Networking as a Means for teachers’ Professional Development:
An Indonesian Experience
Bambang Yudi Cahyono
Linda Widyawatie
Teachers are required to
develop their knowledge and expertise in their field of study. However, not all
teachers have opportunities to attend in-service training programs after
completing their education in teachers training colleges. Responding to this
condition, we decided to build a network for English language teachers in Indonesia,
called “ELT Indonesia” (see www.geocities.com/eltindonesia). This network aims
to support English language teaching and learning in this country. It has
regional representatives in a number of provinces and is currently developed to
include more teachers from all provinces in Indonesia.
This paper presents our experience in developing this network and highlights
how networking could be used as an alternative means for teachers’ professional
development. In order to explore how teachers perceive professional development
activities run in the network, this paper presents two cases of networking: one
in the Province of Banten which has been attended by 85 local teachers and in
the Province of East Java which has involved 73 teachers. This paper shows our
success story in managing workshops on various techniques in the teaching of
English which have been highly valued by English language teachers in the two
regions.
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Cahyono, B. Y., & Widyawatie, L. (2006, April). Networking as a means
for teachers’ professional development: An Indonesian experience. Paper presented at the 41st
RELC International Seminar, Singapore.
Website: www.geocities.com/eltindonesia
Email: eltindonesia@yahoo.com