IMPROVING QUALITY OF EDUCATION FOR BORDER AREAS By: Prof Dr Endang Komara, M.Si and Prof. Dr. Uman Suherman A. S., M.Pd.
Abstract
Program of the Scholar Teaching in the Outermost, Frontier, and Underdeveloped areas (Sarjana Mengajar di Daerah Terluar, Terdepan dan Tertinggal/SM3T) is one of the programs designed by the Directorate General of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture as a form of the participation of Education Institution of Educational Staff (Lembaga Pendidikan Tenaga Kependidikan/LPTK) in order to accelerate improving the quality of education in the outermost, frontier, and underdeveloped areas. Until now the program has been continued under the coordination of the Directorate General of Teaching and Student Affairs (Direktorat Jenderal Pembelajaran dan Mahasiswa) Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education. Besides, the SM3T program is intended to assist the areas in overcoming the problems related to the limited educators in the border areas. Furthermore, the alumni of the SM3T participants follow the Teacher Profession Education (Pendidikan Profesi Guru/PPG) after SM3T which is intended to develop their competence and professionalism so that they become qualified teachers as professional teachers.
Teacher Profession Education is the last guard of the quality of teachers produced by higher education, in this case LPTK. After following the PPG, the teacher will get a certificate stating the authority to teach at the level of education set. As best as the quality of Indonesia's national education is as good as the quality of teachers.Therefore, PPG holds a very strategic role in the national education map of Indonesia.
Keywords: Improvement, quality, education, area, border.
I. Preliminary
Teachers as professional educators are stated in Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers Article 1, paragraph 1, namely the teacher is a professional educator with the main task of educating, teaching, guiding, directing, training, assessing, and evaluating learners in the education of children aged early formal education, basic education, and secondary education. The preparation of teachers as professional educators is expressed in Government Regulation No. 74 of 2008 on Teachers and reinforced by Law number 12 of 2012 on Higher Education Article 17 (1) of the Higher Education Law states that professional education is Higher Education after the undergraduate program preparing students in jobs that require special skills requirements.
Teachers as an important component in the education process. Regardless of the policies drafted by the government or the authorities on education, in the end the teachers are implementing in the form of learning process at school. Whatever the condition of the tools owned by schools / educational institutions, ultimately the teacher who manages its use. That is why many people call teachers as man behind the gun in the education process.
Along with that thought, various studies show teachers' contribution to student learning outcomes above 50% (Hattie, 2008; Mourshed et.al, 2010; Pujiastuti et al., 2012). Therefore, it is very accurate the mandate of article 24 of Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers stating that the government, provincial governments, district / city governments and education providers must meet the needs of teachers, both in number, academic qualifications and in the competencies equally to ensure the sustainability of primary and secondary education in accordance with their responsibilities.
For the mandate to be implemented, it is necessary to have enough teacher candidate, with good competence and ready to serve in various regions of Indonesia. Related to the effort to get the teacher candidate with good competence, article 10 of Law No. 14 of 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers states “Certification of educators are organized by higher education that have accredited educational procurement programs established by the Government.” Meanwhile, Article 4 paragraph (1) of Government Regulation no. 74 of 2008 on Teacher to mention “Educational Certificate for Teachers is obtained through professional education programs organized by higher education that have accredited educational procurement programs, both organized by the government and society, and established by the Government.
Meanwhile, article 17 paragraph (2) of Law no. 12 of 2012 on higher education mentions “professional education can be organized by higher education and cooperate with Ministries (of Education), other Ministries, Non-Ministry Education Institutions (Lembaga Pendidikan Non Kementerian/LPNK), and / or professional organizations”. Therefore, it is necessary to guide how the Educational Institution of Education Staff (LPTK) proposes the Teacher Profession Education (PPG) Department and how the government determines which LPTK is assigned to organize PPG. Thus, LPTK becomes a very important goalkeeper to produce good future teachers.
There are 415 LPTKs in Indonesia in 2016, consisting of 37 country’s LPTKs and 378 private LPTKs. Data from the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education and the National Accreditation Board of Higher Education (Badan Akreditasi Nasional – Perguruan Tinggi/BAN-PT) showed a very diverse quality of LPTKs. Therefore, a mechanism is needed to ensure that only good LPTKs are allowed to implement PPG programs, so it is certain that quality PPG graduates will be produced.
For PPG to produce prospective teachers who have good competence, PPG programs must get prospective students who have high ability and talent to become teachers and afterwards processed through good education as well. In some countries known for quality education, for example Finland, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore apply tight selection for LPTKs, even only high school graduates ranked 1 to 10 are allowed to register to LPTK (Sahlberg, 2011; Friedman, 2014; Samani, 2016). The principle of “garbage in garbage out” seems to be noticed in these countries.
Since 2010 the number of applicants to LPTKs in Indonesia has increased significantly, because of the provision of professional allowances to teachers. Thus, what is needed is a good selection pattern to ensure that new students of LPTK are potential to be good teachers. Such selection has not been applied in many LPTKs when receiving undergraduate students so there are still frequent complaints about the quality of graduates. Therefore, to get a good teacher candidate, strict entry selection for PPG prospective students needs to be applied.
The process of education in PPG must be done well so that the qualified new students really have a good learning process, so that later become a qualified teacher candidate also. Related to that, Article 7 paragraph (3) of Government Regulation No. 74 Year 2008 on Teacher mentions the burden of learning is set in the basic framework and curriculum structure by LPTK with reference to National Education Standards. However, given the variations in LPTK quality, a national PPG curriculum is required while still providing opportunities for LPTKs to incorporate its distinctive features.
Teacher's job is not only teaching, but educating and one of the requirements to be a good educator is able to be an example of how to behave in everyday life. Therefore, character education is an important component in the education process in PPG. In order for the implementation of character education to run effectively, PPG requires student dormitory so that the character building process can be implemented for 24 hours. That is the argument for the emergence of article 23 paragraph (1) of Law no. 14 of 2005 which mandates the government to develop the education system of teachers bundled service and boarding. The pattern of official bonds allows the government to distribute new teachers to all parts of Indonesia, whereas with the dormitory it is expected that the guidance of PPG student characters can be effectively implemented.
Based on the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 20 Year 2003 on National Education, Law Number 14 Year 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers, and Government Regulation No. 19 of 2005 on National Education Standards, states that teachers are professionals.
Based on the aforementioned Law, various government programs in order to support and create professional teachers are run by PPG to improve the competence of prospective teachers who apply to bachelor of education graduates (Strata-1/S-1) or Diploma 4 (D4) in order to produce prospective teachers who can realizing the goals of national education.
In addition, there are other programs of SM3T (Program of the Scholar Teaching in the Outermost, Frontier, and Underdeveloped areas) aimed at improving the acceleration and development of education development in Indonesia. So, the entire outermost, frontier, and underdeveloped areas in Indonesia will get an equitable education.
II. Discussion
Formally, Indonesia's Republic Law No. 20 of 2003 on National Education System, Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 14 Year 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers, and Government Regulation Number 19 Year 2005 on National Education Standard states teachers are professionals. This suggests that a teacher is required to be a professional manpower in all fields such as the field of academic competence, personality, pedagogic, and social competence (Muslich, 2007).
Professional competence of a teacher is a set of abilities that must be owned by a teacher so that he can carry out his teaching duties successfully (Uno, 2008). Indonesian teachers must be national-spirited, because Indonesian nation consists of various tribes that have different languages and customs. To secure the spirit of nationality is the main task of a teacher, because of that's the teacher must have national spirit first.
One of Indonesia's national goal is to participate in educate life of the nation (Soegito et al, 2015: 8). So, PPG will also create prospective teachers as well as citizens of Indonesia to participate in efforts to educate the nation.
Teacher Profession Education (PPG) is also an educational activity for prospective educators to obtain professional educator certificate (Suprihatiningrum, 2013). So, it can be concluded that the Teacher Profession Education (PPG) is one of the educational programs where the program is devoted to graduates of S-1 or Diploma 4 who will become teachers, in order to become professional teachers as professional educators will get a professional education certificate.
Definition of professional education itself is similar to the professional competencies described by Uno (2008) professional competence of a teacher is a set of skills that must be owned by a teacher so that he can carry out his teaching task successfully. Thus, the quality of learners increased and human resources quality also increased. So, with the success of the teacher the national goal of Indonesian education can be realized, related to the statement from Soegito, et al (2015: 8) one of the national goal of Indonesia is to participate in educate life of the nation. So, it is clear that with the implement of this PPG program, it can create teachers who act as citizens of Indonesia who participate in the nation of Indonesia life's education itself as embodied in the national goals of the Indonesian nation.
The professional competence that must be owned by every teacher in Indonesia among them as follows:
a. Personal competence
Personal competence is one of the professional competencies that must be possessed by the teacher in relation to human nature as an individual being. In this case a teacher must have in-depth knowledge of the subjects that have become his responsibility to be taught and delivered to learners. In addition, the teacher must also have the ability to treat students individually, in other words, a teacher does not treat learners equally, because it remembers to the human nature as individual beings, which vary between humans with one another. Similarly, learners have different characteristics and abilities. So that learners should not be equated.
b. Social competence
Social competence is related to human nature, also as a social being whose existence always needs others, and is unable to live alone. In this case, a teacher is required to treat learners with the best possible so that the relationship between teachers and learners take place in harmony. Therefore, in teaching, teachers are required to use humanistic methods, in which learners are given the freedom to actualize the ability possessed but not feel depressed. Here teachers can only be facilitators for learners. In other words, teachers can act as parents, relatives, friends, and even close friends so learners feel comfortable in communicating with teachers.
c. Professional teaching competence
A professional teacher must have the ability among others are:
1. Plan the learning system.
Teachers plan how the learning system is in accordance with the school condition.
2. Implement the learning system
After the learning system has been created, the teacher must implement the learning system.
3. Evaluate the learning system
This evaluation process aims to assess whether the learning system that has been implemented run well and in accordance with the expected or not.
4. Develop a learning system.
When the evaluation has been conducted, it can be done various actions how to develop the learning system that has been achieved well so that in the future development will be better.
While the competences of teachers that have been standardized by the Directorate General of Primary and Secondary Education Ministry of National Education (1999) in Uno (2008) namely
1. Develop personality
2. Mastering the educational foundation
3. Mastering lesson materials
4. Develop a teaching program
5. Implement the teaching program
6. Assess the results in the Teaching Learning Process that have been implemented
7. Conducting simple research for the purposes of teaching
8. Organizing a guidance program
9. Interact with peers and communities
10. Organizing school administration
Based on the above explanation, it can be concluded that to become a professional teacher who has accountability in implementing these competencies, it takes seriousness and strong commitment from each teacher so that his desire to become a professional teacher can be realized.
SM3T is an undergraduate education program to participate in the acceleration of development in 3T area for one year as a professional educator preparation which will be continued with professional teacher education. So, what is meant by the SM3T program is one of the educational programs involving the dedication of educational graduates to participate in the framework of accelerating the development of education in Indonesia conducted in 3T areas that are areas that fall into the category of outermost, frontier, and underdeveloped. The scholars are required to serve in the 3T area for a whole year. With the SM3T program, these isolated regions will be able to get education equally. So, all the residents who exist in all parts of Indonesia will be feel the education. So that will create a smart Indonesian man, responsive, and able to compete against the progress of an increasingly complex era.
The scope of the SM3T program are:
a) Carry out teaching tasks in educational units according to the area of expertise and demands of local conditions.
b) Encourage learning innovation activities in schools where scholars dedicate themselves.
c) Implementing extracurricular activities where the scholars serve. It aims to enable students to develop their potential in sports and arts.
d) Assist tasks related to the management of the school where the scholar serves. So, they are required to assist in the implementation of school managerial activities, so that the school experiences better development.
e) Perform social tasks and community empowerment to support education and cultural development programs in 3T areas. So, scholars are required to be able to socialize well with the communities in which they are devoted. In addition, scholars are also assigned to be able to invite surrounding communities to be more concerned about education, and invite the community to develop the potential resources owned by the community and the environment. For example, by utilizing the plants that are around to be used as a more interesting food. In essence, the scholars who are carrying out the service are assigned to invite people to think critically and creatively.
III. Conclusion
Based on several explanations above, it can be concluded some things as follows:
A. Professional Teacher Education Program can improve the competence of prospective teachers who apply to bachelor degree (S-1) or Diploma 4 (D-4) graduates in order to produce prospective teachers who can realize the goals of national education.
B. SM3T (Scholar Teaching in the Outermost, Frontier, and Underdeveloped areas) aimed at improving the acceleration and development of education development in Indonesia. So, all the outermost, frontier, and underdeveloped areas in Indonesia will get education equally.
C. A teacher is required to become a professional in the field of academic competence, personality, pedagogic and social competence.
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