SPESIALISASI MATERI AJAR SEBAGAI UPAYA PENGEMBANGAN PROFESIONALISME GURU

Abstract
The school-based curriculum gives teachers freedom to design and develop all
learning activities for students by themselves, so it is expected that the teachers’
competence can be improved optimally. Besides, teachers’ creativity and
innovation can be developed to increase their professionalism. But, the fact shows
that the teachers’ responsibility is so heavy that they do not have enough time to
develop their professionalism. Almost all SMPs/MTss and SMAs/MAs in
Indonesia assign teachers some duties based on classes. One of the ways to
improve teachers’ mastery can be done by taking specialization in teaching
materials. This method gives some advantages to teachers and students as well. For
the teachers, specialization in teaching materials can make them: (1) concentrate on
the teaching material development; (2) plan learning strategies effectively; (3) look
for references easily and attentively; (4) write summaries and modules; (5) select
seminars and workshops to attend; and (6) direct students based on their ability.
For the students, specialization in teaching materials can make them: (1) get the
unity of concepts from the same teacher; (2) avoid needless character adaptation
from different teachers; (3) detect self-ability; (4) look for references easily; and (5)
avoid from learning over-lapping concepts. It seems difficult to implement
specialization for teaching material, but by having a good intention to increase
learning quality in Indonesia, all difficulties and obstacles can be handled. Patience
and seriousness are really needed to start a new thing. Whatever the result is, this
effort should be made.
Keywords : specialization, effort, professionalism, teacher