Professional development (a.k.a. Long meetings)

We probably all know the meme:

Well, here’s the funny thing...it’s the same for teachers in Indonesia! Maybe a little worse?? In my previous blog posts, I discussed some of my observations of Indonesian teachers, both the “Highly Effective” and the “Needs improvement”.  So, when my research question started to lean towards teaching practices, I had to investigate HOW teachers were being trained in those practices. For the short conclusion- they are being trained in the same way they teach.  They sit in long meetings, usually with no end time, listening to a ‘leader’ of higher power tell them what to do.  Basically, they are being lectured to...just like you see modeled in their classrooms.
 
Don’t get me wrong- we all have sat through professional development trainings, where we just listen passively, and look at the clock every 5 minutes. But I think the majority of my professional development seminars made some time for engagement and movement.  We usually get time to talk, share ideas, and develop something to use in our classrooms. That’s not the norm in Indonesia.  An interesting point here is that the Indonesian government makes curriculum changes frequently, almost every year.  There is a constant need to keep up with the changes, and honestly, most of the teachers were not very clear on new changes when asked them, nor were they well trained to meet the new requirements.  For example, the newest curriculum calls for more ‘project based learning’, encouraging teachers to lecture less, and engage students more. The teachers were familiar with the words ‘project based learning’ and could recite it to me, but when asked about how they are using it in their classrooms, many did not have answers. The problem I noticed were teachers knew the right words to say, but did NOT know HOW to implement the ideas.

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This is where the professional development time could best be used, training teachers on new strategies to differentiate their teaching. But instead, the students were released early for the day, teachers were provided lunch by the school, and then when they showed up for the start time of the training, no one was there to lead it. We sat with the teachers, at their desks in the lounge, waiting for a administration and invited government official for over an hour.  When Anu and I asked when the meeting would start, no one knew, stating it was normal to just wait. When they did finally show up, there were formal introductions, followed by another hour and a half of sitting, while the government officials and admin talked at them about what they need to do for the upcoming school year.  How frustrating! I know many of the teachers were frustrated, and disengaged, scrolling through their phones or laptops the entire time.  They have heard it so many times before, and yet, nothing seemed to have changed in the classroom either.

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This is where I must recognize my host teacher, Umi, because she was one of the only teachers I saw (besides the Biology labs) that engaged her students in a authentic project. The students were writing English books about themselves, assessing each other’s work using a rubric, reflecting on what they learned, and even giving Umi feedback on her teaching. She sent me a recent photo of one student’s reflection they included in their book about our visit. That was really thoughtful and inspiring! But this is a rare case from what I observed throughout my visit. Umi has been through professional development, spending 6 months in the United States, receiving training in our educational practices at Kent State University.  She views herself as a life-long learner, and is always willing to learn from others.

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It actually bothered Umi that the other English teachers at her school did not speak to us much during our stay. She could not understand why they were not willing to practice their English with us, using her to help translate if needed. We were introduced to 6-7 English teachers, who were very polite and welcoming, but then would rush off to leave the conversation.  Umi believed they were embarrassed to speak with us in English, because they did not feel their English was very good.  Umi was disappointed they didn’t even try.  That was kind of the vibe we got from most of the teachers at her school. They were a little stand offish, maybe apathetic.  A few teachers were hanging out in the teachers’ lounge, even when classes were in session.  When we asked, “Don’t they have class?” the answer was usually yes, and the students were waiting in the classroom.

From our viewpoint, there was not a lot of accountability for teachers. That seemed to be a common perception of our fellow cohort teachers as well. From our post-visit debrief, it was a shared observation in the lackadaisical attitude of many teachers. We saw teachers showing up late, if at all, not being in their classrooms during class time, leaving early, or not really having lesson plans ready for their students. There did not seem to be any repercussions for this conduct, and it looked like the norm.  Even the Peace Corps workers we met shared their experiences working in schools.  All three of them said they showed up to school, every day, for the last two weeks with the new semester starting and not much had been accomplished. They shared that most teachers were waiting on the curriculum to be finalized for their classes, or trainings on the new curriculum, so they sat in the teachers’ lounge most of the day.  They read the paper, talked amongst themselves, all while students sat in the classrooms doing their own thing.

This experience really made me reflect on the teacher accountability debate in the United States.  Maybe we hold teachers accountable for students learning too much. But after seeing the other end of the spectrum, of no accountability, I see the importance of finding a much needed middle ground. I’m not sure if it’s the lack of Indonesian teachers pay (earning on average 4-8 million Rupiahs/month = $300-600/month), the constant top-down changes to the curriculum, or the lack of authentic teacher training, but there was a sense of unresponsiveness to what U.S. educators would consider professional conduct.

On a hopeful note, universities around Indonesia are quickly recognizing the problem and working to develop higher quality teacher preparation programs.  One we learned about is called School Experience Program (SEP) at Sampoerna University in Jakarta. This particular program aims to increase the image (‘brand’) of the teaching profession in Indonesia and also the rigor of the training to ensure the quality of graduating educators.  One of the challenges in Indonesian education is not only to develop quality teachers, but to equally distribute them around the country.  Many university-trained teachers end up staying in the big cities, leaving the more rural areas with less trained teachers. This may be the effect of what our group was seeing in our field visits, as opposed to the teachers that stayed in the capital city of Jakarta.
 
Like the United States, educational challenges are constant and ever-changing. But teacher training challenges are a commonality amongst us, and I think we have a lot we can offer as we continue our communication and educational relationships.

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