Professional Development for Teachers

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Research Instruments

The Questionnaire

The present study utilized self-completion questionnaire as the instrument to collect data. Questionnaire was used as the instrument to collect data for the present study for the advantages it has compared to other type of instruments. Since the researcher could not meet the participants in person and they were quite dispersed, using questionnaire was cheaper, quicker to administer, and convenience for the participants. Besides, interference such as variability and presence effects of the researcher could be eliminated (Bryman, 2012). Since the participants did not speak in English, the language used in the questionnaire was Indonesian language. This questionnaire consists of six sections namely background information section, opportunities to learn provided by PPG-SM3T program, professional knowledge given by the program, professional practice provided in the program, professional engagement during the program, and additional questions section.

Variables in the Questionnaire

Variables used in the questionnaire for this study are mainly taken from questionnaire used in one of Victorian Institute of Teaching project called Future Teachers Project with some additions and changes. Some aspects from Indonesian Teacher Law 2005 were also added since the setting of the study was in Indonesia. There were 96 questions in the questionnaire which consists of several sections.
In background information section, participants were asked about their information including name, gender, age, the major they took in PPG-SM3T program, former university, and experience as teacher. In opportunity to learn section, participants were given a multiple response set of questions which consists of 17 questions. The main question asked were “The next questions ask you about the opportunities to learn provided by PPG-SM3T program. Please give your answer by choosing one of the four options. To what extent PPG-SM3T program gave you the opportunity to: …”. In the next section, Professional Knowledge section, participants were given 14 multiple response questions with the main question “The next session of the questionnaire asks you about how well PPG-SM3T program giving you a good understanding of aspects of teaching. Give your answer by choosing one of the four given option. Please indicate the extent to which PPG-SM3T program gave you a good understanding of: …”. In professional practice section, there were two main questions asked to the participants. First was “Give your answer by choosing one of the options. Please indicate the extent to which PPG-SM3T program prepared you to: …” and there were 21 multiple response questions given along with this main question. The second one was “Please think about your field teaching practice during the final semester of your PPG-SM3T program, to what extents do you agree with the following statements: …”. There were 10 multiple response questions given along with this main question. In relation to professional engagement section, there were also two different main questions given to the participants. The first one is “Give your answer by choosing one of the options. Please indicate the extent to which PPG-SM3T program prepared and gave you opportunity to: …” and 16 multiple response questions were given along with this main question. The second one is “give your answer by choosing one of the options. During your PPG-SM3T program, how often did you: …”. Six multiple response questions were given along with this main question. In the additional questions section, participants were asked about supervision during field teaching practice, workshops given by the program, features in the program, recommendation on the program, and overall effectiveness of the program.

Reliability test

Reliability test was done for each of the component. Results of Reliability test shows that all the components have Cronbach’s Alpha value greater than 0.5 which means the data are reliable to be analyzed. Component of Learning the Practice of Teaching has Cronbach’s Alpha value 0.837 and the Cronbach Alpha value for Learning via Feedback and To Do Evaluation component is 0.502. Components Knowledge about the Students and Knowledge about the Subject have Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.805 and 0.736. Value of Cronbach’s Alpha of Practice about Classroom Management component is 0.772 while component of Practice to do with Curriculum and Assessment has Cronbach Alpha value of 0.807. Quality of Field Teaching Practice component has Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.859. Personal and Social Component and Reflection and Working with Others, has Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.793 and 0.759. Component of Non-teaching Activities has Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.759. More about reliability results can be seen in Appendix B.

Research Procedures

The Participants

As explained in Chapter 2, there were 14 state universities assigned to organize PPG-SM3T program in Indonesia year 2014. Since the present study is a case study, one state university was then chosen which was located in central Indonesia as the place to conduct the study. It was chosen for its quality was in middle level compared to the remaining universities. In other words, it was neither among the best universities nor among the worst. From the 14 state universities, this university ranked number 7 according to statistics from 4 International Colleges and University site and number 8 according to Webometrics 2015 site. Convenience sampling was used to select the participants for this research. Using this sampling strategy could not allow the researcher to generalize the findings of the research, however, they could provide a springboard for further research or allow links to be forged with existing findings in the area (Bryman, 2012). Total participants of the program were 85 persons and 60 of them responded to the questionnaire. These 60 respondents were the participants for this study. Among 60 people who responded to the questionnaire, 27 of them were male and 33 were female.
The education background of the participants was varied. They were all graduated from university of education, however, not all of them took their bachelor degree in the present state university. Forty eight of them were graduates of the present university and the rest took their bachelor degree in universities out of the region. All of them have passed from SM3T program before taking this PPG-SM3T program, however, they completed their SM3T in different places. The participants were also varied in terms of age that was among 23 to 28 years old. About 25 of the participants were below 25 years old and the rest were 25 years old and above. PPG-SM3T program established in this university offers 4 majors namely Physics, Biology, Citizenships, and Elementary Education. As much as 19 participants took major in Citizenship, 12 were Biology, 13 were in Physics, and 16 took Elementary Education.

Data Collection

Collecting data from far and dispersed participants was a challenge for the researcher. Survey application called Typeform was used as a tool to collect the data. It was the best choice for collecting data in such condition since it can reach more participants compared to traditional methods. Typeform was a convenient application where the participants were invited to go to a link to complete the questionnaire. The participants could use their cell phone, tab, or pc to complete the questionnaire. It was low cost, faster response, and especially for this study could reach more participants compared to the traditional survey. Respondents only need to go to the link provided then click or type their answer. The link to the questionnaire was shared on two social media namely Blackberry Messenger group and Facebook group. The members of these two groups were those who took PPG-SM3T program in the chosen university of education. Before sharing the link, the researcher had made contact with some key informants and asked them to invite her to their Blackberry Messenger and Facebook groups. As information, one of the key informants was coordinator for Biology class during his time taking the program. Being able to join their BBM group and having key informants that was a class coordinator were advantages and very helpful for the researcher. The researcher could talk directly to most of the will-be-participants, did crosschecking, or asking questions about any aspect of PPG-SM3T program.
Before collecting the data, the researcher made a small try out of the questionnaire to 7 people to check if the content was confusing or if people who read it could easily understand the questions and made some revision. The researcher also introduced herself informally in BBM group saying that she would need their help to complete questionnaire for her thesis. The detailed information in form of introduction letter was later given along with the link to the questionnaire. Data collection was done on the first two weeks of March. The researcher scheduled 3 weeks for data collection: 2 weeks fixed and 1 week extension in case the data was insufficient. On the first week, the researcher shared the link in BBM groups but she asked the key informant to copy her post and shared it in the Facebook group. Less than 50% of the data was collected on the first week. On the second week, the researcher posted a reminder in the BBM group and shared the link to the questionnaire herself on the Facebook group. The reaction was satisfying, another 50% of the data was successfully obtained at the end of the second week.

Data Analysis

To be able to analyze the data, result of the questionnaire was imported from Typeform to Microsoft Excel. The data was analyzed by using SPSS program and graphs were generated by using Microsoft Excel. Several types of analysis were done to analyze the data namely, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Reliability test, and Exploratory Data Analysis by looking at the frequencies, percentages, and doing cross-tabulation. Since the data collected for the present study was in a large number (60 respondents and 96 questions), PCA was delivered. PCA is widely used in data processing and dimensionality reduction (Zou, Hastie, and Tibshirani, 2006). It enables researcher to explore previously unknown groupings of variables, to seek underlying patterns, clustering, and groups (Cohen, Manion, and Morrison, 2007). The purpose of doing PCA is to reduce the number of observed variables to a smaller number which account for most of the variance of the observed variables. The resulted variables create components (Kim, 2008). Important things that should be considered in applying PCA are the values of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s test and factor loading. KMO measures the sampling adequacy and for the present study the value should be greater than 0.5 for the principal component analysis to proceed. Bartlett’s test is another indication of the strength of the relationship among variables. Its value is also considered significant in the level of 0.05. Factor loading shows the correlation of the variable and the minimum acceptable factor loading value for this study is 0.5.
Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure of a concept. In relation to quantitative study, Reliability test was done to measure whether the devise used in the present study (questions in the questionnaire) was consistent and reliable to measure the concept of the present study (teacher professional development) (Bryman, 2012). Reliability of the questionnaire used in the present study was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha. This measured how consistent was the variables making up the scale with each other and provides a measure of the extent to which the scale is tapping a uni-dimensional construct. High value of Cronbach’s Alpha means the data have uni-dimensional structure. A computed alpha coefficient ranges in value from 0 to 1 where 0 denotes no internal reliability and 1 denotes perfect internal reliability. The acceptable Cronbach’s Alpha value in the present study is greater than 0.5.
After the components were generated by PCA and their reliabilities were tested, the next analysis was Exploratory Data Analysis by looking into their frequencies, means, and standard deviations. The purpose was to provide evidence whether there were any similarities or differences on participants’ response toward each component. Finding frequencies and standard deviations were done in the multiple response set analysis in SPSS while frequencies were analyzed by computing the variables in each component. The purpose of computing variables was to create a new scale measure that combines several existing variables. In this study, one new variable would be created under the heading of each component after computing the variables in it. The last, cross tabulation was delivered. Cross tabulation, also known as contingency table analysis, is used to analyze categorical (nominal measurement scale) data. It is a two (or more) dimensional table that records the number (frequency) of respondents that have the specific characteristics described in the cells of the table. Cross tabulation is like a frequency table but it allows two variables to be simultaneously analysed so that relationships between the two variables can be examined. It helps to understand how two different variables are related to each other (Bryman, 2012).

Ethical Consideration

When a study includes human respondents, there are some ethical issues to be addressed. Ethical issues arise at a variety stages when conducting a research. Bryman (2012) highlights that following certain kinds of ethics is highly important when conducting a research. During the present research, the researcher conducted the followings to minimize ethical issues. The participants were giving information about the researcher’s identity and background. Purpose of the research, content of questionnaire, importance of the data for the present study as well as for the researcher’s thesis, and benefits that might derived from the research were also explained. Before completing the questionnaire, the participants were given description on how to complete the questionnaire and encouraged to ask if they have questions about any aspects of the research. Confidentiality of the institution where the participants taking PPG-SM3T program as well as the participants were taken into the consideration. Participants were informed about things would be done with the information they provided and all data was given strict confidentially. Although they maybe identifiable in the results of the questionnaire, participants were ensured that their identity would remain anonymous and would not be revealed in the thesis report. The concerns above were addressed twice; first time the researcher make a contact with the participants before they were given the questionnaire, and second in an introduction letter proceeding the questionnaire.

Table of contents :

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
1.2 Aims and Objectives
1.3 Scope and Limitations of the Research
1.4 Significance of the Study
1.5 Context of the Study
1.5.1 Overview of Indonesia
1.5.2 The National System of Education
1.5.3 Teachers in Indonesia
1.5.4 PPG program for Teachers in Indonesia
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Defining Profession, Professional, and Professionalism
2.2 Teacher Professionalism
2.3 Professional Development for Teachers
2.4 Teaching Profession in Indonesia
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Research Instruments
3.2.1 The Questionnaire
3.2.2 Variables in the Questionnaire
3.2.3 Reliability Test
3.3 Research Procedures
3.3.1 The Participants .
3.3.2 Data Collection .
3.3.3 Data Analysis
3.4 Ethical Consideration
ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
4.1 Overview
4.2 Data Analysis
4.2.1 Demographic Findings
4.2.2 Principal Component Analysis .
4.2.3 Exploratory Data Analysis .
4.2.3.1 Analysis on Each Component .
4.2.3.2 Additional Questions section
4.2.3.3 Cross Tabulation Analysis on Components
4.2.3.4 Cross Tabulation Analysis on Cases
4.3 Summary and Interpretation of the Findings
4.3.1 Pre-service teachers’ perception on the opportunities provided by PPG-SM3T program to learn to teach
4.3.2 Pre-service teachers’ perceptions on how well PPG-SM3T program prepare them with professional knowledge
4.3.3 Pre-service teachers’ perceptions on how well PPG-SM3T program prepare them with professional practice
4.3.4 Pre-service teachers’ perceptions on how well PPG-SM3T program prepare them to be able to engage personally and socially with their profession
DISCUSSIONS, RECOMMENDATION, AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Discussion and Recommendation . .
5.2 Conclusion
References

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