i
PERCEPTION OF TEACHER AUTONOMY IN
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AT
THE VOCATIONAL SCHOOL
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the
Magister Humaniora (M.Hum)
Degree
in English Language Studies
By
Siti Nurhayati
Student Number: 056332026
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all I would like to convey the very first eternal gratitude to Allah, the
Almighty for his endless kindness. I always come to Him whenever I find difficulties. I
ask For His guidance. I believe this is His blessing so that I can finish this thesis and is
able to obtain the degree. May He always be with us.
This thesis is dedicated to my beloved family, friends and colleagues and to my
husband, Wahyu Edy Guntara, and my
son, ‗Yusuf‘, who always supported me when I
was powerless. I really thank them for being my spirit and my companion.
I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Novita Dewi,
M.S., M.A. (Hons) who always kindly supported me with her advice, guidance,
suggestions, helps, encouragement, and motivation during this thesis writing. I will
always remember her bright ideas, her patient during my consultation, as well as her
lovely and beautiful voice. I really learn a lot from her.
My debt of gratitude is also due to F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D. who has always questioned
me on the completion of my thesis writing. I am very grateful since he kindly helped me
to learn everything confusing me such as learning how to build the blue print, browsing
sources for the thesis writing, and sharing the IT knowledge he had.
I would like to deeply thank to Dr. J. Bismoko for his valuable advice, valuable
knowledge, and valuable perspective. I was amazed with his deep understanding and
dedication to open not only f
or his students‘ eyes but also the teacher‘s eyes for their
on-going development. His words were precious to remember such as his ideas of
glocalization.
I feel having a good fortunate to be the student of the great lecturers in this
Graduate program. I learnt a lot experiences, I was trained to be more mature in my
profession as Dr. BB. Dwijatmoko, M.A, Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. and Prof. Dr.
Soepomo had encouraged me to develop to be autonomous person from the tasks they
had given to us.
real-vii
lived teacher-stories and willingness to show their document and classroom action. I
believe their support would be useful for teachers to consider.
I also have a debt of gratitude to the Principal of SMK N I Kalasan, LPMP
Yogyakarta, Dinas Pendidikan Kabupaten Sleman by giving me the chance to taste this
wonderful experience in the Graduate study of Sanata Dharma University
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
...
i
APPROVAL PAGE
...
ii
DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE
...
iii
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
...
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
...
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
...
vii
LIST OF FIGURES
...
ix
LIST OF TABLES
...
x
LIST OF APPENDICES
...
xi
ABSTRACT
...
xii
ABSTRAK
...
xiii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
………
...
1
A. B
ackground of the Study ………
...
1
B.
Problem Identification ………
...
3
C.
Problem Limitation ……….
...
5
D.
Research Question ………..
...
6
E. Researc
h Goal ……….
...
7
F.
Research Benefit ……….
...
7
1.
Theoretical Benefits ………...
...
8
2. Practical Benefits ...
8
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
...
9
A. A review on related study ………
...
9
B. Theoretical Review ……….
...
10
1. The Roles of Curriculum and Teachers In Education ………...
...
10
2. The Government Formal Document and Educational Goal in Indonesia ...
16
3. Perception ……….
...
20
4. Curriculum Development ………
...
23
5. T
he Notion of Teacher Autonomy in Curriculum Development ……….
...
33
6. English Teachers in Vocational School ……….
...
39
C. Theoretical Framework ……….
...
41
D. Constructs ……….
...
46
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
...
49
A. Research Method
……….
...
49
B. The Nature of Data... 50
C. Data Setting and Sources
………..
...
51
D. Data Gathering Instrument and Presentation
………
...
52
E Constructing Interview Questions
………...
...
55
F. Research Procedure and Data Processing
………
...
55
ix
CHAPTER IV DATA PROCESSING AND FINDINGS
...
61
A.
Data Processing ……… ………
...
61
1. Narration and observation ………. …….
...
61
2. Interview questions
……….
...
63
3.
Conducting Interview ………..
...
66
4. Processing Data
………
...
67
5.
Thematizing the relationships between teacher‘s perception and teacher‘s
practice ... 71
B. Findings ………
...
71
1. Rose‘s perception and practice on teacher autonomy in curriculum development
..
71
1.1. Rose‘s perception and practice on the school goal
...
73
1.2. Rose‘s perception and practice on syllabus establishment
...
77
1.3. Rose‘s perception and practice
on lesson plan establishment ...
85
1.4. Rose‘s perception and practice on the selection of the learning opportunities
93
1.5. Rose‘s perception and practice on the organization of the learning
opportunities ... 102
2. Intan‘s perception and practice on curriculum development ………..
... 111
2.1. Intan‘s perception and practice on the school goal …………
... 113
2.2. Intan perception and practice on the syllabus establishment ... 116
2.3. Intan perception and practice on the lesson plan establishment ... 121
2.4. Intan‘s perception and practice on the selection of the learning opportunities
127
C. Summary of the Perception and Practice on Teacher Autonomy in Developing
Curriculum ………
... 139
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS ... 145
A. Conclusions ... 145
B. Implications ... 147
C. Recommendations ... 148
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 151
APPENDICES ... 154
Appendix 1: Observation Data ... 154
Appendix 2: Interview Questions ... 161
Appendix3: interview Data/ transcript of Interview ... 173
Appendix 4: Category of Observation and Interview Data On teacher perception ... 235
x
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 On-going-
development of curriculum ………..
...
23
Figure 2.2 Autonomous teacher ………..
...
35
xi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Standard Competency and Basic Competency for Vocational School ( SK and
KD) ...
18
Table 2.2 Passing Standard/S
KL ………..
...
19
Table 3.1 Blue print on the perception of teacher autonomy in curriculum development .
56
Table 3.2 Blue print on the practice of teacher autonomy in curriculum development ...
57
Table 4.1.2 Narration of the syllabus in SMK N A Slem
an ……….
... 154
Table 4.1.4
Rose‘s perception on
the selection of the learning opportunities.. ... 238
Table 4.1.5
Rose‘s p
erception on the organization of
the learning opportunities ... 238
Table 4.1.6
Rose‘s perception on syllabus evaluation
... 238
Table 4.1.7 Rose‘s perception on lesson plan evaluation
... 239
Table 4.1.8 Rose‘s perception on the evaluation of the selection of l
earning
opportunities ... 240
Table 4.1.9 Rose‘s perception on the evaluation of the organization of learning
opportunities ... 240
Table 4.2.1 Intan
‘s perception on the school goal
………
... 241
Table 4.2.2 Intan
‘s perception on the syl
labus
………..
... 241
Table 4.2.3 Intan‘s
perception on the lesson plan
……….
... 242
Table 4.2.4 Intan
‘s perception on
the selection of the learning opportunities... 242
Table 4.2.5 Intan
‘s perception on the organization of
the learning opportunities ... 243
Table 4.2.6 Intan
‘s perception on syllabus evaluation
... 244
Table 4.2.7 Intan‘s perception on lesson plan evaluation
... 244
Table 4.2.8 Intan‘s perception on the evaluation of the selection of learning
opportunities ... 2434
Table 4.2.9 Intans perception on the evaluation of the organization oflearning
opportunities ... 246
Table 5.1.1 The influence of the school goal
to Rose‘s practices……
... 246
Table 5.1.2
Rose‘s
practice on the syllabus
establishment ………..
... 247
Table 5.1.3 Rose‘
s practice on the lesson
establishment……….
... 247
Table 5.1.4
Rose‘s
practice on the selection of the learning opportunities.. ... 247
Table 5.1.5
Rose‘s
practice on the organization of
the learning opportunities ... 248
Table 5.1.6
Rose‘s
practice on syllabus evaluation ... 248
Table 5.1.7 Rose‘s practice on lesson plan evaluation
... 249
Table 5.1.8 Rose‘s practice on the evaluation of the selection of learning opportunities
.. 249
Table 5.1.9 Rose‘s practice on the evaluation of the organization oflearning
Opportunities ... 248
Table 5.2.1 Intan
‘s
practice on practice perception on the syllabus
…………
... 250
Table 5.2.3 Intan‘s practice
on the lesson plan
……….
... 250
Table 5.2.4 Intan
‘s
practice on the selection of the learning opportunities.. ... 251
Table 5.2.5 Intan
‘s
practice on the organization of
the learning opportunities ... 251
xii
Table 5.2.7 Intan‘s practice on lesson plan evaluation
... 252
Table 5.2.8 Intan‘s practice on the
evaluation of the selection of learning opportunities . 252
Table 5.2.9 Intans practice on the evaluation of the organization of learning
xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES
Page
Appendix 1: Observation Data ... 154
Appendix 2: Interview Questions ... 161
Appendix 3: Interview Data/ Transcript of Interview ... 173
Appendix 4: Category of Observation and Interview Data on Teacher Perception ... 235
Appendix 5: Category of Observation and Inte
rview Data on Teacher Autonomy…….
xiv
ABSTRAK
Siti Nurhayati.2010.
Perception of Teacher Autonomy in Curriculum Development at
the Vocational School.
Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program,
Sanata Dharma University.
Teacher‘s perception on autonomy in curriculum development has been the
bases for any practice the teachers take. This development is needed to answer the
varieties of study program at the Vocational School. The development of English
curriculum which contains three elements namely what-to-teach, how-to-teach, and its
evaluation should be done for the achievement of the educational goals. This research
is to answer ‗what is the perception and practice on teacher autonomy in curriculum
develo
pment at Vocational High School?‘
Before I studied the teacher‘s document and made some interviews, I had
already formed some pre-understanding about the perception to lead to their willingness
and ability in developing curriculum. By having those willingness and ability in
developing the curriculum, it is hoped that teachers can establish their own syllabus and
lesson plan to achieve the school‘s goal. Those syllabus and lesson plan guide the
teachers in selecting and organizing the learning opportunities. The perception and
decision in evaluation are to ensure whether what have been perceived and practiced
have already been on the right path in the achievement of each study program‘s goal.
During the interview the pre understanding was the guide to clarify those perception and
practice so that it helped the teachers being more autonomous. Autonomous teachers
will in turn boost the learners‘ autonomy in learning English. It is also hoped that the
description will be able to draw the stake holder empathy and understanding.
This progressive qualitative research has involved two English teachers from
different school groups namely Arts and Crafts and Tourism. To get the findings, the
researcher studied the document, conducted interviews and classroom observation.
Through the participants‘ narrative expressed before and after the classroom
observation, they will reveal the relationship between their perception and actions.
Revealing the relationships, hopefully they can help themselves to develop their degree
of autonomy more professionally.
The findings show that teachers perceive that their autonomy in the syllabus
establishment need to be encouraged while in the lesson plan establishment the
perception and actions are better. In the teaching learning, the participants show their
ability in the application of the principles of the selection of the learning opportunities.
This also happens in the organization of the learning opportunities by performing the
continuity, sequence, horizontal and vertical integration. Having some reasons, the
willingness and ability are examples of autonomy shown by the participants
Due to the difference of willingness, ability, school policy, and school
conditions the findings show that development of teacher autonomy in curriculum is
varied. This variation is hoped to enrich the teachers‘ understanding in the development
xv
ABSTRAK
Siti Nurhayati.2010.
Perception of Teacher Autonomy in Curriculum Development at
the Vocational School.
Yogyakarta: English Language Studies, Graduate Program,
Sanata Dharma University.
Persepsi mengenai otonomi guru dalam pengembangan kurikulum menjadi dasar
bagi setiap guru dalam memutuskan setiap tindakan yang dilakukan didalam
mengembangkan kurikulum di SMK untuk menjawab berbagai program kejuruan yang
ada di SMK. Pengembangan kurikulum Bahasa Inggris yang meliputi tiga elemen yaitu
what-to teach, how-to-teach, dan evaluasi harus ditujukan demi tercapainya tujuan
pendidikan tiap program pendidikan. Penelitian ini mencoba untuk menjawab
pertanyaan ―apakah persepsi dan tindakan yang diambil oleh guru didalam
mengembangkan kurikulum bahasa Inggris di SMK?‘
Sebelum studi dokumen, penulis sudah mempunyai pemahaman awal yang
berkaitan dengan persepsi guru guru mengenai kemampuan dan kemauan mereka
dalam mengembangan kurikulum. Dengan kemauan dan kemampuannya, diharapkan
guru dapat menentukan silabusnya dan RPP sendiri sesuai dengan tujuan pendidikan.
Silabus dan RPP itu akan membimbing guru dalam menentukan penyeleksian dan
pengorganisasian kesempatan belajar. Sedang evaluasi dilakukan untuk meyakinkan
apakah pembuatan RPP dan silabus, serta penyeleksian dan pengorganisasian
kesempatan belajar sudah menuju kepada ketercapaian tujuan pendidikan pada masing
masing program keahlian yang ada. Selama. Selama wawancara pemahaman awal
tersebut dapat membantu persepsi dan tindakan guru untuk lebih bertanggung jawab
atas otonomi yang diberikan kepada guru. Guru yang autonomous diharapkan akan
membantu mendorong otonomi siswa didalam belajar bahasa Inggris. Diharapkan
pembahasan mengenai studi ini akan meningkatkan empati dan pemahaman dari semua
stake holder pendidikan.
Penelitian ini menggunakan metode progresif kualitatif dengan partisipan
berjumlah dua orang guru bahasa Inggris. Keduanya berasal dari kelompok sekolah
yang berbeda yaitu kelompok seni dan kerajinan serta kelompok Pariwisata.Untuk
sampai kepada hasil penelitian pengambilan data dilakukan melalui studi dokumen,
beberapa wawancara, dan observasi kelas. Melaui naratif yang disampaikan sebelum
dan sesudah observasi kelas, partisipan memperlihatkan hubungan antara persepsi
mereka miliki dan tindakan yang diambil. Melalui proses ini diharapkan guru akan
membantu dirinya sendiri untuk membantu perkembangan otonomi secara lebih
professional.
xvi
mengevaluasi ditunjukkan secara beragam dengan berbagai alasan yang muaranya
adalah untuk perbaikan.
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Teachers are the ones who know their class better as to detect the characteristics
of their learners, including their strengths, weaknesses, interests, preferred learning
style, as well as the school condition to help them conduct teaching learning better.
There is no single prescribed teaching learning method and strategy that may match all
learners at the same level, for sometimes, one single method does not work in one
classroom. Thus, teachers should employ various ways to bring learners closer to their
success. As such, diversities make teacher autonomy is greatly needed. Teachers from
novice to experienced level perceive autonomy differently. However as autonomy can
be fostered, it is no wonder that the degree of autonomy fluctuate from the least to the
maximum or the reverse. One example stated by Goodlad (in Suyanto, 2005) showed
that when teachers entered the classroom and closed the door, the quality of teaching
learning is mainly determined by the teachers. Those teachers are the ones who have the
autonomy; they are the ones who can do everything in the classroom. They can perform
themselves as interesting and effective professional persons
who can attract students‘
needs of achievement. Teachers can make students think divergently by proposing
questions that need creative and imaginative thinking. On the other hand, the same
teachers can also lead them boring, hence unable to become exemplars. Those kinds of
different results. Therefore, it is very important to employ teacher autonomy in
the right way.
Teacher autonomy is thus a potential topic for research in education. Instead of
employing their autonomy, teachers should also be sensitive with the curriculum
development. This research is intended to reveal the degree of teacher autonomy in
curriculum development. Given the rapid changes in technology, market demand, newer
invention and higher standard in the world of teaching learning, with which curriculum
itself is also changed from time to time, curriculum development will also be different
from one subject to others to fit those changes. In the past, Glasgow in Fitzharris (1999)
detected that the curriculum was only based on teachers‘ past experience in school,
input from textbook manufacturers, standard and information from peers. It happened
that teachers were accustomed to using a ready-made curriculum which did not require
the teachers to think, design and create their own syllabus and materials. This is a kind
of top-down decision which had been applied for years and forced teachers to be the
user and applicator of the curriculum including the syllabus and the textbook provided.
Teachers have to follow ready made syllabuses which sometimes are not suitable for a
certain situation. If it happens then the teaching learning cannot catch up with the
changes and will result in lack of some requirements needed by the students to cope
with those changes. Fitzharris (1999), then, stated that the position of teacher should be
moved from the position of conveyer to become the designer of the curriculum itself.
The designing itself should follow the current changes. It means it is very important for
teacher to be always ready with changes, in order that teacher can accumulate the
changes by developing the curriculum by means of adopting, adapting, or even creating
The process of reaching autonomy and curriculum development is therefore
interrelated. Teacher autonomy enables him to become autonomous in creating
curriculum development because an autonomous teacher has had the requirements to do
so. The teacher has capacity, freedom, and /or responsibility to make choices
concerning their own teaching (Aoki, 2000). This is to say, that teachers have the
knowledge of the subject matter, paradigms, methodologies, and approaches so that they
can make their own choices based on professional assessment and various class and
institutional factors. Besides having the knowledge and able to make their own choices,
teachers are to make reflection upon what they have done (Chylinski, 2005). Therefore
it can be said that to be able to involve in curriculum development one should posses his
or her autonomy first.
The curriculum of education in Indonesia is also changing from time to time. It
moves from top down strategy to bottom up strategy. The first strategy puts the
teacher‘s role to implement in exactly the same way in which expert designers intended
it to be implemented (Okda, 2005). By using this, the government can centrally control
the national wide changes. However, Markee (in Okda, 2005) also argued that this
strategy will discourage individual initiative and it turns teacher into passive recipient of
change. The latter strategy puts teacher‘s role as a planner
, implementer, and/or
evaluator of his own curriculum by adapting an existing curriculum, adopting it
unchanged, or creating new curriculum. Indonesia nowadays applies KTSP which
provides spaces for teachers to employ their autonomy in curriculum development.
However as they are accustomed to follow the top down strategy, it is probable that
some or perhaps many of them are worried about it. Teachers at school may find it
teachers should make their own curriculum which is designed for a school level.
Actually it is hoped that by having this KTSP, it will meet the need of learners and local
communities.
As it is an on-going process, this research is hoped to empower the autonomous
teachers to increase their autonomy in curriculum development and those who are less
become more autonomous.
B. Problem Identification
The room for autonomy has indeed been given by the application of KTSP
which is meant to be the curriculum in unit level of education. This KTSP demands
every unit level of education has its own curriculum. This policy makes the curriculum
for English subject may probably be different among the departments in vocational
school. However there is only one standard that is Content Standard or Standar Isi that
regulates more than one hundred departments of vocational school. The reason why the
government proposes only one Content Standard to follow is to provide rooms for
teachers to employ their autonomy.
Educational Law Number XIX, 2006 contains the Content Standard that covers
the Competency Standards and Basic Competencies. The two standards become the
guides for teachers to carry their teaching learning program. The Standard of
Competency states three levels of communication namely Novice, Elementary and
Intermediate. The Basic Competencies generated from the Competency Standard
contains twenty two competencies.
By employing the autonomy, teachers are free to translate all competencies
suiting them to the main goal of each department. The main goals of vocational school
skills as a result of their study and training. The second is to give opportunity to pursue
higher academic degree. These goals then shape each department in managing all
aspects to be special in its specification. These goals should also direct the English
subject in handling all materials in teaching learning program. For that, curriculum
development is certainly needed. Besides, the department put English as an adaptive
subject. As an adaptive subject, English has been mentioned to provide learners to have
basic skills of English in order to support their expertise as well as to bring them to be
able to use their ability and skills to communicate by oral or by written text.
To reach those goals and to meet the position of an adaptive subject, teachers
should design the curriculum to bring the learners to get closer to their expertise. For
this, there should be many differences of English teaching learning among lots of
departments. Supposing that English should be different, have the teachers always been
ready to meet the diverse goals of every department? As the institution which prepares
student teacher is only providing the general pedagogy and knowledge of English but
when they become teachers, they should not only teach general English but touch the
knowledge of the students‘ specification also. Do they have easy access to learn, to get
book, and to develop their knowledge on the new specification of the learners? Do they
also have the willingness and capacity to suit their curriculum with the student‘s need
and specification? One English teacher does not only teach in one department, it is
possible that he must teach two up to four different departments at one school, so how
he differs the teaching learning program including in making the preparation and doing
the evaluation? Also how does he overcome his difficulties? Moreover, has all the
element of the curriculum that the teachers design and put into practice satisfied each
things in applying KTSP such as the difficulties of teacher to eliminate the habit of
top-down management in education to move to bottom-up one.
Another serious problem that is the use of English National Examination as one
among the three passing scores to be able to graduate from the Vocational School, the
other two being Indonesian and Mathematics. National Examination is held nationally
but the worst thing is that it gives the same exam questions for every department
without considering that each department may provide different emphasis in its English
teaching learning. As it is very important in determining whether learners can graduate
or not, it is possible that English teacher will likely teach his learners for the sake of
graduation hence neglecting the need of English for learners‘ expertise.
C. Problem Limitation
The contradictory and problems in teacher autonomy and curriculum
development shows that it is a process to get closer to better education in Indonesia.
Both autonomy and curriculum development are indeed an ongoing process, therefore
there will never be an end for teacher to keep continue increasing autonomous including
in realizing curriculum development to support the betterment of the learners. This
on-going process will result different problems from time to time and from person to
another, therefore this study will be limited by location of the conducted study and by
the participants‘ views. The location is SMK A Sleman and SMK A Kotamadya
Yogyakarta. The participants are two teachers; one is from SMK A Sleman and the
other one is from SMK A Kotamadya Yogyakarta.
The study is conducted in Yogyakarta and it focuses on how vocational high
school English teachers translate autonomy in curriculum development into practice.
in curriculum development through the study documents, classroom observation,
interview, and teacher reflection to support the findings of data. Through those data
gathering, it is hoped that the participants of the study will perform and able to articulate
their autonomy in curriculum development in the three curricular elements namely
what-to-teach, how-to-teach, and evaluation upon the first and second curricular
elements so that it will help them sharpening their autonomy. As by revealing their
perception and reflecting their action, they will be able to think over what should be
improved, revised, and maintained. This will in turn improve the education in Indonesia.
The participants are professional since they are already S1 degree. One of
them, even, has already got her master degree. They should have had sufficient subject
matter knowledge and competence in teaching skills and technique. Therefore, they can
handle the problem concerning what-to-teach, how-to-teach and evaluation. By having
those professional participants, this study would like to see how those teachers have
employed their autonomy in curriculum development so as to contribute to the success
of learner.
D. Research question
Derived from the problem identification, this study will seek to answer the
following research question:
What is the perception of teacher autonomy in curriculum development?
E. Research goals
The research goals are as follows:
2.
To describe and interperet the practice employed by the teacher in applying
autonomy in curriculum development
F. Research benefits
As the research question in this thesis is ‗What is the perception of teacher
autonomy in curriculum development?‘ I therefore formed some pre
-understanding
about teacher autonomy in curriculum development in making all the three elements of
curriculum namely ―what
-to-
teach‖, ―how
-to-
teach‖, and ―evaluation‖ to be developed
will support each other. By knowing their perception on autonomy in curriculum
development, the teachers would reveal their experiences and understanding they got in
relation to the elements of curriculum to be developed. By exploring the actions, it
could be displayed to find out the response or the action of the three elements of
curriculum are really interlinking or supporting each other. Thus the narratives of the
perception and the actions I have described and interpreted could be the bases for
improvements for me as the teacher researcher, participants of the research, audiences,
and the stake holders.
When the goals of the research are achieved, it will bring contribution to the
theoretical and practical aspects in teacher autonomy in curriculum development. Thus
the research benefit will be addressed in two areas of contributions, namely theoretical
and practical benefits.
1. Theoretical benefit
contribution to EFL teaching theories by revealing their perception and action so that it
will reveal the pattern of the participants in this research.
2. Practical benefit
Practically the study provides opportunities for teachers-participants to have
better understanding of their own autonomy in curriculum development. By having
better understanding then the participant will be able to give more meaningful
treatment, better perception, and better action in applying their autonomy especially in
curriculum development. It may also influence the school as the teaching learning
institution to have better emphatic understanding in teacher autonomy in curriculum
development so it will help the school when designing the curriculum development. In
the field of ESL/EFL professionals including teachers, teacher educators, policy makers,
language experts, curriculum designers, and language teachers, the study may
encourage them to have better emphatic understanding so that this research can help
them to be able to perceive and do better action on applying their autonomy in
curriculum development, and also better treatment to some problems which occur. It
will also help other teachers of vocational school to build their emphatic understanding
and learn the pattern of their colleagues. Another practical benefit may go to the
students of vocational schools; they will get the best effort from their teachers since the
teachers have been already autonomous. These autonomous teachers will then promote
the students‘ autonomous learning. This mean
s that the students will get the best effort
10
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Review on Related Studies
There are a number of studies done related to the first problem of the research, i.e.
perception. Sulistiani (2009) reported her study on the perception of English teachers at
public Junior High Schools in Malang on the implementation of School-Based
Curriculum/KTSP. She found out that some teachers had already good understanding
whereas there were still teachers that had to improve their understanding on the
School-Based Curriculum/KTSP. Different from Sulistiyani‘s finding,
Kristyowati (2009: 7)
had revealed teacher perception on the usage of CALL in School Based
Curriculum/SBC by exploring their understanding, views, and action upon the field of
study. She found out that teachers may have shared as well as individual perception of
the components of CALL to bring about better result on the design, procedure, and the
approach in SBC. Similar to Kristyowati‘s finding, Nurtriatmo (2009: 14) also revealed
the teacher perception of English for Tourism in Junior High School. To have the
complete picture of the percepti
on, he explored three things. The first was the teachers‘
perception seen from their view based on their past experiences, the second was from
their action to make meaning including its process, and the last was from their hope and
expectation. He found out that teachers may have different as well as shared perception
upon English for Tourism.
curriculum development applied in Arab country. He revealed that this model
was not effective. Furthermore he proposed both top-down and bottom up model in
curriculum development for gaining better result in education.
Unlike the studies which were done merely on the perception or curriculum
development, this present study will look at both on the perception and curriculum
development. The perception will be revealed from three aspects. The first was how the
teacher recognizes some entities, characteristics, or simply the definition of curriculum
development. The second was from how the teachers give function to the elements of
curriculum development that they had recognized. The last was from their decision to
do some action based on their knowledge of their definition, entities, characteristics, and
the function they put on each element of curriculum development. Teacher autonomy in
curriculum development, however, would be revealed from the ability and willingness
to have actions on the three elements of curriculum development namely what-to-teach,
how-to-teach, and its evaluation. Therefore I needed to put some related theoretical
reviews to support a better framework of the study.
B. Theoretical Review
1. The Roles of Curriculum and Teachers in Education
Tyler (1949: 1) bases his theory of curriculum on four fundamental questions. The
first is what educational purposes a school should seek to attain, the second is what
educational experiences can be provided to attain those educational purposes, the third
is how those experiences are effectively organized, and lastly how the school can
determine whether those purposes are being attained. The first fundamental question
He explained that they are the abilities, attitude, habits, appreciations and forms of
knowledge that men need so there will be numerous, definite and particularized. In
education, the goal comprises of national, institutional, and subject matter goal. The first
two goals are not set by the subject matter teacher whereas the last goal is the privilege
for the teacher who is assigned to handle the subject matter. The second fundamental
question refers the content of the curriculum. It refers to the material to be covered
including the evaluation to ensure that the intended or desired goal stated in the fourth
fundamental questions has been attained. The third fundamental one copes with the
teacher and students activities in attaining the desired goal. This kind of fundamental
question is called as process (Garcia in Wilson, 1975). It is an attempt to describe the
work observed in classrooms that it is adequately communicated to teachers and others.
Finally, within limits, a recipe can be varied according to taste. So can a
curriculum (Stenhouse, 1975: 4-5 in Smith, 2000).
Those four fundamental questions include both limited and broad notion of
curriculum. In limited notion, curriculum only refers to a series of topics to be covered
while in broader notion, it means as a plan (Saylor et all, 1981 in Ansyar, 1989: 12-13).
In this study; curriculum is considered both in broad and limited notion. Thus,
curriculum is defined as a series of plan written in the syllabus and lesson plan, a series
of learning experiences selected and organized by the teacher, and evaluation done over
the plan and the learning experiences.In other words, curriculum includes the goal to be
reached. The plans, learning experiences, and the evaluations are directed to the
attaintment of the goal.
Curriculum including its goal, contents and process takes very crucial position in
learn in a school
whereas the objective is typically a course of study, lesson plan, or a
practical skill, including learning and thinking skills. The different ways to teach are
often referred to as the teacher's pedagogy. When deciding what teaching method to use,
a teacher will need to consider students' background knowledge, environment, and their
learning goals as well as standardized curricula as determined by the relevant authority.
It is what is considered as curriculum in broad notion. In this notion, Grundy (1987)
calls it curiculum as a praxis in which it is not only a set of plans to be implemented but
rather is constitutes through an active process in which planning, acting and evaluating
are all reciprocally related and integrated into the process.
ELT in Indonesia changes from time to time, starting from the old style
Grammar Translation method in 1945, new style of Audio Lingual Based Curriculum in
1958, Revised Audio Lingual Based Curriculum in 1975, Structure Based Curriculum in
1984, Communicative Based Curriculum in 1994, Competency Based Curriculum in
2004, and the newest is the School-Based Curriculum (KTSP). There are reasons for the
changes to occur, for example this is to satisfy the political demand and the response on
some assumption on theories of teaching. As they are relied on some theories of
teaching therefore there are some prescribed methods even the curriculum has provided
what to teach and how to teach in the form syllabus. However unlike the previous
curriculums, KTSP is believed to give wider freedom /opportunity for teachers to design
and apply their design in teaching learning. It is also believed that KTSP is the
development of the curriculum 2004. In KTSP it is said that the basic outline and
curriculum structure of vocational school is determined by the central government
whereas the development of the curriculum is the responsibility of the school group,
Office at Regency and Province level as seen in
Government Decree Number XIX,
2005 article 17 section 2.
The differences of the recent curriculum with the later ones explicitly influence
the roles of the teacher. For the prescribed method and syllabus, teachers are the doers
of those prescriptions, there is no obligation for teachers to consider the students‘ needs
as their needs has been determined by the government. Whereas in KTSP, schools have
the obligation to direct their goal and management so that they have to keep the
harmony of every subject goal with the school goal or more specifically the department
goal to cater the students‘ needs.
Indeed teachers take very crucial roles in education. According to Richards and
Lockhart (1996: 99-100) there are eight teacher roles at school. They are as need
analyst to determine
students‘ individual needs. They are as curriculum developer to
develop their own course reffereing to her plan and syllabus. They also are as material
developer to develop his or her own class material whether that can use own or other
sources material to choose. Besides they also counselors to identify the difficulties in
learning and to offer advice. In addition they may be mentors who assist less
experienced teachers to gain more experienced. Not only as mentors but also as a team
member to work as a team and to take part in cooperative activities. Even they are as
researchers who conduct research related to language learning and teaching. And above
those all, teachers should be as proffesional persons are willing to make on going
Besides teachers‘ roles at school, the teachers themselves may have their
personal view of teaching. Based on this, Richards and Lockhart (1996: 105-106) state
that teachers may select roles of themselves. Based on their personal view, teachers can
consider themselves as planners who see succesful teaching learning depends on
planning and structuring the learning activities. Furthermore, they may think themselves
as managers who organize and manage the classromm environment and students‘
behaviour. In addition, they can be also as quality controllers who maintain the quality
of language used in the classroom. They can also think as organizers who organize the
students to work on their tasks. Other than quality controllers, teachers may see
themselves as facilitators who help students to discover their own ways of learning and
work independently. Not only as facilitators, teachers can also make themselves
motivators for their students whose job are to improve students‘ confidence and interes
t.
Even they may see themselves as empowerers who empower students by employing less
control and let students to make own decision. The last role, which may be considered
by teachers, is teachers as team members of the class to interact like members of the
team. Summing up, it can be concluded that based on a lot of teachers‘ role, teachers
can not fulfill all of the roles rather their roles may change during the lesson.
All the teacher‘s roles and views are very important for teachers as agents of
change in building the curriculum. By realizing those roles, teachers can gain better
translation of what-to-teach, how-to-teach, and its evaluation of curriculum. This
betterment can be achieved if theachers themselves are proffessionals in their field. Ur
(in Richards and Renandya, 2002: 388) states that there are four reasons to be called as
professional. First they belong to professional community which is the source of
their own reflection of experience, reading, discussion with colleagues, etc. Thirdly they
are able to take action based on knowledge and thought so that the action is not an
automatic action but rather a consciously designed action. Lastly English teachers are
the agent of real world-teaching learning in which they always think to develop their
thinking.
Teacher roles need professionalism which should always be pursued as it is
never ended. Pettis in Richard and Renandya (2002: 396) states that English teacher as
professional should always be commit to seek out additional opportunities to learn and
develop. This commitment is very important as it always changes like what happens in
Indonesia. It is also what Richards and Thomas (2005: vii) explain that the field of
language teaching is subject to rapid changes. It may change because of some reasons
like the changes of curriculum, students‘ need reflected by school institution or
department goal or even by the students themselves, and also the occurrence of national
examination. Therefore it is reasonable that the commitment of seeking opportunities to
develop profession should be put at the top priority so that English teachers will always
update their professional knowledge and skills.
Updating professionalism will help teachers to be better in realizing their roles.
To update itself is meant to develop toward general growth and to facilitate the growth
of teachers‘ understanding toward teaching and their position as teachers (Richards and
Thomas, 2005: ix). Updating opportunities can be reached from many activities such as
from the teachers themselves or from persons outside or inside their institution.
Furthermore they group those activities into four types: (1) individual type in the form
of self monitoring, journal writing, critical accidents, teaching portfolios and action
teaching, (3) group based such as action research, journal writing, and teacher support
group, (4) Institutional type found in workshop, action research, and teacher support
group.
The workshop (Richards and Thomas, 2005: 25), for example, can provide
opportunities for additional input on classroom application as well as it can raise
motivation, it is also a place for learning input from expert, besides it can develop
collegiality and innovation, moreover it serves short-term to join. Peer observation is
another example of teacher development. Not only novice teachers who are supposed to
be less familiar with the subject matter, strategies and teaching context but also
experienced teachers can take the benefits of having this peer observation. For novice, it
can be an opportunity to be observed while for the observer can have opportunity to
reflect what to improve. The more experienced ones can also gain benefit by picking
more effective ways from others because it is believed that there is no one perfect.
After all any activities done for professional development will improve teachers‘
experience so that they become more knowledgeable and skillful which in turn it will
encourage teachers to be able to conduct the teaching learning autonomously.
2. The Government Formal Document and Educational Goal in Indonesia
According to Educational Law Number XX, 2003 (Chapter II Clause 3), the
educational goal in general is as follows:
However, more specifically, the goal of vocational high school is stated in
Curriculum 2004, in which English is supposed to be an adaptive subject having the
dual direction for learners. The first direction is relevant to ESP that is the learners will
be able to master that basic knowledge and skills of English to support the core course
and this is called the vocational goal. The second one is relating to the English study as
a general subject for learners to able to apply their ability and skills to communicate
passively or orally and it is called educational goal.
Both educational and vocational goals vary from one specification to other
specification therefore both goals can make the English teaching learning varies. The
varieties are in response to the specification of each department. Every department will
have its own goal, which in turn will need specific contents. Also, every teacher will
relatively apply different technique in the process of teaching learning, and the teacher
will determine his/her own way to evaluate whether the purpose/goal is attained.
After the application of Curriculum 2004 which generates Competency Based
Curriculum, Indonesia launched the newest curriculum named KTSP which is said to be
the curriculum in unit level of education in 2005 through the Government Decree
Number XIX, 2005 about the Standard of National Education. This decree issued the
Generic structure of Curriculum, Content Standard and Passing Standard established by
BNSP/Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan which then ruled by the PERMENDIKNAS
Number XXII in 2006 about Content Standard. The generic structure gives English
to the four skills required in English namely listening, speaking, reading and writing.
The basic competence, on the other hand, is the bases for developing material, teaching
learning activities, and as an indicator for competencies achievement in evaluation.
Therefore in designing teaching learning activities and also in conducting evaluation
teachers must think of those two competencies stated in Content Standard. Beside those
two, teachers also have to follow the Process Standard mentioned in Government
Decree Number XIX, 2005 in Chapter four, Clause 19 article 1. It mentions that
teaching learning should be interactive, enhancing inspiration, giving fun, challenging,
motivating learners to actively participate, providing room for expressing initiative,
creativity and independence according to their talent, enthusiasm, the development of
learners‘ mental and physic.
In article 2, teachers as educators should become the
exemplar. Whereas in article 3, it mentions that every school should have the planning
of teaching learning process, it should do what it has been planned, it should have the
vealuation and supervision for realizing effective and efficient teaching learning. This
standard process states that every school must establish the design of teaching learning
process then execute/apply and make evaluation to gain more effective and efficient
teaching learning. The design of teaching learning process covers the obligation for
teachers to make syllabus and lesson plan. The Government Decree Number XIX, 2005
Clause 20 states that the generic structure of the syllabus and lesson plan contains at
least the goal of teaching learning, material, method, sources, and evaluation. In the
next page, there is the table of Standard Competency and Basic Competencies for
vocational school:
NOVIC
1.understanding simple utterances for social interaction and daily life needs
2.mentioning things, people, characteristic, time, days, month and year
3.Describing things, people, characteristic, time, days, month and year.
4.Producing simple utterances to fulfill basic function. 5.Explaining in progress activities simply.
6.Understanding memo, simple menu, transportation schedule, and traffic light symbols
7.Understanding vocabularies and certain term and simple sentence based on formula. speaker in both personal and professional context
2.Writing simple messages in both direct and indirect interaction (using tools)
3.Describing job description and educational background both spoken and written
4.Telling past works/jobs and future work/job 5.Expressing various intents
6.Understanding simple instructions
7.Making short messages, instruction, and lists with the appropriate word, spelling, and grammar
Table 2.1 Standard Competency and Basic Competency for Vocational School (My
translation: the Enclosure of PERMENDIKNAS Number 22, 2006)
The Graduation Standard called SKL (Standar Kompetensi Lulusan) stated in
Government Decree Number XIX, 2005 article 25) becomes the guidance in deciding
whether a learner is said to pass the Vocational School or not. The SKL for English is
emphasized on reading and writing, and that it aims to improve intelligence, knowledge,
personality, behavior, and skills needed to live independently and or continuing to
higher educational degree. This emphasis, however, is in contrast with the principle of
demands to be relevant with the future work of learners including the other two skills in
English. Unlike the higher education which can decide its passing standard, BSNP
(Government Decree Number XIX Chapter XI Clause 73) as a government committee
established by Minister Regulation regulates the Graduation Standard (Government
Decree Number XIX Chapter V Clause 25). Here is another table explaining the
Graduation Standard of all three levels in vocational school launched by BSNP:
level
Competency Standard
Area of basic competencies
NOVIC
E
listening Understanding oral interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by listening to daily request and instruction
speaking Expressing orally interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by making daily request and instruction
reading Understanding oral interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by reading to daily request and instruction texts
writing Understanding oral interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by writing to daily request and instruction
E
listening Understanding oral interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by listening to business/work field request and instruction
speaking Expressing orally interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by making business/work field request and instruction
reading
Understanding oral interpersonal and transactional texts formally or
informally by reading to business/work field request and instruction
texts
writing Understanding oral interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by writing to business/work field request and instruction
INTE
listening Understanding oral interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by listening to professional request and instruction
speaking Expressing orally interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by making professional request and instruction
writing Understanding oral interpersonal and transactional texts formally or informally by writing to professional request and instruction
Table 2.2 The Graduation Standard/SKL (My Translation: the Enclosure of
PERMENDIKNAS Number 23, 2006)
3. Perception
There are many definitions on perception which can be summarized as a
response to single or collected stimulations. One of them was given by Hochberg. In
her book, Hochberg (1964) explains stimulation is a kind of physical energy. When this
energy comes to people‘s senses or modalities
of sensation, it will result an action or
response. Furthermore what the modalities of sensation observed at the first time is
called sensation, whereas the recollection of the previous sensation is called memory
images. The combination of sensation and memory images then will produce
perception. So here the perception is defined as the response of sensation and memory
images. In this study what the modalities got from viewing or reading by eye, listening
through ear, practicing by hand and many others about curriculum development are the
sources of experiences for teachers. The accumulation of experiences will enrich the
memory images. As a curriculum is developed, the previous curriculum will be the
memory images and the developed curriculum becomes the new sensation. The new
sensation and the memory images are interlinked; the previous may influence how
teachers perceive the later.
Unlike Hochberg who defines the term of perception, many experts propose
what elements may constitute a person‘s perception.
Firehammer (2004) says that a
perception is built from a group of sensations automatically retained and integrated by
the brain of a living organism which gives it the ability to be aware. It is built from
perception is built from three elements grouped into ―what the object are‖, ―what it can
do‖, ―and ―what one can do with the object‖. The element of ―what the object are‖ can
be simply said as the definition which covers the recognition of the entities,
characteristics, label, and similar category. The element of ―what it can do‖ covers the
function of the object whereas the element of ―what the object are‖ is around the action
that a person can do in relation to the perception she has. As there are numerous stimuli
that touch a person and a lot function of a certain object that a person knows so it is no
wonder that perception may change/vary in accordance with the development of
sensation and memory images. Thus, it is called as not instantaneous (Vernon, 1962:
32). It is possible that one can give incorrect perception of a thing/situation but then
gradually he/she will give more correct perception. The more complete the memory
images the easier for one to classify the object under similar category. It is like what
Vernon (1962: 30) explained when a person sees an object, he will first recollect several
all the objects similar appearance which he has perceived before to classify the most
appropriate category, if it belongs to the same category then the identification will run
easily, but if it does not, he will need more time to examine and think about the quality
before being able to know what the object is exactly. For this, Vernon (1962: 32) calls
that perception is not instantaneous. It may change for some reasons, thus it is unstable.
Furthermore Vernon (1962: 31) adds up that the limitation of opportunities and situation
may make a person to give unsatisfactorily perception. Even in some cases, the
perception is ambiguous and the reaction may be slow and uncertain. Like the
application of KTSP in Indonesia which is relatively new to teachers, teachers are trying
to recall their memory images/past experiences to try to understand the new curriculum.
government or institution which concern to education will deepen teachers‘
understanding on the new curriculum. New experience, new knowledge, or new
sensation will strengthen the perception so as to contribute to better understanding.
How one perceives something is described by Peikoff (via Firehammer,
2004). Peikoff describes that to move from the stage of sensation to perception, one first
has to discriminate certain sensory qualities, separate them out of the initial chaos,
integrates these qualities into entities to grasp in one frame of consciousness, and build
a complex body of data as a series of discrete units
across a span of time. Continuing
Peikoff‘s description, Firehammer makes it c
learer by stating what qualities are.
According to Firehammer, the qualities are the identities of any existent which entail
three axioms. The first axiom is that anything that exists must have qualities of which
attributes or characteristics are the nature thereof. The second is that anything must be
different in some way from everything else and have some quality or combination of
qualities no other existent has. The third explains that nothing can be totally unique or
totally unrelated to anything
,
but it must have some relationship to everything else that
exists.
In applying the curriculum development especially for the what-to-teach and
more specifically on perceiving the translation of the Standard Competency and the
Basic Competency which are broad, the teachers may first try to recollect the nature of
both. They are the nature of educational objective and instructional objectives which are
guided by the syllabus given by the government. Also in delivering the content, teachers
always rebuild their perception on the content, for example they may try to define what
can be included producing simple utterances to fulfill basic function found in Basic
Competencies for novice. They may try to recall what the basic functions are, what
should be taught and what are appropriate to level Novice. Furthermore they may be
able then to decide what learning opportunities should be given and how they should be
organized to produce effective teaching learning.
Relating to the issuance of the newest curriculum in Indonesia, thus I would
prefer drawing a diagram showing how English teacher‘s perception may work. It also
shows how new experiences in the form of decision, action, teacher development and
teacher reflection or evaluation may enrich the collection of experiences. This will
affect the previous perception to be improved or perhaps to be changed. This kind of
cycle shows that teacher perception is an on-going process. In the next page, I would
like to show my own diagram of the cycles of the on-going process:
Figure 2.1 An on-going-development of curriculum
Collection ofexperiences on curriculum
Stimulation eg:KTSP
Perception
