PREPARING PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS PGRI
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“Quality improvement in education
should not be viewed as a quick fix process”. It is a long term effort which
requires organizational change and restructuring”.
1.
PROLOG
The quality of a nation depends on the quality of its teachers. In an
effort to improve the quality of national education, we have to emphasize not
only the betterment of professional standard of teacher and teaching practices
but also continuous improvement of those standards and practices in order to
keep up with world demand and development.
In relation to teacher’s quality, Cochran-Smith (2004a:3) argues that
over the past several years, a new consensus has emerged that teacher quality
is one of the most, if not the most, significant factor in students’
achievement and educational improvement.
This paper will address some aspects related to teachers’ development,
including roles of teacher, teacher’s competence and professionalism, and
efforts to improve the quality of teachers which emphasize on its continuity.
2.
ROLES OF TEACHER
It has been widely argued that, in the education system, teachers play
salient roles in stimulating and promoting student’s success in learning.
Teacher is “the key person in the classroom” (Davies and Ellison, 1992); good
curriculum and sufficient learning facilities will mean nothing without the
presence of qualified and professional teachers.
In order to carry out the noble intention, a teacher needs to have
some qualities which enable him to perform better and thus able to make his/her
students achieve better results. In regards to teacher’s role, College (1999)
outlines:
1) Lectures. Traditionally, teacher is someone who lectures, tells, feeds, disseminates and or covers material.
However, teacher is effective if he/she gives short sets of instructions,
background information, guidelines, or other information that is needed in a
short time frame (e.g., before doing a class project, lab, or group activity).
2) Demonstrations. Students
remember much better what they have both heard and seen (or even touched,
smelled, or tasted).
3) Listening. Listening
is crucial for assessment of learning (checking comprehension and appropriate
challenge level), for collaboration between teachers and students (coaching
instead of just judging), and for giving students a real sense of ownership of
classroom activities as well as for allowing students to articulate and
internalize the learning processes. Teachers who listen can turn around and
provide very effective support structures to guide students on to the next
level of challenge.
4) Empowering. Empowering students does not mean weakening teacher’s authority in
classroom discipline and subject-matter authority. It is more like encouraging
and accommodating them in learning without sacrificing teacher’s control.
A teacher is not a mere educator or someone who disperse knowledge.
Churches (2008) further states that the role of teacher in 21st
century education are as follows:
1) The adaptor. Teacher should adapt the curriculum to
fit the proper learning model and adopt or utilize digital teaching media to
support his/her
2) The collaborator. Teacher should be able to
collaborate with other teachers, headmaster and school staffs in order to
better achieve educational goal.
3) The risk taker. There is such a free-risk action. Being
a teacher will require an ability to understand situation, realize an
opportunity and anticipate a threat or challenge. Above all, an ability to take
risk is vital in conducting teaching activities.
4) The learner. Learning is not students’ monopoly. In
order to develop his/her knowledge, method, and teaching technique, teacher
also need to learn continuously.
5) The communicator. Teacher should be clear in
delivering information. Children’s comprehension depends greatly on teacher’s
ability to communicate.
6) The model. One of teacher’s responsibilities is to
teach good values to students. In order to do that noble deed, teacher need to
be a model, this shows the application of such good values in real life.
7) The leader. Teaching process will definitely need
leading competence. Teacher is the leader in class, which include the process
of directing, encouraging, and moving students to learn and understand
materials given.
3. QUALITY OF EDUCATION?
Each student has
a right to get a good education. A good quality of education do not only focus
on one aspect such as student, but it also incorporates other aspects such as
environment, content, process as well as the outcome of education. Below are
the quality of education as explained by D. Adams (1993):
1)
Learners who are healthy,
well-nourished and ready to participate and learn, and supported in learning by
their families and communities;
2)
Environments that are
healthy, safe, protective and gender-sensitive, and provide adequate resources
and facilities;
3)
Content that is reflected in
relevant curricula and materials for the acquisition of basic skills,
especially in the areas of literacy, numeracy and skills for life, and
knowledge in such areas as gender, health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS prevention and
peace;
4)
Processes through which
trained teachers, use child-centered teaching approaches in well-managed
classrooms and schools, and skilful assessment to facilitate learning and
reduce disparities;
5)
Outcomes that encompass
knowledge, skills and attitudes, and are linked to national goals for education
and positive participation in society.
4. CURRENT CONDITION OF TEACHER IN
There
are more than 2,5 million teachers in
5. PROFESSIONAL /COMPETENT TEACHER
5.1. The ideal competent teacher
Education quality
of a nation can be seen as the result of quality standards application. A high
quality education, in other word, is reflected from a good education standard,
which covers knowledge, understanding, skills, and values of a professional
teacher. In this case, quality standards serve as a professional guidance in
improving education quality. Moreover, it also help to acknowledge good
teachers improve teaching and learning at the school level and enhance teacher
accountability. For education systems, standards provide a benchmark for
selection, accreditation, promotion, professional development and support of
teachers. Indicators monitoring a teacher’s professional standard must assess
knowledge as well as performance. Most Asian countries have 9 to 14 standard of
educational quality, below are the summary of those standards (adapted from
www.idp-europe.org):
1)
Content Knowledge
The teacher understands the central concepts, methods of inquiry and
structures of the subject[s] and knows how to create meaningful learning
experiences for different students, while relating to relevant developments in
educational theory.
2)
Instructional Delivery
The teacher possesses good knowledge of different instructional
strategies and uses them to encourage students’ development of critical
thinking, problem solving, independent learning skills based upon knowledge of
discipline, student diversity, the community, and curriculum goals.
3)
Personal and Professional Conduct and Growth
The teacher continuously reflects and evaluates how choices and
actions affect students, and actively seeks opportunities to grow
professionally and personally.
4)
Learning and Development
The teacher understands how individuals grow, develop and learn. S/he
provides learning opportunities that support the intellectual, social, and
personal development of all students.
5)
Communication Skills
The teacher uses knowledge of effective, written, verbal, nonverbal,
and visual communication techniques to foster self-expression, collaboration,
and supportive interaction in the classroom.
6) Assessment, Monitoring and Providing Effective Feedback
The teacher exhibits a broad range of effective formative and
summative assessment strategies and uses them to support the continuous
intellectual, social, physical, and emotional development outcomes of all
students.
7)
Collaborative Relationship
The teacher demonstrates understanding of the role of the community in
education and maintains collaborative relationship with colleagues,
parents/guardians, and the community to support student learning and
well-being.
In
1) Content standard comprises
scoop of materials and levels of competence. Such standard is further specified
into criteria about output competence, material competence, subject competence,
as well as teaching syllabus which should be followed by students in all level
of education.
2)