Microsoft Word - 11. IJEIECE-717-Article Text-3433-1-15-20211120.edited by LE.docx Available online at: https://researchsynergy.org/ijeiece/ International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) ISSN 2685-4074 (Online) | 2655-9986 (Print) Volume 3 Number 2 (2021): 42-47 Corresponding author evrillia.silvia.ningrum-2020@pasca.unair.ac.id; suryanto@psikologi.unair.ac.id DOI: https://doi.org/10.31098/ijeiece.v3i2.717 Research Synergy Foundation The Development of Kindergarten Teacher’s Personality Through Knowledge Sharing During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Perspective Evrilia Silvia Ningrum1, Suryanto2 1, 2 Human Resources Development, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia Abstract Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted education and occurred in early childhood education, where the learning process is conducted online. Changes in the learning process that suddenly happened makes teachers don't have readiness to change even a teacher who holds an essential role in education is required to have the readiness to face change. Hence, the teacher must have personality competence to support the learning process's success. This study discusses kindergarten teachers' personality development through knowledge sharing in dealing with the learning process's changes during the Covid-19 pandemic. The methodology in this study used a qualitative approach with case study type and descriptive data analysis technique. The data were collected through the deep interview method, and the informants were the principal and four teachers of Kartini Amadanom Kindergarten. The result of this study indicated that knowledge sharing made a positive contribution to teacher’s personality development endeavors. In other words, if knowledge sharing with teachers is conducted well, the teacher’s personality development endeavor well. This study has limitations, such as the fact that the research scope is limited to one school. In further research, researchers can discover further a teacher’s personality development through knowledge sharing by comparing to data from other schools and adding it as another method to accelerate the development of teachers’ personalities. This study gives an alternative solution to develop the teacher’s personality to confront online learning as an effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. The result of knowledge sharing aims to arrange the process of online learning. Keywords: Personality Development, Knowledge Sharing, Covid-19 This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC license. INTRODUCTION The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on every sector. One of them is the educational sector. Teachers, students, and parents are all feeling the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on the educational sector. That occurred due to the rapidly increasing positive cases of Covid-19, and when all schools, whether university or kindergarten, were closed, offline learning was transformed into online learning. This is consistent with a circular letter published by the Ministry of Education and Culture, a circular letter Number 15 in 2020 about A Guiding Arrangement of Study at Home in the Spread of Covid-19's Emergency Time. A circular letter strengthens the Ministry of Education and Culture's circular letter Number 14 in 2020 about The Implementation of Education in the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Emergency Time. The Indonesian Republic's Ministry of Education and Culture (2020) stated that the purpose of online learning was to ensure the fulfillment of children's right to an education during the Covid-19 pandemic, including to protect citizens of the educational unit from the pandemic's negative effects, prevent the spread and transmission of Covid-19 within the educational unit, and make sure the fulfillment of psychosocial supports by teachers, students, and parents or guardian. Due to the existence of government regulations, the learning process must be conducted virtually. This is not an easy task for all students, and it requires collaboration between teachers and parents in guiding students, particularly those in kindergarten. Various obstacles appeared from the parents who lack understanding of the school’s material because of the previous background, the lack of understanding of technology, even the extremely increased monthly expenses because they must buy the internet quotas and also pay the school fees (Sudrajat, 2020). International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) Vol. 3 (2), 42-47 The Development of Kindergarten Teacher’s Personality Through Knowledge Sharing During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Perspective Evrilia Silvia Ningrum, Suryanto 43 | Teachers must prepare to deal with the transformation of the learning process into online learning. According to Korth et al. (2009), a teacher who has a learning preparation in every condition will increase a teacher’s quality. The teacher’s preparation will support the success of the learning process. The implementation of learning process activities from a kindergarten is a challenge for teachers because early childhood education is an important factor for aspects of child development to develop optimally in taking the next level of education (Astuti et al., 2021). In the process of learning activities from home, always using technology. Teachers as educators are required to be able to provide or use various activities that are tailored to the age and development of children. However, because learning from home is a new thing, there are problems that are arisen, namely mastery of learning platforms, classroom management skills, and communication, it is necessary to improve the personality of the teacher, including knowledge and skills. Attitudes, and also the principles about other people. Regarding that fact, teachers must have a personal competition to support the success of this learning process. In order to maintain the learning process optimally and keep the students understanding well, the teachers need to have adequate skill and ability to use learning tools, learning materials, communication skills, and innovative thinking to deliver the material virtually. One of the efforts to develop a teacher's personality is through knowledge sharing. Knowledge sharing among colleagues is very important for an educational institution, whereas the result of this activity can create, distribute, and apply knowledge in this organization (Wati & Zakaria, 2018). This inscription will discuss the development of a teacher's personality through knowledge sharing to confront the transmission of the learning process as an effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. LITERATURE REVIEW Personality Theory Theoretically, there are several terms that were used to explain personality; they are (1) Mentality, which is connected with mental activities, (2) Personality, which is the totality of personal character, (3) Individuality which means a special characteristic of someone, (4) Identify which means a self-characteristic as a whole of self-defense characteristics toward something from the outside (Jalaludin, 1996). The word "personality" is from another language which means a person who became one term referring to a special social description which an individual receives from a group or its citizen, and with the hope that every person can act related to the role (social description) that they received (Koeswara, 1991). Humanistic personality introduced by Abraham Maslow is in the form of human's description as a free and a dignified creature, and they always move to the revelation of several potencies that they have when the environment has the possibility (Koeswara, 1991). Oemar Hamalik (1992) stated that the teacher's personality has a direct influence and cumulative toward a student's life and learning habits. These personalities such as knowledge, skill, attitude, and also their principles about another human. Several trials and observation results strengthen the facts that many lessons that learned by students from their teachers. Students absorb the belief, imitate the behavior, and cite the questions. Experience shows that problems, such as motivation, discipline, social behavior, achievement, and a continuous study's desire are sourced from the teacher's personality. A teacher must have four main competencies related to the Arrangement of the Ministry of National Education of Indonesian Republic Number 16 in 2007 about Academical Qualification’s Standard and Teacher’s Competency, which are (1) Pedagogic Competency, (2) Personality Competency, (3) Social Competency, and (4) Professional Competency. Knowledge Sharing Knowledge sharing is a place for how a person, group, and organization have communicated and learned with each other (Jiang & Li). Knowledge sharing can increase the organization's performance, competitive supremacy, organization's learning, innovation, and survival of the organization. An organization that has been rated superior and competitive is an organization that has an ability to exploit human resources' knowledge, then it merges into the organization's International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) Vol. 3 (2), 42-47 The Development of Kindergarten Teacher’s Personality Through Knowledge Sharing During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Perspective Evrilia Silvia Ningrum, Suryanto 44 | knowledge, and it aims to gain supremacy and competitiveness (Suharti et al., 2009). Widuri (2018) also explained the benefits of knowledge sharing, which are: 1) Building up the trust Trust is a basic culture for sharing. The trust is shaped through interaction and association, which are informal between personnel, and the consistent action between what is spoken and what is done. 2) Building up the openness Openness is related to culture and personality. The new method of searching for an idea and concept uses an interactive knowledge cafe. This method built an enjoyable and informal atmosphere as an atmosphere in a cafe. This method also emphasized various ideas by dividing participants into small groups. 3) Giving a chance to study and access a knowledge One of the benefits of knowledge sharing is giving a chance for all people to access knowledge, giving the same chance for an organization's members to access knowledge and learn it. Thus, knowledge is not only owned individually but also can be shared with other friends. 4) Expediting work or problem accomplishments Through knowledge sharing activities, it helps an individual in an organization accomplish a problem and expedite a work accomplishment. Work is not delayed because one of the individuals does not have special knowledge, or it becomes a person's justification to not accomplish the work. Thus, the work will be done easier, and the problem can be minimized, so the work is more effective and efficient. 5) Increasing professional and an organizational competitiveness To increase an organization's competition, it needs knowledge management and skill management related to an individual and organization's competency. RESEARCH METHOD This research used a qualitative approach with case study type. The qualitative method is a research procedure that results in descriptive data in the shape of written form about people, words, or visible behavior (Moleong, 2005). The case study approach in this research is used to study more and detail into context study because the focus of research lies in phenomena. In this research, the phenomenon under study is knowledge-sharing activities among teachers at Kartini Amadanom Kindergarten. Data are submitted through observation and interview, which means they were obtained directly from a research subject. Informants in this research are four teachers and the Head of the School in Kartini Amadanom Kindergarten. The technique of data analysis employed descriptive analysis, which means a method to describe and analyze an object's condition. This technique of data analysis described and interpreted data that has happened when doing research and gave the real data (Subana, 2009). The data analysis starts from data collection, data reduction, and drawing conclusions as research findings. RESULT AND DISCUSSION In the interview results, there are several obstacles that are faced by teachers when doing an online learning process. Firstly, the control of technology is a critical thing in online learning. Unfortunately, Not all teachers have complete control over technology. The same condition happened with the students’ parents. Not all parents have a smartphone and do not have control yet over technology. The second obstacle is lack of classroom and communication management skills. Prior to the pandemic, a teacher could manage the class freely and express directly. The controlling class is managed by the teacher, which allows for direct observation of the student. In online learning, a teacher's ability to think innovatively and creatively is required in order to alter the learning process as well. On the other hand, there was an obstacle such as the teacher being unable to control the student's learning process because several students' parents were unable to accompany their children and were required to work, and thus this student did not maximize his or her learning process. International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) Vol. 3 (2), 42-47 The Development of Kindergarten Teacher’s Personality Through Knowledge Sharing During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Perspective Evrilia Silvia Ningrum, Suryanto 45 | A Teacher’s Personality Competence in Covid-19 Pandemic Era In the pandemic era, it is necessary to empower teachers in order for them to be able to create the conditions necessary for successful learning. As stated by Mitchell Steward, empowerment is possible for organizations to achieve customer and market demand fast, flexible, and efficiently (Sudrajat, 2020). This means a school's organization. The school needs to exercise or give a direction to the teacher about the development of the teacher's personality competence in order to have these several personalities: 1) A skill to think innovatively Innovative thinking is a process done by an individual because the creation can take advantage of the organization where the individual worked (Scott & Bruce, 1994). In the pandemic era, a teacher must have an innovative personality in order to create an ideal online learning process. The composition of daily learning plans must be suitable for the situation nowadays. The evaluation of students' activity must be changed into the photo or video of students' documentation and the parents' report about students to the class teachers. The learning innovation can also be done by making learning through tutorial videos created by the teacher, which students will do later. According to Sukardi & Rozi (2019), the learning can be done virtually through tutorial videos which can be accessed through social media. A tutorial video aims for students to still see the teacher teaching. A tutorial video must satisfy the criteria of being interesting, short, and informative content, so students are more eager to study. 2) Communication skills Online learning demands the teacher to be more communicative towards his/her students. This online learning requires collaboration between teachers and parents, with parents having a core role. A teacher must be able to give direction and guidance to the parents about the student’s learning process at home. Communication between teachers, students, and parents can be done via WhatsApp group as a communication place in doing online learning. As stated by Almarzooq et al. (2020), in the Covid-19 pandemic, online learning can be done innovatively by using an improved program with the new technology, such as Zoom or in the smartphone’s application, WhatsApp. Through WhatsApp, a learning process can be more effective due to the existence of interaction and feedback between teachers and students. Thus, it is important for the teacher to have effective communication skills for the learning process to run effectively and according to the students' needs. Process of Knowledge Sharing The activity of knowledge sharing is a concept that describes the condition of interaction between that aims to increase and self-development of each member. For example, someone conveys their ideas to scientific discussion activities in class, and on the other hand, people listen carefully, accept people's ideas which are then stored in the memory as a result of learning. Every member in the discussion forum can give each other and receive information and knowledge from other members. Knowledge sharing process in the Kartini Amadanom Kindergarten: 1) Knowledge sharing program 2) Teachers needed 3) Determine the topic 4) Determine the speaker 5) Determine the place and time 6) Implementation 7) Evaluation and report Knowledge sharing activities are basically caused by the needs of an organization that continuously wants to progress, develop, and improve the abilities of its member. With knowledge-sharing International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) Vol. 3 (2), 42-47 The Development of Kindergarten Teacher’s Personality Through Knowledge Sharing During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Perspective Evrilia Silvia Ningrum, Suryanto 46 | activities, new knowledge will grow and result from the combination of existing knowledge. Therefore, knowledge-sharing activities play a role in covering the shortcomings of each teacher. The process of implementing sharing knowledge activities in Kartini Amadanom Kindergarten can be divided into two categories, namely formal and non-formal activities. In formal activities, teachers will transfer their knowledge in an event with discussion topics that have been adapted to existing needs. As a result of this, knowledge sharing will be made that is recorded and can be used as material for future evaluation. Knowledge-sharing activities can also take place outside of school, such as attending training, seminars, or workshops organized by other educational institutions. Furthermore, teachers who have participated in these activities will share their knowledge with their colleagues. The non- formal knowledge sharing activities can be done by asking fellow teachers who are more senior and experienced or teachers who have just attended training or workshops to gain new knowledge. This activity can be done at any time, either by chatting while taking a break or using social media such as WhatsApp and other social media. From the knowledge-sharing activities that have been carried out so far, the teachers certainly get valuable experiences. They will feel increased in knowledge, skills and can complement the ignorance that previously existed in them. Basically, they can increase their knowledge and competence through sharing their knowledge and exchanging information. Knowledge Sharing and The Development of Teacher’s Personality Developing a teacher's personality can be done through knowledge sharing between the Head of the School and teacher, each teacher who is on the same page or the external side towards the teacher. Knowledge sharing can be a place for sharing information or knowledge from person to person. Knowledge sharing can help increase innovation in an organization (Hu et al., 2009). In order to increase innovation, knowledge sharing that is applied can give a point of view and new knowledge that can help an individual find a new way and take advantage of the organization. Knowledge sharing done in Kartini Amadanom kindergarten transfers experience and knowledge and gives a procedure of doing assignments from the head of the school to class teachers. The head of the school, who has skills in the fields of controlling technology, communication ability, and innovative thinking, gives direction and guidance to the class teachers on how to arrange and undergo an online learning process effectively in the pandemic era. The communication of this knowledge is actively done in order to increase the teacher's personality. According to Jiang dan Li (2009), knowledge sharing behavior has a positive effect on the increase of individual innovation. It also happened in Kartini Amadanom kindergarten, and after doing knowledge sharing, there was a change and an enhancement of the teacher's personality competence. This includes an increase in technological mastery and communication abilities, as well as an increase in innovative thinking. Additionally, knowledge sharing occurred between class teachers and non-Kartini Amadanom kindergarten teachers. Teachers share their experiences through knowledge sharing in order to add new knowledge about the online learning process. It developed innovations as well that can be used to organize daily innovative and creative learning. CONCLUSION The conclusion drawn from this study is that knowledge sharing contributes positively to the teacher's personality during the Covid-19 pandemic era. This is in line with previous research conducted by Susanto et al. (2021), which shows that knowledge sharing significantly affects teacher competence, where personality is one of the competencies that a teacher must possess. A teacher's competence is formed because of the knowledge transfer process obtained by a teacher from the process of transferring information obtained from various sources and references, which the teacher further develops to increase knowledge capacity. International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) Vol. 3 (2), 42-47 The Development of Kindergarten Teacher’s Personality Through Knowledge Sharing During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Perspective Evrilia Silvia Ningrum, Suryanto 47 | Based on the interview results in Kartini Amadanom kindergarten, the head of the school and teachers did knowledge sharing to increase technological mastery, communication skills, and innovative thinking. This research has a limitation, such as the research scope being limited to one school. The writer suggests that the following research can discover further the development of a teacher's personality through knowledge sharing by comparing it to data from other schools and adding it as another method to accelerate the development of a teacher's personality. This research gives an alternative solution to develop the teacher's personality to confront online learning as an effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. The result of knowledge sharing aims to arrange the process of online learning. Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank TK Kartini Amadanom for being helpful during the research. This research was supported by Human Resources Development Postgraduate School Universitas Airlangga. REFERENCES Almarzooq, Z.I., Lopes, M., & Kochar, A. (2020). Virtual Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Journal of The American College of Cardiology, 75(20):2635-2638. Astuti, I.Y., Harun. (2021). 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