TEACHER-LED PROFESSIONAL GROWTH: THE REALITY OF BOTTOM-UP TPD AMONG EFL TEACHERS IN INDONESIA

Caecilia Lucky Dewi Purnomo; Paulus Kuswandono

doi:10.20527/jetall.v8i3.23742

TEACHER-LED PROFESSIONAL GROWTH: THE REALITY OF BOTTOM-UP TPD AMONG EFL TEACHERS IN INDONESIA

Caecilia Lucky Dewi Purnomo, Paulus Kuswandono

Abstract

English teacher professional development in Indonesia has been more top-down and oriented towards administrative fulfilment. However, a bottom-up approach is considered more capable of encouraging meaningful and sustainable professional growth, even though it is still underexplored in Indonesia contexts. This research aims to explore the reality of bottom-up professional development among EFL teachers in Indonesia, focusing on their strategies to initiate and implement bottom-up TPD and the impact, in conjunction with the challenges and barriers that influence their efforts, especially from institutional and external factors. This research is qualitative employing open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to collect the data. The results show that bottom-up TPD works through synergy between personal initiative, collaboration between teachers, technology support, and conducive school environment, which significantly influences changes in teaching practices and teacher professional development. However, teachers also face obstacles in the form of high workload, time constraints, and inconsistent institutional support, so that teacher resilience is an important factor in maintaining the TPD process. This research reveals that bottom-up TPD among English teachers brings more positive results on their teaching practice. In spite of that, the balance depth of narrating the success and failure of bottom-up TPD is still limited.

Keywords

bottom-up TPD, Indonesian EFL teachers, teacher professional development

Full Text:

PDF

References

Argyris, C., & Schön, D. A. (1996). Organizational Learning II: Theory, Method and Practice. Addison-Wesley.

Avillanova, A. A., & Kuswandono, P. (2019). English teacher professional development in Indonesia: The challenges and opportunities. English Review: Journal of English Education, 8(1), 41–50. https://doi.org/10.25134/erjee.v8i1.1972

Bergmark, U. (2020). Teachers’ professional learning when building a research-based education: context-specific, collaborative and teacher-driven professional development. Professional Development in Education, 49(2), 210–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2020.1827011

Borg, S. (2015). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. Bloomsbury.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Cirocki, A., & Farrell, T. S. C. (2019). Professional development of secondary school EFL teachers: Voices from Indonesia. System, 85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2019.102111

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Day, C. (2018). Professional Identity Matters: Agency, Emotions, and Resilience. In Research on Teacher Identity: Mapping Challenges and Innovations (pp. 61–70).

Dehghan, F. (2020). Teachers’ perceptions of professionalism: a top-down or a bottom-up decision-making process? Professional Development in Education, 48(4), 705–714. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2020.1725597

Dewi, U., Fithriani, R., & Berutu, H. (2024). Indonesian EFL teachers’ professional development: Views and current practices. Indonesian Research Journal in Education, 8(2), 589–607. https://doi.org/10.22437/irje.v8i2.39425

Díaz-Maggioli, G. (2004). Teacher-centered Professional Development. ASCD.

Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., & Paloniemi, S. (2013). What Is Agency? Conceptualizing Professional Agency at Work. Educational Research Review, 10, 45–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2013.05.001

Farrell, T. S. (2019). Professional development through reflective practice for English-medium instruction (EMI) teachers. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(3), 277–286. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1612840

Goa, E. (2021). The Effect of Bottom-Up Continuous Professional Development Approach on English Language Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Belief. Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry, 12(7).

Gu, Q., & Day, C. (2007). Teachers resilience: A necessary condition for effectiveness. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(8), 1302–1316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.06.006

Indira, E. W. M., Hermanto, A., & Pramono, S. E. (2020). Improvement of Teacher Competence in the Industrial Revolution Era 4.0. International Conference on Science and Education and Technology (ISET 2019), 350–352.

Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. SAGE Publications.

Kyureghyan, H. (2024). Exploring teacher professional agency in the context of the bottom-up professional development conferences: perspectives and implications. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press.

Lieberman, A., & Miller, L. (2008). Teachers in Professional Communities: Improving Teaching and Learning. Teachers College Press.

Little, D. (1995). Learning as dialogue: The Dependence of Learner Autonomy on Teacher Autonomy. System, 23(2), 175–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/0346-251X(95)00006-6

Macias, A. (2017). Teacher-Led Professional Development: A Proposal for a Bottom-Up Structure Approach. International Journal of Teacher Leadership, 8(1), 76–91.

Mayangsari, D., Nawangsari, N. A. F., Yoenanto, N. H., & Suminar, D. R. (2025). Unraveling Intrinsic Motivation: The Key to Empowering Teacher Professional Growth. Journal Evaluation in Education (JEE), 6(1), 268–277. https://doi.org/10.37251/jee.v6i1.1390

Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning. Jossey-Bass.

Opfer, V. D., & Pedder, D. (2011). Conceptualizing Teacher Professional Learning. Review of Educational Research, 81(3), 376–407. https://doi.org/10.3102/003465431141360

Perdana, I., Ishak, R. B., & binti Mansor, M. (2023). Determinants of Intrinsic Motivation in Private School Teachers in South Kalimantan: an Empirical Analysis Based on Herzberg’s Motivator Factor Theory. Jurnal Syntax Transformation, 4(12), 216–226. https://doi.org/10.46799/jst.v4i12.887

Piaget, J. (1970). The Science of Education and the Psychology of The Child. New York.

Poulton, P. (2020). Teacher agency in curriculum reform: The role of assessment in enabling and constraining primary teachers’ agency. Curriculum Perspectives, 40(1), 35–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-020-00100-w

Priestley, M., Biesta, G., & Robinson, S. (2015). Teacher Agency: What is it and why does it matter? In Flip the System: Changing Education from the Bottom Up. Routledge.

Rahman, A. (2021). High participation, low impact: The challenge for teacher professional development in Indonesia. International Journal of Pedagogy and Teacher Education, 5(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.20961/ijpte.v5i1.46636

Revina, S., Pramana, R. P., Bjork, C., & Suryadarma, D. (2023). Replacing the old with the new: Long-term issues of teacher professional development reforms in Indonesia. Asian Education and Development Studies, 12(4/5), 262–274. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-12-2022-0148

Revina, S., Pramana, R. P., Fillaili, R., & Suryadarma, D. (2020). Systemic Constraints Facing Teacher Professional Development in a Middle-Income Country: Indonesia’s Experience over Four Decades. RISE Working Paper Series. https://doi.org/10.25446/oxford.21107782.v1

Romero, G., & Vasilopoulos, G. (2020). From rural China to Canada: Communities of Practice to Support A Teacher Professional Development Study Program Abroad. TESL-EJ, 23(4).

Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Temple Smith.

Schreurs, B., & De Laat, M. (2012). Work-Based Networked Learning: a bottom-up approach to stimulate the professional development of teachers. International Conference on Networked Learning, 8, 284–293.

Sutomo, M., & Siregar, E. S. (2022). Teacher professional development in Indonesia’s remote areas with driven educational philanthropic institutions. Jurnal Penelitian Dan Pengembangan Pendidikan, 6(3), 500–509. https://doi.org/10.23887/jppp.v6i3.55742

Tschannen-Moran, M., & Hoy, A. W. (2001). Teacher Efficacy: Capturing an Elusive Construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 783–805. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(01)00036-1

Uştuk, Ö., & De Costa, P. I. (2021). Reflection as meta‐action: Lesson study and EFL teacher professional development. TESOL Journal, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.531

Vangrieken, K., Meredith, C., Packer, T., & Kyndt, E. (2017). Teacher communities as a context for professional development: A systematic review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 61, 47–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2016.10.001

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press.

Widayati, A., MacCallum, J., & Woods-McConney, A. (2021). Teachers’ perceptions of continuing professional development: A study of Vocational High School Teachers in Indonesia. Teacher Development, 25(5), 604–621. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2021.1933159

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20527/jetall.v8i3.23742