ABSTRACT
This study tried to portray English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ pedagogical competence and readiness in maintaining the 2013 curriculum. The demands of the 2013 curriculum lead the teachers to have a good quality of teaching. It is essential to know teachers' pedagogical competence because that aspect will be piloting the implementation of the curriculum in the classroom. This study aimed to investigate the EFL teachers’ pedagogical competence and readiness in the implementation of the 2013 curriculum. This study used mixed methods with triangulation design. The data were collected by semi structure interview and close ended questionnaires. The data were then analyzed, described, and interpreted comprehensively. The result of this study revealed that EFL teachers’ pedagogical competence is appropriate to the demand of the 2013 curriculum. The teachers show their enthusiasm and readiness in implementing the 2013 curriculum.
Key words: Pedagogical competence, the 2013 curriculum, curriculum development, instructional plans, teachers’ role.
The curriculum is undoubtedly an inseparable part of education. In Indonesia, education curriculum has already undergone several changes. The 2013 curriculum is a product of the changes of education in 21st century. Curriculum is developed in order to give the solution in some cases in Indonesia. The Indonesian minister of education and culture, Muhammad Nuh, assumed that Indonesian student achievement was left behind and he believed that Indonesian curriculum has to be changed, developed and adjusted to the world educational trend. As the world educational trend changes, the Indonesian curriculum must be based on the reasoning reinforcement, not only memorizing. As a result, from those perspectives, the 2013 curriculum was constructed. In developing the appropriate curriculum, many practitioners and expertise are mixed up.
Teachers are the centralized factors in implementing the curriculum. Lengkanawati (2004) highlighed that teachers are the forefront implementers of the curriculum. It is also supported by Uno (2009) as cited in Evanita
(2013), the success in the implementation of the curriculum is determined by the ability which is owned by the teachers. The importance of the teachers in the successful implementation of curriculum programmed is very essential, as the one who directly interacted with the students, and the one who implemented the curriculum in the classroom to the students. As regards, teachers should be familiar with the competencies expected by the curriculum in order to fulfill the significant role of teachers' competence in the implementation of the present curriculum. Atomatofa et al. (2013) argued that the duty of the classroom teachers is to translate the curriculum goals from theory to practice after the curriculum activities are planned and adopted for use in the school system. It is also supported by Lengkanawati (2004) who says that the implementation of curriculum needs some supporting factors such as teachers' familiarity of the curriculum being implemented and teachers' competence.
Many opinions arise in terms of the development of the curriculum. The changing of the curriculum proved that teachers have an important role in the transformation of the curriculum. A good curriculum should be interconnected with the capability of the teacher in implementing the classroom. The curriculum doesn’t run well if the teachers do not have ability in executing the curriculum. No matter what kind of curriculum should be implemented in the classroom, but if the teachers have the competences in operating the curriculum, the curriculum will be accepted and suitable for the students’ learning. Yusuf (2007) as cited in Evanita (2013) states that in the implementation of the 2013 curriculum, the school’s readiness covers the materials and non materials such as, a set of curriculum, school’s infrastructure, education’s financial plan and teachers’ readiness. Sisdiknas (2012) states that there are two big factors in determining the success of the 2013 curriculum. The first factor is the suitability of educators’ competence and education personnel in which they have to possess with reference to curriculum and textbooks in teaching the students. The second determining factor is the supporting factor which consists of three elements, namely: (i) The availability of books as teaching materials and learning resources that integrate the standards, forming the curriculum; (ii) strengthening the role of government in the guidance and supervision; and (iii) strengthening management and school culture.
The demand of the new curriculum enforces the teachers in teaching the lesson based on integrative thematic. Besides that, teachers not only should be able in professional competence but also pedagogical competence, sociability and personality. In addition, the 2013 curriculum asks the teacher to accomplish the teaching and learning with scientific approaches. It is crucial to know the teachers’ pedagogical competence because it would be reflected in the implementation of the curriculum and learning process.
In pedagogical competence, teachers are required to understand the characteristics of learners in order to implement the curriculum practice spontaneously in any learning process; consequently, the students can meet the attitude competence. Moreover, teachers are expected to be doing further research on other competencies such as personality, social and professional. To determine the critical success factors of the first curriculum regarding the suitability of the competence of educators in particular pedagogical competence against 2013 curriculum and the readiness of teachers in the implementation of 2013 curriculum in English as a foreign language (EFL) learning, it is necessary to analyze the suitability of teachers’ pedagogical competence readiness in supporting the implementation of the 2013 curriculum.
Statement of the problems
The present study seeks to answer the following research questions:
1. How is the compatibility of pedagogical competencies possessed by the teachers regarding the demand of the 2013 curriculum implementation?
2. How is EFL teacher’s readiness for the 2013 curriculum implementation?
Research objectives
The aims of this study are to describe the teachers’ compatibility on pedagogical competence in the 2013 curriculum, and also to analyze the teachers’ readiness in the implementation of the 2013 curriculum, especially in EFL contexts.
The scope of the study
To give the clear understanding and to avoid the ambiguity, the study is narrowed as follows in the statements below:
1. This study explores teachers’ pedagogical competence which is the ability of the teacher in organizing the learning process such as, students’ understanding, planning, implementing, evaluating.
2. Teachers’ understanding toward the 2013 curriculum which will be reflected in the implementation of the classroom. It consists of teachers’ strategy development, actualization information and response in terms of the transformation of the curriculum.
3. The subject focuses on the English foreign language teachers.
4. The analysis, findings and conclusions of this study are limited to and based on the analysis of the data obtained from participants only. There are no extraneous factors in affecting the research questions.
Significance of the study
1. For the teachers, the findings of this research are expected to increase the teachers’ professional ability and competence in accordance to the demand of the 2013 curriculum. Theoretically, the study is expected to add some reflection to the teacher and some institutions in implementing the 2013 curriculum better.
2. For the researcher, the results of this study will provide some information and knowledge in terms of the readiness and the compatibility with the teachers’ competence.
Curriculum
The curriculum is one of the essential elements in the educational system. The function of the curriculum is to provide the teachers and students with guidelines, which consist of some competences and learning goals that should be acquired during the teaching-learning process. It is also supported by a Richards (2001) statement which says a curriculum in a school context refers to the whole body of knowledge that children acquire in schools. Another definition of curriculum study comes from Posner (1992), who defines curriculum as an end means. End describes as the learning outcomes, while means indicate instructional plans. Curriculum is a part of direction which leads the teachers to think about what to teach, how to teach and what is expected.
According to Pratt (1994), curriculum refers to plans for instructional acts, not the acts of instruction themselves. He states that curriculum is analogous to the set of blueprints from which a house is constructed. A curriculum can be viewed as a blueprint for instruction. For teachers, the curriculum is often a statement of what the school authorities, the state government, or some groups outside the classroom requires the teacher to teach (Doll, 1996).
Board of National Education Standard in Indonesia (BNSP) (2006) also draws the definition of curriculum as a set of plans and rules which deal with goals, contents, teaching materials and methods that are used as guidance in the teaching learning process in order to achieve certain educational goals.
Based on several definitions, it can be concluded that the curriculum is guidance for the teachers in conducting their teaching. Curriculum is a part of direction which leads the teachers to think about what to teach, how to teach, and what is expected.
Curriculum development
The beliefs and methods which have been used in the past time are the key factors in determining the curriculum development which will be transformed into the syllabus design in the classroom. The development of the curriculum is an important process that is managed by the institutions. The principle of curriculum development and or language curriculum development is that it is focused on the process of establishing needs, knowledge, experience and norms or values, and how teaching and learning process is conducted and evaluated in order to generate intended outcomes. Richards (2001) states that curriculum development is an essential practical activity since it seeks to improve the quality of language teaching through the use of systemic planning, development and review practices in all aspects of a language program. Curriculum development includes needs analysis, planning, goals and outcomes, course planning, teaching, materials development and evaluation.
Richards (2001) and Brown (1995) defines curriculum development as a series of activities that contribute to the growth on consensus among the staff, faculty, administration and students. It involves a number of separate elements; need assessment, goals, and adjectives, testing, materialism teaching and program evaluation. Brown (1995) also explains about the overview of the curriculum; according to him, approaches, syllabus, techniques, and exercises are important factors in determining the curriculum development. He argues that in general, teaching activities are related with curriculum activities, however, each context has independent role.
Lim (1998) cited in Ho (1994) and Richards (2001) defines that curriculum development includes needs analysis, goal setting, syllabus design, material design, language program design, teacher preparation, implementation of program in schools, monitoring, feedback and evaluation. The process of the development of curriculum has been described as an ends means model because in getting what the language learner needs, there was a process of determination of the kinds of language skills the learner needs in order to accomplish specific roles. Briggs (1977) states that in curriculum studies, there are procedures and rules which are known as a systemic design model; this context is defined as an integrated plan of operation of all components of system, which is designed to solve a problem or meet a need. The development of the curriculum is seen as a rational and technical process which is believed by some practitioners that this was the key to the design of successful educational programs.
In accordance with the curriculum development which is described by some experts, it can be terminated that the development of the curriculum is the central point in establishing and completing the educational purposes. Curriculum should be evaluated, revised, and developed in order to get more comprehensive and beneficial educational knowledge and value for educational practitioners. The process of planning, implementing, developing or renewing a curriculum is called curriculum development. The process is focused on need analysis, situational analysis, planning, learning outcomes, course organization, selecting and preparing teaching materials, providing for effective teaching, and evaluation. Those processes are interconnected to each other, if one of the elements is changed, it would impact on other parts.
The 2013 curriculum is one of the products of the development of the curriculum. Government and educational institutions who are respected for attaining the educational goals, conducting a research toward the need’s analysis and situational analysis of Indonesia’s learners which lead to one of the considerations to the revision and development of national curriculum which is launched in 2013.
The emergence of curriculum 2013 and educational needs in the 21st century
The 2013 curriculum is developed by the government and applied in some pilot project schools by purposes. The 2013 curriculum is attempting to answer some problematic issues in Indonesia, which tend to be negative and it occurring among people in the society, including children, teenagers, and adults, particularly in terms of values, norms, and attitudes such as corruption, sexual abuse, violence among children and teens, cyber crime and many others. Therefore, character building is becoming essential to be internalized and is integrated into the curriculum.
In 2007, the survey conducted by Global Institute, titled trends in International Math and Science revealed that there were only 5% of Indonesian students that could accomplish the difficult reasoning questions. As a comparison, Korean students could accomplish as much as 71%. On the contrary, 78% Indonesian students could accomplish the easy memorizing questions, whereas, only 10% Korean students could accomplish it. Besides that, another fact revealed by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) (2009) that from 65 countries as PISA participant, Indonesia occupied the 10th rank, from the bottom. Meanwhile, the assessment criteria consisted of students’ cognitive skills and their proficiencies in reading, mathematics, and also science. From that assessment, almost all of Indonesian students could only accomplish the subject not more than 3rd level. Whereas, other developed countries’ students mostly accomplished the subject until 4, 5, or even 6th level.
The Indonesian minister of education and culture, Muhammad Nuh assumed that Indonesian student achievement was left behind and he believed that Indonesian curriculum has to be changed and developed, and adjusted to the world educational trend. As the world educational trend changes, the Indonesian curriculum must be based on the reasoning reinforcement, not only memorizing, so that, from those perspectives, the 2013 curriculum was constructed.
The 2013 curriculum is in fact the extension of the schools based curriculum in several components. The main purpose of this curriculum is to shape the individuals who are faithful in God, good in the character, confident, successful in learning, responsible citizens and positive contributors to the civilization (Ministry of Education and Cultures, 2013b). This framework has been supported by Government Regulations Number 32 Year 2013 (The revision of Government Regulations Number 19 Year 2005 about the National Standards of Education). This regulation is elaborated by Education and Culture Ministry’s Regulations Number 67, 68, 69 and 70 on fundamental framework and curriculum structure from elementary to senior secondary and vocational secondary school.
Curriculum 2013 is a curriculum of values that is preoccupied by character building. The values can be tracked from the core competences, abbreviated with KI-1 to KI-4. KI-1 is designed for spiritual competence, KI-2 for social competence, KI-3 refers to knowledge competence and KI-4 is for learning process through with the KI-3, KI-2 and KI-1 can be observed. Basic competence which is abbreviated with KD is the reference for teachers to develop achievement indicators.
Teachers’ role in curriculum development
The curriculum 2013 is basically a refinement of the previous curriculum. The target of curriculum change is none other than the teacher as the direct implementers in the classroom. While the curriculum is the planned program, teachers are the actors that implement the program through teaching and learning process. This is the relationship between teachers, curriculum and learning.
According to Nur et al., (2014), there are several roles that teachers should play in implementing the 2013 curriculum:
i. Teacher as a learning designer: As a professional teacher, he/she designs learning plan which will be conducted in the classroom. The study design is expected to be both structured and practical.
ii. Learning motivator: One of the hardest roles of teacher is maintaining the willingness of students to explore the learning material as much as possible. Motivation, as revealed in many studies, is a very potential factor to make students excited to learn optimally.
iii. Learning Mediator: The presence of teachers in the teaching and learning process could serve as an intermediary actor between the sources of learning and students. The teacher presents the subject matter to students' learning and students receive, examine, and discuss the matter so that it becomes theirs. As a mediator, the teacher lays the platform for the teaching and learning process. The teacher interposes something within the environment with which the students interact.
iv. Learning Inspiration: Teachers become a major source of inspiration for students in managing the subject matter. Thinking and strategy delivered by the teacher will encourage students to learn independently and creatively.
Teachers’ pedagogical competence
According to Lengkanawati (2004), teachers are the forefront implementers of the curriculum. It is also supported by Uno (2009) as cited in Evanita (2013), the successful implementation of the curriculum is determined by the ability which is owned by the teachers. In order to create the best learners and to achieve educational goals, teachers’ pedagogical competence is necessary for delivering the material and what have been stated in the curriculum to the students. According to Indonesian law No. 14 of 2005 on Chapter IV, Article 8, further clarified in Article 10, Paragraph 1 about teachers/lecturers competence is referred to one which states that the competence of teachers/lecturers includes pedagogical competence, personal competence, social competence, and professional competence acquired through professional education. Pedagogical competence is the ability of understanding of learners, design and implementation of learning, evaluation of learning outcomes, and the development of learners to actualize different potentials (Sukanti et al., 2008) as cited in Astuty (2015). Pedagogical competence includes the sub competence:
1. Understanding the characteristics of learners from the physical aspect, social, moral, emotional, cultural and intellectual.
2. Understanding the background of the family and the community of learners.
3. Understanding the needs of the students in a cultural context.
4. Understanding the learning styles and learning difficulties.
5. Facilitating the development of potential learners.
6. Mastering the theory and principles of learning and educational learning.
7. Developing a curriculum that encourages the involvement of students in learning.
8. Designing learning to educate.
9. Evaluating the process and learning outcomes.
In addition, Febrianis et al. (2014) describe that pedagogical competence also stated in Indonesian Government Regulation No. 74, 2008 on teachers defines that teachers' pedagogical competence is the ability of teachers in learning management of the learners. Pedagogical competence is a specific competence that distinguishes teachers from other professions which demonstrates the ability of teachers to organize learning material so it can be easily understood by the learners (Rosnita, 2011).
Associated with the 2013 curriculum, there are many previous studies made. The first study by Ahmad (2014) focused on the 2013 curriculum (K-13) implementation in the four targeted senior secondary schools of K-13 implemented in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It involved three policymakers and 11 English. The study found and concluded that the issues underlying the change from the school-based curriculum (SBC) to K-13 were the failure of the former curricula, the anticipation of demographic and economic circumstances in the future, and the benefits offered within the change.
In line with the teachers’ knowledge and belief system towards the change, their perception on the K-13 led to two main trends: (1) Positive, innovative, creative and give impact to the transformation from the traditional view of learning to a modern pedagogical dimension; and (2) negative and superficial that the only change in conceptual level and would likely have the same effects with the previous changes. The teachers’ interpretation on the K-13 also led to two main trends: (1) The correct and comprehensive interpretation when dealing with the general concepts in K-13 in ELT practices; and, (2) the partial interpretation towards the applicable concepts according to their understanding, procedural knowledge and the convenience of the application offered by the changing elements. The implementation of K-13 in ELT practices was found to be partial, biased and tended to be traditional from the planning to the assessing process. The constraints to successful implementation of K-13 were found to root in the teacher’s fixed mindset and within the implementation.
The second research is conducted by Nur and Madkur (2014); their research aimed at providing a picture of challenges, opportunities and teachers’ perception of the use of this curriculum in English teaching. The data were collected through in-depth interview to six English teachers in six pilot schools in Bogor and Lampung. The analysis shows that most teachers accepted the curriculum; however, according to them, the curriculum should be evaluated and further developed.
This study utilized mixed methods (triangular design). According to Cresswell (2014) as cited in Malik and Hamied (2016), mixed method research is the combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches which provides a more complete understanding of a research problem than either approach alone. Mixed methods research use two paradigms and there is the sequence on how to use it. Triangulation design’s purpose is to obtain different, but complementary data on the same topic to best understand a research problem and also to bring together the different strength and non-overlapping weaknesses of quantitative methods with those of qualitative methods (Malik and Hamied, 2016).
This study was conducted in March 2016 by acquiring the data from six different English teachers and also supported by 30 questions in order to know the pedagogical competence of the teachers. The six English teachers were chosen because they were accessible to conduct the study.
As stated by Malik and Hamied (2016), the sample in a qualitative study is typically by the reason on who they are and what they know. Therefore, in determining the sample of this study, purposive sampling technique will be used to select 6 EFL teachers as the sample. The reason of choosing six teachers is based on Polkinghorne (1998), as cited in Ashari (2013), stating that the purposive sampling should provide rich and varied insights into the phenomenon and the quantity for the samples are from 5 to 25 people. It might be appropriate to this study because this study tried to investigate the teachers’ pedagogical competence and their readiness for the implementation of the 2013 curriculum. In addition, a questionnaire was given to the 30 teachers in order to see the teachers’ pedagogical competences. The questionnaire is defined as a set of questions that has been formulated to obtain information from respondents (Ashari, 2013).
Research instruments
There were two instruments of this study; in-depth interview and questionnaire. The questionaire was a close ended questionnaire and distributed to 30 English teachers. Moreover, some related questions were delivered to the 6 English teachers. The questionnaire was chosen as the research instrument for the study to gain a large amount of data in effective time. As stated by Malik and Hamied (2016), questionnaires allow the researcher to collect a large amounts of data in a relatively short amount of time. According to Malik and Hamied (2016), interview is a purposeful interaction where a researcher tries to obtain information from the subject who agrees to participate in research.
According to Hennink et al. (2013) as cited in Malik and Hamied (2016), interview is a conversation with a purpose to gain insight into certain issues using a semi-structured interview guide. This style of interview is not two-way dialogue as only the interviewee shares his/her story and the interviewer’s role is to elicit the story, but rather than asking questions in an emphatic way in achieving in-depth information and the error based perspective of the interviewees.
Data collection procedure
In collecting the data, two instruments were used; semi-structured interview and close-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to find out the teachers’ pedagogical competence in teaching the students. In addition, the interview was utilized in order to get the in-depth information of the teachers’ readiness in implementing the 2013 curriculum. The researcher will use semi-structured interview technique and recorded in the audiotape. Each participant will be interviewed for about 15-30 min. The data were transcribed in order to make the researcher easier to code the data.
Data analysis
The strategy that the researcher used in data analysis is data transformation, where the researcher may quantify the qualitative data. This involves creating codes and themes qualitatively, then counting the number of times they occur in a text data. This quantification of qualitative data, then enables a researcher to compare quantitative results with the qualitative data (Malik and Hamied, 2016). The recorded interview data will be transcribed, after which, the researcher puts the data into the researcher’s computer in the form of a text and saved them into folders. The researcher tried to get a sense of information for each interview before the researcher divided them into categories, which was done based on what Cresswell (2003) suggested on to obtain a general sense of information and to reflect on its overall meaning.
The next step is that the researcher divided the data into; related to codes, theme or category. Malik and Hamied (2016) state that coding is the concrete activity of labeling data which gets data analysis under way and which continues throughout the analysis. Coding represents the operations by which data are broken down, conceptualized and put back together in new ways.
Finally, at the end of the step, the researcher analyzed and reanalyzed the individual interview data by using within-case and cross-case displays and analyses (Miles and Huberman, 1994) to; (1) spread interviews data so researchers could find a relevant topic and understand the data, (2) create clusters of meanings by organizing, grouping into themes or meaning units, and (3) remove or reduce overlapping and repetitive data.
This session provides the findings and discussion of the research on the teachers’ compatibility on pedagogical competence in supporting the 2013 curriculum, and also to analyze the teachers’ readiness in the implementation of the 2013 curriculum, especially in EFL contexts. This section will present the teachers’ pedagogical competence based on the questionnaire that was given to them, which will be influencing on the teachers’ readiness in supporting the implementation of the 2013 curriculum. The questionnaire is a close ended questionnaire consisting of 28 questions divided into some indicators based on the Minister of National Education Number 16/2007. In this research, there are 30 teachers who participate in filling out the data questionnaire, but only 24 teachers who answered the whole questions, while in order to get the deepest explanation of teachers’ readiness, the interview was delivered to six EFL teachers.
R.Q 1. How is the compatibility of pedagogical competencies possessed by the teachers regarding the demand of the 2013 curriculum implementation?
Teachers are agents who directly interacted with the students. Lengkanawati (2004) describes that teachers are the forefront implementers of the curriculum. It is also supported by Uno (2009) as cited in Evanita (2013) that the most successful implementation of the curriculum is determined by the ability which is owned by the teachers. Teachers have the responsibility as the implementer and developer of the curriculum in the classroom. The teacher must have an ability in order to maintain the curriculum in the classroom, which is known by pedagogical competence. There are ten indicators of teachers’ pedagogical competencies as cited in the Minister of National Education Number 16/2007 about the academic qualification standards and competence required.
Understanding the characteristics of the learners from the physical aspect, social and moral
The first indicator can be concluded that the teachers’ pedagogical competencies are classified in a very good competent way. The data revealed that 79.55% teachers show their positive responses in understanding the different students’ characteristics, identifying the materials, and testing the students in the beginning of the lesson.
Mastering the learning theories and the educating principles
The data indicate that almost 70% of the teachers’ responses are good. The teachers claim that comprehending the theory and implementing some approaches are essential in adjusting to the learners’ ability.
Developing a curriculum related to the subject of teaching
Curriculum is a guidance of the teachers in implementing the subject in the classroom. It is roughly 76% of the teachers who are classified into having good competence in developing a curriculum related to the subject of the teaching. For example, teachers argue that they need to know the goals of the learning which will be reflected in the development of the curriculum to determine the materials and approaches suitable with the learners’ need.
Organizing educates’ learning
The data depict that approximately 78% of the teachers believed that to be a teacher means they need to prepare everything. A good planning will determine how prepared the teachers are in the classroom.
Utilizing information and communication technology for learning
In this globalization era, the ability of the teachers in the technology is needed. The enthusiasms of the teachers in using some technology and information in the classroom are positively excellent. It is about 84% of the teachers who are very good at using the media such as laptop, projector, and internet connection. In addition, Hermawan (2006) explains that education in 21st century consists of some learning methods and two of them are (1) Cyber (E-Learning) which means that this learning involves the technology such as computer and internet or it can be said as WEB (Web-Based Instruction). (2) (Open and distance learning), the type of this model is where the teachers and students are not in one room, in the same time, and also there is no face to face activity.
But they can communicate in two ways with the help of communication technology and information.
Facilitating the development of student potentials to actualize their potential
The results of the study show that over 72% of the teachers’ pedagogical competences in facilitating the students are categorized into good perspective. This means that the awareness of the teachers in recognizing and supporting the students' potential shows better quality, such as asking the students to brows some material related to their subject and also to practice the speaking skill with the native.
Communicating effectively, empathetically and politely with learners
Interaction and communication are two things that cannot be separated; the way how the teachers deliver some information is the pivotal point, and also, this helps both the teachers and students in avoiding the mis-understanding on the classroom. The students can be easier in catching the information, and feeling safe if the teachers are communicating in a good way. According to the data, it shows that over 84% teachers’ pedagogical competence in building an effective communication with the students is successful.
Conducting an assessment and process of evaluation of learning outcomes
The data show that roughly 75% teachers can perform better in assessing and evaluating the students. The teachers say that they need to take some tests in getting to know students' comprehension of the subject.
Utilizing the results of assessment and evaluation of learning needs
The teachers use the result of the assessment with the aim of determining the standard of the students. It can be seen that over 80% of the teachers’ pedagogical competence in this indicator are very good items. Teachers also explain that they always communicate with the students in terms of the students’ score.
Taking the reflective action to increase the quality of learning
There are many things that the teachers do in order to make good quality of learning and to achieve the educational goals which reflected the students’ need. One of them is by taking the reflective action to improve their ability in teaching. It can be shown that over 74% of the teachers are categorized into good items, while only 48% teachers who ever take an action research in order to know the problems in the classroom.
R.Q 2. How is EFL teachers’ readiness of the 2013 curriculum implementation?
The teachers’ understanding toward the changing of the curriculum and the reason of the development
Based on the interview, five out of six English teachers said that they have implemented the 2013 curriculum in their own school. But the 2013 curriculum was applied only in a half of the semester, after the minister of education in Indonesia was changed. Based on the training that the government has given to them, the teachers explained that the 2013 curriculum gives many advantages especially in designing the syllabus and material’s book. The design of the standard competence, syllabus and textbook for the teachers and students gives the big impact for the teachers such as:
1. Those things act as a guideline for the teachers in teaching; but of course, teachers’ creativity is needed in developing the curriculum in the classroom.
2. It makes the teachers easier in planning the learning process.
3. Teachers believe that they are not good enough in developing their own syllabus like previous curriculum. Based on the teachers’ experience in the school based curriculum before, they claim that they only adopt the curriculum from another school and modify it. They thought that it was only as an identity outside, but inside actually, it's still the same. In addition, the teachers can develop their own materials based on the students’ need. This is in line with the purposes of the 2013 curriculum developer’s aim which helps the teachers in organizing the syllabus, and other instruments.
In addition, Ahmad (2014) explains that this reassignment was aimed to minimize the teachers’ administrative tasks and it was expected that the teachers could focus more on the teaching practices in classrooms. Hence, the teachers still found it challenging to design their own lesson plans. Based on the teachers’ statements, the designing of the lesson plan was quite difficult as they had not been fully equipped with the procedural knowledge and skills in designing the appropriate lesson plans in English lesson. As a result, the teachers were still entangled in the old practice of administrative tasks in which the teachers tended to acquire a sample of lesson plan of other subjects and made some adaptations.
On the other hand, one English teacher contradicts with this goal. He claims that the syllabus which has been designed for the teachers gives some limitation for the teachers to construct their own material. The teacher just only focused on the guideline.
Actualizing the information to the development of the 2013 curriculum: There are many sources that the teachers get in terms of the information on the 2013 curriculum. In general, the teachers get some training from the government, colleagues, internet and news. Moreover, they believe that the master teacher will cover all of the EFL teachers in Indonesia in understanding the implementation of the 2013 curriculum. This way is effective and efficient in spreading the information; But, it would be better if the training that the government has given to the teachers is still continuing. As a result, the government can see the teachers’ development in implementing the 2013 curriculum.
The teachers’ knowledge toward the structure and the development of the 2013 curriculum: Most of the teachers agree that the 2013 curriculum helps the learners to think critically, and extend themselves in the learning process. Students’ centre is important in order to make the students be more active and informative. The teachers’ role is needed to support and motivate the students in the implementation. The development of the 2013 curriculum let the students in determining their major in the first grade. This phenomenon gives some responses from the teachers. Most of the teachers argue that the students should not ask to choose their major because they think that the students are not mature enough in deciding their major of study.
The teachers’ response to the curriculum changing: Several responses came from the teachers’ minds for the reformation of the curriculum. Teachers’ assumption is very needed in order to establish the new curriculum; so, the understandings of the teachers are the pivotal point in implementing the new curriculum. Teachers believed that the 2013 curriculum is good at recovering the needs of the students in Indonesia. The teachers show their optimism for the 2013 curriculum and there are some suggestions for the 2013 curriculum, which are:
1. Teachers still questioned about the reducing of the total hours of English subject. They think that English is a part of the subject which will be tested in national examination, and also teachers consider that English is much needed in this globalization era. The impact of the number of hours in teaching English is not only for the students which are not getting any exposure of the subject, but also from the teachers, especially the teachers who have gotten the certification. It would be better if the government gives much time for the EFL teachers like another subject. It is also in line with Sahiruddin (2013) who conducted a research about the implementation of the 2013 curriculum and the issues of English language teaching and learning in Indonesia. He argues that the numbers of hours of learning English in class in the new 2013 curriculum are less than that of the previous curriculum. This brings a big challenge for both teachers and students to work harder in achieving the learning goals in a limited time. In addition, schools should also be aware of this condition in which opportunities for additional English learning and exposure could be one effort to improve students’ learning mastery of English.
2. Teachers thought that training is the basic information that they got in order to advance their quality in teaching, and to expand their pedagogical competence. Teachers agree that the government should give more training to the teachers, not only once, but continuously. In addition, teachers suggest for the instructor or the trainer of the new curriculum to give the practical example, not only explanations and theories so the teacher’s mind is opened.
Based on the teachers’ responses, it is clear that most of them have a good ability in pedagogical competence. This is in line with the demand of the 2013 curriculum which asks the teachers in facilitating the students on learning. The 2013 curriculum requires teachers to implement scientific approach in the instructional process, as this approach is expected to be able to help the learners improve their attitude, skills and knowledge (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2013b). In the process, the 2013 curriculum highlights the scientific approach, encouraging learners to explore information by observing, questioning, experimenting, data or information processing, presenting, analyzing, associating, summarizing and creating (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2013b).
Teachers need all that abilities in order to facilitate the students in achieving the goal of learning. Among the many requirements that an English teacher must possess, pedagogical competence plays an important role in developing teachers’ expertise. The Ministry of National Education (2007) elaborates that pedagogical competency is a teacher’s competency to manage an instructional practice involving learners. This knowledge is defined as teachers’ understanding and enactment of how to assist learners to understand the various skills through thorough preparations, representations and assessments in the learning environment.
Moreover, the purpose of this educational goal also in line with Kennedy (1990) asserts that rather than experiencing what scientists do, what learners will go through is to experience the procedures of specific and acknowledged experiments, which later develop and sharpen their critical thinking as well as generic reasoning strategies. Thus, the implementation of the scientific approach would develop the learners’ knowledge, skill and attitude. It cannot be denied that the party who knows and understands the learners and who is able to select the most appropriate solution to develop and improve their achievements and competencies best is the teacher (Sumintono, 2006).
Furthermore, it is indispensable that the teachers should have enough knowledge in order to understand and support the implementation of the 2013 curriculum. Lengkanawati (2004) says that teachers are the forefront implementers of the curriculum. Teachers should know the essence of the new curriculum in order to encourage the students’ empowerment. Bringing students into the right conception about the language being learnt is essential for achievement in language learning target as students and teachers would have the same perception about their target language teaching and learning (Faisal, 2015). From the interview, it can be concluded that most of the teachers understand the conception of the 2013 curriculum, even though there are small parts which make the teachers interpret differently. This result shows a good result for the teacher because the teachers’ knowledge about the new curriculum is unquestionable.
The 2013 curriculum focuses on the students-centered. Reilly (2000) states that in the implementation of new curriculum which changes the teacher from being information centered to be a facilitator toward their learning should gear the concept of student-centered classroom. Learner-centeredness should be embraced since it could maximize the learner’s focus on form and meaning and their achievement. Consequently, it is important for teachers to know and understand what the intended curriculum objectives are so that they can tailor the materials, as well as plan, execute and evaluate the instructional practices. Knowing the curriculum mandates which are vital, the changes can be brought into thye curriculum in Indonesia. Moreover, there are more demands in the 2013 curriculum, such as how to integrate the scientific approach into an effective teaching of writing appropriately, which all the demands will be fulfilled if the teachers’ mastery in their pedagogical competence is good.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
The teachers’ pedagogical competence is in accordance with the demands of the 2013 curriculum. The criterion of indicator number 1, 5, 7, and 9 are classified into very good competence, while other categories as good competence. It means that the pedagogical competence of the teachers reveal the positive responses. The better teachers’ pedagogical competence, means that the easier it will be for the teachers in implementing the 2013 curriculum.
The EFL teachers show their readiness regards to the implementation of the 2013 curriculum. They believed that the 2013 curriculum is good for the students in the learning process. Based on the teachers’ answers and their opinions regarding the implementation of the curriculum, it proves that the teachers are concerned with the development and implementation of the curriculum in the classroom.
Furthermore, there are some recommendations for the implementation of the 2013 curriculum based on this study. The college students, lecturers and other educational practitioners should be aware of the implementation of the 2013 curriculum. As a result, this curriculum will be the reformation from the previous curriculum. The product of this 21st century education attempts to answer some problems which have gained currency in Indonesia. If all the elements of education are considered in changing the curriculum, the educational purposes will be achieved.
The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.
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