Teachers’ professionalism and continuing professional development: The perceptions of accounting teachers in vocational high schools in Yogyakarta Indonesia

Widayati, Ani (2017) Teachers’ professionalism and continuing professional development: The perceptions of accounting teachers in vocational high schools in Yogyakarta Indonesia. Professional Doctorate thesis, Murdoch University.

Abstract

Teacher professional development is considered an important strategy in education
reform (e.g. Day & Sachs, 2004). Even though there is much written about professional
development, teacher professionalism and new conceptions of professionalism, little research
has investigated teachers’ perceptions of these concepts. In Indonesia, the government is
reforming national education in line with globalisation with a focus on teacher competencies
and teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD). I used Bronfenbrenner’s
bioecological model to explore Indonesian vocational education teachers’ perceptions of
professionalism and continuing professional development and the environments in which
development occurs.

The study employed a qualitative interpretive approach to better understand teachers’
perceptions of professionalism and CPD and factors they perceived to be related to their CPD.
The participants were six accounting teachers in Yogyakarta province, Indonesia, including
three certified teachers and three uncertified teachers. Data sources included face-to-face
interviews and teaching artefacts the teachers brought to the interview and used to explain their
views and experience. The data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Teachers’ explanations revealed a range of perceptions of professionalism and CPD.
While some teachers’ conceptions of professionalism were traditional, others were in the
process of change towards a transformative conceptualisation. These accounting teachers
perceived a range of factors affected their CPD, including person characteristics and
environmental contexts such as students, family, colleagues at the microsystem level, principal
and school level teacher forum at the mesosystem level, laws and provincial level teacher forum
at the exosystem level, and national qualification framework, curriculum, ASEAN Economic
Community at the macrosystem level. I discuss the importance of these factors in developing
strategies to support teacher development to meet the demands of a changing society.

Item Type:	Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	School of Education
United Nations SDGs:	Goal 4: Quality Education
Supervisor(s):	MacCallum, Judy and Woods-McConney, Amanda
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/39181

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