34 positioning as living beings, and as humans. It is expected to encompass any related
articles to fully understand t eachers‟ professional development.
C. Framework of Pre-Understanding
As managers, evaluators, and guides for their students, teachers need to be concerned more on their development Crooks, 2000. Teachers as educational
practitioners need to understand their roles either as living beings in reaching better learning, better teaching, and better economy, or as humans who need better
understanding, higher economy, struggle, and sacrifice. However, the essential thing that teachers should be aware of is their preference in positioning themselves as
teachers. Considering this issue, teachers need to always develop and improve themselves to embody their determination better, which of course not only develops
themselves but also their students. Professional development is one of the innovative ways leading to self-actualization.
To be a professional, teachers need to better understand their roles as teachers. Teachers need to focus on the core of what they are doing for their
professional work. Being professional means trying to find a better way to improve quality and commit to it. Indeed, teachers should consider not only their development
but also their responsibility to their students, which is why teachers need to involve themselves in ongoing developments, which includes self-improvement, reflective
practitioning, and ongoing commitment to change Senior, 2006. This professionalism should also include commitment and self-control. These elements are
35 strongly needed to support the interrelationship between their profession and
professional responsibility. In Indonesia, the professionalism of teachers is a primary concern. The government has established standard academic requirements for
teachers to be more professional. Considering the fact that professionalism is really that important in the
teacher-education process, teachers need to be fully aware of their professional development. The development not only involves personal reflection but also
individual reflection. The reflection leads to self-actualization in finding determination. Teacher professional development itself needs to be in line with the
purpose of not only improving performance but also having responsibility to improve students‟ understanding. Additionally, the reflective process which is derived from
lived experiences can be essential for understanding the development. Thus, the students‟ needs and teachers‟ needs are both fulfilled. A lived experience is that
which „has a certain essence, a quality that we recognize in retrospect‟ Mannen,
1990:36. Moreover, teachers also need to pay attention to their self-construction. It is
one of the significant elements that can support teacher development. A positive sense of self-construction can give good contributions in self-determination. It also
helps one to choose the aspects that need to be improved, to narrow the choice, to develop an action plan, and to decide a time frame to achieve the goal Richards,
1990. It is pertinent to consider the standards that have been regulated, understanding that self-construction can provide good contributions for positioning as
36 a living being or as a human. Self-construction includes self-awareness, self-efficacy,
self-esteem, and other self-monitoring actions. Having a stable identity in doing things will lead to doing things that are worthwhile.
Dealing with the issue, in Indonesia, the continuity of positive development of teachers‟ professionalism is also the concern of the government. The Decree of the
National Education Minister of the Republic of Indonesia, No. 15, 2008, which contains specific standard competencies that teachers must fulfill, is one of the
examples that support the governments‟ notice. All teachers are demanded to be professional by having particular specific standard competencies. This condition
makes teachers become wise in placing themselves as living beings or as humans. It means that in their real lives, Indonesian teachers need to maintain their
understanding, beliefs, feelings, intentions, and actions, not only on how to teach better but also how to achieve better understanding and actualization. Teachers need
to monitor their self-construction, so they can deal with this matter. Teachers need to actualize themselves, so they can determine and decide the time frame to achieve
their goals.
37
Figure 2.1
Senior High School English Teachers‟ Professional Development: Lived-Experiences
Teachers are reflective decision
makers who need to be concerned with the development of lifelong
learning and personal construction to improve their understanding of
teaching, of themselves as teachers, and
students‟ improvements.
It represents the actions, thoughts, and imagination that teachers
reflect regarding
teachers‟ professional development.
Building a positive sense of self-
construction will help teachers to situate themselves in relation to
making effective judgments for their
development and
their engagements with their students.
As
teachers of
advanced specialized
courses, their
extensiveness and deepness of knowledge must be significant.
In Indonesia, all teachers
are demanded
to be
professional by particular specific
standard competencies the Decree
of the National Education Minister of the Republic
of Indonesia No.15, 2008.
The
condition makes
teachers need to be wise in placing
themselves as
living beings
or as
humans.
Teachers need to monitor their self-construction, so
they can deal with the matter. Teachers need to
actualize themselves, so they can determine and
decide the time frame to achieve their goals.
Teacher professional
development is the continuity of positive development of
teachers‟ professional value, knowledge, autonomy, and
responsibility sustained by the “self”.
38
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter gives a further explanation on how the study was conducted. It gives information on how the data was gathered and analyzed to answer the
problems. This chapter consists of research method, data gathering, data analysis, and interpretation.
A. Research Method
In this study, the researcher uses constructivism because “In order to assess the participants‟ lived experiences, a constructivism approach is used” Hill,
2012:25. The interactions between the researcher and participants become central to assessing the participants‟ lived experiences, in which the methods tend to be more
naturalistic. This research is an experiential humanistic qualitative research. A qualitative research method focuses on exploring and understanding participants‟
thoughts, perspectives, experiences, and beliefs. The core of this approach is on the interactions among participants and research in a natural setting Lincoln and Guba,
1985:39. Furthermore, the focus of this research is on hermeneutic phenomenology, which is a part of qualitative research. Phenomenological research is research which
is used to describe individuals‟ lived experiences. It “describes the meaning for several individuals of their lived experiences of a concept or a phenomenon”
Creswell, 2007. The focus is on the phenomenon that the participants have to deal
