Extending the roots of Indonesian teacher education

Conclusions

Our intensive study of the Report of the Second Conference of Indonesian Government Colleges of Education leads to the following general conclusions.

• 1. Indonesian curriculum designs in the short span of fifteen years have evolved to such a point that when put into effect they will put the Republic's teachers colleges on equal footing with quality programs of teacher education in other countries around the world.

• 2. Implementing these designs in the traditional areas of general, professional and specialized courses suggests possible structural inflexibility and over-specialization unless administrative precautions are observed.

• 3. Articulation of total college program — general, professional and specialized — is implicit in the Report's curricular structures. Processes for making the structure work should be examined to see (a) that teaching techniques embody the principles of psychology of learning; (b) that abstractions are tied to daily Indonesian living in community, school, and college community; (c) that extra-class activities are utilized along with academic experiences as laboratory learning where the total effort within the teacher's program is one which leads to a self-directed, responsible teacher able to advance the objectives and philosophy of the Republic.

• 4. It is possible that within the program there are emphases on specialization which lead to narrow and restricted viewpoints. Provisions for greater breadth of outlook seem possible and more appropriate for all prospective educators. A specialist in Educational Administration should be familiar with the content of at least one speciality so that the administrator could teach the speciality in a high school if he had to. Administrators with such a broadened outlook, research shows, are better able to understand teachers' problems.

• 5. Courses in professional education now are limited as to years when offered. They should be spread over the total five year period leading to a Master's degree; this spread would keep the articulation aspects of pre-service teachers in focus.