Decentralization of EFL Teacher Training and Development

 

 

Siti Wachidah

 

 

Providing good education for all to the massive, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural population of Indonesia, which is scattered on the thousands of islands along the vast archipelago, has proved to be too complex for the central educational system to handle. Many top-down policies, ideas and programs have failed to see the actual educational needs and demands of the local people, which very often result in qualitatively insufficient solutions to the existing problems. This problem with quality has prompted an idea to decentralize educational processes, in the sense of fostering greater participation of local authorities in various activities which have always been part of the central authorities’ responsibility. In the area of teacher training and development, this idea currently manifests in various activities referred to as ‘training of trainers’ (hereafter, TOT), which aim to prepare local people to become trainers for the teachers in the local areas.

These local trainers will take over the task of teacher training and development in their respective regions. In the area of EFL teacher training and education, decentralization of this kind is particularly relevant, given the primary problem that most English teachers and local authorities have always been so dependent on centrally determined policies, ideas, and products, that they have too limited capacity, and even courage, to make appropriate decisions in coping with the actual demands and needs of the local realities. That most teachers have limited mastery of English and incompetence in EFL teaching may be seen as an evidence of this unduly dependence on external agents, instead of themselves, as well as the primary focus on administrative matters, instead of professional teaching competences.

 

The paper discusses the key concepts related to teacher training and development, and arrives at the conclusion that even during the transitional period, TOT should no longer be in the form of top-down delegation and implementation of centrally designed training programs (i.e., deconcentration). Rather, the participants of TOT should be directly engaged in problem-solving and decision-making to develop and implement training and development programs for EFL teachers in their respective areas, in the ‘learning-by-doing’ mode. During the process, though, they should constantly receive professional guidance and consultation, hence minimizing the frustration of being directly exposed to actual experience of managing teacher training and development.

 

 

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Wachidah, S. (2005, March). Decentralization of EFL teacher training and development. Paper presented at LIA International Conference, Jakarta.

 

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