Description:
Teachers’ task is not solely related to teaching, such as planning, implementing, and
evaluating teaching-learning activities. Teachers also have a responsibility to grow
professionally by upgrading their instructional knowledge and skills so that they can
manage better teaching practices aligned with current educational demand and
advancement in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). In this case,
teachers are learners who do continuous learning about themselves, their students, and
their profession as teachers. This study using survey design aims to explore learning
activities that the English teachers participate in as their professional development
conduct in the Indonesian context. This study further investigates the teachers’
perception of the learning activities and the obstacles that hinder them from
participating in the learning activities. The participants of this study were 30 English
teachers from junior and senior high schools in South Kalimantan Province attending
PPG (Education for Teacher Profession). The data of this study was collected using
the teacher questionnaire based on the Teaching and Learning International Survey
(TALIS). The analysis of the findings on practices of teacher professional
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development regarding real professional development activities that English teachers
participate in showed that they experienced some obstacles in participating in the
program. The obstacles consisted of the schedule, high payment of some TPD
activities, family’s responsibilities, employer support, unsuitability of the offered
professional development program, and lack of information about the availability of
professional development activities. Despite facing those obstacles, English teachers
in this particular context are committed to growing through continuous professional
learning.