How to Become a Professional Teacher

Discussing education becomes a complicated conversation. Education may seem trivial. Yet behind it lie many implied meanings. Education is not only a process of earning a diploma or degree, but a place where learners gradually get to know the knowledge of the world. Everywhere, education is always identified with a teacher: the teacher as the giver of teaching material, and the student as the one who carries out or receives it. Indonesia needs education as a means of making its young people intelligent. For that reason, it is important to know how to become a good and professional teacher.

Teacher is not merely a word, but a title that carries a heavy responsibility. A teacher is a giver of teaching material in academic as well as non-academic fields. The title of teacher can be conferred formally and informally: formally through a diploma, and informally through the community. Put simply, the title of teacher given formally is obtained through a diploma, while informally the title is obtained from the surrounding environment. For example, someone who is skilled at reading the Qur’an and able to teach it is usually called a guru ngaji (Qur'an teacher).

In fact, becoming a teacher does not require higher education. Anyone can become a teacher, provided they have a skill and are able to teach it. The skill a teacher has can make it a profession. A profession cannot be separated from a position. Teacher as a profession is understood as someone who has an expertise obtained through education, then holds a position and receives a wage. Put simply, a teacher is a job. Describing teaching as a profession is reinforced by the Teacher Bill (article 1 paragraph 4), which states: “professional is the ability to carry out work in accordance with one's expertise and dedication to others.

In addition, Law of the Republic of Indonesia number 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers and Lecturers states that a teacher is a professional educator whose main duties are to educate, guide, teach, assess, train and evaluate learners from early childhood education, basic education and secondary education through to formal education. In the learning process, a teacher can be called both a leader and a facilitator: a leader over the course of activities within the scope of teaching, and a facilitator in students' learning process. As a facilitator, a teacher is obliged to provide assistance and direction.

To make the process of delivering teaching material successful, a teacher must have competence. Competence itself means the ability one has based on skills, knowledge and work attitude. A teacher must have the competence or skill to understand teaching material, create teaching methods, manage the class, understand the foundations of education, control teacher-student interaction, give appreciation for students' learning achievements, and so on.

Understanding the teaching material is necessary so that students can easily grasp, in simple terms, what the teacher teaches. Creating methods is done so that students' understanding can increase dramatically, supported by interactive games and the like. For class management and interaction, the teacher is placed as a facilitator, providing comfortable facilities for learners through interaction between the two. In addition, the teacher also gives learners the opportunity to explore knowledge in their own ways. Here, the teacher is only guiding, protecting and listening to the students.

Besides competence, a professional teacher must comply with a code of ethics. A code of ethics itself is a principle or norm of behaviour for a practitioner of a profession, with the aim of highlighting each profession's distinctive character. More simply, as teachers we have our own code of ethics that highlights a protective attitude. As teachers, we must show empathy, warmth, comfort, sincerity and openness towards our students. A teacher's code of ethics concerns not only learners, but also colleagues, leaders and the community.

With colleagues, teachers must be cooperative, support one another and treat one another equally. Among peers, teachers collaborate to analyse the needs of their learners, whether in terms of teaching material, facilities or the learners' own comfort. As for leaders, teachers and the principal must foster mutual trust. The principal gives tasks to teachers as a form of trust, and likewise the teacher trusts that whatever the leader assigns can be completed well. In interaction with the community, a good relationship between the two is very important. This is done so that the community's trust in teachers, who are after all educators, does not fade, so that they can calmly entrust their children to the education system. The interaction between the two can be further improved by holding collaborations between teachers and local industry.

After discussing a teacher's code of ethics, the requirements or tests for becoming a teacher are what we will discuss next. In essence, everyone who has a skill can become a teacher. However, not everyone can bear the responsibility of being a teacher with professional status. Being a teacher as a profession can be achieved by going through formal education and several tests. These include a written test covering knowledge, personality and skills. Next are the hafidz test (if under the Ministry of Religious Affairs), a health test, an interview, and microteaching (a test of the teaching methods the prospective teacher will use). All of these are held to screen prospective educators of the nation so that they can produce graduates of high quality.

After passing these tests, teacher certification will then be held. Teacher certification is the process of granting a certificate to teachers who have met the standards of eligibility for the teaching profession. Teachers who have been certified gain an advantage when transferred to other schools that may be more promising. Put simply, teacher certification is like a process of verification or a stamp as a professional teacher. However, the requirements for certification need to be considered carefully. They include having completed an academic bachelor's degree (S1) or equivalent, having served as a civil servant (PNS), and having teaching experience of at least 5 years, whether at the same school or different ones. A teacher who is not a civil servant must have the status of permanent foundation teacher (GTY), and finally must have a unique number for educators and education staff (NUPTK) consisting of 16 digits.

From all of the above discussion, anyone can become a teacher if they have a skill and are able to teach it. However, not everyone is able to hold the status of teacher as a profession. The difference between the two lies in the education undertaken and the various tests described earlier. Being a teacher is not just giving teaching material, but being the second party, after the parents, who guides learners' development. For that reason, teachers should not act arbitrarily without regard to their code of ethics. And the purpose of the code of ethics, or norms that must be carried out, is to create a good impression and good relationships between teachers and their surroundings.