Building the Professionalism of Prospective Elementary Teachers Through IKM Implementation

On Tuesday, September 27, 2022, Education for Islamic Elementary School Teacher Program State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga presented the General Stadium for implementing the Independent Curriculum in the Convention Hall on the 2nd floor. This activity, "Building Professionalism of Prospective Educators at the Elementary Level via the Implementation of IKM," was held on two consecutive days, on September 26 for fifth-semester students and September 27 for third-semester students.

The activity began at 8 a.m. WIB was guided by the MC, speeches from the Head of Study Program, material presentation, and concluded with the Socialization of PKL abroad. Dr Hj Maemonah, the head of the Study Program, mentioned in his speech that the General Stadium was conducted to equip Education for Islamic Elementary School Teacher Program students with implementing the Merdeka's Curriculum. In contrast, potential educators' students are expected to be able to adapt to the new curriculum paradigm. This activity allows students and lecturers from Education for Islamic Elementary School Teacher Program. They discuss and explore issues related to Merdeka's Curriculum Implementation. These agendas were presented by resource persons who are experts in their fields, namely a Widyaprada Madya-Balai Besar Assurance of Education Quality (BPMP) D.I. Yogyakarta; Wendie Prayitno, S. Kom, MT. On this occasion, Wendie Prayitno discussed the theoretical implementation of the Merdeka Curriculum into five sub-materials, including:

  1. New Paradigm Learning
  2. Education Unit Operational Curriculum (KOSP)
  3. Learning design (C.P., T.P., ATP, Teaching Module, and Assessment)
  4. Learning Organizing and
  5. Pancasila Student Profile Strengthening Project

He described the Merdeka Curriculum as a curriculum with a range of extracurricular activities that focuses on the actual content and are implemented utilizing new paradigm principles. That means that the learning will be oriented toward improving students' competencies and character development following Pancasila principles. His learning practice is centred on students and allows teachers to develop learning designs. Finally, he explains the assessment mechanism in the independent curriculum, where assessments are carried out based on the needs of students using the concept of differentiated learning.

Following the discussion on implementing the Merdeka Curriculum, the event moved on to the PKL Socialization, which was led by Fitri Yuliawati, M.Pd, Secretary of the Study Program. The Introduction to School Field Activity (PKL) is a course with a program that prepares students to learn school practice and carry out their obligations and responsibilities professionally. PKL is one of the stages of educational practicum that involves observation, discussion, and reflection. Observation is a detailed evaluation of an action or item objectively, followed by interpreting the knowledge of phenomena based on previous information to make conclusions.

The main goal of this observation activity is to provide students with real-world information and experience in management and education communication in general. This new information and experience will be used for discussion and reflection. The following activities become the focus of attention at the location:

  1. Curriculum Administration;
  2. Student Administration;
  3. Officialdom administration ;
  4. Governance/institutional structure;
  5. Administration of facilities and infrastructure;
  6. Educational, financial management.

The specific goal of having PKL abroad is for Education for Islamic Elementary School Teacher Program students to obtain more information and experience directly studying abroad while broadening contacts and improving foreign language abilities. Furthermore, students will learn how to adapt to and appreciate the existing variety (religious, ethnic, linguistic, etc.) in Indonesia and internationally. The PKL abroad Program also provides a chance to show the Education for Islamic Elementary School Teacher Program to the globe, which will likely promote collaboration between educational institutions. Especially Education for Islamic Elementary School Teacher Program, Faculty of Tarbiyah and Education at State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta.