EXPLORING TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ON TEACHING AND

THEIR TEACHING PROFESSION

RESEARCH PAPER

FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION AND LEARNING PRINCIPLES

Submitted by:

Kamarullah

Student’s Reg. No: 1409200080050

POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF SYIAH KUALA

2015

PREFACE

First of all, praise to Allah, the lord of the world, who has given us chance to life in

order to obey, to pray Him and be His caliph; leader in this world. And also by His mercy and

love, the writer can accomplish this paperwork. Peace and salutation be upon Prophet

Muhammad MPBUH; a figure who illuminate our life by love, behaviour, knowledge and

freedom from worshiping God but Allah SWT.

Thanks are also presented for all teachers and lectures who have taught me knowledge

and also science. Their comments, suggestions, support and also encouragements are

foundation for me in living my live until present time. Finally, it is realized that this paperwork

also has not perfect yet. So critics, suggestions and also advices are really needed in order to

make it better. May us always be in His Blessing forever.

Banda Aceh, January 2, 2015

The Writer

Kamarullah

List of Contents

Page

Preface .................................................................................................................................. i

List of Contents .................................................................................................................... ii

Chapter I : INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1

1. Background of Study ................................................................................ 1

2. Statement of problems .............................................................................. 2

3. Objective of Study .................................................................................... 2

4. Significances ............................................................................................. 2

Chapter 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................... 3

1. The Nature of Teaching ............................................................................ 3

2. Teacher’s Belief in Teaching .................................................................... 3

Chapter 3 : METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 5

1. Setting of Research ................................................................................... 5

2. Subject of Research................................................................................... 5

3. Methodology of Research ......................................................................... 5

Chapter 4 : FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .............................................................. 6

1. Findings..................................................................................................... 6

A. First Subject ......................................................................................... 6

B. Second Subject ..................................................................................... 7

C. Third Subject ........................................................................................ 7

2. Discussion ................................................................................................. 9

Chapter 5 : CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 10

1. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 10

2. Suggestion ................................................................................................. 10

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 11

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1. Background of Study

As we know, education is all the effort of adults in interaction with children to lead

them to develop their physical and spiritual maturity (Shrivastava, 2003). In education, human

beings also underwent development, improvement, and enhancement of all the potential of

humanity to make it better. This process is done in a conscious and deliberate way in order to

form a perfect human, according to the demands of social and individual. And that is why the

teacher for. Teacher will act as an educator, model, facilitator, parent, or even a friend due to

do his duty in the classroom. The expected teacher is a kind of profession who demanded to be

always in a fresh condition, energetic one, and ready for any conditions which can be happened

in the classroom. An envisioned teacher should become a good example for his students.

Nonetheless, in reality, in doing his duty, a teacher may face some conditions which

is really not intended by him in the classroom. The conditions can be presumed by two factors,

namely external and internal factor. The former can be consisted like the student’s behaviour

which is disrupting the process of teaching and learning, the tightness of rules of school where

the teacher works for, and other possibility reasons. Meanwhile, the latter can be appeared from

the teacher himself. A teacher could be incompetent in handling the bad-manner students or

could not mastering the materials, behavioural indiscipline of teacher, and other reasons. Those

reasonable factors will indirectly or even directly make the teacher is too lazy and reluctant to

bring the best in doing his duty as a professional teacher in the classroom. Both of teacher and

student will be suffered each other toward the above conditions. Thus, the teacher should focus

with the objective of learning in limited scope, and must aim for the advancement of education

in broader scope. A professional teacher should have right believe on the way of their teaching.

Goes from the phenomenon, the writer intends to conduct a further study about

teacher’s perspective about what they believe in teaching and their profession. Ultimately, this

paper is concerned to be useful in adding some descriptions of the teacher’s belief in teaching

for the unexperienced teacher ones.

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2. Statement of Problems

Based on the above background, it can be asserted that the problem of this study,

namely:

a. What is teacher’s belief in teaching?

b. What is teacher’s belief concerning their profession?

3. Objectives of Study

a. To describe the teacher’s belief in teaching.

b. To describe the teacher’s belief concerning their profession.

4. Significances

There are quite a few significances of the study, they are:

a. Broaden the teachers’ perspective in teaching.

b. Aiding the unexperienced teachers to be wise enough in teaching.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

1. The Nature of Teaching

It is fundamental to understand the nature of teaching that the teacher is demanded

to provide the nourishment for the learner (O'Brien & Guiney, 2001). In addition, in teaching

the learners, a self-evaluation is needed in order to reveal the intuitive and reflective skills

which involved in the teaching process by a teacher. So, it can be assumed that the nature

of teaching comprise the intuitive and reflective skills from a teacher to provide the needs

of learner in attempting the teaching process.

Like other occupations such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, and architects,

teachers have to master their disciplines to be effective in their professions, but knowing

their subject matter is not sufficient. The teachers are not simply containers of knowledge,

but they are ones who perform on this knowledge and should concern it for the benefit of

the learner as well (Labaree, 2000). Moreover, Cooper and McIntyre affirmed that the

acquired knowledge and well-management of a teacher which known as teacher’s craft

knowledge will aid the teacher in facing the various conditions in classroom (Cooper &

McIntyre, 1996). Goes from those statements, it can be accepted the idea that teacher’s

responsibility is not merely handle and manage the classroom, but a teacher also should

have well-built knowledge and creativity to solve any problems and to create an effective

teaching and learning which reflected to the nature of teaching.

2. Teacher’s Belief in Teaching

In undertaking to teach the learners, a teacher must be had its own concept in doing

his duty. It is really denigrate the status of a teacher, if he does not have any concepts in his

minds to elaborate his teaching progress. The concepts of teaching which believed by a

teacher will play its role to indirectly aim the short or long-term objective of the study itself.

Mortimore (Mortimore, 1999) proposed the teachers’ categorization based on the research

by some experts as the following:

1. Imparting Information

Imparting knowledge means the teacher believes that he just convey the

information to the students. The conveyed information will not contain the knowledge.

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2. Transmitting Knowledge

Transmitting knowledge is agreed as the action of teacher in spreading the

knowledge, which is not merely about the information but also the useful ones, to the

students.

3. Facilitating Understanding

A teacher who own this concept of teaching is considering himself as the

facilitator in teaching. He will provide the needs of students in order to make them

understand about the materials of study.

4. Changing Learner’s Conceptions

The kind of this concept of teaching is practically made one teacher will be

oriented to change a learner’s conceptions. In other words, it can be assumed that this

concept is supremely focused on the attitude of the learners.

5. Supporting Students Learning

This type of concept of teaching is a little bit different with the “facilitating

understanding”. The concept affirms the way of teacher in providing the needs of study

by motivating, encouraging and provoking them due to increase their aware of the

objectives of study itself.

From those descriptions of teachers ‘categorization, it can be adopted that the

teachers, as the professional ones, must have their own perspective, concept, or belief on

what they will be going to teach to their students. Based on their philosophy, their

characteristics in teaching can be seen. In addition, their expectations in teaching can be

studied as well.

5

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

1. Setting of Research

The location of research is a place where research is done. The location is occurred

at the rent house of the writer along with the subject of research. Thus, the research is much

easier to progress. The rent house is located in Jalan Glee Iniem No. 27, Kecamatan

Darussalam, Aceh Besar. Moreover, the time of research is carried out on January 5 and 6,

2015 at the described location.

2. Subject of Research

The subject of research consist of three subjects. The first subject has the initial

AS, the second one is MK, and the last has SN as his initial. They teach Bahasa Indonesia

at their schools. AS teaches at SMP No. 3 Sigli, Pidie. He also acts as the administrator staff

at that school. Meanwhile, MK works for MAN Kota Bakti, Sigli, Pidie. He also teaches at

University of Jabal Ghafur, and lately at UIN Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh. The last subject, SN,

is the oldest one among the subjects. He works at SMA No. 2 Lhokseumawe. As the

information, he became the government teacher (PNS) from 1988. So, it can be considered

that he became the elder among the subjects.

Those subjects are chosen concerning their close relationship with the writer. The

research is practically accomplished without any intervened details from the writer. The

writer professionally wants to know their beliefs on teaching and their teaching profession

as a teacher by doing this research. Thus, their beliefs can be displayed and studied further.

3. Methodology of Research

This research is accomplished by applying the qualitative method. The data

collecting technique is gathered by doing interview to the subjects. In addition, interview

guide is functioned by the writer as the instruments of research. In addition, a recorder in

the writer’s smartphone is also used by the writer to record their interview’s descriptions

while interviewing them in order to back up the interview itself. From those data, the writer

will describe and conclude the subjects’ belief on teaching and their teaching profession as

well. As a final point, the objectives of this research can be achieved and studied for the

better concept on teaching.

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CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

1. Findings

Based on the planned technique, interview, the research paper is done to collect the data from the targeted subjects. The content of

interview will display as the following descriptions for each subject, among them:

A. First Subject

The first subject, AS, was firstly interviewed by the writer. Here is the result of the interview:

Mengapa memilih profesi Anda menjadi guru? Menurut saya, guru itu profesi yang mulia. Kita bisa mengajarkan ilmu

pengetahuan yang kita ketahui kepada murid-murid kita.

Apa konsep yang Anda percayai ketika mengajar? Saya menyampaikan apa yang saya ketahui kepada murid saya.

Bagaimana cara mengajar yang baik menurut Anda? Murid mengerti tentang apa yang saya ajarkan.

Apa yang sangat Anda perhatikan ketika mengajar? Saya ingin siswa saya memperhatikan pengajaran saya.

Apa yang membuat Anda merasa senang ketika mengajar? Ketika siswa saya menyimak pelajaran dan mampu menangkap pengajaran

saya.

Bagaimana perasaan Anda ketika murid Anda belum mencapai kriteria

pembelajaran?

Saya akan berkaca kepada cara pengajaran saya berdasarkan persentase

pencapaian siswa saya.

Apakah Anda akan tetap menjadi seorang guru untuk ke depannya?

Mengapa?

Ya, tentu saja. Karena seperti yang saya katakan tadi bahwa guru itu profesi

yang mulia.

Apa harapan Anda bagi seluruh guru di Indonesia, khususnya di

wilayah Aceh?

Guru sekarang harus memperhatikan kualitas pengajaran mereka termasuk

guru yang sudah menyandang sertifikasi guru.

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B. Second Subject

The second subject, MK, was secondly interviewed by the writer. The result of the interview as follow:

Mengapa memilih profesi Anda menjadi guru? Saya jatuh cinta dengan profesi saya karena dapat mengembangkan ilmu

yang saya miliki serta dapat membentuk karakter siswa dan mencerahkan

hidup anak didik saya.

Apa konsep yang Anda percayai ketika mengajar? Saya mengajar dengan cara keras namun semua itu demi kepentingan siswa,

contohnya memberi mereka tugas sebagai bentuk hukuman.

Bagaimana cara mengajar yang baik menurut Anda? Menyampaikan definisi dan memberikan contoh materi kepada siswa.

Apa yang sangat Anda perhatikan ketika mengajar? Kesiapan siswa dalam mengikuti kegiatan belajar. Saya akan menyingkapi

faktor-faktor yang menyebabkan hal tersebut.

Apa yang membuat Anda merasa senang ketika mengajar? Keaktifan siswa dalam belajar membuat saya ingin terus mengabdikan diri

saya menjadi guru.

Bagaimana perasaan Anda ketika murid Anda belum mencapai kriteria

pembelajaran?

Saya jenuh menghadapi hal yang demikian. Saya tidak akan menyingkapi

perihal siswa yang demikian. Saya akan memberikan “nilai pagar” jika siswa

tersebut juga tidak mampu melewati target di tes remedial.

Apakah Anda akan tetap menjadi seorang guru untuk ke depannya?

Mengapa?

Iya, saya akan tetap menjadi guru sampai usia tua nantinya.

Apa harapan Anda bagi seluruh guru di Indonesia, khususnya di

wilayah Aceh?

Guru jangan terlalu memaksakan kehendaknya kepada siswanya. Dengan

kata lain, guru harus mengerti akan kemampuan dari siswa. Guru juga tidak

boleh membawa masalah di luar lingkup sekolah ke dalam kelas.

C. Third Subject

NS, the third subject, was lastly interviewed by the writer. Here is the result:

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Mengapa memilih profesi Anda menjadi guru? Saya mengikuti nasihat orang tua saya untuk masuk SPG pada tahun 1970-

an hingga menjadi guru seperti sekarang.

Apa konsep yang Anda percayai ketika mengajar? Tidak ada murid saya yang bodoh. Saya melakukan pendekatan lebih

personal kepada murid untuk mengetahui kelebihan dan kekurangan murid.

Bagaimana cara mengajar yang baik menurut Anda? Pengajaran yang bermanfaat dan bisa langsung diaplikasikan di kehidupan

sehari-hari. Sebagai guru Bahasa Indonesia, saya membawa potongan koran

atau novel populer sehingga kemampuan yang didapat bisa diterapkan

langsung.

Apa yang sangat Anda perhatikan ketika mengajar? Saya sangat memperhatikan cara pengajaran saya untuk tidak salah

melakukan kesalahan dalam prosedur pengajaran sesuai dengan RPP yang

saya tulis.

Apa yang membuat Anda merasa senang ketika mengajar? Saya senang ketika murid saya mampu mengaplikasikan materi pelajaran

yang saya berikan. Karena memang itulah yang saya harapkan.

Bagaimana perasaan Anda ketika murid Anda belum mencapai kriteria

pembelajaran?

Saya merasa itu kekurangan saya. Saya akan mengajak siswa berdiskusi

tentang pemilihan metode atau teknik belajar yang sesuai dengan

kemampuan mereka. Contohnya seperti materi mengarang, medianya bisa

seperti menonton film atau mengajak mereka ke lokasi dimana konteksnya

berlangsung.

Apakah Anda akan tetap menjadi seorang guru untuk ke depannya? Ya pasti. Karena masa kerja saya masih panjang. Itu tidak perlu

dipertanyakan lagi.

Apa harapan Anda bagi seluruh guru di Indonesia, khususnya di

wilayah Aceh?

Guru itu harus lebih kreatif, inovatif dan peduli tentang pengajarannya dalam

menyiasati keterbatasan fasilitas dan informasi pembelajaran, khususnya di

Aceh.

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2. Discussion

From the above findings, the writer can assume that those subjects, either AS, MK,

or SN, have their own beliefs and perspectives on teaching and their teaching profession.

From the first questions by the writer, AS and MK have same perspective why they

choose teacher as their profession because they love to be a teacher. Meanwhile, SN became

a teacher because their parents had told him to enter that major.

AS and MK have same concept on teaching. They agree that teaching is to give the

knowledge to the students. Literally, it can be asserted that they really do not care about the

students’ output in advance. In the meantime, NS believes that all the students have their

own characteristics, including their strength and weakness. Besides, he will do the deep

investigation to know their characteristics in comprehending materials. Based on that

assumption, it can be affirmed that NS is truly care concerning the output of his students.

In the interim, they also have different opinions toward how the best way in

teaching. AS admitted that when his students understood the given materials, then he called

it as the best way in teaching. Meanwhile, MK told that the best way in teaching is to convey

definitions of any materials and bring the examples. On the other hand, SN, the senior

subject stated that bring the real media concerning the contextual needs of student is the best

way in teaching.

Temporarily, AS and SN have same views when their students cannot achieve the

target of study. They will reflect their way of teaching. On the contrary, MK is not surely

care when he faced that situation. Besides, they have same in common when their students

are actively in the classroom, especially when their students are capable to apply the

materials in daily activities. In addition, they also declare that they will do their duty as a

teacher till the end. At last, they have diverse hopes to the Indonesian teacher, specifically

for Acehnese teacher. They wish that all the teacher should be more creative, innovative,

and aware in doing their obligation as a teacher.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

1. Conclusion

Education cannot be separated by the existence of teacher and students. Without

override all elements in education like curriculum, syllabus, lesson plan, materials, and

many others who construct an education, the role of teacher and students are so significant

in acting on a drama of education in the classroom. A teacher, one who takes responsibility

in humanizing a human, should be have their own perspectives, concepts, and beliefs on

teaching, as well as their teaching profession. Teacher as a tricky business, is demanded to

be an educator, facilitator, model, parents, or friends due to the needs of students in teaching

and learning progress.

This study reveals that three teachers, which are taken as the subject of this

research, in doing his responsibility, almost have the same beliefs on teaching. Two of them

considered to focus on how to transfer the knowledge while the last subject is much care

about the output of the study which will be useful in the students’ daily activities .They also

committed to be a teacher till the end concerning they are “destined” to be a teacher. Hence,

the beliefs on teaching of the teachers are presumed will practically influence the students’

achievement either for a short or long-term.

2. Suggestion

According to the finding, discussion, and conclusion of this study, the writer

certainly have suggestion for the better study of this research, namely:

a. All the teachers should more do a reflective study about their teaching progress.

b. A teacher should broaden their knowledge and have the responsibility in order to fulfill

the output of the students for their future.

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REFERENCES

Cooper, P. & McIntyre, D., 1996. Effective Teaching and Learning - Teachers' and Students'

Perspectives. Philadelphia(Philadelphia): Open University Press.

Labaree, D. F., 2000. On the Nature of Teaching and Teacher Education. Journal of Teacher

Education, Volume 51, pp. 228-233.

Mortimore, P., ed., 1999. In: Understanding Pedagogy and its Impact on Learning. London:

Paul Chapman.

O'Brien, T. & Guiney, D., 2001. Differentiation in Teaching and Learning. London:

Continuum.

Shrivastava, K. K., 2003. Philosophical Foundations of Education. New Delhi: Kanishka

Publishers.