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A letter to schoolteachers
The shift from traditional inperson class to distance or hybrid learning is not simple. To put it in context, the Education and Culture Ministry recently reported that 68 million students from early childhood education to high school have been learning from home. These students are taught by around 3.6 million teachers, more than 50 percent of them are contractual ones with low salary and limited teaching resources.
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Mobile learning: Biology teacher Wahyu Adi Prasetyo (left) and English teacher Rantiyani use mobile phones to interact with their students during online classes in South Tangerang, Banten, on Aug. 10, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced students to adapt to home learning. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
Dear Indonesian schoolteachers,
Congratulations for surviving teaching during the first months of the pandemic. You have done an amazing job, defying all odds!
The shift from traditional inperson class to distance or hybrid learning is not simple. To put it in context, the Education and Culture Ministry recently reported that 68 million students from early childhood education to high school have been learning from home. These students are taught by around 3.6 million teachers, more than 50 percent of them are contractual ones with low salary and limited teaching resources.
To complicate things further, socioeconomic discrepancies have affected teachers and students with limited access to the internet or digital devices. A survey conducted by UNICEF in June shows that some 66 percent of more than 60 million students of different education levels said they felt uncomfortable with distance learning, while 35 percent cited poor internet connections and limited access to digital devices as the source of the problem.
Schoolteachers and education authorities are not without solutions to tackle these issues. Students in Yogyakarta and Sikka in East Nusa Tenggara, for examples, shifted to local radio to facilitate learning activities. Some teachers in the East Java town of Madiun even used walkie talkies to guide and interact with students. At the national level, public TV station TVRI broadcast learning materials.
At this challenging time, parents play an important role in guiding their children in following the learning activities from home, although many complain they have to juggle between that and other responsibilities. Some parents have even blamed teachers for not doing enough to help students adapt to the new learning environment.
Teachers have long understood these challenges. Some high school teachers have tried to adjust the learning standards, lesson plans, and student assessments.
In June, the Indonesian Teachers Union (PGRI) demanded that the government formulate an emergency curriculum, saying it would be impossible to use onesize-fits-all standards. Finally, in August, the ministry allowed schools to adjust the Curriculum 2013 standards.
For a university lecturer like me, who enjoy some degree of freedom in instructional design and assessment, this might not be anything special. However, this long-awaited policy feels like a breath of fresh air for primary and secondary education.
With this substantial degree of instructional design freedom, teachers with their education institutions may begin to ponder their education approach. This can be a golden opportunity to reinvent the education.
First, teachers can utilize more performance assessment. Some studies suggest that performance assessment can promote higherorder skills like problem solving and critical thinking. This practice can push negative washback of tests at minimum. Performance assessment can involve students’ knowledge and proficiency in performing real-world tasks using the skills and knowledge learned in the lesson unit.
However, this assessment may require teachers to spend more time in the evaluation process. And of course, you do not want those sleepless nights evaluating portfolios or videos sent by the students. Therefore, good time management, clear guidelines, realistic expected outcomes and clear scoring rubric are necessary. To avoid students’ frustration, vague and unrealistic expectations should be avoided as some students may not have an ideal environment at home to support their learning process.
Furthermore, a formative assessment that includes small quizzes must be available for several retakes. This will reduce learning anxiety and promote learning retention. Gone are the days when teachers and parents worry whether students cheat or not.
Second, repetitive assignments should be avoided, as this may discourage students. It can be worse if teachers do not provide sufficient constructive feedback. Assignments should vary, as maintaining students’ interests is key. When possible, the pandemic can be put into context. Even better, an assignment that takes students some time away from their screen or digital device can be good for their health.
Third, investing in asynchronous learning methods and materials will have a better long-lasting impact during these times. This will give students and teachers more space to deal with issues at home and at school. As Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim said the decision to reopen schools in yellow and green zones falls on the parents, students of the same class will have a bigger gap in achieving learning objectives. Asynchronous learning will be beneficial for such a situation.
Finally, we all know that engaging students is the key to a successful class, which is, of course, not easy. Putting the debate aside, even if your institution decides to reopen, it will be different. Students will be divided in shifts, and class activities will be limited, as physical distancing should be enforced. Therefore, efforts should be made to develop good rapport with students using whatever methods possible. Troubled students should be addressed as soon as possible.
The process for ideal distance or hybrid learning will be a long endeavor. There will be another debate about which standards should apply to measure your students’ achievement, but that will be answered along with the efforts to make learning more accessible.
No teacher is perfect. But teachers are at the frontline of saving the nation from the “generational catastrophe” the UN has warned about. It is time for us to appreciate your hard work and never-ending efforts to make learning more accessible and to keep students not too far away from the learning trajectory.
Thank you, Indonesian schoolteachers! A special mention is extended for temporary contract schoolteachers with limited resources but great perseverance to teach their students. This nation is greatly indebted.
Yours sincerely,
A fellow educator
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Fulltime lecturer of Hotel Business Program at Podomoro University, Jakarta, and Fulbright 2015 awardee for MA in TESOL at Minnesota State University, Mankato
