Revisiting Teacher Training in Indonesia: A Personal Reflection on My Scholarly Contribution

by Arfiyan Ridwan

In July 2024, I received an invitation from my lecturers, Dr. Bambang and Dr. Lukman,  to co-author a book chapter in the Springer publication Handbook of Teachers’ Voices in the Global South. The chapter, titled Navigating the Challenges: The Complex Landscape of Teacher In-Service Training in Indonesia (officially published on April 2026) marked an important moment in my academic journey, as it allowed me to engage in international scholarly writing on the historical development of teacher in-service training in Indonesia. The invitation aligned closely with my research area, which focuses on teacher education and professional development in the Indonesian context. At the time, I was starting to work on my dissertation whose literature review covers how Indonesian in-service teachers have been trained across the historical periods of the country.

My literature review for my dissertation explores the evolution of in-service teacher education in Indonesia, covering the periods of the Dutch colonialization and the Japanese occupation to the early independence, the Old Order, the New Order, and the reform period to nowadays. This literature review writing provides me a strong foundation in writing the chapter. The part in which I contributed to write is in the historical development of teacher in-service training in Indonesia in the period of the New Order with centralization of education before it shifted to decentralization in the next phase of governance in reform period. I see that this period became a significant phase of teacher training in Indonesia as the current programs of in-service teacher training was significantly initiated in this period.

The significant insight I have gained from assessing teacher training development in the particularly the New Order era to the present day is that there has been a long journey of how teachers have been trained with different schemes and needs. After the large-scale training programs for primary and secondary school teachers in 1975 to 1980, the key trainings during the period of the New Order comprise Pemantapan Kerja Guru (PKG) or Strengthening the Work of Teachers, the Sanggar Pemantapan Kerja Guru (SPKG), or Centers for Strengthening Teacher Work, Kelompok Kerja Guru (KKG), or Primary School Working Group KKG, and Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran (MGMP), or Subject Teacher Working Group for secondary school teachers. At this time of year, I see that there has been a great foundation of how teachers are prepared in the level of primary and secondary level of education. The developed programs in the reform era to the present day can be said to be the results of those in the massive teacher development in the New Order period.

However, through examining their historical development, I realize that many recurring issues, including limited coordination, uneven implementation, and questions of effectiveness, have persisted across different programs and periods. This realization suggests that the core challenges are not simply the result of individual program design, but are rooted in broader structural conditions, such as bureaucratic complexity, resource distribution, and the vast geographical context of Indonesia. Despite claims that the in-service teacher trainings in the New Order succeeded to train teachers with significant numbers, the actual implementations might not be satisfying enough.  What lesson I take away is that the goal of improving teacher professional development is not merely introducing a new program to replace the old ones. Instead, it requires systemic changes how training is designed based on the needs, carefully planned, and sustained to the next periods.

Another important insight from the book chapter writing is that the extent of the modern teacher professional education program called PPG (Pendidikan profesi Guru) be understood as a part of historical trajectory from the Old Order period, rather than a new program or initiative. Currently, I am researching PPG for my doctoral dissertation research, and this is very relevant to what I analyzed in the book chapter. On this standpoint, I can critically reconsider how far the program of PPG represents genuine reform and resolves the past challenges of teacher in-service training. Specifically, I am researching to what extent the current PPG can accommodate the proper training for English language teachers assigned to teach in elementary schools in which previously, English teachers did not have a tenure teaching position in elementary school. After the issuance of new policy that in 2027 English subject becomes a mandatory subject in elementary school, PPG has been provided to train in-service English teachers in elementary school. Historical perspective is needed to understand PPG for this context, and I am glad to analyze the historical evolution of PPG from the New Order to the present day. While PPG is often positioned as a comprehensive effort to enhance teacher professionalism, the chapter may also reflect a reconfiguration of earlier training models, carrying forward both their strengths and unresolved limitations.

Finally, I would say that this experience to write in the book chapter has reinforced my belief that improving teacher professional development in Indonesia requires not only new program initiatives, but also a deeper engagement with the historical and continuous improvement to create sustainable and context specific needs of the trained teachers.