Teacher Professionalism in Improving the Quality of Education

INTRODUCTION

From our early years until now, our parents have always been eager to send us to school up to a high level in order to reach a bright future. To achieve that bright future we need to have everything, and every path, that we must pass through, one of which is going through the levels of education. For our lives, education is a very important thing for all people. Education itself means a planned effort to create a learning atmosphere so that learners can be active in developing their own potential. 

While we are at school we certainly receive a great deal of new learning and knowledge. For example, when we first stepped into early childhood education, we surely did not yet know how to read and write. After a long time in education, it is impossible that we would go on being unable to read and write. That we can read and write is thanks to someone very patient in guiding and teaching us, someone we often call a teacher. Thanks to them we have been able to reach where we are today. Teachers teach their pupils selflessly and are always patient.

The teacher has a definition according to experts and according to legislation. According to Law No. 14 of 2005, a teacher is a person who works as a professional educator in his or her field, with the main authority to educate, teach, guide, direct, train and evaluate learners who are going through education from early childhood through the formal government channel, from Primary School to Secondary School. According to experts, for example Drs. M. Uzer Usman (1996:15), a teacher is a person who has the authority and duty in the world of education or teaching at a formal educational institution. 

The Indonesian government has development aspects for advancing the country. One of the government's development aspects with the highest priority is the improvement and equalisation of education in Indonesia. Teachers play a very important role in efforts to improve educational development. For this purpose the government seeks quality teachers who meet well-assured professionalism. A quality teacher is a teacher who meets several professional requirements. Efforts to realise professional teachers are not easy. Achieving this requires very strong attention and commitment from the government, from the teachers themselves, and from all the institutions involved, and with such efforts it is hoped that professional teachers can be realised soon.

DISCUSSION

Teacher is the broad term for a person who teaches something new. There are also several terms that describe the role of a teacher, among them mentor, lecturer and tutor. A teacher means a person who has the authority or responsibility for the knowledge conveyed to his or her learners. In Javanese, a teacher is someone who must be "digugu and ditiru". Digugu means that everything the teacher has conveyed is always trusted or believed to be true by the learners. Ditiru means that a teacher must be able to be a good role model. Among the public, a teacher is someone who educates in certain places, not only in formal educational institutions but also in non-formal educational institutions.

We know that in Indonesia there are very many types of profession. Surely we are also familiar with the term profession. A profession means a career that requires certain expertise. This expertise is usually obtained through educational or training institutions. However, there are also several other terms related to profession, among them professional, professionalism, professionality, and also professionalisation. As mentioned earlier, in Indonesia there are many types of profession, one of which is teaching. In this material we will discuss the teacher as a profession. The teacher as a profession means a position that requires special expertise in order to become a teacher. A teacher can also be called a professional teacher, which means a teacher who has formal recognition based on the regulations in force. 

To become a teacher, one needs not only special expertise but must also have competence. Teacher competence has indicators that can be clearly observed. This competence refers to criteria for a teacher's success in teaching learners. There are several sets of competencies for professional teachers, among them knowledge, skills, and attitudes or behaviour that a teacher possesses, internalises, or must be able to master in carrying out his or her duties professionally. Law Number 14 of 2005, Chapter IV, Article 10 paragraph 91, states that “A teacher's competence includes pedagogical competence, personality competence, social competence, and also professional competence obtained through professional education. 

There are ten teacher competencies, all of them according to the Teacher Education Development Project. The ten competencies are: mastering the subject material, being able to manage the teaching and learning programme, being able to manage the classroom, being able to use media or learning resources, mastering the foundations of education, being able to manage the interaction between teacher and learners in teaching and learning activities, being able to assess learners' achievement, understanding more deeply the functions and services of guidance, being able to introduce and carry out school administration, and also being able to understand or interpret the results of observations that are useful for teaching purposes. Of the ten competencies mentioned above, there are only two areas of teacher competence. These two are cognitive competence and behavioural competence.

A teacher as an instructor also needs analysis. To carry out this analysis, a teacher must have performance competence in actual practice; a teacher has at least four abilities, namely being able to plan the teaching process, being able to carry out and lead learning activities, being able to assess the progress of the teaching process, and also having to master the material to be delivered to the learners. From these four abilities it can be concluded that a professional teacher is a teacher who is able to carry out his or her teaching responsibilities in a good and effective way. 

Being a teacher also requires a code of ethics. A code of ethics means a system of rules of conduct that should be accepted by the group of people who have joined a professional association. A code of ethics also aims to guarantee that professional duties can be carried out properly and maintained as they should be. Besides having aims, a code of ethics also has a main function. The main function of a code of ethics is to mediate the principles and norms underlying the performance of a teacher's professional service duties, which are always connected with the learners, the parents or guardians, the school, professional colleagues, the organisation, or the government, in relation to religious, educational, social, ethical and humanitarian values. 

In Indonesia teachers must be aware of education, because education is a field of service to God Almighty, the nation and the state. Indonesian teachers will be called to carry out their work by holding to the principles that have been set as they should be (AD/ART PGRI, 1994). If a teacher violates the code of ethics, the authorised party can impose sanctions. The sanctions given must also be objective, that is, not contrary to the established principles. A teacher who has violated the code of ethics has denied or broken the oath he or she took at the inauguration. 

Becoming a teacher is not an easy thing; to become a teacher one also has to pass several tests. Not everyone is able to pass these tests, so those who have become teachers should be very grateful to have passed so many tests. The tests for becoming a teacher include a written test, a psychological test, a Quran memorisation (hafidz) test, a health test, an interview, and micro-teaching. Aspiring to become a teacher is a noble thing. Because in this very millennial era, teachers are greatly needed, especially in very remote and interior areas.

After going through several tests, a person will be appointed as a teacher if they pass those stages. Once all these stages have been completed, the next stage is teacher certification. Teacher certification is a process of awarding an educator certificate for the position of teacher. To obtain this certificate a teacher must meet the applicable requirements. There are two applicable requirements, namely academic requirements and non-academic requirements. Teacher certification also comes in several types, namely the PSPL pattern, the PF pattern, and the PLPG pattern. Teacher certification also carries an allowance. In 2021 the government ratified a regulation under which teachers are entitled to a TPG (professional allowance) equal to their basic salary according to the inpassing certificate every month. These teachers will be given a TPG of Rp1,500,000 per month. In the following year, 2022, teachers will be given various allowances to improve their welfare. 

CONCLUSION

 Based on the discussion written above, it can be concluded that, according to the public, a teacher is someone who educates in certain places, not only in formal educational institutions but also in non-formal educational institutions. The teacher is one example of a profession. The teacher as a profession means a position that requires special expertise in order to become a teacher. A teacher can also be called a professional teacher, which means a teacher who has formal recognition based on the regulations in force. There are several sets of competencies for professional teachers, among them knowledge, skills, and attitudes or behaviour that a teacher possesses, internalises, or must be able to master in carrying out his or her duties professionally. Teachers also have a code of ethics. The main function of a code of ethics is to mediate the principles and norms underlying the performance of a teacher's professional service duties, which are always connected with the learners, the parents or guardians, the school, professional colleagues, the organisation, or the government, in relation to religious, educational, social, ethical and humanitarian values. Becoming a teacher is not an easy thing; to become a teacher one also has to pass several tests. Therefore, let us become professional teachers so that we can bring about good education now and in the future, and also so that we can shape young generations who succeed in reaching their bright futures.