Building Teachers’ Understanding of Classroom Action Research: A Rural Case Study in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia Open University (UT: Universitas Terbuka) is a large, open university delivering distance education to students throughout Indonesia. An important aspect of its mission is to provide opportunities for Indonesian teachers to improve their education in-service. This includes two courses on classroom action research. In order to assess the effectiveness of these courses and, if necessary, improve them, a team of lecturers from UT conducted an investigation of the challenges teachers were facing in learning to conduct classroom action research through the UT modules. The team found that the modules did not adequately reflect an understanding of the actual characteristics of the teachers they were serving and were thus less effective than they might be in teaching teachers to conduct classroom action research. Changes in both the content and scheduling of the modules are recommended in order to more effectively promote classroom action research in Indonesian schools. AbstrakUniversitas Terbuka atau UT merupakan universitas besar yang menyelenggarakan pendidikan jarak jauh untuk mahasiswa di berbagai penjuru Indonesia. Aspek terpenting dari misi UT adalah menyediakan kesempatan kepada para guru Indonesia untuk meningkatkan kualitas pengabdian mereka di dunia pendidikan. Materi yang ditawarkan UT termasuk dua mata kuliah tentang penelitian tindakan kelas. Dalam rangka mengevaluasi efektifitas kelas ini, dan memperbaikinya jika perlu, tim dosen dari UT meneliti kendala yang dihadapi para guru dalam belajar melakukan penelitian tindakan kelas melalui modul UT. Tim menyimpulkan, modul kelas ini tidak merefleksikan pemahaman yang cukup tentang karakterisktik riil para guru yang diajar, dan karena itu, kurang efektif untuk dijadikan acuan mengajar penelitian tindakan kelas. Tim menyarankan beberapa perubahan pada isi dan penjadwalan modul, guna lebih mengefektifkan kampanye penelitian tindakan kelas di sekolah-sekolah di Indonesia.

The Complexities of Implementing Classroom-Based Action Research in a Remote School in Indonesia

“…The main reason for the ineffectiveness in this school was the lack of understanding of the "Active Learning" teaching approach introduced and the lack of leadership support. Unsuccessful results were also reported by Sukmayadi et al (2011) Despite the problems reported in these studies, suggestions have been made that CBAR should continue to be introduced and implemented in schools as a professional learning model in Indonesia. The challenges to this implementation are many, including that teachers are seldom considered capable of doing research (Cain, 2011).…”

“…The challenges to this implementation are many, including that teachers are seldom considered capable of doing research (Cain, 2011). Efforts made by the government of Indonesia to deliver workshops on CBAR have limited success: only a few have been delivered (Burns & Rochsantiningsih, 2006), and these have not been well managed (Bjork, 2004), and the quality has been poor (Sukmayadi et al, 2011), due to the lack of personnel or adequately trained trainers (Evans et al, 2009). Many lecturers-as the facilitators of action research in Indonesia-have not been trained in classroom action research themselves, and most have no experience conducting action research (Milligan, 2011).…”

“…The findings demonstrate that although teachers managed their own research, guidance and assistance in conducting research was extremely important. Burns and Rochsantiningsih's (2006) There have been other action research projects conducted in Indonesia with teachers working in other subject areas (for example, Bahri Ys, Mara, Yamin, AB, and Dhin, 2011;Lim, Pagram, & Nastiti, 2009;Susilo, 2009;and Sukmayadi et al, 2011). Susilo (2009) involved sixty practising teachers of math and science at a junior high school in East Java, Indonesia.…”

“…Adiwinata (2012) notes that less than 10% of Indonesian teachers are able to produce academic work including doing CBAR and writing CBAR reports, and 70% of teachers fail to move to a higher level of their career as a result of the lack of skills in conducting CBAR. Accordingly, as well as running CBAR as a compulsory course in pre-service teacher education programs (Sukmayadi et al, 2011), efforts have been made to introduce CBAR through workshops sponsored by governments (Suadinmath, 2012;Wildanrahmatullah, 2012) and private providers (Halim, 2011).…”

Rethinking Classroom Action Research: A Worthy Effort for Quality Learning?

“…In 2005, the government of Indonesia passed a law stipulating that teachers in Indonesia have to hold a bachelor degree or equivalent and need to be certified (Sukmayadi et al, 2011). This led to implementation of nation-wide in-service teachers' professional development including PKB and PPG.…”