Teachers in need of better training

Teachers in need of better training

Leony Aurora, Jakarta

Teachers should receive training on creative teaching methods,
skills that will be much needed in implementing a competence-
based curriculum, says an education observer.

The director of the Foundation for Excellence in Education
(FEE), Susan Stengel, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that
after observing a number of public and private schools in the
capital, she concluded that teachers did not have sufficient
experience and resources to teach the new curriculum, which will
come into effect in the 2004/2005 academic year.

Unlike the current curriculum, which requires students to
learn specified chunks of knowledge, the competence-based
curriculum will require students to understand more about the
concepts rather than just memorizing the information.

"For example, they will have to describe what a hero is
instead of just memorizing the definition," she said.

In an attempt to boost teachers' creativity in presenting the
new material, the FEE has conducted a series of training courses
for teachers from the kindergarten to senior high school levels
at the Al-Izhar school in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta.

Most of the around 120 participants are teachers from Al-
Izhar. Sixty-nine teachers from other schools, both private and
state-owned, have taken part at least once in the 13 courses held
so far. The last course for the 2003/2004 academic year was
completed last Saturday.

Stengel said she hoped the teachers could become trainers to
help their colleagues develop the necessary skills.

The FEE has also conducted three half-day training courses at
the SDN 7 and SDN 9 state elementary schools in Cilandak, South
Jakarta.

"They (the teachers) were very enthusiastic and really want to
apply the methods they have learnt," she said. However, it was
difficult for them to develop the right methods for other
subjects due to a lack of resources.

An official with the Jakarta Elementary Education Agency, Iing
Ahmad Mumkin, said that although the Ministry of National
Education had yet to officially announce that the competence-
based curriculum would be used in the next academic year, the
agency has already made the necessary preparations.

"We have held meetings with head teachers to inform them about
the new curriculum," he said. The school officials were expected
to explain about the curriculum to their subordinates and
teachers.

At the national level, the education ministry has previously
said it would provide additional funding in 2005 for teacher
training. This year, the ministry plans to recruit 110,500 new
teachers.