Restoring Teacher Professionalism

A teacher is a professional educator who educates, teaches a subject, guides, trains, assesses, and evaluates learners. A teacher here is defined as a person who has dedicated themselves to teaching a body of knowledge to learners; besides teaching knowledge, teachers also educate, direct, and train their students so that they understand the knowledge taught easily, quickly, and in an organised way. 
Therefore, teachers do not merely teach formal education, but also non-formal education, such as how to behave and act politely towards elders, and teachers can become figures whose attitudes and actions are taken as an example by students. As in the Sundanese saying, a teacher is someone who must be "digugu dan ditiru" (heeded and emulated), because a teacher is a learning agent, since teachers act as facilitators, motivators, and designers in the learning process of learners.
Teaching as a profession is the initial foundation for the success of education in an educational institution. Learners' success is also owed to the service of a teacher. For this reason, teachers must also meet criteria, including adequate knowledge, proficiency, and skills so that they are able to manage the teaching and learning process effectively. This creates an appropriate attitude towards renewal and a more effective dissemination of ideas, as well as good teaching fitness and broad achievements. 
Furthermore, professionalism is a person's work or activity that becomes a source of livelihood, which requires expertise, mastery, or proficiency in accordance with certain quality standards or norms and is equipped with professional education. Teaching as a profession means a position that requires special expertise or skills as a teacher, and in this regard not just anyone is able to practise this profession in the field of education, even though in reality there are still many people who work as teachers but do not have an educational background in teacher education.
In this regard, a teacher has duties and responsibilities towards their learners. Among a teacher's responsibilities, as already touched upon in the definition of a teacher, are to teach and to educate so that learners become good, high-quality individuals with good and courteous intellectual and moral qualities. The last point of a teacher's duties and responsibilities is that they are able to encourage their learners to carry out tasks by trying hard and never giving up; on this point, teachers can give gifts or appreciation to their learners.
As regards teacher competence, as set out in Law No. 14 of 2005, teacher professionalism has the main task of educating, teaching, and directing learners on the formal education track from early childhood to upper secondary level. A teacher's competence includes personal, pedagogical, social, and professional competence.
First, personal competence here means the ability that reflects maturity, authority, and noble character so as to become a role model for learners. Second, pedagogical competence is the ability to understand learners, carry out learning with planning and development, and evaluate learners' learning outcomes. Third, social competence is an ability that a teacher must have to communicate and socialise with students, students' parents, and the community at school. And last is professional competence, which is a teacher's ability to master broader learning material, such as the curriculum of the subject and mastery of the structure of educational methodology.
As an education expert, one must also always apply and carry out the teacher's code of ethics. This code of ethics is a guideline for regulating the relationship of teachers with colleagues, learners, leaders, and the community, as well as when carrying out a task, in order to smooth relationships for the optimal development of learners. In addition, the teacher's code of ethics emphasises the importance of carrying out duties professionally and responsibly and acting appropriately.
Before becoming a teacher, one also needs to pass several tests. This is done so that those working in education have the appropriate quality and background. The tests that must be passed before becoming an educator are, first, a written test, which is used to test the prospective teacher's understanding of the field of study to be taught. 
Second, an interview test, which is used to find out the character or personality of the prospective teacher. Third, microteaching, which is used to see what learning approaches and methods will be applied.
After the prospective teacher takes the tests, if they pass, the teacher will receive teacher certification. Teacher certification is the awarding of an educator certificate to teachers who have met the standards and eligibility requirements and have professional ability as educators. This certification has the purpose of determining teachers' eligibility to work as educators, and also other purposes, including improving the quality of education, raising the dignity of teachers, protecting the image of the teaching profession from incompetent practices, and improving teacher welfare through the provision of professional allowances.
Even so, there are still many irresponsible individuals who do not meet the requirements; for example, there are still many teachers who do not have a bachelor's degree (S-1), and many who do not yet hold teacher certification. Teacher certification is evidence of being a professional teacher. There are even many teachers whose learning processes do not yet meet the competence expected of a teacher. 
For this reason, the position of teachers as fully professional educators needs to be restored, which means they must meet professional competence as a teacher, hold certification as an educator, and be accountable for their profession. To this end, the government needs to make breakthroughs in policy to restore teacher professionalism, for example by improving teachers' academic quality by providing financial assistance so they can complete their education until they obtain a diploma. Completing certification for teachers by awarding certificates to those who have not yet obtained an educator certificate. Increasing competence to develop teacher professionalism by making breakthroughs in carrying out continuing professional development activities. 
In order to support the Merdeka Belajar (Freedom to Learn) curriculum, which aims to realise Pancasila students, teachers and education staff need to make new breakthroughs or transformations so that the programmes run by the government go smoothly. Therefore, the government needs to carry out strategies to fulfil this curriculum, through the Guru Penggerak (Motivating Teacher) programme, teacher training, and creating organisations. This is done solely with the aim of realising the performance of teachers as effective, professional educators.
From everything described, it can be concluded that becoming a professional teacher requires going through several stages, including the written test, interview, and microteaching. In addition, teachers also need to comply with the teacher's code of ethics to build good relationships between teachers and students as well as students' guardians. Professional teachers also need to have the competence of a teacher so that they can be accountable and have expertise or skills as educators. As in this Merdeka curriculum, teachers can help students better appreciate and understand the culture and values of Pancasila, develop an attitude of independence in students, and manage time and the management of learning resources itself.