opportunities for active learning of new teaching strategies

Provision of opportunities for collaboration among teachers

Inclusion of embedded follow-up and continuous feedback

In another point of view, according to Sandra-Harwell, (2003) the practice of TPD however is not only an event, but it is a process, it can succeed only in setting, or context, that support it, the context refers to which this professional development are conducive to the changes that it is designed to bring about, such as the outcome of every professional development initiative will depend ultimately on whether its administrators consider it important. Despite of that, the process which integrated to the practice will also depends on the basis of contextual teaching, contextual teaching presents information in familiar contexts and in context in which the information is useful. It is effective because it takes advantage of the fact that learning occurs best when learners process new information or knowledge in such a way that it makes sense to them in their own frames or references. Having been described with the job-embedded model, however this ensure that TPD in which participants are given opportunity to learn new classroom practices in the context within which those practices will be used is far more effective than more traditional methods of professional development.

However, the most important point so far, that is the practice within the context of TPD itself, the context to which the teachers leads to concrete purposes of changes, hence the program that fail to address this need is unlikely to succeed, Guskey (2002) states there are two factors behind the fail of the programs development, first, is the development program which miss to address certain points such as expanding teachers’ belief that the program will expand their knowledge and skills, contribute to their growth, and enhance their effectiveness with students, but teachers also tend to be pragmatic, means that what they hope to gain professional development are specifics, concrete, and practical ideas that directly relate to the day-to-day operation of their classroom. A second important factor that many TPD programs fail to consider is the process of teacher change, TPD activities frequently are designed to initiate change in teachers’ belief, attitudes, and perceptions. But however, Guskey stresses that the sequences of the change of these belief, attitudes, and perceptions will be better appeared after the practice, and not when they are being involved in training. For further see the figure below:

Figure 1

Guskey’s Model of Process in Professional Development, (Guskey, 2002)

Change in:

Teachers’ beliefs & attitude

Change in:

Students’ learning outcomes

Change in:

Teachers’ Classroom practice

TPD

According to the model, significant change in teachers’ attitudes and belief occurs primarily after they gain evidence of improvement in student learning. These improvements typically result from changes teachers have made in their classroom practice. Furthermore, Guskey (2002) believes that “the process is not the professional development per se, but the experience of successful implementation that changes teachers’ attitude and beliefs, they believe it works because they have seen it work, and that experience shape their attitudes and beliefs”, (p. 383).

Finally, with regard to the model by Smith, & Gillespie, and the process of teachers change suggested by Guskey, the point to understand is whatever the models of in-service or professional development are provided, the policies must in line thoroughly with the process of changing the teachers itself, once they are changing to the concrete practice within (i.e. Traditional or Job-embedded models) will affect automatically to the succeed of the professional development. While, in another side of research areas, the concept of TPD can be considered in two aspects: cognitive and affective, both of which are important in determining teachers’ efficacy, the cognitive aspect refers to acquisition of pedagogical knowledge and improved instructional skills in teaching, while affective refers to the commitment and dedication to the teaching career on his/her own development, (Kwok-Wai, 2004). Thus, sometime, in any research studies the researchers tend to differentiate their focus, one perhaps tend to measure the pedagogical influence which directly affected to the learning outcomes, others may be keen to investigate the teachers’ perception, commitment regarding the training delivered. Therefore, a part of this, the study attempts to focus on the needs of the teachers on their continuous professional development, nevertheless, not to ignore the pedagogical development aspect that their targets from certain in-service activities.

Teacher Professional Development in Indonesia

In this section, Firstly, a brief glance of understanding towards Indonesia will be discussed, then national education philosophy, and lastly is the teacher professional development in Indonesia, this seeing will strengthen the foundation of literature lays on this study, since this study is regard and relate to education within national and local setting, thus the description would be helpful to support the ideas.

A Brief Glance towards Indonesia

Indonesia is a large country with about 17,000 islands spread over 5,000 kilometers east to west across the seas that separate Asia and Australia. The population is widely dispersed and many of the people are located in remote and isolated areas. There are five central islands of the Indonesian archipelago; they are Sumatera, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and West Irian, (Jalal, 2006). With details has 33 provinces spreading over five main islands and four archipelagos, (See table. 2). The latest statistic on 2007 stated that the total population is 225.6 Million, and until June 2012, Indonesia consists of 33 provinces, 399 regencies, 98 cities, 6,793 sub-districts, and 79,075 villages.

Table 2

Indonesian Geography (Statistical Yearbook of Indonesia, 2012)

Indonesian Geography

Islands

Sumatera (Aceh, Sumatera Utara, Sumatra Barat, Riau, Jambi, Sumatera Selatan, Bengkulu, and Lampung

Java (DKI Jakarta, Jawa Barat, Banten, Jawa Tengah, DI Yogyakarta, and Jawa Timur)

Kalimantan (Barat, Tengah, Selatan, Timur)

Sulawesi (Utara, Tengah, Selatan, Barat, Tenggara, and Gorontalo)

Papua (Papua, and Papua Barat)

Archipelagos

Riau (Kepulauan Riau)

Bangka Belitung (Kepulauan Banka Belitung)

Nusa Tenggara (Bali, Nusa Tenggara Barat, and Nusa Tenggara Timur)

Maluku (Maluku, and Maluku Utara)

There are more than 300 different languages and ethnic groups in Indonesia, which “Bahasa Indonesia” or Indonesia Language is the national language, and it is the medium of instruction in schools from primary up to higher education, although several areas use their local languages as the medium of instruction in the first two year of primary schools.

With regard to the broader context of this geography, and also for the population surrounded, Indonesian government made commitment for achieving basic education for all, education has figured prominently to unite all Indonesian and it is as the integral part of the government’s developmental policy. Thus, education in Indonesia has undergone tremendous change and development over the years (i.e. eight times changes of curriculum since 1947-2006). Today’s Indonesian reform of education engages for developing a new vision of education, as part of the reform which emphasize the implementation of the principle of democracy, autonomy, decentralization, and public accountability. These reforms in education system have given prominence to enhance its performance in the framework of even distribution of educational opportunities. Jalal reveals that this reform process has fundamental impact on national education system and its mission to meet various challenges in the present world, (Jalal, 2006).

One of the goals of the independent Indonesia, as formulated by the founding fathers in the preamble of 1945 constitution of the Republic of Indonesia is to advance the nation’s knowledge and skills. “This goal was inspired by more advanced nations such as European nations, the United States and Japan. These nations have shown that they have better live and the founding fathers believed it was because they have better educated human resources”, (Ali, Mohammad, 2009, p. 13).

Repute to that goal, Indonesian based on his historical education development had relied on several changes through the curricula, the new breakthrough occurred when the oldest system of centralistic was collapsed (1998) and justified by the decentralist era, although since the year 1998 Indonesian also amendment some of the laws in education and then several times to change the curriculum till the new KTSP in the late 2006

In the view of Indonesian education development, Indonesian nowadays also attempts to the global market business, it refers to the highly competitive among the learners in the working matters, and then they are prepared to do such kind of this competition after graduating the high school level or universities. In this case, the quality education is much more needed by Indonesia in order to help the students toward the challenges.

Furthermore, according to Mohammad Ali (2009), the national development is an ongoing attempt of making Indonesia equal to other develop countries, a long term planning for a 20 years period has been compiled on “Long Term Development Plan” (RPJP) 2005-2025. The RPJP becomes the guidance and reference to achieve the visions and about how the nation should be in the next 20 years. It involves making Indonesia a self-reliant, advanced, just and prosperous nation, (Mohammad Ali, 2009). Similarly, this supported by the MONE’s vision for 2025 to produce Indonesian’ people who Intelligent, perfect, plenary, and competitive, (MoNE: Strategic Plan 2010-2014, 2010). With the establishment of this vision, and to ensure that its intentions are not derailed the government of Indonesia has crucial role to play in the professional development of its teachers.

National Education Philosophy

Pancasila and the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia Year 1945 provide the philosophical foundations and basic principles in the development of education. Based on these philosophical foundations, the national education system puts students as being created by God Almighty with all nature with the task of leading them being dignified on life as well as being moral, virtuous, and noble. Education is empowering students to develop into a human being of Indonesia, namely that upholds and hold firmly the norms and values ​​as follows:

The norm of religion and humanity to live their daily lives, either as a creature of God Almighty, or as social

The norm of national unity, in order to maintain the integrity of Republic of Indonesia

Democratic norms to shape citizens understanding and applying the principles of democracy on society, nation, and state

The norm ​​of social justice, to ensure the implementation of education equitable and quality of the whole nation and ensure the elimination of all discrimination, gender issues, and the implementation of education for all in order to create judicature for all.

Since 1950, through its education laws (of 1950, 1989, 2003), Indonesia has assumed that there are three dimensions to Indonesian education; intellectual, physical and moral. In the education law of 1950 it was stated that an educated Indonesian should be ‘an intelligent, moral, responsible and democratic citizen’; in the education law of 1989, these ideals were expressed as ‘belief in God the Almighty, having knowledge and skills, being healthy, physically and mentally, having a sound and self-confident personality, and having responsibility to the nation and society at large’; and in the education law of 2003, the stated outcome was to produce citizens who had a ‘belief in God the Almighty and had high morality, good health, knowledge, intelligence, creativity, independence, and would be democratic and responsible citizens, (Soedijarto, 2009).

Today’s Indonesian Teacher Professional Development

Teachers are an important workforce for achieving the Indonesian educational aims to enhance the education quality and developing the human capital of the nation, the need for professional development for teachers in Indonesia was been recognized on 2005 through the enactment of Indonesian Law No.14/2005 about teachers and lecturers act, this law become the basis of policies to strengthen the existence of teachers as professional, like other profession, professional quality of teachers has always been pursued, either through the provision of educational qualifications or in-service training activities, with its various forms such as education and training, refresher courses, and involvement seminars to update teachers’ insight in pedagogy and academic competence, (Subroto, 2013).

New Teacher Law no.14/2005 and Teacher Certification

The government of Indonesia issued a new law, 14/2005, which puts emphasize on teachers’ qualification, quality, and welfare. This law, which was proposed by Persatuan Guru Republik Indonesia (PGRI: Indonesian Teacher Union) years before, includes not only school teachers as the legal subjects, but also university lecturers. Focusing on school teachers, one of the important points of its law is the teachers must have at least four years diploma or S-1 degree, (Raihani, & Sumintono, 2010). It is also intended not only to the prospective teachers through in-service education, but also to the in-service teachers, Kartadinata (2010) elaborates that within ten years, all in-service teachers who have already held bachelor degree (S-1/D-IV) should have “Certificate of Professional Teacher” through teacher certification, and those who have not held the bachelor degree (S-1/D-IV) should have got the degree within 15 years after the law is being implemented, (Kartadinata, 2010). Furthermore, junior teachers with achievement are encouraged to take part in a teacher certification program through teacher training that lasts two semesters, and senior teachers are required to take part in teacher certification through portfolio assessment. These two types of teacher certification are conducted in more than 35 in-service teacher certification centers throughout Indonesia, (Setiawan, 2009).

The teachers can follow the certification after they have been in-service for the minimum of five years, and they who have not held the bachelor degree are allowed also if they have been 50 years old and in-service for 20 years or obtain at least IV-a grade in their job ranking. and for those teachers and lectures who have passed doctorate or master degree and already at least VI-b grade will be certified automatically, (Kartadinata, 2010). The detail of the law No.14/2005 article 20 affirms the teachers in their professionalism to:

Plan the learning, implement the it quality process, assess, and evaluate the learning outcomes

Enhance and develop academic qualifications and competence continuously, in line with the development of science, technology, and art

Objectivity and non-discriminatory on acting towards gender, religion, ethnicity, race, certain physical conditions, family background, and socioeconomic status of students in learning;

Uphold the laws and regulations, laws and codes of conduct of teachers, as well as religious values ​​and ethics

Maintain and foster the national unity.

In recent years, further research evidence has underlined some of the major reasons for weaknesses in teacher quality Indonesia, as reported by Ministry of Education, international test evidence has identified deficiencies in the academic achievement of Indonesian students and suggests the need to improve the quality of the teachers, this became one of the reasons that generated the need to certify the teachers, the evidence behinds the implementation of certification to the teachers as follow:

A study of the impact of the decentralization of 2001 on educational management shows some of difficulties arising from ambiguity in the division of responsibilities between districts and central agencies, e.g. monitoring the quality of the teaching and the achievement of the students; this was one of the factors that hindered the delivery of an effective and quality service.

A recent employment and deployment study identified six major issues which impact on teacher management and the quality of teaching outcomes: (a) uneven distribution of teachers; (b) inequities for remote schools; (c) workloads are too low and have too much variation; (d) there is an overall excess of staff; (e) remuneration is relatively low with wide variations in allowances; and (f) there is concern about the quality of teacher competencies.

A video-study30 of classroom management in Year 8 mathematics has shown that teachers spend less lesson time on new content and put less emphasis on reasoning and problem solving. Compared to international best practice, Indonesian teachers should: (a) apply better time management and use time more effectively to teach relevant content; (b) put more emphasis on higher order thinking in instructional delivery; (c) apply content overlap to what is taught and what is tested; (d) apply the proper level of content coverage to ensure the level and amount of content covered is equal to the level and amount understood by the student; and (e) create an environment of enjoyable learning to maintain student engagement, involvement and attention.

A study of teacher working groups in Indonesia (KKG/MGMP) identified them as a critical support mechanism for teachers at the local school-cluster level. The study found there is need to strengthen this mechanism through greater activation by district offices; access to more adequate funding; training for working group management committees; greater access to workshop leaders and professional trainers; greater guidance in conducting training programs; closer regulation of cluster meetings; access to innovative trainers; and leadership training for key members of the group. (World Bank, 2004, 2007, as cited in Triyanto, 2012).

Regard to its implementation, the government should complete the improvement of qualification and certification of educators at the latest by the end of 2014. In addition, this step is taken to ensure the regeneration of competent teachers given in the next five years who is estimated about 700 thousand teachers will retire. To achieve these targets, in the year 2010 – 2014 MoNE will maintain policies to increase teachers’ qualifications and competencies include the following:

The development of the system of recruitment of teachers by providing scholarships bond agency talent scout;

Increased recruitment system S-1/D-4 competent qualified teachers;

The provision of scholarships for teachers to improve their qualifications and increasing S-1/D-4 lecturer qualification be S-2/S-3;

Control of educator certification organization in accordance with the regulations legislation;

Enhancing the role of universities in fostering professionalism of teachers sustained through KKG / MGMP, (MoNE, 2010).

Thereupon, with the foundation and the enactment of its law, the writer also impresses that today’s in-service teachers are much more being responsible to their academic qualifications, (see table: 3). Usually, at the end of the week after teaching days, most of them are going to continue their studies at the nearest university or college around their hometown. This situation was very contrast before 2005, that they belief the academic qualifications had not reflected to them at all, this belief is gradually changing after the increase of their salary based on the mandate of the law 14/2005, for those who are already passed their certification programs will get financial reward as receiving two times of basic salaries.

Table 3

Teacher’s Qualification as at 2010, (MoNE, 2010)

No

Level of Qualification

State

Private

1.

High School

359,887

186,283

2.

1 year Post-High School Diploma

27,465

28,589

3.

2 year Post-High School Diploma

709,240

106,067

4.

3 year Post-High School Diploma

82,806

40,076

5.

First Degree or 4 Year Diploma

891,976

333,187

6.

Postgraduate – Master Equivalent

18,421

6,949

7.

Postgraduate – Doctoral Equivalent

163

95

Subtotal

2,089,958

701,246

Total of First Degree or Above

910,560

340,231

Grand Total All Teachers First Degree or Above

1,250,791

Grand Total of All Teacher

2,791,204

As MoNE’s current update on 2012 there are 2,925,676 of total teachers in Indonesia, over 1.5 million of them have acquired the mandated 4-year academic qualification, this exceeds the final target of MoNE about 1.4 million teachers should pass their academic qualification at the end of 2013, this is very significant achievement compare to the year 2005, where only 900,000 of teachers being qualified academically, (World Bank, 2012).

Table 4

Teacher Certification Process, (Compiled by writer, as cited in, Marsigit, 2010, & Mone, 2011).

Year

Target

%

Primary & Lower Secondary

Annual

Target

Realization

2014

100

125,260

436,731

–

2013

95

250,505

436,731

–

2012

85

375,762

436,731

–

2011

70

375,762

391,097

300,000

2010

55

341,109

391,097

200,000

2009

40

225,457

521,462

200,000

2008

25

174,763

299,841

200,000

2007

8

201,000

221,621

200,450

Total

2,783,321

1,160,450

Nevertheless, the issue from the above law is the process on TPD in Indonesia just concretely in the form of academic qualification where the teachers should participate on teacher certification and attend as so many possible of training programs, but in another hand, Supriatna (2009) argues that the government however not maintain regularly teachers’ performance after passing certification. Similarly, many teachers only concern relate to the quantity aspect of the professional development programs attended, because it will be counted for the teachers’ certification process, and not necessarily the quality of the programs, not to mention the impact of the programs for the students in the classroom setting, (Setiawan, 2009). Likewise, according to Raihani, & Sumintono, (2010), however the certification program for teachers raises the ambiguity for its concept, the ambiguity lays on the objective of the policy whether to improve the quality of teachers or only to increase their incentive, criticism over the low wage received by teachers was the background of the new law, and therefore, it is assumed that increasing salary is the main motive of the certification program, (Raihani, & Sumintono, 2010).

A strong argument comes from Ministry of National Education who also acknowledges that the certification program has not succeeded in improving the teachers’ quality, (Java Post, 2011, as cited in Triyanto, 2012). Furthermore Triyanto emphasizes that the failure is caused by the use of portfolio assessment method that contains many flows. It is easier by assessor to find some teachers who were suspected of document fraud, for example, there was a participant hold three certificates of seminar at the same time. Thus, today’s certification of the teacher however has significantly impacts on the teachers’ academic qualification only, they more active to upgrade their knowledge academically. To cope with this situation, the MoNE then changes the prior instrument of “Portfolio” becomes the model of education and training, (see point 4 page 28).

MGMP (Subject Matter Teacher Forum/Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran)

To strengthen the implementation of the law, and continuously improving the quality of teachers, the central government together with MoNE and co-operate with local government conduct more specific program in form of teachers networking program, named KKG (Teacher Working Group) and MGMP (Subject Matter Teachers Forum), while the first mentioned is the regular meeting of working group that is addressed for primary school teachers, and the second is a regular meeting of subject-matter teacher at secondary school. Both objectives are obviously the same as they are established to improve the quality of the teachers to their teaching performance, and both are now known also as important ways of TPD in Indonesia. Because this study focuses on the in-service teachers who are in secondary school, then the writer narrows the topic to only describe the MGPM as a primary instrument from government to improve their teachers’ professionalism.

Jalal, (2010) explains that the concept of this professional development is based on a tiered pattern, the National core team (NCT), Provincial core team (PCT), and District core team, (DCT). The DCT will assist the networking group of the teachers, principals, and supervisors. To support this program the government provides block grants to around 22,000 working groups from across 500 districts/cities throughout Indonesia, (Jalal, 2010).

The establishment of MGMP is based on Government Regulation No.38/1994 on Educational Personnel. On Chapter XIII, Article 61 (1) it is stated that Educational Personnel may establish a professional association to improve and develop their career, capacity, ability, professional authority, and welfare for the achievement of optimum educational goals. Moreover, it is a professional forum for subject teachers at a district level. However, it can be established, if necessary, in a level lower than district. The implementation of this forum gives evidence that in term of TPD, the local government’s effort is seriously tested. Regard to this, and should be districts do not cease providing professional development once teachers have completed their first year of teaching. In fact, many states require that districts continue to provide sufficient professional development to keep their teachers abreast of useful curricular and policy changes, (Loeb, et al, 2009). And, the first letter of MGMP, Musyawarah, indicates that this is a deliberation forum “FROM, BY, and FOR” teachers. Members of MGMP include all subject teachers from all schools, (USAID, 2007).

MGMP concerns some activities for teachers to discuss and share ideas and experiences, the teachers are encouraged to attend after-school meetings at the nucleus school where experienced teachers lead workshops and discussion groups. According to Jalal (2011), the MoNE empowers MGPM to upgrade teachers’ competency for a practical focus to ensure relevance and direct application to the classroom. Furthermore, the implementation of this program however is not a new breakthrough in education in Indonesia, because it was regulated since 1994, but consequently with today’s educational decentralization the implementation of this program is more directed to the district level. MGMP forum has five objectives as follows:

To encourage teachers to improve their ability and skill in planning, implementing, as well as evaluating teaching and learning activities in their schools.

To discuss problems faced by teachers and propose solutions in accordance with the characteristics of the subject matter, teachers, schools condition, and communities.

To provide teachers with information and experience about the implementation of the curriculum, and the development of science-technology

To provide teachers with opportunities to express their ideas in improving their profession.

To develop some co-operation with other institutions conductively, effectively, and joyful teaching and learning process. (MoNE, 2008).

In line with the law No.14/2005, there are four standard competencies that should teachers have according to this regulation, and the establishment of MGMP is to improve these four competences in order to create the teachers being more responsible to their profession. And accordingly, the MGMP program which is fully supported by central government and local government becomes an upgrading-device to support these all; the four competences are as follows:

Professional competency; wide and comprehensive master of the subjects to be taught to students

Pedagogical competency; understanding students, designing and implementing effective lesson, evaluating and learning process and achievement