Section archive - Professional Development

Teachers in the constitution in Indonesia are professionals who must meet pedagogical, social, personal, and professional competencies. This qualitative research with a phenomenological approach aims to explore the experiences of the teacher professional education program (PPG) participants in gaining soft skills. The research data were collected through in-depth interviews conducted on fifteen PPG participants consisting of seven females and eight males. The fifteen participants attended PPG in five universities spread out from universities in Central Java, West Java, Yogyakarta Special Region, and Jakarta Special Capital Region. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Data analysis was carried out through the horizontalization, texturally, structurally, and essential descriptions stages. The results of this research found that PPG participants received soft skills learning in hidden curriculum patterns so that each participant had an initial understanding and how to get various soft skill understandings. Soft skills obtained by participants during the PPG implementation are self-confidence, collaboration, hard work, respect for culture, patience, wisdom, maturity, mental resilience, humility, responsibility, creative thinking, positive thinking, cooperation, humility, respect for others, and tolerance. This research recommends that soft skills learning at PPG be implemented with a structured curriculum so that participants have better abilities as teachers.

The implementation of Lesson Study (LS) varies considerably across countries and institutions and is still in a phase of adaptation and experimentation. This article explains the result and the process of a school-based initiative endeavor to implement LS at a suburban elementary in Padang, Indonesia. The study involved 13 teachers, the principal and 6 classes of students. The data were collected through observation and interview. They were classified on the basis of three noticeable emerging themes - teacher collaboration, scaffolding, and reflection. The data were analyzed qualitatively. The results of data analysis reveal a promising improvement in these aspects. Implementing school- support LS increased by weaving the concept into practice helped teachers develop their professionalism gradually. It was obvious that the teachers felt more at ease to work collaboratively when they designed the lesson. This also affected their design which showed more meaningful learning activities and challenging tasks. Then, the teachers improved the way they scaffolded the pupils. The content of reflection and the way the results of reflection were conveyed became better. The principal’s support and the teachers’ strong willingness to elevate their quality apparently took an important role. In spite of that, there were some challenges in carrying out collaboration, providing appropriate scaffolding, and doing reflection. Changing the teachers’ common practice to LS apparently needs some adjustment and time.

The present study investigates teachers’ perceived challenge and competence at different stages when dealing with professional requirements. A total of 655 teachers from 250 primary schools in the state of Zurich, Switzerland, at different career stages (pre-service, beginning and experienced teachers), completed a survey measuring four professional requirements in competence and challenge dimensions. Structural equation modelling was used to assess the validity of the measures and teachers’ sense of competence and perceived challenge were compared across different career stages. Beginning teachers were found to be lower in their sense of competence in all four requirements, but teachers’ experiences of challenge varied at different career stages. The findings call for attention to facilitating new teachers to accomplish the required competencies and to minimise any stress arising from the challenges they face. Promoting optimal use of resources through cooperation in the workplace may help beginning teachers to maximise their sense of competence.

Across the globe, preparing the next generation of teachers is one of the most important tasks for higher education. In this article, the authors discuss the Teacher Preparation Initiative (TPI), a successful professional development framework designed to support teacher candidates as they enter their classrooms and also the faculty members who are working with them. This paper highlights four key components to this professional development programme: 1) practical, 2) aligned, (3) relationship-centred, and 4) current. The general framework of the partnership will be helpful for institutions whether or not they can be a part of the TPI, but are looking to build similar professional development opportunities for their education faculty members.