Factual Reasons For Teacher Empowerment

PAPER FACTUAL REASONS FOR TEACHER EMPOWERMENT A. Background Improving the quality of human resources can be done through well-managed education. The success of the education process cannot be separated from the major role of educators. Educators or teachers have a very important role in the success or failure of learning that takes place in schools. This is in accordance with the results of studies from developing countries which prove that teachers make the highest contribution to achieving learning achievement. The implication is that if the learning process in schools takes place with high teacher performance, the graduates produced will also be of high quality (Subroto, 2012). Desimone (2011) added that teachers who are actively involved, focused, and positive have a very strong influence on student achievement. Law No. 20 of 2003 article 39 paragraph 2 states that educators are professional workers who are tasked with planning and implementing the learning process, assessing learning outcomes, providing guidance and training, and conducting research and community service, especially for education and higher education. In relation to the implementation of the duties carried out by teachers in accordance with the mandate of the law, teachers face various obstacles, problems, and challenges in the field. Not a few teachers are less able to plan the learning process. Not a few teachers are less able to implement the learning process so that this results in student failure at school. The number of research conducted by teachers is also very lacking due to the weak knowledge and ability of teachers in conducting research. The solution to overcome the problems faced by teachers in the field is to carry out educator or teacher empowerment activities. According to Murray (2010) empowerment is a process in which teachers become able to engage, share, and influence which will ultimately have a positive impact on their lives. B. Definition of Teacher Empowerment According to the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) 'empowerment' has the meaning as a process; way; act of empowering; making empowered (powerful, capable, energetic, and so on to overcome something). In the book Teacher Empowerment Policy: Dimensional Analysis and Implementation (2015: 28) 'empowerment' has two dimensions, the first 'empowerment' is the granting of power and the second is the granting of ability and providing opportunities for other parties to do something. And according to Sumodiningrat (2000) the concept that is in line with teacher empowerment in the world of education is the second with an explanation of efforts to provide ability and opportunities for teachers to do something according to their duties in the field of learning (in In'am, 2015: 28). So it can be said that 'empowerment' is an activity to empower humans through changes and development of humans themselves in the form of ability, trust, authority, and responsibility in order to carry out activities to improve performance. Meanwhile, 'teacher' in KBBI has the meaning of a person whose job is teaching. In Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 14 of 2005 Chapter I Article 1 paragraph (1) it is explained that 'teacher' is a professional educator with the main task of educating, teaching, guiding, directing, training, assessing, and evaluating students in early childhood education through formal education, basic education, and secondary education. So a teacher can be interpreted as a professional who is tasked with carrying out learning in formal education to help students achieve maturity and independence in accordance with national education goals. So that 'teacher empowerment' is the process of providing teachers with the ability to provide considerations regarding whether or not the teaching method is good, able to make their own decisions to solve teaching problems faced in the classroom so that they can work with higher and better performance. Meanwhile, according to Ambar (2004) teacher empowerment is an act of giving teachers the ability or power to carry out their profession and providing opportunities for teachers to improve their professional abilities towards independence (In'am, 2015: 29). So from the explanation above, teacher empowerment is an action or process of empowering teachers so that they are able to improve their professional abilities better, have higher performance, and have independence. C. Objectives of Teacher Empowerment According to Ambar (2004) the purpose of holding this teacher empowerment is to form individuals and communities to have independence in thinking, acting and controlling what is done (In'am, 2015: 29). The independence referred to refers to a situation faced by teachers who have the ability to think, decide and carry out their profession by using cognitive, psychomotor, affective abilities with the resources they have (In'am, 2015: 29). Another explanation regarding the purpose of this empowerment needs to include the purpose of producing the best decisions in better planning, for better program implementation so as to get better results, and to increase the sense of ownership and responsibility for decisions. And it can be said that this teacher empowerment focuses on improving the ability of teachers to achieve actual optimization in accordance with existing and required standards. So that people who are empowered have visible characteristics, including having a sense of ownership of their work, being responsible for making a big contribution to advancing the work, having the view that their work is very meaningful in their field, having control over their work which means knowing where to stand, and making work a part of their life. D. Stages of Teacher Empowerment In carrying out teacher empowerment, there are several stages that can be carried out, including; 1) Making aware, namely the act of providing understanding or understanding that the person concerned has the same rights in making changes in the organization. 2) Enabling (Capacity Building), namely the person concerned is given power or ability so that they can be given 'power', giving ability is generally done through training or workshops. 3) Providing power, namely the person concerned is given power, authority, or opportunities according to the skills they have by referring to the assessment or needs. Meanwhile, according to In'am (2015: 29-30) explains that there are three stages of implementing empowerment, namely: • The awareness and behavior formation stage, is the preparatory stage in the empowerment process to bring up the teacher's will and awareness of the existing situation so as to stimulate awareness of the importance of improving the situation and creating a better future. • The knowledge and skills transformation stage, is the stage where the teacher receives increased knowledge and skills as provisions to become better, and improve the professionalism and quality they have. • The stage of increasing knowledge that has been owned, is an effort to fulfill obligations and increase abilities in carrying out their profession by accepting increased abilities that they have. E. Reasons for Teacher Empowerment In carrying out teacher empowerment, according to Short & Rinehart (1992) there are six dimensions that are the main focus, namely decision making, increasing professionalism, status, self-confidence, autonomy and influence. The decision-making dimension is related to teacher involvement in making decisions on important issues and influencing them directly or indirectly such as curriculum issues, school budgets, teacher selection, and others (In'am, 2015: 33). Then for the dimension of increasing teacher professionalism, it is related to teacher perceptions regarding schools that provide opportunities to grow and develop into professionals in carrying out their activities (In'am, 2015: 33). Furthermore, there is a status dimension that refers to the respect of a teacher as a professional who can be accepted by colleagues and the community (In'am, 2015: 33). Then there is a dimension of teacher trust related to the perception of teachers who are equipped with the ability and expertise to help students and have the expertise to develop the curriculum (In'am, 2015: 33). The next dimension is related to autonomy related to the teacher's authority to develop themselves in carrying out their profession, such as curriculum development, learning planning, and others. And the last is the dimension of teacher influence leading to the teacher's perception that they are able to influence school life (In'am, 2015: 34). Through the explanation presented above, teacher empowerment is one of the important things to do to help the progress and development of education through the main components in education, namely educators/teachers. Teacher empowerment is needed, one of which is to improve teacher competence as a professional in education. The word 'professional' referred to refers to an explanation of work or activities carried out by someone and becomes a source of income that requires expertise, skills, or abilities that meet certain quality standards or norms and require professional education (Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 14 of 2005 CHAPTER I Article 1 paragraph (4)). In line with the explanation above, teacher empowerment is also needed to help teachers carry out the professional tasks they are given. The professional tasks referred to are explained in Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 14 of 2005 CHAPTER IV article 20 points a to e, namely; • Planning learning, implementing quality learning processes, and assessing and evaluating learning outcomes. • Improving and developing academic qualifications and competencies in a sustainable manner in line with developments in science, technology and art. • Acting objectively and not discriminating on the basis of considerations of gender, religion, ethnicity, race, and certain physical conditions, or family background, and socio-economic status of students in learning. • Upholding laws and regulations, laws, and teacher codes of ethics, as well as religious and ethical values. • Maintaining and fostering national unity. In addition, rational reasons related to the implementation of teacher empowerment are needed, which are stated in Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 14 of 2005, Chapter IV, Part Five, regarding Teacher Development and Guidance, Article 32, paragraphs (1) to (4), as follows. 1) Teacher development and guidance includes professional and career development and guidance. 2) Teacher professional development and guidance as referred to in paragraph (1) includes pedagogical competence, personality competence, social competence, and professional competence. 3) Teacher professional development and guidance as referred to in paragraph (1) is carried out through functional positions. 4) Teacher career development and guidance as referred to in paragraph (1) includes assignments, promotions, and promotions. So it can be said that the factual and rational reasons related to the importance of teacher empowerment can be explained as follows; • Improving teacher competence to become a professional in accordance with existing needs. • Helping teachers achieve self-optimization as a professional in accordance with existing standards. • Fostering and providing opportunities for teachers to develop and grow into professionals with independence. • Provide an understanding of the duties, responsibilities, and authority of the profession they are pursuing. • Provide opportunities for teachers to be able to actualize their potential optimally. CLOSING A. Conclusion After conducting such a detailed discussion above, it can be concluded that: 1) Teacher empowerment is an action or process of empowering teachers so that they are able to improve their professional abilities better, have higher performance, and have independence. 2) The purpose of teacher empowerment is to form teachers who have the independence to think, act and control what they do in their profession. In addition, to produce the best decision-making ability in planning, better program implementation to get the best results, and increase the sense of ownership and responsibility for the profession being undertaken/work that is owned. 3) In carrying out teacher empowerment, there are three main stages that can be carried out, namely the first stage of awareness and formation of behavior, the second stage of knowledge and skills/skills transformation or often called the enabling stage (Capacity Building), and the last stage is the stage of increasing knowledge or the stage of providing power/authority. 4) The factual and rational reasons related to the importance of this teacher empowerment action are to carry out the development and construction of education according to the needs and progress of the times through the main components of education, namely educators/teachers. In addition, to align the competence and potential of teachers to be able to balance with the development of the times so that they are able to carry out learning that is in accordance with the needs of students. And to provide opportunities for teachers to be able to actualize themselves optimally as educational professionals. B. Suggestions The explanation provided and presented in this paper is not an absolute source of information and the sources used as references for the paper are still relatively few. So that the information provided to readers is still very minimal, therefore readers should do further research and take comparative sources to align information and strengthen knowledge related to this topic. In addition, in the future, discussions related to this topic can be an interesting topic and need to be studied more deeply to help implement teacher empowerment in the future.