Pre-service teachers’ teaching challenges and the transformative learning opportunities during teaching practice in Indonesian remote areas

ABSTRACT

Teaching practice in remote areas is beneficial for pre-service teachers’ professional development. The geographical structure and society in remote areas provide unique experiences. This study focuses on how teaching practice in remote areas opens up opportunities for transformative learning. Forty-one pre-service primary teachers from three universities participated in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted in retrospect after participants had finished their teaching practice. Results show that PSTs encountered nine types of challenges during teaching practice; parents’ low awareness of the importance of their children’s education, local teachers’ low motivation, limited teaching resources at school, pupils’ absenteeism, pupils’ poor numeracy and literacy skills, the principal’s low responsibility, natural hazard factors, pupils’ low ability to understand Indonesian, and local conflicts between different communities. Encountering these nine types of challenges fosters PSTs’ disorientation, which might lead to transformative learning. In conclusion, remote areas have potential for transformative learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-service teachers
• teaching practice
• remote areas
• transformative learning
• teaching challenges

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the pre-service primary teachers who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Erasmus Lotus+ project.

Notes on contributors

Lufi Kartika Sari

Lufi Kartika Sari is PhD student in the Department of Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She is member of the BILD (Brussels Research Centre on Innovation in Learning and Diversity) research team. Her major research interests are in rural and remote education, teacher education, and transformative learning.

Valérie Thomas

Valérie Thomas is postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and member of the BILD research team. Her major research interests are in teacher professional development, self-regulated learning, and educational innovation.

Free De Backer

Free De Backer is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and member of the BILD research team. Her research and teaching focus on arts and cultural education, and on participation in various learning environments at different ages.

Koen Lombaerts

Koen Lombaerts is Full Professor in the Department of Educational Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Head of the BILD research team. His major research interests are in educational change, lifelong learning, and self-regulated learning.