Initiative needed to train our teachers properly
Initiative needed to train our teachers properly
By Mochtar Buchori
JAKARTA (JP): Specialized teachers in music, the visual arts
and physical education at the elementary school level are hard to
find in Indonesia.
These teachers have been specially trained and can
professionally educate children in these three areas. Many
parents and teachers do not realize that teaching music, visual
arts and physical education at the elementary level needs special
knowledge and skills. Not just any teacher who plays music can
teach music, and there is no guarantee that a teacher proficient
in teaching music at the high school level can perform equally
well with grade one to grade three pupils.
At the high school level, music teachers can concentrate on
performance. At this level a kind of natural selection process
has already taken place. Students who have an aptitude for music
can clearly be identified and separated from average students.
The teacher's task is to develop two separate programs -- one so
the musically gifted can master various forms of musical
expression and the other for ordinary students to appreciate
musical beauty.
At the lower elementary levels there are no clear indicators
for those with special musical talent. All children perform more
or less equally well at this stage, with the exception of those
children who have received private music instruction at home.
Here it is the task of the teacher to discover who has special
talent, who has limited talent, who is musically ordinary, who is
musically deft and who is musically barren. Special training is
needed to do this. A good teacher can tell by the way a child
talks if he or she has a gift to express things well musically.
The same principle is true for teaching the visual arts and
physical education. Again, teaching these subjects at the lower
grades is different than teaching at the high school level or at
upper elementary school levels. Assigning teachers without
special training could harm the children and an inappropriate
comment can kill a budding interest. At the same time, undue
praise can create false hope and a distorted image of one's
talent.
The harm most often brought about by unqualified teachers is
that the potential of "normal children" is not actualized. This
means that those children who could have achieved something are
reduced to total ignorance or incompetence in these fields. This
is not only a loss to the student but also to the community and
the nation.
Children with real talent in these fields generally will not
experience any significant loss due to unqualified teachers. It
is primarily "normal children" and those with limited talent who
are victimized by unprofessional practices.
The number of children in these two categories is much bigger
than the number of children with great talent. If our children in
the past had been educated by teachers with professional
knowledge and skills, some might have become individuals of
appreciable achievement, or even outstanding achievement.
How does one explain the current situation in our elementary
schools? Isn't there any special training in these fields?
The main problem lies in our training system. Training for
specialization in these three areas is available only at the S-1
level, the Sarjana level. This is considered a training level for
prospective high school teachers. Training for prospective
elementary school teachers is provided at the D-2 level, a level
considered lower than the S-level because it lasts for only two
years, after senior high school.
Only those who prepare themselves to become secondary school
teachers can specialize in teaching music, visual arts and
physical education. Within the training program for elementary
schools there is no such opportunity. Students are trained to
teach everything at the elementary school level, except religion,
which can only be provided by teachers that have graduated from
Islamic teacher training institutions.
The training of religion (Islam) teachers is done by
institutions under the Ministry of Religion, and not the Ministry
of Education and Culture. Though it may have changed, there used
to be a sharp distinction between the training for Islamic
elementary schools (the Ibtidaiyah) and Islamic secondary school
teachers (the Tsanawiyah and the Aliyah). Here, too, the training
for elementary school teachers is considered much simpler than
that for prospective secondary school teachers.
The system for training teachers has become too complex. With
this system we fail to provide our elementary schools with the
kind of teachers needed to carry out an educational program which
can truly guide our children to develop their potential.
The time has come for a careful review of our system and now
the big question is: Who will take the initiative?
The writer is an observer of social and cultural affairs.