Teacher Employability in Indonesia: Analyzing the Discourse of Professional Identities at Multiple Levels

  • Neny Isharyanti

Student thesis: Phd

Abstract

This research explores the construct of employable teacher professional identities in the Indonesian context at the macro-, meso- and micro-levels of discourses. Employable teacher professional identities, developed from the literature of employability and teacher professional identities, can be viewed as the process of an individual understanding his or her ‘self’ as a professional and what the stakeholders in the teaching profession view as being employable. By understanding the process, and views of professionalism, the research offers insights into the practice architectures of teacher’s professional development system in Indonesia, and for policy making. The research aims to map the constituents of employable teacher professional identities and to explore the process of crafting these identities in teaching practicum sites. Using qualitative research methods, which are inductive-oriented, data were obtained from policy and course documents and qualitative interviews with two supervisors from the English Language Education (ELE) study program, two mentors from two teaching practicum sites, and two pre-service teachers who were doing the teaching practicum. The study used thematic analysis in analyzing the data and the findings were discussed in the light of the theory of practice architectures. The macro-and meso- level analyses of discourses show that Indonesia adopts an evaluative state model commonly used by neoliberal states in which the state designs the general teacher professional evaluation system and standardization but leaves the specifics and the process to higher education (HE) institutions. However, in the teaching practicum program, authority is held by the schools as employers of the pre-service teachers, as found in the interviews with the supervisors and mentors. The stakeholders also have different views on the employability of a professional teacher, with the government viewing it as a product whereas the HE and the schools view it as a process. In the complex process of crafting professional identities, the pre-service teachers in Indonesia undergo the process of evaluating, reflecting, selecting, enacting, and revising their identities, by considering various contextual factors and the perspective of the stakeholders, to make pragmatic decisions that meet their beliefs regarding a professional self that is recognized by others as a professional. Through the lens of practice architectures theory, it is found that disconnections of ideas and practices occur across the levels of discourses as the result of the discursive-cultural, material-economic, and social-political arrangements in each level.
Date of Award31 Dec 2021
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • The University of Manchester
SupervisorDiane Slaouti (Supervisor) & Drew Whitworth (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • teacher professional identities
  • employability
  • practice architectures

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