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A Journal of Culture, English Language, Teaching & Literature 
ISSN 1414-3320 (Print), ISSN 2502-4914 (Online)  

Vol. 21 No.2; December 2021 
Copyright © Soegijapranata Catholic University, Indonesia 

 
 

. 

Curriculum and Learning Management: Integration With Creative 
Economy Values in Improving Students' Life Skills 

 
1Yes Matheos Lasarus Malaikosa, 2Andhika Putra Widyadharma,  

3Ikhsan Gunadi, and 4Mohtar Kamisi 
 

1STKIP Modern Ngawi, 2 Madiun State Polytechnic, 3STT Malang 
4Khairun University 

1yesmalaikosa@stkipsoe.ac.id, 2andhika@pnm.ac.id, 3ikhsangunadi@gmail.com, 
and 4kamisimohtar@gmail.com 

 
 

Received: 05-05-2021 Accepted: 14-12-2021  Published: 30-12-2021 



https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

Curriculum and Learning Management: Integration With 

Creative Economy Values in Improving Students' Life Skills 

 

1
Yes Matheos Lasarus Malaikosa, 

2
Andhika Putra Widyadharma, 

3
Ikhsan Gunadi, and 

4
Mohtar Kamisi 

1
yesmalaikosa@stkipsoe.ac.id, 

2
andhika@pnm.ac.id, 

3
ikhsangunadi@gmail.com, and 

4
kamisimohtar@gmail.com 

1
STKIP Modern Ngawi, 

2 
Madiun State Polytechnic, 

3
STT 

Malang 

4
Khairun University 

 

Abstract: A curriculum is an important unit in the learning 

process as guidance for teachers in managing learning activities 

both inside and outside the classroom. Since vocational 

education has the function of preparing the workforce, they are 

required to produce graduates as the demands of the working 

world. The manpower needed is human resources who have the 

competence and skills under their field of work, high 

adaptability, as well as competitiveness. Previous studies have 

found that the curriculum is developed according to the 

demands of the working world and to anticipate developments in 

science and technology. Schools also involved creative actors in 

learning activities, intended to integrate various creative activities 

in the curriculum, especially in the C3 component of expertise 

competencies in the substance or teaching materials. Learning at 

SMK Grafika Desa Putera is presented in various competencies 

by integrating the important value of the creative economy for 

students. The learning model is presented and organized into 

normative, adaptive, productive, local content, and self-

development programs to produce productive creative work. It 

can be concluded that the implementation of creative economy 

education aims to foster positive (creative) character, attitudes, 

and behavior as a form of realization of the Ministry Regulation 

No. 32/2013 concerning National Education Standards 

mandating that the learning process are required to be carried 

out actively, creatively, innovatively, and student-centered. 



Malaikosa, Y. M. L., Widyadharma, A. P., Gunadi, I. & Kamisi, M.  279 

Curriculum and Learning Management: Integration  with Creative Economy  Values 

in Improving Students' Life Skills 

 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

Key words: Creative Economy Value, Curriculum Development, 

Indonesian Vocational High School (SMK), Integration of 

Learning 

 

Abstrak: Kurikulum merupakan unit penting dalam proses 

pembelajaran sebagai pedoman bagi guru dalam mengelola kegiatan 

pembelajaran baik di dalam maupun di luar kelas. Karena pendidikan 

vokasi memiliki fungsi menyiapkan tenaga kerja, maka dituntut untuk 

menghasilkan lulusan sebagai tuntutan dunia kerja. Tenaga kerja yang 

dibutuhkan adalah sumber daya manusia yang memiliki kompetensi 

dan keterampilan sesuai bidang pekerjaannya, daya adaptasi yang 

tinggi, serta daya saing. Studi sebelumnya menemukan bahwa 

kurikulum dikembangkan sesuai dengan tuntutan dunia kerja dan 

untuk mengantisipasi perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi. 

Sekolah juga melibatkan pelaku kreatif dalam kegiatan pembelajaran, 

dimaksudkan untuk mengintegrasikan berbagai kegiatan kreatif dalam 

kurikulum, khususnya pada komponen kompetensi keahlian C3 pada 

substansi atau bahan ajar. Pembelajaran di SMK Grafika Desa Putera 

disajikan dalam berbagai kompetensi dengan mengintegrasikan nilai 

penting ekonomi kreatif bagi siswa. Model pembelajaran disajikan dan 

disusun dalam program normatif, adaptif, produktif, muatan lokal, dan 

pengembangan diri untuk menghasilkan karya kreatif yang produktif. 

Dapat disimpulkan bahwa penyelenggaraan pendidikan ekonomi kreatif 

bertujuan untuk menumbuhkan karakter, sikap, dan perilaku positif 

(kreatif) sebagai bentuk realisasi Peraturan Menteri No. 32/2013 

tentang Standar Nasional Pendidikan yang mengamanatkan bahwa 

proses pembelajaran wajib dilakukan secara aktif, kreatif, inovatif, dan 

berpusat pada siswa. 

Kata kunci:Nilai Ekonomi Kreatif, Pengembangan Kurikulum, 

Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan (SMK) Indonesia, Integrasi Pembelajaran 

 

INTRODUCTION 

Since Indonesia agrees with the ASEAN  Economic Community (AEC), 

consequently, Indonesia has to be ready to compete with ASEAN countries. 

Its natural resources and human resources are required to be distinctly 

superior to other countries to win the ASEAN economic integration. National 

education serves to develop students’ abilities and potentials, as well as 



280 Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature, 

Volume 21, Number 2, December 2021, pp. 278–295 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

shapetheir characters of knowledgeability, capability, creativity, independence, 

and responsibility. Vocational education is part of the secondary education 

system intended for preparing ready-for-use graduates. Thus, it should lead the 

way to education development for the formation of creative students (Raffe, 

1991). The data from Statistics Indonesia show that in 2020, the largest 

contributor to the national unemployment rate (8.49%) was the vocational 

high school (SMK) graduates (BPS, 2020). The World Economic Forumin 

2016 argued that the graduate absorption issue is no longer deals with 

demand and supply imbalances (Rahadian, 2019). It lies in the student 

admission processwith a lower passing grade than that for senior high school 

(SMA) students (Ratnasari, 2018). In 2019,itwas 79.11 for SMAand 66.17 for 

SMA in Jakarta. In Bogor,it was 75.00 for SMA and 60.00 for SMK. 

Furthermore, it was 58.63 for SMA and 42.50 for SMK in Kupang. This 

indicates the imbalances among regions as well as the discrepancybetween 

what the education provides and the market needs (Malaikosa et al., 2020). 

Institute of Good Governance and Regional Development (IGGRD) 

stated that the high unemployment rate of vocational school graduates is a 

result of the inefficient education system (Ratnasari, 2018). Currently, 

according to national recap data of the education data center (DAPODIK) on 

May 2, 2018, 14,075 SMKs still appealto the central curriculum although 

schools may administrate their own curricula by involving stakeholders, actors, 

and industry experts to bridge the yawning gap between the graduates’ 

competencies and market needs (Rahadian, 2019). 

Vocational education focuses onskills while general education gives 

extra weight toknowledge. Hence, it requires teachers with vocational skills to 

develop a curriculum that can shape the entrepreneurial character of students 

(Garbin & Stover, 1980). To bring about the character through the 

educational process, the creative economy should be developed by creative 

human resources to produce creative work (Munro, 2017). Hence, the 

character education should be the basis for developing a learning model with a 

creative economy in SMK. At the level of implementation, SMK Grafika Desa 

Putera Jakarta has integrated the creative economy in the 2013 curriculum on 

craft and entrepreneurship subjects as both curricular and extracurricular 

activities. 

Vocational secondary education can integrate it into the students’ 

character, attitude, and positivity (creativity). The target of organizing creative 

economy education is to foster positive (creative) character, attitudes, and 

behavior at the most basic level that supports the formation of creative 



Malaikosa, Y. M. L., Widyadharma, A. P., Gunadi, I. & Kamisi, M.  281 

Curriculum and Learning Management: Integration  with Creative Economy  Values 

in Improving Students' Life Skills 

 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

students. Ministry Regulation No. 32 of 2013 concerning National Education 

Standards mandates that the learning process has to be actively, creatively, and 

innovatively carried out in student-centered learning. Wu andJia-Jen-Hu 

(2015), conducting a study on skill learning attitudes, curriculumsatisfaction, 

and vocational self-concept, concluded that most students have good learning 

attitudes and skills but low motivation. This is because the learning process 

remains teacher-centered learning with conventional learning approaches and 

methods. This certainly presents a challenge for teachers to develop innovative 

learning models to stimulate and develop students’ creative thinking skills. 

During the learning process, they are supposed to provide the students with 

motivation and the values of creative economy education (Tronsmo & 

Nerland, 2018). 

The student’s creativitycan also be developed outside of classroom 

learning through various extra-curricular activities (Malaikosa et al., 2020) 

since they allow the latitude to develop student creative economy value. This 

allows students to improve their creativity on innovations. The 

implementation of SMK’s creative economy is to produce creative people as 

entrepreneurs in Jakarta, Kupang, and Bogor. Thus, it is necessary to improve 

the quality of creative economy education as an attemptto improve the quality 

of vocational high schools. To ensure the quality improvement of creative 

economy education, an analysis of its implementation in SMK is required.  

The structure of the Vocational High School (SMK)/Islamic Vocational 

High School (MAK) curriculum includes the national content, territorial 

contents, and vocational specialization contents consisting of basic expertise 

areas, expertise program basics, and expertise competencies as well as time 

allocation for each subject (Struktur Kurikulum Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan 

(SMK/Madrasah Aliyah Kejuruan Nomor; 07/D.D5/KK/2018, 2018). The 

curriculum is an important component (instrumental input) in the unity of 

the learning system to achieve educational objectives (Ulfatin, 2016). It is vital 

as a part of the educational programset (D’Andrea, 2012). It not only pays 

attention to present developments but also directs its attention to the future. 

Curriculum development, defined as the process of planning, constructing, 

implementing, and evaluating learning opportunities to produce students’ 

desired changes is essential for high quality and relevant curriculum 

(Albashiry, Voogt, & Pieters, 2015). The curriculum should be frequently 

updated in line with the changes. The revitalization of the SMK curriculum 

aims to change the mindset of solely producinggraduates failing to fulfill the 

working world need, into a role paradigm and activeness in the job market. 



282 Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature, 

Volume 21, Number 2, December 2021, pp. 278–295 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

On top of that, it calls for active cooperationwith business entities to establish 

it in the vocational curriculum structure. Subsequently, the formulation of 

required job skills is standardized by the Indonesian Certification Authority 

(Badan Nasional Sertifikasi Profesi/BNSP).  

 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

Curriculum development at the school level is generally carried out 

through a systematic approach (Brinkerhoff, 2001) over other approaches. By 

this approach, the curriculum development was learning outcome-oriented, 

which then becomes the basis for further development activities such as the 

selection of learning program content, learning strategies, assessment 

methods, and evaluation forms (Albashiry et al., 2015). This approach is often 

defined as involving a cycle of five phases, namely analysis, design, 

development, implementation, and evaluation (Akaninwor, 2001). An 

approach involving stakeholders in the curriculum development is also needed 

to ensure that the curriculum responds to stakeholder needs (Akaninwor, 

2001; Albashiry et al., 2015). This approach revolves on extensive 

collaboration and discussion between curriculum developers, in this case, the 

school and stakeholders during the drafting process to arrive at a consensus on 

the main objectives of the education program, such as results, content, 

pedagogy, and assessment.To achieve the stated educational goals, the 

curriculum has to be strategically formulated into certain programs relevant 

forsocial changes. The curriculum preparation has to consider various aspects 

such as student development, scientific development, community needs 

development, and the demands of the working world. The curriculum in the 

classroom learning should cover all student learning experiences and bring 

cognitive impacts upon their personal development. 

Creative Economy is a world trend encouraging economic growth and 

environmental degradation by prioritizing economic creativity to maximize the 

added value of life sustainability and human civilization (Comunian, Faggian, 

& Jewel, 2015; Cummins et al., 2018; D’Andrea, 2012; Malaikosa et al., 2020; 

Sung, 2015). A creative economy is a business that encourages innovation, a 

convergence of expertise, and advanced scientific technologycentered on 

organized learning to build new markets and new employment(Sung, 2015). It 

has strong ties with the creative and cultural industries. The critical industry 

refers to forms of cultural production and consumption, which are symbolic 



Malaikosa, Y. M. L., Widyadharma, A. P., Gunadi, I. & Kamisi, M.  283 

Curriculum and Learning Management: Integration  with Creative Economy  Values 

in Improving Students' Life Skills 

 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

or expressive elements such as music, industries of art, writing, fashion and 

design, media, as well as handicraft production (Pratt & Hutton, 2013). 

Creative Economy is the driving force of a competitive Indonesia and 

quality social life in 2025. It allows the people to compete fairly, honestly, and 

uphold ethics and excellence at the national and global levels, as well as have 

the ability to make continuous improvement and think positively to face 

challenges and problems (Rokhman, Hum, Syaifudin, & Yuliati, 2014). It also 

aims to create a qualified Indonesian society, who are physically and mentally 

healthy and educated, have the awareness to protect the environment, a 

balanced life, a social concern, and tolerance in accepting differences (Yuan, 

Wu, & Lee, 2014).The increasingly important creative economy in the 

national economyand the state socio-cultural diversity spread throughout the 

archipelago certainly become a never-ending source of inspiration in 

developing the creative industry. The diversity characterized by local wisdom 

in preserving culture has been for generations. 

The creative sector in developed countries is difficult to imitate by other 

countries since it emphasizes specific abilities that involve creativity, expertise, 

and talents including art, beauty, design, play, story, humor, symphony, 

caring, empathy, and meaning aspects (Sung, 2015). This implies that the 

highly demanded quality of human resources is those with character and 

creativity. Masunah (2017)stated that creative industry is one of the sectors in 

the creative company subsystem. The creative industry employed individual’s 

creativity, expertise, and talents of to create products bringing real benefits 

and addedvaluefor life. Besides, the creation of addedvalue is evident in using 

social, cultural, and creative human resources assets (Masunah, 2017).  The 

creative industry creates not only economic transactions, but also social and 

cultural transactions. This underlines that added value, in this case, is a social, 

cultural, and economic values. Meanwhile, the London government supports 

new policy ideas related to the creative economy to meet the high demand and 

to reduce budget cuts(Schlesinger, Selfe, & Munro, 2015).How about 

Indonesia, with its various cultural heritages from Sabang to Merauke? 

The Indonesian cultural heritage has a lot of creative values such as art, 

beauty, social, empathy, and ceremonies. This prefigures the great creativity of 

Indonesian society displaying their particular skills and talents. This comes 

about by the ethnic diversity remaining coexist because of their high tolerance. 

Inclusively, it proves that Indonesia has powerful supporting factors in 

developing a creative economy. Various efforts to utilize traditional cultural 



284 Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature, 

Volume 21, Number 2, December 2021, pp. 278–295 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

heritage, apart from preserving it, are the pride of the national identity. 

Moreover, it is necessary to use appropriate information technology as an 

important supporting factor. The recent rapid development of information 

technology brings ample opportunity to synthesize culture. Thus, the 

development of the creative economy will be a fundamental force as it is 

supported by culture and the development of information technology. 

 

 

METHOD 

Research is focused on the model of Cretaif Economic Value 

Integration in Shaping Student Life Skills in Curriculum and Learning, so 

that in-depth observation is needed in natural settings so that this research will 

use a qualitative approach with a multi-site study research design. According to 

Ulfatin, (2015) the goal of qualitative research design is to explore as well as 

understand the meaning of social phenomena to understand research 

problems. The rationale of research design with a qualitative approach is to 

gain a more complete understanding of the problem on the focus of the 

research. With a qualitative approach, researchers can obtain information 

about the phenomenon or process of strengthening character education at the 

school where the research is conducted. Understanding of the Integration of 

Cretanive Economic Values in Shaping Student Life Skills on curriculum and 

learning can be reviewed from the point of view of the research subject, to 

gain a holistic, complete and thorough understanding. 

In conducting research at SMK Grafika Desa Putera, researchers act as 

the main data gathering tool or research instrument. Understanding research 

instruments or tools here because researchers are the key to the entire research 

process. The presence of researchers here starts from initial observation or pre-

observation to real research. The above statement is in accordance with the 

opinion (Moleong, 2014) which reveals that the researcher is at once a 

planner, implementer of data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, and 

in the end he becomes a whistleblower of the results of research obtained. 

Therefore, the presence of researchers is very necessary and important 

influence for this study. 

The sources of this research data are principals, teachers, students and 

alumni and DUDI through observations, in-depth interviews, and 

documentation studies. In the process of retrieving data, researchers can see 

and hear and ask informants that are done consciously and purposefully so as 

to produce answers as a source of information for researchers. According to 



Malaikosa, Y. M. L., Widyadharma, A. P., Gunadi, I. & Kamisi, M.  285 

Curriculum and Learning Management: Integration  with Creative Economy  Values 

in Improving Students' Life Skills 

 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

(Ulfatin, 2015) says that informants are people who provide data or 

information in qualitative research, both by interview and observation. 

According to Moleong, (2014) also explained that qualitative research is 

categorized as research that has a variety of data sources (multiple sources of 

data). The determination of key informants in this study was conducted by 

puposive sampling techniques. According to Ulfatin, (2015)the informants 

selected in qualitative research were selected purposively, i.e. selected because 

the concerned were able to provide diverse and accurate information in 

accordance with the focus of the research. 

The data validity technique used by researchers is triangulation 

techniques. Triangulation technique means using different data collection 

techniques based on the same source (Moleong, 2014; Ulfatin, 2015). Data 

analysis in this study, researchers build the results of interviews or 

observations of the process of strengthening character education to be used as 

study material in the discussion. Researchers made questions related to the 

Integration of Cretanive Economic Values in Forming Student Life Skills on 

Curriculum and Learning to dig up information from principals, teachers, 

students and alumni and DUDI to find out comprehensively. Analiasis data 

used in researchers using the model (Miles et al., 2014), which is qualitative 

research data analysis can be done through three flows of activities that occur 

simultaneously, can be seen in the following image: 

 

Figure 1:  

Data Analysis Component: Interactive Model  

Source: (Miles et al., 2014) 



286 Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature, 

Volume 21, Number 2, December 2021, pp. 278–295 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

A curriculum is an important unit in the learning process since it is an 

instrument of guidance for teachers in managing the learning process both 

inside and outside the classroom. Schools are given space to develop it 

according to their needs, without changing the substance of the 

curriculum.The school also involves its alumni and stakeholders engaged in 

the creative sector, MSME actors, and business world and industrial society as 

graduate users, to provide material in seminars, workshops. Addedly the 

school utilizes social media for sharing informationforums. 

The creative economy is a new idea that relies on creative ideas as the 

main capital in developing creative industries. Creative industries are born 

and develop in big cities and become the main support for the regional 

economy. Most of the creative actors are young people who have original and 

creative ideas. The creative economy can be defined as the creative work of 

students with superior values. With the existence of a creative economy, 

schools, teachers, and students are used to accommodate creative work with 

superior value. An example of schools that integrates the creative economy is 

those in which students of class X-XII work on orders from school partner 

companies and creative actors to sharpen theircompetence of skills, in high 

printing, perfect binding, montage, graphic design, billboard printing, offside 

printing, and the production of logos and stickers. 

 

Figure 2:  

Student Creative Activitie 

Source: Doc. SMK Grafika Desa Putera 

The creative economy is defined as the application of the value of the 

creative economy integrated into the curriculum, learning activities, and self-

development activities to increase the creativity and innovation of students. 

This allows the students to be able to produce something with a sale value. 

The concept of creative economy education comprising thinking creatively, 



Malaikosa, Y. M. L., Widyadharma, A. P., Gunadi, I. & Kamisi, M.  287 

Curriculum and Learning Management: Integration  with Creative Economy  Values 

in Improving Students' Life Skills 

 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

being creative, and acting creatively can be stated in the indicators of creative 

values. The values explored in this study include curiosity, critical thinking, 

the ability to determine the right methods, and appropriate choice, intuition, 

innovation, and productivity(Widyadharma, Ulfatin, Utaya, & Supriyanto, 

2020). In the learning activities, the teacher always instills creative values, 

through self-development and habituation activities of, for example, honesty, 

independence, creativity, discipline, and responsibility as well as 

achievementappreciation. This is apparent from the students’ avidity in 

completing assignments given by the teacher. On the other hand, they were 

also facilitated by technological developments to promote their creative work 

on social media platforms. Thishighlights the significant role of teachers to 

engraingood values in shaping student’s mental, and character, as well as 

generate their motivation to compete and consistently produce creative work. 

Education should be carried out based on the context. Thus, the 

educational process should be in line with the social and cultural environment 

of the local community. Education serves to maintain values and norms to 

meet future achievements. The process of developing the value of the creative 

economy requires a systematic process in an integrated learning process.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3:  

The Model of Cultivating Values and Integrating the Contents of the 

Creative Economy of SMK Grafika Desa Puter 

Source: (Malaikosa et al., 2020) 



288 Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature, 

Volume 21, Number 2, December 2021, pp. 278–295 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

 

 

Figure 4:  

Instilling the Creative Economy Values in SMK Grafika Desa Putera 

Source: (Malaikosa et al., 2020) 

The process of instilling the creative economy value had been carried 

out on an ongoing basis in their respective programs. This was done either to 

satisfy the demands of the school’s curriculum to prepare students to work in 

a certain field and join the workforce. Also, this is to develop 

students’trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship, 

honesty, courage, diligence, and integrity. Character-building activities 

developed in schools might help teachers to improve learning habits closer to 

industrial work cultures such as self-confidence, responsibility, discipline, 

competitiveness, resilience, honesty, responsiveness, appreciation, 

presentence, carefulness, thoroughness, and leadership. 

Life skills education is an effort to build student character of hard skills 

and soft skills. Hard skills emphasize the ability of students in cognitive and 

psychomotor aspects. Soft skills emphasize the affective abilities of students. 

Life skills aim to prepare students to have the courage and willingness to face 

life and its problems naturally without feeling depressed and then creatively 

find solutions to overcome them. 

 



Malaikosa, Y. M. L., Widyadharma, A. P., Gunadi, I. & Kamisi, M.  289 

Curriculum and Learning Management: Integration  with Creative Economy  Values 

in Improving Students' Life Skills 

 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

 

Figure 5:  

Student Soft Skill and Life Skill Formation. 

Source: Doc. SMK Grafika Desa Putera 

The working world believes that superior Human Resources (HR) are 

those who have the ability in the aspects of both hard skills and soft skills. 

Therefore, they are believed to have a good impact on the aspects of life skills. 

In reality, education in Indonesia shows that the learning process only 

provides a larger portion of technical skills or hard skills. Meanwhile, the soft 

skill aspect is one's skill in dealing with others and himself.  

Equipping students with soft skills does not mean adding new subjects 

to the curriculum. However, it is necessary to provide more value and 

meaning in the learning process. Therefore, the teachers need to use the right 

model to train student’s hard and soft skills. These models include cooperative 

learning, experiential learning, contextual teaching and learning, and problem 

based learning. If both skills are obtained, the needs of users of SMK 

graduates in the working world focusing on high productivity might be 

achieved. The development of a creative economy always prioritizes the 

creativity, ideas, and knowledge of students as an effort to strengthen the life 

skills of students by balancing the aspects of hard skills and soft skills. The use 

of learning models is important to help teachers convey theory to practice. 

These models include Cooperative Learning, Experiential Learning, 

Contextual Teaching and Learning, and Problem Based Learning. One 

indicator of learning outcomes, students can produce creative work that has 

high value. Thus, if some students have developed printing and graphic design 

business, meaning that they can compete to produce high-value work. 

Life skills education is an effective step for students of SMK Grafika 

Desa Putera as a basis for orientation to equip students' skills regarding aspects 

of knowledge, attitudes, which include mental, honesty, responsibility, and 



290 Celt: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature, 

Volume 21, Number 2, December 2021, pp. 278–295 

https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v21i2; ISSN: 1412-3320 (print); ISSN: 2502-4914 (online); Accredited; DOAJ 

 

cooperativeness that have a direct relationship with the development of 

competency skills of students. Thus, students might be able to face the 

demands and challenges of life. Life skills education is an alternative 

educational change to anticipate future demands. The learning process in the 

classroom can be carried out in the form of an activity procedure that involves 

students at each stage of the activity systematically to build students' hard skills 

and soft skills. 

The curriculum needs to be developed in line with changes. The 

revitalization of the SMK curriculum aims to change the mindset that 

previously only aimed to produce graduates regardless of the demands of the 

working world, into satisfying the demand of the working world. Thus, it is 

necessary to cooperate with the business world and the industrial society to 

establish it in the curriculum structure. Therefore, students might be 

equipped with new creativity and innovation according to their respective 

fields of expertise. The creative economy is seen as a new method that might 

help teachers to shape the creativity of students in their respective fields of 

expertise. The curriculum is a component (instrumental input) that is 

important in the unity of the learning system to achieve educational objectives 

(Ulfatin, 2016). The curriculum is also seen as a set of educational programs 

(D’Andrea, 2012). Curriculum development, is a process of planning, 

developing, implementing, and evaluating learning to realize a quality and 

relevant curriculum(Albashiry et al., 2015). 

If the creative economy has been integrated into the curriculum and 

vocational learning, teachers are required to find the right method to integrate 

the value of creative economy through self-development activities, production 

unit activities, honesty canteen, and school operations, as well as school 

business partners. Therefore, students' learning processes are accustomed to 

creating new ideas and innovations. Integrating the contents of the creative 

economy needs to focus on creating creative works by relying on skills, talents, 

and creativity as intellectual property. By integrating the creative economy, it 

could produce creative people and though entrepreneurs with brilliant and 

new ideas. Howkins (2002) added that the more ideas created, the faster the 

community welfareincreases, either in its economic, social, and environmental 

perspectives. 

The creative economy value is integrated into learning activities to build 

students’honesty, responsibility, confidence, resilience, discipline, and 

competitiveness. Teacher evaluation results show that students always showed 

honest and responsible behavior. In completing the given task, they were 



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confident, resilient, and discipline. Moreover, in completing creative work, 

they constantly innovated to produce creative work with high competitivenes 

(figure 1 and figure 4).To increase their creativity and innovation, students are 

supposed to be able to think creatively, be creative, and act creatively by 

involving their curiosity and critical thinking (Munastiwi, 2015). The creative 

economyvalue needs to be integrated into the learning process and practiced 

in the students' daily behavior. Another aspect of the creative economy that 

beneficial to be developed in learning is hard skills, soft skills, and life skills to 

make it easier for teachers to direct students based on their interests and 

talents (Pane & Patriana, 2016). 

In integrating the value of the creative economy in curriculum and 

learning, the school has positioned itself as a driving force for the creation of a 

competitive Indonesian and a high-quality community of life in 2025. The 

role of schools in shaping the student’s creativity, expertise, and talents is 

worth appreciationand full support of the government, stakeholders, and 

society. Accordingly, the output of education can compete fairly, honestly, and 

uphold ethics and excellence at the national and global levels. Moreover, they 

will also have the fighting power to make continuous improvements and to 

think positively in facing challenges and problems. 

 

 

CONCLUSIONS 

The curriculum is teachers’instrument in conducting learning activities 

to achieve national education objectives. They have put creative ideas into 

action and conducted curriculum development tests in classrooms to obtain 

the right formula for the vocational curriculum. The government has 

anticipated the application of a creative economy in the national education 

curriculum by focusing on creating goods and services by relying on expertise, 

talents, and creativity as intellectual wealth. Provided with these great ideas, 

the school has integrated the creative economy to form the competency skills 

of students through creative and innovative actions.  

Entrepreneurship in SMK has been already formed by exploring creative and 

entrepreneurial products. Teachers also stimulatestudents’creativity by creative 

activities involving the business world and industrial society, creative business 

actors/home industries, and stakeholders. This is to integrate the creative 



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economyvalue into learning activities to build their honesty, responsibility, 

confidence, resilience, discipline, and high competitiveness based on their 

respective expertise. They will habitually innovate to produce creative work 

with high competitiveness.This features life skills education as an essential 

part of the educational process. Also, teachersoccupy a significant role to 

providestudents with guidance, training, encouragement, and learning skills 

that direct them either individually and in groups to new skills, including 

vocational skills. Contextually, life skills education places more emphasis on 

the link and match between the education world as the provider of human 

resources and the business world,the industrial society, and the community as 

the users. Therefore, education can prepare students to compete in the 

present era and have a future-oriented life. 

 

 

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