Background English teacher`s professional development through lesson study.

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background information related to the research problem. Thepurpose is to provide a framework for the study so that readers know the importance of the issue under study. The chapter contains six major sections, namely a background, b problem identification, c problem formulation, d research objectives, and e research benefits.

A. Background

In order to improve the quality of education our government released Indonesian Government Regulation Number 74, 2008 about teachersin which it is very important for teachers to see and understand their responsibilities as the main characters on education.Stated in the regulation that teachers are educators with the primary tasks of educating, teaching, guiding, directing, coaching, assessing and evaluating learners article 1. Teachers are the agents of learning who have the function to improve the quality of national education article 4. Teachers should have four competences which include pedagogy, personality, social, and academic competences article10. In executing their duties they have to: a plan the lesson, implement the lesson plan, and assess and evaluate the learning outcomes; b enhance and develop academic qualifications and competence on an ongoing basis in line with the development of science, technology, and art article 20 a -b. Todays teachers‟ professionalism has become a hot issue in our education world. This issue has arisen as the result of the low quality of our education. People see the main culprits behind the reason of why the quality of our education is low are teachers.They judge that teachers are not qualified enough for teaching. They have low competences. The reasons are that teachers are not motivated to develop their professionalism; they are not encouraged to update their knowledge and skills. Some of them are reluctant to join such kind of teachers ‟ professional development programs; seminars, workshops or in-service training programs, because most of the programs need money to join. The government pays attention to this issue very much.Our government thinksthat it is very important to always support and facilitate teachers to develop their professionalism. One of the government ‟s efforts is releasing certification program. A teacher who can fulfill certain qualification will be given an educator- certificate. The educator-certificate is an indication that the teacher is a professional person. As stated in Indonesian Government Regulation Number 74, 2008 about Teachers that there are 10 components should be completed by teachers for certification program; 1 academic qualification, 2 training and workshops, 3 teaching experience, 4 teaching program, 5 official judgment, 6 academic prestige, 7 professional development, 8 scientific meeting, 9 organizational experience on education and social, and 10 relevant award. This program is very challenging for teachers, for the teachers who fulfill the qualification will get an incentive reward. Teachers need to update their knowledge and skills to catch up with the curriculum which changes from time to time. The curriculum of education in our country has changed many times. It changed in such aspects, as its approach, content, goal and material. The changing of the curriculum is as the result of the movement of the needs and the development of the society and technology. Directly it has some effects on how teachers implement the curriculum especially in the teaching and learning process. They have to find the suitable way of their teaching. They need to change their strategy, method or approach in order to achieve the goal of the curriculum. As what happened in the latest curriculum, curriculum 2006, it is a competency based curriculum. It contains standard competences and basic competences. In this curriculum teachers are free to decide the instructional design based on the situation and condition of the school where they are teaching. This condition requires teachers to be more creative and professional on being able to adjust themselves on fulfilling the target of the curriculum. Teachers rarely discuss about teaching problems, students‟ development, or teaching improvement together. We rarely see teachers sharing their teaching experiences in the teachers‟ office. It is common that teaching is a private activity. A teacher is the master in the classroom. Whatever happens in the classroom is closed. It is within the teacher and the students only. How far the teacher does a reflection on what and how the teaching and learning process becomes the teacher‟s autonomy. Teachers need professional development. It is not only to cover the goal and material of the curriculum but also to catch up with the development of the technology and science. Teachers need to learn more to acquire the new technology and science and then transfer them to the students. The world outside the classroom develops very fast. It will be wiser if the teachers do not step behind the students. Teachers can develop their professional through some kinds of activities such as attending seminar, workshop, study groups, peer collaboration, mentoring, etc. Lesson study is a Japanese form of professional development that centers on collaborative study of live classroom lessons Lewis 2006.Lesson study is a direct translation from the Japanese word jugyokenkyuwhich is composed of two words: jugyo which means lesson, and kenkyu which means research. In doing lesson study some teachers, usually 4 to 6 teachers make a group of leson study. They are planning a lesson together. One of the teachers implements the lesson plan in the classroom. During the lesson the other teachers are as observers. And then they make a reflection to see what should be revised and improved. In Indonesia, lesson study for mathematics has been applied in three regions Malang, Yogyakarta, and Bandung since 2006 through a scheme Strengthening In-Service Teacher Training of Mathematics and Science SISTTEMS Susilo 2007. Lesson study is a process by which teachers and teacher educators work together to critically improve the quality of classroom practice through a planning, observation and reflection cycle. Their activities are based on the principles of collegiality and mutual – learning to develop a learning community Suratno and Cock 2009. Professional development is very valuable for teachers in the process of teaching and learning. Lesson Study offers teachers to develop their professionalism. From that reason the purpose of this study is to give description and interpretation on how English teachers develop their professionalism through lesson study. This study is based on a research on one cycle of lesson study done by a group of four English junior high school teachers in Sleman. One cycle of lesson study consists of the three phases activities of lesson study: Plan, Do, and See.

B. Problem identification