Teachers’ perceptions of continuing professional development: a study of vocational high school teachers in Indonesia

ABSTRACT

The research examines Indonesian vocational high school teachers’ perceptions of continuing professional development (CPD) in the context of changing policies regarding teacher CPD. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model is used as the conceptual framework. Six accounting teachers interviewed understood CPD as an activity for teachers’ improvement, but in different ways. They perceived CPD as teacher performance assessment and government regulation (exosystem), personal development activities (individual), and some considered religious values when they described CPD. These teachers regarded their profession as a devotion to God and CPD as part of their duty and responsibility as obedient persons (interactional factors between individual and macrosystem). Civil servant teachers participated in more structured CPD compared with their non-civil servant peers as CPD activities are more closely related to promotion. Teachers showed they have interest and capacity to further develop their CPD but need support to develop their professionalism through microsystem and exosystem factors.

KEYWORDS:

• Vocational high school teachers
• continuing professional development
• bioecological model

Introduction

There is much written about teacher professionalism and professional development (e.g. Day and Sachs 2004; Timperley et al. 2007); however, little is known about vocational teachers’ perceptions regarding professionalism and professional development. Of the research about teachers’ perceptions of professionalism and continuing professional development (CPD), primary and secondary teachers have been the focus (Ifanti and Fotopoulopou 2011; Tichenor and Tichenor 2005; Yuwono and Harbon 2010). As teachers’ own views of professional development (PD) contribute to their professionalism (OECD 2009), and vocational teachers play an important role in providing workforce-ready students, we need to understand vocational teachers’ perceptions of PD. Vocational secondary schools in Indonesia prepare students for work rather than tertiary education. Many countries have instigated reform to raise the quality of vocational teachers (Csíkos, Kovács, and Kereszty 2018; Köpsén and Andersson 2015; Lloyd and Payne 2012). In Indonesia, there is ongoing educational reform that requires adaptable vocational high school teachers responsible for providing workforce-ready students.

Different from other teachers, vocational teachers are required to have additional competencies in vocational knowledge and vocational skills as well as pedagogical skills (Andersson and Köpsén 2015; Schmidt 2019). For example, accounting teachers are required to be proficient in both the knowledge (theoretical) and skills (practical) of accounting. As the demands of society change, accounting teachers need to update their vocational knowledge and skills, which requires these teachers to maintain their connection to the workforce (Andersson and Köpsén 2015). However, as Unesco-Unevoc (2011) reported, links to companies for vocational (locally termed SMK) teachers in Indonesia are limited. This is because companies’ accounting and financial matters are considered private and include confidential information. As a result, SMK teachers are unable to connect with companies to improve their own capabilities, vocational schools (SMKs) can only access limited aspects of accounting in finance departments of companies, and students receive limited practice before entering the workforce.

PD activities need to be relevant to particular groups of teachers, for example accounting teachers of SMKs need to have different activities to improve their knowledge and skills from accounting teachers in general high schools (Garet et al. 2001). Thus, PD for SMK teachers is likely to be different from that for primary and general secondary teachers as these SMK teachers need to have vocational competencies unlike primary and secondary teachers. In addition, Indonesian teachers are uncertified until they undergo a process of examination to assure the public they have the required knowledge and skills to be professional certified teachers. As different teachers would likely have different perceptions of PD (Fox 1992), the aim of this study is to explore SMK teachers’ perceptions of CPD and their perceptions of CPD at different stages of becoming professional teachers.

Teacher professional development

When referring to activities that support teachers’ development of their professionalism, authors use different terms such as professional development (e.g. Caena 2011; OECD 2009), professional learning and development (Timperley 2011) or professional learning (e.g. Opfer and Pedder 2011). In the Indonesian language, there is no term for professional learning or professional learning and development. Therefore, the phrase ‘continuing professional development’ is used in this study to be aligned with the recognised terminology of Indonesia.

In the teacher development literature, PD is described as activities to develop skills, knowledge, expertise and other professional teacher characteristics (Caena 2011; Dadds 1997; Timperley 2013). PD is considered an important strategy for extending teachers’ content knowledge and improving their teaching practice (Day and Sachs 2004; Desimone et al. 2002). In other words, successful PD can support the improvement of teacher professionalism. Successful PD can focus on both core and structural features (Garet et al. 2001), with core features of PD including focusing on content knowledge, promoting active learning and fostering coherence) and structural features including the type of PD activities, the duration of the activities and the degree to which the activities emphasise the collective participation of groups of teachers from the same school, department or grade level.

PD is perceived differently by different teachers and for different reasons. Mokhele and Jita (2010) explained that PD is perceived differently because of teachers’ different personal circumstances and investment in the process of PD, while Ifanti and Fotopoulopou (2011) found that teachers perceived PD as a multidimensional and complicated process. Grieve and McGinley (2010) found that, as a result of PD, teachers perceived themselves as liberated empowered teachers enabling them to be innovative and creative in their teaching, and better able to respond to students’ needs.

Even with differing perceptions, results of successful PD include influences on teachers’ beliefs and behaviour (OECD 2009; Tichenor and Tichenor 2005; Villegas-Reimers 2003), leading to improvement of teachers’ practice (Ferguson-Patrick 2011; Phillips 2008; Reid and Kleinhenz 2015) and improvements in students’ performance (Avalos 2011). The effects of teachers’ perceptions of teaching and learning are not always straightforward in increasing teachers’ performance, but PD can help teachers better understand the nature of teaching and learning (OECD 2009), which in turn has the potential to improve the quality of teachers’ practice. In improving teachers’ practice, specifically Phillips (2008) explains that different forms of PD activities such as mentoring, attending higher education and reflective studies are critical for maintaining improvement of teaching quality. Furthermore, students tend to perform better when they are taught by teachers with successful PD experiences that help them understand how their students learn. Specifically, Timperley (2011) highlights that teacher professional learning and development can result in enhancing students’ intellectual, spiritual, physical, moral, social and cultural wellbeing. Thus, investment in teachers’ knowledge and skills has the potential to increase student achievement more than other investments in education (Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin 1999).

In reviewing the literature and trying to develop a conceptualisation of teacher professional learning, Opfer and Pedder (2011) argue for consideration of the systems and supports that facilitate professional learning as well as the specific activities to support teachers. As noted earlier, SMK teachers need to continue their own development in the vocational area, which distinguishes them from other groups of teachers. Therefore, SMK teachers are likely to need a different structure of PD compared with other groups of teachers. This is consistent with Mitchell and Cubey (2003), who reported that the most appropriate PD supports teachers to continually improve their practice, beliefs, understanding and attitude. For example, SMK teachers are expected to have updated knowledge and skills in their vocational area, and an appropriate PD activity could be an internship in a company to improve their practice.

Teacher continuing professional development in Indonesia

In the context of Indonesia, PD has been changing over time with a number of different programmes. In the 1970s there were in-service teacher PD centres specifically for staffing purposes and the development of teacher professionalism, known as Pusat Pengembangan Pendidikan Guru – PPPG (Thair and Treagust 2003). Later in 1980, Teachers Upgrading (locally termed Pemantapan Kerja Guru – PKG) began and was funded by the World Bank (Saito et al. 2007). PKG has been an attempt to foster in-service training for the teachers that then developed as Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran – MGMP, a secondary subject teacher forum (Thair and Treagust 2003) as well as Kelompok Kerja Guru – KKG, a teachers’ working group for primary teachers (Jalal et al. 2009). The MGMP and KKG activities are still conducted to support PD of in-service teachers, and Widayati (2013) found that the secondary teacher forum, MGMP, assisted teachers in enacting teaching reform when she interviewed five members of the board of the secondary subject teacher forum – Accounting. The forum also played important roles as a supporting agency, a mediator in developing competencies, a collaborator, an evaluator, and an academic and clinical supervisor. Building on previous policies and activities such as the PKG, MGMP and KKG, a new model of PD, henceforward known as Pengembangan Keprofesian Berkelanjutan – PKB (continuing professional development – CPD), was developed and implemented in 2015, with a new model of teacher certification called teaching profession training (Pendidikan Profesi Guru – PPG).

Previous studies conducted in Indonesia showed that people chose to become teachers for different reasons. As Yuwono and Harbon (2010) explained, people in Indonesia become teachers because they are willing, forced by parents, called by their religion, or as a response to the high status of teachers in the society. For those who became teachers because of religious calling, they considered their profession as a devotion to God. Although teachers have different motivations, they are expected to be professional and continue to improve their PD.

Different from other countries, Indonesian vocational teachers graduate from high school then continue their studies to teacher college. Their skills in the vocational field are built during their studies at teacher college. For accounting teachers, they learn how to practise accounting at the college and do not have a chance to practise their accounting skills in any company or to complete an internship. Thus, vocational teachers in Indonesia lack professional practice when they become teachers.

Despite structural constraints on teachers’ classroom practice (such as big class sizes, lack of resources for teaching material and long working hours), Indonesian teachers are mandated to engage in PD to develop their professionalism. Nilan (2003), however, underlines teachers as agents of change who are providing opportunities not only for students but also families and society, and therefore, need support to engage in PD.

CPD is fostered to improve the quality of the teachers required by the ongoing changes in society (Tanang and Abu 2014) and is a part of activities assessed for teacher promotion. Teachers may be government employees (civil servant teachers) or employed by the school where they work (non-civil servant teachers with lower salaries). Ministry for the Empowerment of State Apparatus and Bureaucracy Reform mandates civil servant teachers to participate in CPD once they reach a certain civil servant level. Furthermore, teachers’ practice is assessed (teacher performance assessment, locally termed as PKG), and the assessment is conducted annually consisting of formative and summative assessment. The result of PKG is used for determining a teacher’s credit points for his or her promotion and to provide recommendations for his or her CPD. Teacher promotion is only for civil servant teachers (either certified or uncertified), but PKG and CPD are mandated for all teachers. In reality, the enactment of CPD depends on each school. Some schools require all teachers to participate in CPD, while other schools only require their civil servant teachers to participate in CPD. In general, civil servant teachers participate in more structured CPD than uncertified non-civil servant teachers (Indonesia. Ministry for Empowerment of State Apparatus 2009). Teachers’ perceptions of CPD would likely be associated with a number of cultural factors as well as requirements mandated by the Indonesian government.

Theoretical framework

Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model provides an appropriate framework for conceptualising the developing individual (teacher), the environments that influence an individual’s development (teacher development) and the interactions between them (Bronfenbrenner 1979). According to the model, development in general is a sustained and progressively more complex interaction with and within the immediate environment (Bronfenbrenner 2005) with progressive change towards identified goals (Bronfenbrenner 1979). In the case of teachers, the main goal is enhanced professionalism supported with professional development.

In the literature, there are factors affecting teacher development including personal and environmental factors (Ifanti and Fotopoulopou 2011; OECD 2009). In the Indonesian context, culture including religion is considered important in the conception of CPD (Indonesia Ministry of National Education 2005b; Yuwono and Harbon 2010). Figure 1 includes the factors from the literature and the Indonesian context that may influence teacher professional development.

Figure 1. Factors perceived to influence the accounting teachers’ continuing professional development

As shown in Figure 1, at the core is the individual. This represents the accounting teachers’ person characteristics which include demand, resource and force characteristics. At the next level teachers are influenced by the environment in which they interact with others. The microsystem factors in this study include the interaction between the teacher and students, colleagues and the school principal. The next level, the mesosystem, includes interactions that might impact teacher PD. These could include interactions among students, colleagues, students and colleagues, colleagues and the principal, or students and principal. At the next level, the exosystem, factors include the secondary subject teacher forum on Accounting (locally termed MGMP Akuntansi) and the laws issued by government. The fourth and outermost level, the macrosystem, includes the societal and cultural ideology that impact on teachers including accounting teachers, influenced by globalisation, and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community agreement.

Method

A qualitative interpretive research approach was used in this study to gain meaning and understanding of an individual’s views (Creswell 2014; Patton and Cochran 2002; Walter 2010). The study was conducted in Yogyakarta province, Indonesia, examining accounting teachers’ understandings of CPD. The teacher participants were selected from vocational high schools (a) that conduct an accounting programme with more than two classes; (b) that are graded at the highest level (A) in their school accreditation; and (c) in which all accounting teachers are certified, all accounting teachers are uncertified, or with mixed certified and uncertified accounting teachers. Six accounting teachers including three certified and three uncertified teachers from three vocational schools (two government schools and one private school) participated in this study. All teachers had more than five years of teaching experience and included one male and five female teachers.

Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with a set of questions were used as a tool to explore what teachers thought about CPD. The initial interviews lasted for about one hour, and follow-up interviews were conducted to allow participants to elaborate on any parts of the first interview that needed more information or clarification. The interviews were conducted in Indonesian as the first author is a native Indonesian speaker. Table 1 illustrates the relationships between Bronfenbrenner’s system, research questions and interview questions.

Table 1. An example of the relationship between Bronfenbrenner’s system, research questions and interview questions

Bronfenbrenner’s system	Research questions	Teacher interview questions
Individual	How do accounting teachers understand continuing professional development?	1. What does continuing professional development mean to you?
	In what ways are perceptions of continuing professional development different at different stages of becoming professional teachers?	2. How do you perceive continuing professional development affects the way you practise?
Exosystem	How does the changing policy context of vocational high schools in Indonesia affect the continuing professional development of accounting teachers?	1. How do the laws affect your professional development? 2. What are the supports and constraints of the laws to your CPD?
	How are accounting teachers supported in their continuing professional development?	3. How do you see of the role of MGMP – Akuntansi in supporting your practice? 4. What prompted you to get involved in that forum?
	What are the constraints on the accounting teachers’ continuing professional development?	5. What are the constraints when you engage in the forum?

Data were transcribed and verified by the teachers. The verification was accomplished by sending the Indonesian transcripts to the participating teachers via email. After the verification, data were translated to English and externally reviewed by a researcher with English and Indonesian expertise to ensure accuracy of the translation. All the information provided by teachers was treated confidentially and, to ensure confidentiality in reporting the findings, all teachers are referred to as ‘she’.

Thematic analysis was used inductively to explore themes within the data gathered (Willis 2010). Themes were considered in relation to Bronfenbrenner’s system. Table 2 illustrates the process of generating categories (coding) and exploring relationships between the categories of the interview with one of the teachers. The process is described in the following paragraph.

Table 2. The process of data coding and exploring relationships between categories

Interview	Categories (Bronfenbrenner’s aspects)	Specifics	Themes
Researcher: What is CPD, in your opinion?			The teacher defined CPD as teacher performance assessment and personal development activities.
Teacher: Oh, CPD, isn’t it? With CPD perhaps teachers will see that they are being continuously evaluated in their professionalism based on the points they earn in relation with the process of education. The points can be earned from activities outside school such as attaining certificate levels and getting certificates to support them in doing their part in the process of education. In their own process of PKB, if, for example, they do a lot of activities or attain a lot of achievements at work at school or related offices, they will surely gain more in the points accumulated. It used to be called PAK (Penilaian Angka Kredit ‘Credit Point Assessment’).	Continuing Assessment (Exosystem) Teacher promotion (Exosystem) Personal development (Individual)	Continuously evaluated Process of education Based on points The points accumulated Credit point assessment Activities outside schools Getting certificates Own process

In relation to coding, the researchers read responses, highlighted keywords, put keywords into relevant categories and explored the relationships between those categories. As shown in the example in the table, the phrases continuously evaluated, process of education, based on points, the points accumulated, credit point assessment, activities outside schools, getting certificates and own process were highlighted as those were assigned as the most aligned answers to the question ‘What is CPD, in your opinion?’ Then the phrases continuously evaluated and process of education were considered similar and coded in the category ‘continuing assessment’. The phrases based on points, the points accumulated and credit point assessment were coded in the category ‘teacher promotion’. The phrases activities outside schools, getting certificates and own process were coded in the category ‘personal development activities’. Continuing assessment and teacher promotion were coded under the theme ‘teacher performance assessment’. Personal development was coded in a second theme, ‘personal development activities’.

Results

The results show that there was a common overall understanding of the meaning of CPD among the participating teachers. However, these teachers differed in their explanations of CPD and how they participated in CPD.

Teachers’ perceptions of CPD

The certified and uncertified teachers perceived that CPD was meant for their improvement, more specifically self-improvement. Four themes emerged when the accounting teachers discussed their perceptions of CPD. The themes and relation to Bronfenbrenner’s systems were performance assessment and government regulation (exosystem factors), personal development activities (individual) and devotion to God (an interactional factor between the individual and the macrosystem).

Teacher performance assessment

The certified teachers seemed to understand the concept of continuing professional development (CPD) to be the same as teacher performance assessment (locally termed Penilaian Kinerja Guru – PKG). PKG assessed the teacher performance in designing, implementing and evaluating the teaching and learning that they have conducted. One teacher said,

PKG implies teachers must teach according to steps already prescribed, and those already doing so ought to keep improving themselves. If they are not appropriately skilled in teaching, they should attend a diklat (pendidikan dan latihan ‘education and training’) or ask someone who knows more. This is in order that their future steps in work development and their way of teaching and educating students are undertaken as expected. (Teacher B)

Similarly, two other teachers related CPD to teacher performance assessment that provide resources for teacher promotion and as a recommendation for the teachers participating in CPD. Thus, for these teachers, teacher performance assessment (PKG) and CPD are parts of teacher assessment for promotion (locally termed Penilaian Angka Kredit – PAK). All civil servant teachers are subject to their teacher promotional rank. In order to be promoted, a teacher is required to achieve a certain number of points from the education and training that the teachers participated in and other relevant activities. As Teacher A said,

CPD is also the development of professionalism but in stages and there are criteria to determine the stages … But then if we return to, for example, promotion in rank, it eventually depends on CPD and, because it’s necessary, there are criteria for the attainment of certain other criteria, which become the requirements for being able to improve performance or professionalism. (Teacher A)

The teachers understood that they were not supposed to be easily satisfied with what they had done but were recommended to always innovate and develop their ways of teaching and learning. As Teacher A said, ‘There are criteria of how much can be attained so that, with the criteria already available, there are attainment targets higher than previous ones.’ Teachers were not to have the same targets of achievement every academic year, but they were expected to increase their own targets annually, based on their performance assessment. In relation to Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory, the teachers interpreted CPD in relation to teacher assessment performance and teacher promotion (the exosystem).

Government regulation

The civil servant teachers related CPD to teacher performance assessment as part of government regulation. Further, one of the civil servant teachers perceived CPD as launched by the government of Indonesia in order to facilitate teachers’ development of their professionalism. CPD as a government programme is meant to guide teachers to choose the activities they will participate in to update their knowledge and skills. The teacher said,

So, to be in a government program is not to be stagnant, ending when you attain a certificate and that’s all. It just happens I haven’t got it yet. The government wants improvement to keep going on so that the quality of education in Indonesia also keeps improving. (Teacher E)

However, this teacher stated that CPD was not yet run in accordance with what had been planned. Instead of pedagogical knowledge, most of the activities were about content knowledge. Some aspects, such as encouragement to attend seminars, were not working well, and therefore the teacher reported that CPD could not be expected to improve the way teachers conducted teaching and learning. The teacher understood CPD not only in relation to her personal knowledge that teachers are meant to improve their pedagogical knowledge and skills (the individual) but also as a programme for teacher improvement run by the government (the exosystem).

Personal development activities

Teachers also understood CPD as personal knowledge to develop their professionalism (the individual) through either informal or formal activities (the exosystem). These teachers perceived CPD as personal development activities. CPD activities were conducted by teachers in order to improve their competencies. One uncertified teacher said,

Well, it means making some improvements. After finishing formal education, we have to add more capabilities such as workshops or courses, non-formal activities outside the classroom. For example, the things I was weak in when I was in college, when I graduated, when I first became a teacher, or when we were learning at school, we have to create targets for them. It means that we should not become complacent in whatever we are doing. (Teacher D)

This teacher perceived the structure or design of CPD as non-formal activities and viewed CPD as being for teacher promotion requirements. These teachers also emphasised their perceptions of CPD on the level of the exosystem.

The government encourages teachers to join relevant academic activities designed for their PD. MGMP Akuntansi (the exosystem) as the accounting teachers’ forum usually held seminars, workshops or training for accounting teachers. These accounting teachers attended such activities; however, they engage in them differently. Some teachers participated in academic activities on their own initiative, while others were school driven. Even though teachers attended the forums on their own initiative, they still needed permission from their school principal. In addition, to update their knowledge, these accounting teachers visited bookstores to buy books about accounting, visited libraries and accessed the Internet on their own initiative (the exosystem). Although they had similarities in choosing the Internet access to improve their professionalism, the content they accessed was different. For example, Teacher D explained, ‘We’re using WIFI by which I can improve myself. Moreover, taxes are changing.’ Meanwhile, Teacher C said that she accessed the Internet to find knowledge about accounting and how to improve her teaching quality. Another teacher found her own way to improve her knowledge and skills by visiting organisations (the exosystem), for example the taxation centre, to meet with one of the officers to discuss the new regulations. This teacher chose this self-directed activity to improve her subject knowledge.

Surprisingly, one teacher (Teacher C) said that it was the first time she had heard about the term ‘CPD’; however, she explained that teachers were required to develop and improve their quality, which is consistent with the other participants’ views of CPD. Furthermore, she stated that teachers ought to be more open to the changes and learn continuously. She further explained that being more open meant teachers were always ready to adapt to developments, and, as accounting and learning were developed, teachers were required to keep up to date so that what they taught their students was current. She said, ‘a teacher must be up-to-date in everything, including in science and technology. Moreover, in the social sciences, it is dynamic.’

Devotion to God

Teachers considered their devotion to God an important part of their work as teachers. Some explicitly mentioned devotion to God in talking about CPD. It as an interactional factor between the individual and the macrosytem (culture). One of the teachers explained that she was shackled by rules as a civil servant teacher. The teacher regarded teaching as a devotion, otherwise it would be difficult. She explained,

The only possibility now is to make myself as comfortable as possible with the situation, enjoying the saying that it’s ‘ibadah’ (‘a way to show devotion to God’). I was told to make the science and knowledge I master benefit others. (Teacher E)

Teacher E perceived teaching as her devotion to God. This religious calling originally motivated her to become a teacher and kept her motivated through the changing context in Indonesia. Similarly, Teacher F said that helping students to gain knowledge and skills was considered as her devotion to her God. Thus, teaching accounting was one way to show their faithfulness to their religion. It was their way to show their religious worship.

CPD at different stages of becoming professional teachers

Regardless of their similarities in participating in CPD (both certified and uncertified teachers participated in both formal and less formal activities of CPD), senior teachers had more opportunities in the teacher certification programme as work experience was considered a requirement for participation in that programme. After being certified, these teachers were given priority in the distribution of teaching duties in order to meet the minimum teaching-hours requirement. Differences also appeared for civil servant and non-civil servant teachers. When compared with non-civil servant teachers, the civil servant teachers participated in more structured CPD because CPD relates to their teacher promotion. Moreover, civil servant teachers are subject to regulations including teacher promotion and teacher professional development.

Discussion

At different stages of becoming professional teachers, the six accounting teachers had different ways of explaining CPD and how they participated in CPD. In their view, CPD was meant for teachers’ improvement. These perceptions are consistent with the argument of Villegas-Reimers (2003), who referred to CPD as the development of teachers in their professional role. They are also consistent with the recommendation of Desimone et al. (2002), who considered CPD as an important strategy for enhancing teachers’ content knowledge and improving teaching practice. The improvement needed to be done continuously, which was consistent with the government regulation stating that teacher PD is continuous and termed ‘continuing professional development’ (Indonesia Ministry of National Education 2005a).

Four themes including performance assessment, government regulation, personal development activities and devotion to God emerged when these six teachers explained their perceptions of CPD. The first theme, perceptions of CPD as teacher performance assessment, is aligned with the government regulation regarding teacher promotion for civil servant teachers (Indonesia. Ministry for Empowerment of State Apparatus 2009).

All teacher participants perceived CPD in relation to the government regulations (exosystem factors), the second factor. The views of CPD as a periodical government programme for teacher improvement, was consistent with The Act of Republic Indonesia No. 23 of 2003 regarding the National Education System (Indonesia Ministry of National Education 2003), The Teacher Law (Indonesia Ministry of National Education 2005a) and Government Regulation No. 19 of 2005 regarding the National Standards of Education (Indonesia Ministry of National Education 2005b). One teacher described CPD in relation to a government programme (exosystem factor) that is organised by the government. The explanation that the programme was somewhat ineffective is consistent with the findings of Tanang and Abu (2014), who found that the CPD programme in Indonesia was ineffectual because the government was limited as to how it could train teachers in a planned programme due to low cost budgeting. Furthermore, Tanang and Abu (2014) explained that the commitment of the government sometimes remained on paper without implementation.

The third theme, perceptions of CPD as either formal or non-formal personal development activities to improve professionalism, is consistent with the explanation of Fullan (1995), who explained that PD is the total of formal and informal learning experienced by teachers. The participant views were also consistent with the mandate of the government for civil servant teachers (Indonesia. Ministry for Empowerment of State Apparatus 2009).

Consistent with Villegas-Reimers’ (2003) argument that there is no best model of CPD that can be implemented in different settings, the CPD of SMK teachers differs from the CPD of other groups of teachers. The current research findings differ in some ways from those reviewed earlier (e.g. Andersson and Köpsén 2015; Ifanti and Fotopoulopou 2011). Even though teachers were encouraged by the government to do an internship in the organisation in which students would do their internships, in reality the organisation did not give either teachers or students real cases of accounting to improve their skills in accounting because accounting is considered to be confidential. Instead of accounting work, the teachers and students were given administrative work. Lack of industry access for vocational teachers to update their vocational skills is also an issue in other countries (Lloyd and Payne 2012).

Teachers’ willingness to participate in PD had an association with how they perceived CPD. The six teachers were motivated (either intrinsically or extrinsically) to participate in activities for their CPD. How the six teachers participated in their CPD was associated with their motivation as individual factors (self-driven) and their environmental factors (school driven). Consistent with Gould, Drey, and Berridge (2007), these six teachers invested their private time to participate in their CPD either based on their own initiatives or driven by the schools. Proactive teachers searched for information (self-driven), while others participated in activities for their CPD only when invited or asked by their school (school driven) or participated in activities for their CPD that were either self-directed or school directed. Thus, motivation seemed to be associated with their CPD. This is in relation to the findings of Lewthwaite and Wiebe (2012), who identified that teachers’ motivation to achieve professional aspiration affected their efforts to achieve their development targets. Similarly, Yue et al. (2017) identified intrinsic motivation (self-direction) as a potential key to effective teacher PD.

Even though the current study and previous research such as Ifanti and Fotopoulopou (2011) and OECD (2009) are similar in terms of the importance of cultural beliefs, this study differs regarding religion. In this study, the teacher participants’ perceptions of CPD were associated with religion. In contrast with the findings of Yuwono and Harbon (2010) that some people in Indonesia entered the profession of teaching because of a religious calling, and taught in religious schools, the participant teachers in this study cited religion as motivation for entering teaching and continuing their PD but did not teach in Islamic or Protestant schools. This perception of CPD relating to religion is supported by the Act of The Republic of Indonesia No. 20 of 2003, where education is rooted in religious values (Indonesia Ministry of National Education 2003). Furthermore, the Teacher Law mandates teachers to have commitment to improving the quality of education, faith, devoutness and good morale (Indonesia Ministry of National Education 2005a).

The teachers in this study highlighted workshops, seminars and participation in a network as the most frequently attended activities. All the teachers, both certified and uncertified, attended workshops (where participants engaged in practical activities) or seminars (discussion without practical activities) as these activities were beneficial for teachers in developing their professionalism. This is consistent with the views of Garet et al. (2001), who emphasised that workshops seem to be the most common types of PD. The findings are also consistent with Curtis and Szestay (2005), who stated that seminars have impacts on renewed enthusiasm for teaching, helping teachers view teaching with fresh eyes, supporting shifts in understanding teaching, facilitating more reflection and awareness as teachers, enhancing the quality of students’ learning and building professional communities. The results of the current study show that the six teachers participated in a teacher network (forum) called MGMP Akuntansi which provided a vehicle for teachers to improve their practices much like the seminars described by Curtis and Szestay (2005). This network enabled the teachers to learn and would likely result in improved teaching practices (Williams 2013).

In addition to the activities described above, these teachers read books about accounting obtained either from a bookstore, library or the Internet to improve their knowledge about accounting. Using technology, such as the Internet, enabled the teachers to access more sources of knowledge to help their students’ learning. Furthermore, teachers need to be digitally literate so that they can empower their students with the skills and knowledge they will need in the workplace (Pianfetti 2001). Another alternative way to participate in CPD was a company visit if this could be arranged to meet the needs of all parties. This is an example of teachers engaging in personal learning activities to improve their professionalism. This is consistent with the findings of Tanang and Abu (2014), who explained that the government of Indonesia provided teachers with opportunities to keep up to date with their profession, and supported access for independent continuous learning for teachers to achieve a higher quality of practice.

Conclusion and recommendation

Two limitations are acknowledged and were considered as much as possible. First, the data were gathered from a small number of teachers (six accounting teachers) in Yogyakarta, a region with the highest achievement in the competency test in Indonesia, and these teachers may be expected to better articulate their understanding of teacher continuing professional development. Therefore, generalisability from the findings is limited in terms of all teachers in Indonesia. However, the study provides insights into a range of vocational accounting teachers’ perceptions and the kinds of factors that impact their understanding and participation in CPD. Second, the researcher’s personal bias could be considered as a limitation in this study. The researcher had met most of the respondents previously as part of an academic role in Indonesia. While this enabled the researcher to gain a rapport with the participants, it may have affected how the teachers responded to the interview questions. To help mediate this issue, the researcher sent the transcripts to the participants to enable them to review their interview responses and make any changes or clarifications.

The current study provides recommendations for accounting teachers to improve not only their content knowledge but also their pedagogical knowledge since students’ achievements are largely associated with teachers’ practice (pedagogical knowledge and skills). These recommendations include, for example, teachers participating in lesson study and action research, to keep updated with current pedagogical paradigms that will lead them to become adaptive transformative teachers and complete internships in companies that allow them to practise accounting (real cases). In line with being adaptive, it is recommended that teacher CPD be based on their own initiative, and to understand that their perception of CPD can affect how they identify suitable activities to develop their professionalism. Therefore, teachers are encouraged to engage in their own professional learning and development and develop their own formal or informal CPD to improve their practice. A recent Indonesian study found Facebook posts engaged mathematics teachers in conversation and supported professional learning (Patahuddin and Logan 2019).

This study also provides recommendations for governments. Governments are recommended to educate and further support teachers so that they have an accurate understanding of CPD and are aware of the importance of CPD. Furthermore, governments can evaluate the requirements of eligibility for teachers to enrol in a teacher certification programme so that all teachers have the same opportunities. This includes, for example, grandfathering so no teachers are caught in the system and are required to complete more time because of policy changes. Furthermore, certification in different stages of career development (not only certified and uncertified) can be a way to facilitate teacher development, so that teachers do not need to wait for years to become certified.

Schools are recommended to continue to identify effective CPD and, further, encourage teachers to initiate their own CPD activities. Finally, for future research, considering that SMK teachers differ from other groups of teachers, further studies regarding internships that have potential to improve teachers’ vocational skills are recommended. Changes of employment status from non-civil servant to becoming civil servant teachers, and from uncertified to become certified teachers, as well as culture including religious values in relation to CPD, can be other foci of future research.

In conclusion, at different stages of becoming professional teachers, the findings indicated that uncertified teachers were not different from the certified teachers in understanding teacher CPD. However, the civil servant teachers (three certified and one uncertified teacher) participated in more structured CPD. On the other hand, the other two uncertified teachers participated in less structured CPD (personal development activities). Only civil servant teachers and some non-civil servant teachers understood the term CPD. Furthermore, some of these SMK teachers focused their time on teaching rather than further developing their professionalism. Even though one of these teachers had never heard about CPD before the interviews, she participated in activities to update her knowledge.

A point of difference with perceptions of CPD in previous studies is that even though these SMK teachers did not teach in Islamic or Protestant schools, some of these accounting teachers were motivated by a religious calling and regarded their profession as faithfulness to God. Teaching is a part of their responsibility and duty as obedient persons. The calling was also associated with the need to enhance professionalism for some of these SMK teachers and as a comfort in times of change.

Finally, the study highlights the need for further support of SMK accounting teachers to develop their professionalism in order to ensure that their students are work ready. Government can facilitate partnerships between schools and companies where actual accounting is practised so that teachers and students experience accounting in the current real world setting.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

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

Acknowledgments

1. The six accounting teachers for voluntarily participating in this study.

2. Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta for providing opportunities to conduct this research.

3. The Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education through the Directorate of Higher Education for granting a scholarship to conduct this research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ani Widayati

Dr Ani Widayati is a lecturer at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta State University) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Ani’s teaching focuses on learning strategy for accounting and teacher professional development to undergraduate students. Her main research interests include teacher professional development as well as teaching and learning.

Judith MacCallum

Dr Judith MacCallum is an honorary research fellow at Murdoch University in Western Australia. She uses multiple methods and sociocultural perspectives to examine social interaction for learning and development. Judith’s research focuses on motivational change, mentoring and teacher professional learning in a wide range of learning settings.

Amanda Woods-McConney

Dr Amanda Woods-McConney is senior lecturer in Education at Murdoch University. Amanda’s current research focuses on engagement in science and science literacy, and inquiry-based instruction. Amanda is committed to linking theory and practice through teacher education grounded in practice and teaching informed by current research.