The education ranking website worldtop20.org releases an annual report on the quality of global education. In 2023, Indonesia is ranked 67th out of 203 countries worldwide. The report highlights that education in Indonesia still needs improvement, both in terms of curriculum development and the qualifications and competencies of educators. This is due to the fact that only 73.17% of teachers have a minimum qualification of bachelor’s degree (S1/D4), and only 25.76% of teachers are certified.

Regarding teacher certification, this has become a catalyst for the Cakap Teachers Academy (CTA) -a teacher skill development program- to organize training for enhancing the teaching competence of educators, especially in English. Started in 2021, the 2023 edition marks the third year of the program conducted in two batches (6 and 7). It has also the addition of several modules to meet the upgrading needs of local educators.

Basofi Hardiyanto, Teacher of Cakap & PIC  of the program, stated that the ultimate goal for participants is the improvement of teacher skills in effective teaching, including for offline and online learning. “This year, we added several modules. Previously there were around 14 modules, now there are 20 modules. Before the program, they (teacher participants) barely knew what an ideal lesson plan was, how class management worked, but after participating, they became more skillful and applied the theories learned into teaching practice,” said Basofi.

“This year, we have one-on-one tutorial sessions and demo teaching. So, many of them broaden their horizons after this CTA program,” added Basofi. Since its kick off in 2021, the interest in this program has exceeded 1,700 people, steadily increasing in every batch.

This reflects a high interest in teacher certification due to its implications for the quality of learning, as expressed by one participant this year, Marni Otace, a teacher from Medan. She expressed that certified training like CTA could be a platform for educators’ upgrade, making the profession a career choice. “As a mother with young children, when I can earn income and work from home while upgrading myself through this beneficial programs for free, I hope more people can be reached by more similar programs,” concluded Marni.

Meanwhile, Ghovindra Wijaya, a teacher from Makassar, acknowledged that the demo teaching material is highly applicable to his daily work. “Before the demo, there is a one-on-one session with the tutor, where I have a lot of time to analyze the lesson plan and my teaching methods to students. My skills are upgraded here,” emphasized Ghovindra.

This year, the implementation of CTA is broader with the participation of teachers beyond English (Spanish and Mathematics). Additionally, for other long-term plans, CTA will also conduct offline workshop sessions in the West Java and East Java regions, as an adjustment to the blended learning teaching system that Cakap has already implemented.