In this chapter, results from the backgrounds of teachers show that the profile of teachers of English at primary level in Indonesia is diverse in terms of educational, linguistic, and occupational backgrounds. It has been demonstrated that teachers represented in the study are mostly those with a background in pre-service English education, but the majority of the English teaching professionals at primary level in Indonesia have no relevant qualification in English teaching. This implies results in this chapter must be read as indicative rather than representative of a national perspective on English teachers at
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primary level. A study involving a larger number of participants is as a consequence needed to obtain a national perspective on primary school English teachers in Indonesia.
The responses of the LTEs and MEBs have been parallel to the data generated from the PSETs and classroom observations. It has been demonstrated that the needs of the teachers in terms of skills are closely related to their profile. Exceptions do exist but some general findings were applicable for generalizations. Teachers who attended pre-service English education were found to be more confident with their English proficiency, but were found in great need of provision of pedagogical techniques and exposure to young learners. On the contrary, teachers who graduated from PGSD and SPG were generally not confident with their English proficiency, but were more versatile in terms of their pedagogical practices and their skill in dealing with young learners. Teachers without an English background but had lengthy experience in dealing with young learners were struggling in several pedagogical areas and were not very much confident with their English proficiency. Further analysis on the data shows that teachers from all groups were lacking skills such as maintaining students’ interest, planning contextually appropriate lessons, language proficiency, and integrating language skills; and these areas of skills deserve sufficient attention in language teacher education.
The findings in the chapter postulate that an epistemological base for the distinctive category of knowledge-base in teaching English to Young Learners is imperative for effective instruction. The findings of this study render support for the integration of the TESOL knowledge-base for teacher preparatory course as suggested by Richards (1998a), Freeman & Johnson (1998), Johnston & Goettsch (2000), and Fradd & Lee (1998). The model emerging from the study further advances a model on TESOL preparation program developed by Fradd & Lee (1998) and builds linkages on the intertwined and inseparable relationship between each set of knowledge for successful instruction.
The findings further demonstrate all teachers exhibited a great need of provision of knowledge of learners to recognize learners’ learning strategy and develop learning
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autonomy and to assist learners with learning difficulties. Teachers with limited experience displayed a great need of provision of contextual knowledge, as opposed to teachers with extensive teaching experiences who seemed to have well adjusted with their teaching environment. Teachers with extensive experiences and strong pedagogy preparation were in need of provision of knowledge of English with a particular reference to knowledge of phonetics and phonology, while teachers with an English background exhibited the need of provision of pedagogical knowledge. All these data are highly relevant to teacher education policymaking aimed in this study because, as suggested in Song & Cheng’s (2011) study, the development of teacher education programs that cater for the need of a group of teachers of specific area requires ample data on the pedagogical practices of the teachers.
Various areas of needs of teachers have been identified, but the interplay of contextual factors cannot be ignored. Data from the interviews and classroom observations illustrates that a large number of students, limited teaching facilities, limited time, assessment factor, limited support in terms of lesson planning and curriculum design, the intrusion of educational bureaucrats to both curriculum and publishing domains, and disagreement between teachers and publishers over coursebook materials adversely affected the pedagogical practices of teachers. This suggests the various contextual constraints that are often influential in the pedagogical practices of teachers (Su, 2006). Two major areas of pedagogy in which teachers were affected by the interplay of these factors are classroom organization and lesson planning. The resurgence of interests of parents and the proliferation of small and large private English courses, as shown in Chapter 3, may have been generally positive for the development of English teaching at primary level in the country. However, teachers’ motivation may also have largely been influenced, or even undermined, by the interplay of the aforementioned factors. This situation is exacerbated by their low employment status as well as the limited support that they receive from the central government.
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All those aspects have formed the ‘linguistic culture’ (Schiffman, 1996) of primary school English teaching in Indonesia. The significance of linguistic culture is most apparent when the needs of teachers in the areas of coursebook and curriculum development, the use of first language in teaching English, and the contextual knowledge of teachers are taken into account in line with their multilingual skill and their employment status as non-civil servants. This calls for a place of linguistic culture in pre-service and in-service education for primary school English teachers. Teachers must be prepared with knowledge and skills to “understand, view, and value the challenges of languages and cultures education” in order to sustain their “motivation in often adverse language-teaching environments” (Crozet, 2008, p. 19).
This is significant especially in the light of suggestions set forth in Section 7.2.2 to prepare teachers with specific training in how to develop culturally appropriate curriculum and lesson plans to attend to the needs of the students. Such inclusion is an empowerment for teachers to develop appropriate skills and knowledge to become more active participants in decision making, not only at pedagogical level but also policymaking level. It is also relevant to the spirit of decentralization of education that is currently embraced by the Indonesian government while at the same time renders greater authority and autonomy to teachers (Sections 3.1.1 & 3.1.2).
Overall, the findings of this chapter have provided implications on teacher education at both pre-service and in-service levels. These findings will be considered in the subsequent chapters for analysis of the delivery of teacher education at pre-service and in-service levels and suggestions for policy on language teacher education that appear in Chapter 10.
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