PERCEPTION OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ABOUT PERSONAL COMPETENCES

The issue of being professional teachers has been well-known since the government stated that teachers or educators “are professional workers” who had responsibility both in educating students in class and in giving community services (Undang-Undang No. 20 tahun 2003 bab XI pasal 39 ayat 2). As professionals, teachers in Indonesia are expected to portray certain high-degree of performance that specifies them from other occupation (Usman, 2011: 14; Parkay & Stanford, 1992: 410). Therefore, government determined several standards that should be fulfilled by Indonesian teachers so that they could be deserved to be called as professional teachers (Undang-Undang No. 14 tahun 2005 bab IV pasal 8; Peraturan Pemerintah No. 19 tahun 2005; Peraturan Menteri No. 16 tahun 2007).

In those regulations, besides having proper academic qualification, educational background, and good state of well being, to be professionals teachers ought to possess competences of pedagogical, personal, social, and subject matter which should be integrated and shown in their professional performance (Peraturan Pemerintah No. 19 tahun 2005 bab IV pasal 28 ayat 3; Peraturan Menteri No. 16 tahun 2007). These competences are regarded as a set (Undang-Undang No. 14 tahun 2005 bab I pasal 10) thus each of the four competences is strongly associated to the others. Since teachers’ performance has an immense impact to their students’ performance academically and personally, the state of quality of their competences becomes very important to be developed or maintained. In this case, teachers’ personal competence, which is the focus of this study, plays significant role in their way of accomplishing their duty as professional workers as one of required competences a professional teacher made of.

As stated in the Peraturan Pemerintah No. 74 tahun 2008 bagian 1 pasal 3, personal competence that Indonesian teachers should have covers teachers’ characters as an individual and a part of society in and out of school environment including their role as good models for their students, colleagues, and society. It implies that professional teachers should have good characters and show them in their daily activities as an educator and a society member. Personal competence inferred by the regulation also suggests that teachers’ should be able to be self-reflective besides be able to develop and maintain their quality constantly and independently.

Having excellent personal competence means that the teachers are professional. Besides being one of required competences by the government, personal competence supports teachers’ main obligation in terms of educating students’ intelligences. Professional teachers do not only teach subject matter materials to students in school environment, but they also obligate to guide, direct, and train students in terms of emotional and social quotients. It means that, teachers do not only transfer information in terms of subject material they teach, but they also guide and develop students’ morals in order to be skillful and ethical people. Therefore, professional teachers would educate their students utterly so that it realizes national education goal. In this case, it is necessary for teachers to have an excellent personal competence so that they can achieve the national education goal as being anticipated by the government.

Moreover, by the emphasis of teaching character in Curriculum 2013 the state of personal competence becomes more important. Teachers should internalize excellent characters in their life and apply them during teaching and learning process so that they are able to succeed not only in achieving learning goals, but also in building students’ affective intelligent. In this case, teachers’ personal competence is important in accomplishing implementation of curriculum. Besides, as an agent of education, teachers should have a thorough personality portrayed in their point of view, speech, and action since they become influenced models for students similar with parents to their children (Yelon & Weinstein, 1977: 103).

Bringing back the idea that the four teachers’ professional competences required by the government are regarded as a set, it is believed that if a teacher’s personal competence is good, his or her pedagogical, social, and subject matter competences should be good simultaneously. Later, teachers whose those four competences in balanced are expected to be able to conduct an effective classroom. Related to this matter, a study of Embuena and Amoros (2012) reveals the qualities of good teachers from the perspective of the students of Primary Education Teaching Degree in University of Alicante, Spain. Their study shows a fact that besides having good mastery in pedagogical knowledge; teachers should have good personal competence to manage class activity effectively such as good presence, helpful disposition, positive and motivating attitude, humility and human quality, and a familiar treat (Embuena & Amoros, 2012: 239). Embuena and Amoros (2012) also revealed that inadequate personal traits of a teacher could hinder the flow of effective classroom such as bad mood, the abuse of authority or indifference towards the needs of the students, and the humiliation and the differentiated treat to students (Embuena & Amoros, 2012: 239), despite of pedagogical and academic competence the teacher has in the teaching practice (Embuena & Amoros, 2012: 238). This problem led to unsuccessful learning process due to students’ negative perception on the subject matter being learnt and to poor teacher-students’ interaction for students’ negative assessment on teacher’s profile.

Meanwhile, Liakopoulou (2011: 67) stated that it is the union of teachers’ personality traits, attitude, and beliefs and their pedagogical skills and knowledge that makes “a good teacher”. Additionally, in her research on teachers’ professional competence contribution to teachers’ effectiveness, Liakopoulou (2011) uncovered that Greek teachers considered their personality traits as a dominant and essential factors that contributes to their teaching effectiveness. In order to overcome classroom challenges, the teachers should well combine both their personality traits and “didactic and pedagogic skill” (Liakopoulou, 2011: 72-73). Referring to four teachers’ professional competences that Indonesia has, it means that pedagogical and subject matter competences could not be detached from personal and social competences. Thereby, it is clear that the status of teachers’ personal competence is as important as the other three teachers’ competences (pedagogical, social, and subject matter competences) and that each of those four competences are closely related to each other.

However, several obstacles come up along with the complexity of teachers’ role in educating students thoroughly. The first is that teachers should walk along schools role today which should prepare students for present and future reality (Liakopolou, 2011:66). It is not an easy task since the society is changing inconstantly (Embuena & Amoros, 2012: 230) that makes teachers inevitably go and renew their skills along the changes whenever they happen. This leads to the second problem which is teachers’ lack of awareness on fulfilling their dense responsibility of profession. Due to effectively carrying out their job, teachers are supposed to enhance their skills and variety of knowledge so that they will be in line with current situation. Nevertheless, Cahyono (2008) reports a significant number of teachers in Indonesia are not fully aware that they should renew their skills and knowledge continuously.  The third problem is that, sadly, a pride of being a teacher or educator in Indonesia has not solidly developed (Supriadi, 2008: 46). Therefore, a number of teachers may do their responsibility lightheartedly despite of the multifarious duty they should perform. This can be a dangerous situation as teachers’ performance has a big impact on students’ performance. The problems stated above could be resolved only if teachers had a good personal competence in accomplishing their important yet complex responsibility. In consequence, researches on teachers’ characteristics on their personal competence are essential to conduct.

Among a number of studies seeking the ideal personal characteristics an effective teacher should have, Liakapolou (2011: 70) listed several personal features that contributed to teachers’ effectiveness, which are love of children and love for the profession, personal drive to be effective, consistency, conscientiousness, imagination, creativity, sense of humour, determination, tenacity, and enthusiasm. Afterwards, Gurney (2007) found five key factors essential for conducting effective teaching; only two of which are relevant with current studies. The first is teacher knowledge, enthusiasm and responsibility for learning. In this factor, Gurney (2007) noted that in order to have an effective classroom, teachers need to be reflective by sharing their knowledge with students so that both teachers and students become learners of the subjects being studied, be passionate that they inspire students to learn, and be responsible in engaging students’ “minds to seek out answers” (Gurney, 2007: 92). The second is effective interaction between the teacher and the students, creating an environment that respects, encourages and stimulates learning through experience. Aside from engaging students’ cognition, Gurney (2007) also suggested that teachers who engage a learning environment which encourages mutual respect and acknowledgment so that a good relationship between teachers and students are set up will be an effective teacher. Teachers who keep interaction with students and are enthusiastic are believed to succeed in creating comfortable, then effective, classroom.

Regarding to personal skills in effective teachers, Rubio (2009) maintained that effective teachers are capable to combine their pedagogical-subject matter knowledge and personal skills in their teaching practice. Caring, understanding, fair, and kind to students; being passionate, enthusiastic, and motivated as a teacher; being able to create warm and comfortable classroom besides having a sense of belonging; being innovative; valuing diversity; and keeping a good teacher-students interaction are skills that effective teachers have. It is also said that these kind of effective teachers are capable of inspiring students to achieve their optimal potential in learning (Rubio, 2009: 43).

Besides, Borinca and Maliqi (2015) found that teachers’ personal competence of affective domain effectively increased students’ motivation. Enthusiastic teachers who give emotional support, show a willingness to help students and understand students’ problem, create an interactive environment, and have flexible personality inside and outside classroom are revealed to be capable of raising students’ motivation in learning (Miron & Segal, 1978; Anderman, 2008 in Borinca and Maliqi, 2015). Moreover, describing characteristics of an ideal Turkish teacher from teachers’ and students’ point of view, Telli, Brok, and Çakiroglu (2008) showed that the following behaviors are what made an ideal Turkish teacher: a) guiding students, b) motivating and encouraging students, c) giving confidence to students, d) being willing to keep positive relationship with students, and e) earning students’ respect.

Meanwhile, Widayati (2002: 29 in Ahmad & Setyaningsih, 2012: 95) mentioned that these characteristics should be possessed by a good teacher: a) understanding the profession of teacher genuineness that teachers are the prestigious profession in society, b) giving a positive reward during teaching and learning process, so their students will do self-reward, c) not only showing their sympathy, but merely they have to show their empathy, and d) realizing that teachers should have ability to be a learner or long life learning and do not only keep in hand. Then, Brady (2011) providing several teachers’ qualities believed to support optimized learning. Rogers (1969 in Brady, 2011: 58) called those teachers who have characteristics as follows as “emotionally and psychologically stable”: realness; prizing, accepting, and trust; empathic and understanding; and fully functioning person. On the other hand Freire’s (1998 in Brady, 2011: 58) qualities described teachers as “human and emotionally responsive” individuals; they are humility, lovingness, courage, tolerance, decisiveness, living the tension between patience and impatience, and joy of living.

Concerning teaching of English, the good quality of English teachers’ personal competence indeed influences the effectiveness of language learning. Brown (2007) provided characteristics of a good language teacher of which teachers’ “personal qualities” are taken into account. They are a) being well-organized, conscientious in meeting commitments, and dependable, b) being flexible when things go awry, c) engaging in regular reflection on one’s own teaching practice and strives to learn from those reflective practices, d) maintains an inquisitive mind in trying out new ways of teaching, e) setting short-term and long-term goals for continued professional growth, and f) maintaining and exemplifying high ethical and moral standards (Brown, 2007: 491). Those qualities indicate that to be a good language teacher, teachers ought to be devoted to their profession, flexible to the environment, reflective in their teaching practices, innovative, willing to improve their competences, and aware of their responsibility as a role model.

Furthermore, several studies presented personal traits that teachers should possess in order to conduct an effective language classroom and be an effective teacher. Hapsari (2013), who did a research in teachers’ characteristics and motivational strategies in language classroom, stated that enthusiastic, resourceful, and creative teachers are those who succeed in creating in engaging learning environment. The teachers’ motivational behaviors also turned out to influence students’ attitude and alter the atmosphere in the language class (Hapsari, 2013: 123-124). A good personality also included in Shisavan’s and Sadeghi’s (2009) study on an Irianian effective English language teacher. From both teachers’ and learners’ perspectives, an effective English teacher possesses decent qualities such as being patient and flexible, caring about the students’ needs, having positive attitudes towards learners, and being smart and creative. Besides, learners also highlighted an attitude that the teachers do not talk too much about their personal experience (Shisavan & Sadeghi, 2009: 134).

Moreover, from Korean high school teachers’ and students’ perspectives, Park and Lee (2006) described that an effective English teacher should have certain qualities in terms of socio-affective skills aside from English proficiency and pedagogical knowledge. Both teachers and students agreed that an effective English teacher should build students’ self-confidence and motivation; having a good sense of humor, for male students; treating students fairly, for female students; arising students motivation, for teachers; and listening to students’ opinion, for students  (Park & Lee, 2006: 246). Similarly, Arikan, Taşer, and Saraç-süzer (2008) found that an effective English teacher from Turkish preparatory school students is a friendly, young, enthusiastic, creative, and humorous teacher regardless the gender. On the other hand, Gashemi and Hashemi (2011) reported that an effective English language teacher is the one who follows syllabus tightly, sticks to administrative rules and regulations and teaching techniques, is well-dressed, is knowledgeable, is sociable, alleviated students’ anxiety in class, and tries to arise learners’ motivation (Gashemi & Hashemi, 2011: 414).

In Indonesia, Ministry of National Education has arranged characteristics to be a good, then professional, teacher in Instrumen Penilaian Kinerja Guru in the Pedoman Pelaksanaan Penilaian Kinerja Guru (PK Guru) Buku 2, which is provided for teachers who go through certification procedures. The characteristics cover pedagogical, subject matter, social, and personal teachers’ competences derived from teachers’ qualities set up in Peraturan Menteri No. 16 tahun 2007. In the Instrumen Penilaian Kinerja Guru, there are 3 competences and 18 indicators portraying personal traits a professional teacher, regardless subject matter he/she teaches (Pedoman Pelaksanaan Penilaian Kinerja Guru (PK Guru) Buku 2, 2011: 51-52). The list of the competences and indicators is presented in appendix 1.

The first competence stated in Instrumen Penilaian Kinerja Guru is acting upon norms of religion, law, social, and national culture in Indonesia. This competence includes a) teachers’ capability in valuing and promoting Pancasila principles as foundation of ideology and ethics for Indonesians, b) developing cooperation and togetherness with colleagues regardless races, religions, and gender, c) respecting and appreciating colleagues according to each condition and existence, d) having a sense of coalescence and unity as a part of Indonesia nation, and e) having a long view on Indonesia diversity.

The second competence maintained in the document is showing a mature and exemplary individual. It covers teachers’ traits in a) behaving appropriately in speaking, making an appearance, and acting to students, parents, and colleagues, b) willing to share their experiences with colleagues, including inviting colleagues to observe the teachers’ teaching practices and then give inputs, c) being able to manage learning process showing that they are respected by the learners that learners always pay attention to the teachers and actively participated in the learning process, d) being mature in receiving inputs from learners and giving opportunity to learners to participate in the learning process, and e) having a good manner in order to maintain school honor.

Lastly, the third competence included in the Instrumen Penilaian Kinerja Guru is a teacher’s personal competence of having work ethic, high responsibility, and pride as a teacher. Indicators for this competence are a) teachers begin and end learning process on time, b) if teachers need to leave the class; they make students active by doing productive activities related to the subject matter, and ask teachers on duty or other teachers to supervise the class, c) teachers fulfill teaching hours and are able to do other activities beyond the teaching hours by school administers’ permission and approval, d) teachers ask for permission and give an early notice, by providing valid reason and evidence, if they could not attend planned activities, including learning process in classroom, e) teachers finish all administrative and non-learning assignments punctually according to determined standards, f) teachers make use of unoccupied time with productive activities related to their duty as an educator, g) teachers contribute to school improvement and have achievements which positively affect school honor, and h) teachers are proud of their profession as educators.

In overseas countries, studies on teachers’ affective factors, namely personal and social traits in Indonesia, have been conducted abundantly; some of which are Park and Lee (2006) in South Korea, Ghasemi and Hashemi (2011) and Shisavan and Sadeghi (2009) in Iran, as well as Arikan, Taşer and Saraç-süzer (2008) and Telli, Brok and Çakiroğlu (2008) in Turkey. Nevertheless, despite of the importance of teachers’ personal competence in the improvement of education in Indonesia which is needed to be considered, only a few researches that conducted study related to this topic; meanwhile, plenty researchers have brought up teachers’ pedagogical and subject matter competences topics on their studies.

However, it is still only a plenty studies conducted concerning teachers’ professional competences in Indonesia, which includes pedagogic, personal, social, and subject matter competences. A Doctoral dissertation of Anugerahwati (2009) sought the profile of exemplary English teachers in Indonesia. She found that subjects’ personal competence had a big role in the success improvement of pedagogical, social, and subject matter competences. Mustofa (2011) who conducted a study in perceiving factors and strategy of English teachers in vocational high schools in Malang to improve their subject matter competence found out that subject matter teachers developed their competence by being autonomous learners from their teaching experience and their involvement in trainings. Syafar’s (2012) dissertation deals with self-assessment of teachers’ professional competence done by certified English teachers in Central Sulawesi. His study presented that most certified English teachers in Central Sulawesi perceived themselves as ‘competent’ teachers in terms of pedagogical and professional competences and ‘strongly competent’ in their personality and social competences. However, Syafar (2012) stated that those teachers are overestimated their competence rating. Amin (2013) showed that academic aptitude becomes the other main factor in becoming professional teachers than teachers’ interest in English. The academic aptitude covers satisfaction of teachers to their own occupation, good communication skill, devotion to their job and students’ learning, and flexibility in various situations. Meanwhile, Kuzairi (2014) held a survey study in order to notice the professional development of English teachers in senior high school in Pamekasan. He concluded that senior high school English teachers in Pamekasan have fairly implemented the professional development with doing self-reflection (73.17%), involving in professional activities (58.61%), and conducting research (45.92%). On the other hand, only Settaraming and Rahman’s (2014) who conduct a study nearly related to teachers’ affective factors. Their study correlates personal mastery and teachers’ competencies at Junior Secondary State in Bone district. The result showed that teachers’ personal mastery (personal vision, creative tension, commitment, trust, and consciousness) enormously contributed to teachers competencies development in terms of pedagogic, professional, personal, and social.

Different from previous studies, this recent study is aimed to investigate the common characteristics of English teachers in public senior high schools in Malang have in terms of personal competence perceived by the English teachers themselves and their students. In line with its prestige as the city of education in East Java, Malang succeeded in obtaining 2nd rank of National Final Examination score for language major on senior and vocational high schools in East Java range (Surya Online, May 14th 2015). In addition, all of public senior high schools in Malang are considered as favorite ones since they are able to maintain excellent NUN (Nilai Ujian Nasional) for years. This achievement not only reflects students’ hard work results, but it also shows the success of language teachers in facilitating students throughout their learning activities in and out of the class. Besides, having students contributing in this study should justify English teachers’ perception based on their authentic point of view as the natural observers of the teachers’ personal traits performed during classroom activities. Strengthening the reason of topic choosing, senior high schoolers are regarded as young adults who have ability to think logically and idealistically (Desmita, 2010: 100).

The English teachers’ perception on their personal competence becomes the main focus in this study. Those teachers’ may get their recent perception and competence due to the knowledge they learnt from experts’ theories, practical teaching experiences they went through for the time being, and ideas they shared with colleagues. However, it is very possible that their perception and form of personal competence are built based on the government regulation since it is necessary for them to fulfill the government requirement to achieve their current status. Thus, this study also makes use of students’ perception to confirm. This should show whether the English teachers’ perception on their own personal competence also has the same quality to students’ perception on their teachers’ personal competence. Regarding to the studies and considerations mentioned beforehand on teachers’ personal competence, it is important to investigate English teachers’ personal competence characteristics perceived by the teachers themselves and students. Moreover, there is still very few studies conducted on this topic in Indonesia. Therefore, it adds urgency in conducting researches on teachers’ personal competence in Indonesia. Furthermore, knowing the characteristic of English teachers’ personal competence characteristics is advantageous for teachers themselves as educators, board of education, and English language teaching practitioners in order to enhance their knowledge in this field.

RESEARCH PROBLEMS

Consistent with stated background of study and literature review, the research problems of this study are:

  1. How do senior high school English teachers in Malang perceive their own personal competence?
  2. How do senior high school students in Malang perceive their English teachers’ personal competence?
  3. How is conformity between perception of senior high school English teachers and students in Malang regarding the English teachers’ personal competence?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study implies important effect on several parties. First, for English teachers who are continuously developing their competence, this study could give them more information on how ideal English teachers’ personal competence is. The information could be used to improve themselves which will also give good impacts on their teaching practice. Therefore, the information of this research subjects’ personal competence will not only beneficial for themselves as a kind of self-reflection, but it will also bring benefits to other teachers of English who are improving their quality as teachers.

Second, this study is also advantageous for principals either of the schools where the study is conducted or of other schools which are improving their quality of standard as education institution. The principals of schools where the study is conducted could use the information in the result of this study to review their English teachers’ quality in terms of personal competence. Meanwhile, principals of other schools could make use of this information to enhance their English teachers’ personal competence level through internal workshops or seminars.

At last, this study has a big significance for further researchers who are interested in English teachers’ professional development area since there are still very few researches conducted in this topic. The further researchers are expected to be able to conduct studies on other English teachers’ professional competences or other topics regarding English teachers’ professional development in order to expand the knowledge of English teaching practice.

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

  1. Sri Rachmajanti, Dip. TESL, M.Pd (Chair)
  1. Utami Widiati, M.A., Ph.D (Member)
  1. Fachrurrazy, M.A., Ph.D (Member)
  1. Anselmus J.E. Toenlioe (Member)

CURRICULUM VITAE

Aurora Paramahita Kusumawardhani was born in Malang at 17th of August 1991 as the first child of teachers parents Drs. R. Sunardi and Siti Hartiyah. Currently, she and her family live in Tulungagung, Jawa Timur where her parents teach in public junior high schools. She has 1 sibling, Lintang Hapsari Muharrara who is currently pursuing bachelor degree of psychology in UIN Maliki Malang. She graduated from SDN Karangwaru 1 Tulungagung in 2003 and then from SMPN 1 Tulungagung in 2006. In 2009, after she graduated from SMAN 1 Kedungwaru Tulungagung, she was accepted as a student of English Department Universitas Negeri Malang through PMDK program. Right after obtaining her Sarjana degree in 2013, she entered Post-graduate program in English Language Teaching in Universitas Negeri Malang. Besides studying, she enjoys being active in the organization, such as involving in Scout activities in junior and senior high school and being personnel in students’ council for 2 years in senior high school. Since being a college student until now, she was an active administrator of Karate INKAI in Malang. Her passion in English leads her to have several job experiences concerning her ability in English such as freelance translator, English tutor, and content writer. Besides, she was a Karate trainer’s assistant since 2012 up to 2015 for her hobby in Karate. Currently, she is pursuing his dream to be a good English teacher either in formal school or higher level or education. In this case, she wishes to give significant contribution to enhance the quality of students’ learning in English in Indonesia.

 

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