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Volume 12. Issue 3
Article 6

Title
English Teacher Professionalism and Professional Development: Some Common Issues in Indonesia

Authors
Grace Ika Yuwono
Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga, Indonesia

Lesley Harbon
University of Sydney

Bio Data:
Grace Ika Yuwono is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Language and Literature at Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Indonesia. She has been teaching there since 1996. She obtained her BA in TEFL from Satya Wacana in 1995. She also holds a Master’s degree in Education from The University of Sydney. In 2009, she completed her PhD in Education from the same university. Her research interests are language education and ELT, language policy and practice, teacher professionalism, education changes and reforms, and qualitative research.

Lesley Harbon is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney, whose research focuses, among other things, on language teacher professional development. Lesley is a near-native speaker of Indonesian.

Abstract
This paper explores the notions and issues of professionalism and professional development of English teachers in Indonesia. The paper was based on some of the findings of a fieldwork conducted in 2007, in which 46 English teachers were interviewed. The aim of the study was to investigate the nature of professionalism as perceived by Indonesian EFL teachers. Findings from interview data suggest that English teacher professionalism in Indonesia is unique, is often different from what is constructed by common literature on teacher professionalism, and could be elaborated in terms of five areas. Those areas are: (1) motives for entering the profession, (2) teaching rewards, (3) the wider society’s views about teaching profession, (4) English teachers’ career progression, and (5) teachers’ perceptions on the meaning of professional EFL teachers. Discussions in this article will only focus on the first two areas. In addition, the paper will also examine how motives for entering the profession and teaching rewards bring an impact on one’s professional development.

Keywords: Teacher professionalism, professional development, Indonesian EFL teachers