UPI Hosts Southeast Asian Teacher Education Assessor Training

Bandung, UPI

Teacher quality is a significant aspect of education. For a country to develop and prosper, quality education is an essential component. This concern was shared by the countries joining the Southeast Asian Teacher Education Network, which held Teacher Quality Assurance Assessor Training in the Mercure Hotel, Bandung, from November 14^th to November 16^th 2019. This training was hosted by Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia and attended by 20 educators from the Phillipines, Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia.

The training was held in order to synchronize the visions of teacher educators throughout Southeast Asian and increase the quality of teacher assessment as a way to improve education. As a leading university on education in Southeast Asia, UPI actively takes part in creating a better education system. This recent training covered topics on upholding the standards of teacher education by using instruments to assess teacher competence and the development of assessment instruments and scoring steps.

The first day of the training was opened with a welcome address from Prof. Dr. Asep Kadarohman. There was also a speech delivered by a representative of AsTen on upholding the educational quality of AsTEN country members and training overview about Teacher Education Standards, Instrument Assessment, and Quality Assurance Agency from Prof. Fuad Abdul Hamied, Ph.D.

The second day was commenced by a presentation on Teacher Education Standards and Assessment Instrument by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ali, continued by Prof. Dr. Ace Suryadi who presented Steps and Procedures for Instrument Implementation and Prof. Dr. Fakry Gaffar who explained the philosophy, process, and mechanism of accreditation system in AsTEN countries.

The second day also was allocated for a scoring simulation to synchronize and enhance the participants’ assessment abilities. This simulation shown the diversity of the AsTEN countries and how each of the countries’ representatives conformed with each other’s perspectives as each representative has different ideas and concepts on education.

Finally, the third day’s agenda was a city tour throughout Bandung. These training participants had a good impression on Bandung and enjoyed the city’s sceneries and environment. In the morning, participants went shopping to Pasar Baru. In the afternoon, they went to Saung Angklung Udjo to enjoy soothing angklung music.

On the importance of assessor, Prof. Dr.  Ace Suryadi asserted, “the numbers inserted in instruments will be meaningless unless we, assessors, give them meaning. Such is the duty and importance of our role.” Prof. Fuad Abdul Hamied PhD. added, “In our endeavor to assess teacher education, we are going to be more objective and follow the established guidelines.”

AsTEN is a network of collaboration between Southeast Asian educators, one of which is from UPI, who are concerned with teacher education issues. AsTEN members collaborate in academic and research endeavors to benefit educators and Southeast Asian nations at large. AsTEN’s plans in the future are to organize accreditation for its members. Prof. Fuad Abdul Hamied,Ph.D.  acknowledged that the quality of teacher education in Indonesia is an issue, and that AsTEN members are going forward to improve the education of all of its country members.

(Muhammad Rangga Padika)