Competency Improvement of Teacher Professionalism in Banda Aceh

as Efforts to Face the Competition of ASEAN Economic

Communities (MEA)

Fithri Angelia Permana

, Usman Kasim

, Asnawi

, Rofiatul Hosna

and Muzdalifah

Serambi Mekkah Aceh University, Banda Aceh

Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh

Hasyim Asy’ari Tebuireng Jombang University

Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh

keyword: Competency Enhancement, Asean Economic Community (MEA)

Abstract: Education quality in Aceh still relatively low compare to other provinces in Indonesia. This opinion was

reinforced by the acquisition of the National Examination results in which Aceh occupied 32nd out of 34

provinces in Indonesia in 2016. For this reason the Government of Aceh launched the main objective of

education in Aceh by accelerating the National goal of education for evenly. However, this goal is not easily

obtained without increasing teacher competence. Teacher’s competence can be refer to the quality of students

they produce. Learning process and output accoplishment will define the generation of the nation. Teacher’s

competency level takes substantial role in facing of development of central government policies towards the

implementation of the MEA. Due to MEA indirectly makes the teacher have a dual role, teacher’s as educators

and as job competitors. This study is aim to observe teachers comptecies improvement and effort in respon

to level of readiness in facing competition of Asean Economic Communities era. The subjects of the study

were 25 high school/vocational high school mathematics teachers in the city of Banda Aceh. Research

instruments are observation sheets, interview guidelines, and documentation. From the research found that

the understanding of mathematics teachers about MEA is still very low and teachers still less responsive on

information technology development that leads to lack preparation of teachers in encountering MEA.

1 INTRODUCTION

Education for all has been grounded to become a

national policy target. In response, Aceh through its

education programs adopt National policy target as

the main goal. In the Law of the Aceh Government

No 11 year 2006 in article 216 paragraph (1) and (2)

states: Every Acehnese has the right to get Islamic

and good quality education in line with the

development of science and technology organized on

the basis of the principles of democracy and justice

by upholding human rights, Islamic values, culture

and national diversity. Here clearly contained the

mandate that Aceh guarantees the implementation of

an Islamic value-based education system and

guarantees that all high school and college graduates

can compete in the global, regional job market, and

national as well as being an encouragement to build a

better social, economic, political, and life for the

people of Aceh.

The accentuation is on the graduate’s

competency both at the secondary and tertiary level,

so the Government strives to meet all of its needs

including improving teacher competency. As the

teachers are the main implementers to define the

quality of the graduates. The relationship of teacher

competency levels is also a challenge to deal with the

development of the central government policy that

began to impose MEA since January 1, 2016. MEA

competition indirectly makes teachers have multiple

roles, teachers as educators, as a cultural fence, and

as job competitors for themselves and their students.

Answering this problem, the research was

carried out as a follow-up to the conditions that must

be seriously arranged. If there is no anticipation, the

MEA era will be a problem for the nation's generation

as the successor of development and for the country

2364

Permana, F., Kasim, U., Asnawi, ., Hosna, R. and Muzdalifah, .

Competency Improvement of Teacher Professionalism in Banda Aceh as Efforts to Face the Competition of ASEAN Economic Communities (MEA).

DOI: 10.5220/0009942823642368

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 2364-2368

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

as job seekers. In line with the above opinion, many

elements must be prepared in order to increase

teacher professional competence, especially high

school mathematics teachers.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Understanding Education

Education comes from the Greek language

"Paedagogie" which consists of the word "pais"

meaning child, and "again" translated to guide, so

pedagogic means guidance given to children.

According to John Dewey (Thamrin, 2004),

education is the process of forming intellectual and

emotional intellectual skills towards nature and

fellow human beings. Meanwhile, Ki Hajar

Dewantara stated that educating is guiding all natural

strengths that exist in children so that they as humans

and as members of society can achieve the highest

salvation and happiness.

According to Law No. 20 of 2003 the notion of

Education is an effort that is carried out consciously

and planned to realize the learning atmosphere and

learning process so that students actively develop

their potential to have the spiritual power of religion,

build personality, self-control, intelligence, noble

character, and the necessary skills himself, society,

nation, and State. This law is the basis for the

establishment of the educational process in the State

of Indonesia. And the notion of education is not only

to be known but must be understood and strives to run

the process based on what is really contained in the

definition of education.

2.2 Teacher Competency

The teacher has three main tasks, namely

professional assignments, social tasks and human

tasks. Professional tasks are tasks related to his

profession as a teacher. Professional tasks include

educating, teaching and training. Educating means to

continue and develop the values of life, teaching

means to continue and develop science and

technology, and practice means to develop skills.

Based on Law Number 14 year 2005 concerning

Teachers and Lecturers, Article 10 paragraph (1)

states that "Teacher competency as referred to in

Article 8 includes pedagogic competence, personal

competence, social competence, and professional

competence obtained through professional

education". The combination of the main tasks and

professional duties of the teacher competency

standards that are the reference in this study is the

Minister of National Education Regulation No. 16

year 2007 concerning Academic Qualification

Standards and Competencies of High School/

Madrasah Aliyah (MA) teachers in particular the

mathematics teacher’s professionalism competencies.

2.3 Professionalism Competence

According to Syaiful Sagala (2009) competence

is the feasibility of carrying out a task, having the

ability to be an important factor for the teacher,

therefore the quality and productivity of the teacher's

work must be able to demonstrate quality of

professional actions. Teacher's professional

competence is a set of abilities that a teacher must

possess to succeed in carrying out his teaching duties.

It requires some expertise in education and teacher

training. According to RI Law No. 14/2005 Article 10

paragraph 1 and PP RI No. 19/2005 Article 28

paragraph 3 concerning teachers and lecturers stated

that the professional competence of teachers is

defined as the unity of knowledge, skills, and

attitudes that are manifested in the form of intelligent

and responsible actions of someone who holds a

teacher position as a profession.

Teacher's professional competence is closely

related to the ability to master material in any field of

study with a variety of other scientific substances.

Indicators of success that exist in teachers who have

professional competencies include:

a. Understand the teaching material that is in

the school curriculum.

b. Able to understand concepts, structures,

scientific methods, coherent teaching

materials.

c. Able to understand certain subject concepts.

d. Applying all the concepts that exist in

everyday life.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This research uses descriptive and quantitative

qualitative methods. The subjects of the study were

25 high school / vocational high school mathematics

teachers in the city of Banda Aceh. Research

instruments are observation sheets, interview

guidelines, and documentation. Observation sheets in

the form of quantitative data and analyzed with

simple statistics. The interview results in the form of

qualitative data and carried out qualitative descriptive

Competency Improvement of Teacher Professionalism in Banda Aceh as Efforts to Face the Competition of ASEAN Economic

Communities (MEA)

2365

data analysis by making several provisions so that the

results obtained are clearly indicators.

4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Based on the research that has been done, the

following results are obtained:

4.1 Observation Results

Observations were made of 25 high school/

vocational high school teachers in Banda Aceh, both

public and private one. Development of observation

instruments based on professional competence of

high school / MA / vocational mathematics teachers

under Minister of National Education Regulation No.

16 of 2007 concerning Academic Qualification

Standards and Teacher Competence.

a. Competence in mastering the material, structure,

concepts, and scientific mindset that supports the

subjects being taught:

In mastering the material, structure, concepts,

and scientific mindset that supports mathematics

subjects, high school / vocational high school

teachers in Banda Aceh are very good. There are

20 teachers who are able to teach without using a

manual. Most material taught is able to be

delivered in the order of book. Moreover, some

teachers have a quick way to solve mathematical

problems. The problem is that the teacher is

unable to instill knowledge and thought patterns

in students.

The curriculum demands that must be

achieved cause teachers do not have many

opportunities to transfer the scientific mindset to

their students. For this problem, teachers need to

be invited to open their insights about learning

models where teachers and students can interact

with each other without disregard understanding

and scientific mindset value. For example, by

implementing a learning model of Problem Based

Learning, Discovery, Jigsaw, Group

Investigation, and others. Teachers need to foster

the spirit of understanding the subject matter by

sharing the benefits of learning the material being

discussed. The constraints that exist to implement

the learning are the lack of knowledge and

opportunity for teachers to obtain knowledge. The

training provided by the government is not evenly

distributed. The government that has the authority

to deal with improving the quality of teachers

must provide training calls directly to the teacher

in concern.

b. Competence in mastering Competency Standards

(SK) and Basic Competencies (KD) subject /

development fields that are taught.

Twenty five (25) teachers master the

competency standards and basic competencies of

the subjects that they receive. However, many

teachers do not understand how to develop

indicators from SK and KD that are outside of the

indicators already in the guide. This is one of the

causes that the teacher is not able to integrate the

material to be taught to the abilities that students

must achieve in accordance with the times.

c. Competence to develop learning materials that are

taught creatively.

About 16 teachers (64%) did not have time to

develop study materials that support the material

that must be conveyed to students. Demands for

teaching hours, detailed assessment and

evaluation systems, and self-development for

promotion make teachers do not have adequate

time to look for prerequisite and other supporting

material.

d. Competency to develop professionalism on an

ongoing basis by doing reflective actions.

A lot of reading, discussion, and attending

seminars related to this condition will greatly help

the teacher in carrying out his profession.

Competency to develop professionalism is rarely

done by the teacher intact. For example in

attending training and seminars. Nearly 88% of

teachers who take part in seminars and training

only want the certificate given even by paying but

do not expect the knowledge that is presented

even though it's free.

e. Competence to utilize information and

communication technology to envolve

themselves.

This competence highly plays an important

role for teachers as people who are dealing

directly with students. From the results of the

research (observation and interviews), teachers

over 50 years old are lacked of technology but

they communicate well with their students. On the

opposite, teachers under 50 years old have good

skill on information technology but are not good

at communicating. This problem can be solved by

disclosed communication between fellow

teachers and teachers with students. Teachers

must realize that communication is fundamental

while technology can be learned from everyday

practice. Therefore, teachers who have good

technological skill to be willing to teach

underprivileged teachers during they free time at

school.

ICRI 2018 - International Conference Recent Innovation

2366

4.2 Summary of Interview Results

1. What do you know about MEA?

Answer: about 75% of teachers said they

did not know, and the rest answered, but

only limited to hearing from the news or

getting information at a glance. The teacher

never looks for more details about the new /

strange things he hears if he is not required

by his written task duties.

2. Did you find out about matters related to

MEA? How to?

Answer: 70% of teachers answered they

never found out. 25% of teachers give

reasons because the assignments at school

are already crowded and the teaching hours

are full from morning to evening. Because if

you do not carry out the task according to the

schedule, the certification will be deducted.

3. Did you know when the MEA came into

effect?

Answer: 75% answered they did not

know even though they had heard it.

4. Who is involved in the MEA?

Answer: 65% answered the Government

and entrepreneurs (economic actors). The

teacher forgets that he is also an economic

actor by selling teaching services.

5. Do you feel disturbed by MEA? Why?

Answer: 100% of teachers answered that

they were not interrupted because they were

not our duty from the school and the service,

and MEA was not integrated with the

curriculum.

6. Do you consider MEA to be something very

important? Why?

Answer: 100% of teachers answered that

it was not important. The teacher does not

understand the effects of the MEA.

7. What elements have the most influence on

the implementation of the MEA?

Answer: Policy holders, government.

8. When you know the implementation of the

MEA, do you feel that MEA will affect our

cultural education system? Why?

Answer: No, because MEA is only a

discourse (not to mention socialization

especially when it is enforced).

9. What is your readiness for the MEA that has

been applied?

Answer: 84% of teachers answered that

they did not prepare anything, we only

prepared the applicable curriculum.

10. Have you ever mentioned / talked about

MEA in class?

Answer: 84% of teachers answer never.

The teacher is more focused on delivering

material. only 20% of teachers mentioned

MEA as an effect

11. What is the reaction of students when you

discuss MEA in class?

Answer: 40% of teachers answered that

some students understood MEA, but only as

readings on social media. Students assume

that he is not part of the MEA competition

because he is still a student. Students do not

think that the leadership relay will be in their

shoulders and they will automatically

become economic actors.

12. Do you prepare the completeness of specific

learning in facing MEA?

Answer: 100% of teachers answered no,

because it was not demanded by the

principal. But if what is meant is the

completeness of specific learning to face an

MEA that is integrated in the 2013

curriculum, then all teachers have also

compiled it. Indirectly, the Government has

instructed teachers to prepare learning

completeness that makes teachers and

students ready to face MEA.

13. According to you, what is most important

must be mastered by students so that they are

able to face MEA?

Answer: 100% of teachers answer that

both students and teachers must master

foreign languages, especially English.

Besides English, students (all job seekers)

must master other foreign languages such as

Arabic, German, Japanese and Mandarin.

Because our constraints generally are not

foreign languages.

Competency Improvement of Teacher Professionalism in Banda Aceh as Efforts to Face the Competition of ASEAN Economic

Communities (MEA)

2367

14. What efforts have you done so that you can

face MEA competition?

Answer: 20% of teachers improve their

competence by taking part in training, 25%

by reading books (print and electronic

media), 8% by continuing their education to

postgraduate and doctoral degrees both at

home and abroad.

15. Have you ever been invited by the

headmaster (who is an educational person)

specifically to discuss MEA and how to deal

with it?

Answer: 88% answered never. There are

some teachers who talk about the issue of

AEC but not to be followed up but only

interlude.

5 CONCLUSION

Based on the results of data analysis described in

the previous chapter, the following conclusions can

be drawn:

a. The understanding of mathematics teachers

about MEA is still very low. This is

evidenced by the answers given by 21

people (84%) ranging from "not knowing"

and "never".

b. From the in-depth interviews, it is known

that teachers are still less responsive to the

situation of information technology

development and to the changes in existing

policies. They cannot synchronize their

profession with the demands of the times.

c. The teacher does not have preparation in

facing the MEA, this is due to the lack of

understanding of the teacher towards the

MEA.

In addition, the teacher also does not think the

negative effects of the implementation of the AEC if

it is not anticipated with all the available capabilities.

Another reason was that the teacher had never

received any training or special socialization about

the AEC, so that in the teaching and learning process

the teacher never mentioned the MEA to his students.

This is indeed not clearly stated in the curriculum, but

the Government through the implementation of the

2013 curriculum has given a yellow light so that

teachers seek to increase their competence in all

fields.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank Kemenristek Dikti for the

research grant. Thank you also to Usman Kasim and

Asnawi Muslem for their valuable comments and

directions during the writing process of this

manuscript.

REFERENCES

Bahri, Halida. (2014). Sengkarut Pendidikan Aceh.

http://politikita.com/2014 /09/14/sengkarut-pendidikan-

aceh/. Diakses tanggal 10 Februr 2016.

Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. 2013.

Permendikbud No. 54/2013 tentang Standar

Kompetensi Lulusan. Jakarta.

Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. 2003. Undang-Undang

Republik Indonesia No. 20 Tahun 2003 Tentang Sistem

Pendidikan Nasional. Pusat Data dan Informasi

Pendidikan. Balitbang. Jakarta

Djam’an Satori, dkk. (2009). Profesi Keguruan. Universitas

Terbuka. Jakarta.

H. Djaali. (2008). Psikologi Pendidikan. Bumi Aksara.

Jakarta.

Kemdikbud. (2012). Kurikulum 2013. Kementerian

Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Jakarta

Kemdiknas. 2010. Akuntabilitas Kinerja Kemdiknas.

Jakarta Syaiful Sagala. (2009). Konsep dan Makna

Pembelajaran. CV. ALFABETA, Bandung.

Suryosubroto. (2009). Proses Belajar Mengajar Di

Sekolah. Rineka Cipta. Jakarta.

Thamrin Z.M. (2004). Aceh melawan Penjajahan Belanda,

CV. Wahana, Jakarta.

ICRI 2018 - International Conference Recent Innovation

2368