














































420 

 

JOURNAL OF ENGLISH EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY 

Vol. 02 No. 02, June 2021, pp. 420 - 435 

Available online at: 

http://jeet.fkdp.or.id/index.php/jeet/issue/current 

ISSN: 2721-3811 (media online) 

 

The analysis of significant differences based on teacher demographic variables 

in a mandatory teacher professional development program: Implementation in 

a less privileged region of Indonesia 

Ria Arista Asih 

University of New South Wales , Australia 

arista.ria86@gmail.com    

ABSTRACT 
This study investigated the significant differences based on teacher demographic variables in a mandatory 

teacher professional development (PD) program. The examined demographic variables are gender, age, 

academic qualification, years of teaching experience, employment status, and certification status. This 

information was measured through a well-developed questionnaire named the Targeted Professional 

Development Program. The study was conducted to 356 primary school teachers in Bima, Indonesia. Results 

showed that teacher perception of mandatory PD was only differed based on gender with t(354) = -1.87, p=.01. 

No significant differences were found pertaining teachers’ age, academic qualification, years of teaching 

experience, employment status, and certification status. Non-significant differences in mandatory PD 

perception based on teacher demography show that Indonesian mandatory PD has achieved its objectives in 

implementing a large-scale uniformed government PD program to support all Indonesian teachers. The only 

significant difference is shown through teachers’ gender, indicating that any improvement plan on future 

mandatory PD designs can commence by improving benefits for both male and female teachers. 

Keywords: teacher perception, mandatory PD, significant differences, teacher demographic 
variables 
 

 

I. INTRODUCTION 

Teacher PD programs are important 

system activities that may enhance teacher 

learning and improvement of educational 

practice. Almost 90% of teachers around the 

world have participated in some form of PD 

program over an 18-month period, including 

a minimum of one day per month in a PD 

http://jeet.fkdp.or.id/index.php/jeet/issue/current
http://u.lipi.go.id/1580741566
mailto:arista.ria86@gmail.com


421 

 

program course (OECD, 2011). PD programs 

have appeared in several categories in the 

literature, including more common ones 

being teacher training, professional learning, 

in-service training, staff development, and 

teacher learning (Rahman, 2016). Formal PD 

program activities are commonly delivered 

through workshops and seminars presented 

on in-service days, positioning teachers as 

passive participants with minimal 

interaction to support their learning 

(Kensington-Miller, 2004). On the contrary, 

informal PD program activities are more 

varied because they engage teachers in 

different activities that are embedded in their 

everyday work lives (Avalos, 2010). This 

view of PD program experiences suggests 

that there is a dichotomy in teacher PD 

program activities between formal and 

informal PD, or mandatory PD and voluntary 

PD. 

However, mandatory PD has long been 

criticised because of its inability to facilitate 

teacher learning. It is often associated with 

conscripted activities that have minimum 

impact on teacher learning and development 

(Hunzicker, 2010). This is because it is not 

built on teacher perceived needs and 

motivation, thereby reducing their likelihood 

to implement any new knowledge and skills 

(Cave & Mulloy, 2010). Even so, the use and 

implementation of mandatory PD programs 

is common amongst educational 

bureaucracies in an effort to ensure 

uniformity of practices and cost efficiencies. 

Mandatory PD is still implemented in some 

regions due to limited resources available for 

teacher learning and the absence of teacher 

motivation to be developed independently. 

An informal, voluntary PD program is not a 

choice for teachers in many less advantaged 

contexts where mandatory PD programs 

predominate. These mandatory programs 

aim to deepen teachers’ content knowledge 

and develop new skills to ensure they 

continually meet the teaching standards set 

by the government. 

Moreover, the extant literature has 

emerged from inconclusive results based on 

differences in participant demography and 

study sites. Participant demography in an 

educationally less privileged area or Asian 

community has identified specific patterns in 

their perception of PD program (Roustaee, et 

al., 2015), utilisation of sources of efficacy 

information (Klassen, 2004; Klassen, et al., 

2011), and teacher self-efficacy beliefs’ level 

(Berger, et al., 2018; Hemmings & Kay, 2009). 

Analyses generated from participant 

demography in the present study is expected 

to advance knowledge in the existing 



422 

 

literature, which is mostly based on Western 

communities or developed countries. 

Demographic characteristics examined 

in this research are teachers’ gender, age, 

academic qualification, years of teaching 

experience, employment status, and 

certification status. The present study aims 

to find significant differences in teacher 

perception of the mandatory PD program 

based on each demographic characteristic. 

II. LITERATURE REVIEW 

In this study, group differences were 

examined by teachers’ gender, age, academic 

qualification, years of teaching experience, 

employment status, and certification status. 

The t-test was performed to examine the 

differences influenced by participants’ 

gender; and ANOVA was used to identify 

differences influenced by teachers’ age, 

academic qualification, years of teaching 

experience, employment status, and 

certification status. Significant differences 

found on these demographic variables were 

measured through a well-established 

questionnaire named the Targeted 

Professional Development Scale (TPDS) 

(Main & Pendergast, 2017). TPDS was used 

to evaluate the effectiveness of a large-scale 

mandatory PD program delivered to 258 

public schools in Queensland, Australia; it 

was considered to fit the aim of the present 

study in investigating nationwide mandatory 

PD in Indonesia. 

From decades of research on teacher 

PD programs, factors have been highlighted 

on the success of PD designs (Desimone, 

2009). A vast array of studies constitutes 

what is currently referred as the five key 

features, which are ready to move teacher PD 

program impact studies from reports about 

teacher satisfaction to actual results by 

which they work. The present study uses the 

proposed consensus, which conveys five 

critical features of PD program effectiveness, 

as a stable benchmark to investigate teacher 

perceptions after completing a mandatory 

PD program. It aims to advance the current 

knowledge about the impact of Indonesian 

teacher participation in a PD program. 

TPDS was based on Desimone’s (2009) 

key features of an effective teacher PD 

program, which included close engagement 

with specific literature. TPDS consists of five 

factors termed ‘five key features’ (Desimone, 

2009): (i) content focus; (ii) active learning; 

(iii) coherence; (iv) duration; and (v) 

collective participation. The use of 

consistent terms provides guidance as a 

‘checking list’ to see if a particular PD 

implementation has incorporated the keys to 

effectiveness. This can advance the 



423 

 

implementation of a more targeted PD 

program because any intervention for 

improvement can follow the guidance 

(Albers & Pattuwage, 2017). Such 

consistency suggests that TPDS can be used 

to study the implementation of any PD 

program regardless of their type. 

To date, there is no known study that 

has used TPDS to identify teacher 

perceptions after their completion of a 

particular PD program. The examined 

demographic variables are described in the 

following sections.  

A. Gender 

Significant differences in teacher 

perception of PD programs based on their 

gender is evident and empirically guided by 

the data. Research have shown that male 

teachers benefit more than their female 

counterparts from the PD program 

experience (Johnson & Johnson, 2002; Li, 

2016); males claim to face less barriers when 

implementing their obtained knowledge 

(Mahdi & Al-Dera, 2013). Male teachers also 

showed more confidence in mastering newly 

obtained knowledge in the PD program 

compared with female teachers who 

reported feeling incapable. 

However, results from these studies are 

ambiguous since they do not specify the PD 

program structure. This deserves attention 

because the PD program structure partly 

influences the learning process faced by 

participants, in which male and female 

participants have different approaches to 

learning (Roustaee, et al., 2015). The explicit 

inclusion of the PD program structure in this 

study may advance knowledge about the 

significant different approaches made by 

each gender on teacher perception of 

mandatory PD. 

In this study, ANOVA was performed 

on the variables of teacher perception of 

mandatory PD by teachers’ age (older 

teacher, mid-age teacher, younger teacher). 

The item of age in the questionnaire was 

initially open-ended, showing that the 

participant’s age ranged between 22 and 60 

years old. The research investigator divided 

the responses based on two primary laws: (i) 

Indonesian Law on Teacher Minimum 

Academic Qualification Number 14 Year 

2005 Verse 8; and (ii) Indonesian Law on 

Civil Servant Number 5 Year 2014 Verse 87 

and 90. The first law stipulated that 

Indonesian primary school teachers must 

have completed a bachelor degree or four-

year diploma, typically achieved at the age of 

21 or 22 years old. The second law regulates 

that the retirement age for Indonesian 

teachers is 60 years old. 



424 

 

Hence, the responses of teachers’ age 

were divided into three groups with an 

interval range of 12 years. Younger teachers 

are placed in Group 1 (22-34 years old), mid-

age teachers belong in Group 2 (35-47 years 

old), and older teacher belong in Group 3 

(48-60 years old). 

B. Age 

A growing body of research has 

reported that older and younger teachers 

hold different perceptions about any given 

PD program. The difference was mostly 

influenced by contents of the PD program. 

Older teachers were interested in activities 

that enhance their ability in coping with 

technology (Saunders, 2014; Powers, et al., 

2016), while younger teachers expected the 

PD program to add knowledge to their 

minimal teaching experience (Heyward, et 

al., 2018; Hursen, 2012). 

However, most studies were based on 

teacher PD program activities, not the overall 

program design, where teacher participation 

may have been guided by personal need. 

There is a call for an investigation into 

significant differences in teacher perception 

of mandatory PD based on age since such PD 

program obligates teacher participation, 

especially because mandatory PD is not 

specifically designed to fit a teacher’s 

personal needs. 

In this study, ANOVA was performed 

on the perception of mandatory PD by 

teachers’ age (older teacher, mid-age teacher, 

younger teacher). The item of age in the 

questionnaire was initially open-ended, 

showing that the participant’s age ranged 

between 22 and 60 years old. The responses 

were divided based on two primary laws: (i) 

Indonesian Law on Teacher Minimum 

Academic Qualification Number 14 Year 

2005 Verse 8; and (ii) Indonesian Law on 

Civil Servant Number 5 Year 2014 Verse 87 

and 90. The first law stipulated that 

Indonesian primary school teachers must 

have completed a bachelor degree or four-

year diploma, typically achieved at the age of 

21 or 22 years old. The second law regulates 

that the retirement age for Indonesian 

teachers is 60 years old. 

Hence, the responses of teachers’ age 

were divided into three groups with an 

interval range of 12 years. Younger teachers 

are placed in Group 1 (22-34 years old), mid-

age teachers belong in Group 2 (35-47 years 

old), and older teacher belong in Group 3 

(48-60 years old). 

C. Academic qualifications 

Teacher academic qualifications are 

shown to be fundamental to teachers’ 

perception towards a PD program. Research 

shows that teachers of higher academic 



425 

 

qualifications have a better attitude in 

participating in PD program activities 

(Alwaleedi, 2017; Tajeddin & Khodaverdi, 

2011). Teachers of lower academic 

qualifications, on the other hand, tend to 

reluctantly embark on a PD program because 

of the gap between their existing knowledge 

and PD program activities (Kruijer, 2010). It 

is visible that teachers of higher academic 

qualifications are capable of relating PD 

program knowledge to their existing 

knowledge, which increases their 

enthusiasm. 

However, the previous study was 

mostly conducted in developed countries 

that provided systematic teacher education 

programs to build on teachers’ career. 

Teacher education programs remain a 

problem in developing countries because 

they do not offer sufficient useful knowledge 

(Reid & Kleinhenz, 2015) and are 

exacerbated by the recruitment process of 

novice teachers (Bashiruddin, 2018). Due to 

the shortage of staff, most educationally less 

privileged regions hire teachers who are 

often not properly trained to enter the 

teaching profession (Al-Samarrai, et al., 

2013). There is a need to investigate the 

difference in teacher perception of 

mandatory PD in a less privileged region 

based on teacher academic qualifications. In 

particular, there were cases where people 

chose teaching as a backup job, which may 

have differed their perception of the given PD 

program. 

In this study, ANOVA was performed 

on four groups of teachers based on their 

academic qualification: (i) Group 1: High 

school/vocational school graduates; (ii) 

Group 2: Diploma graduates; (iii) Group 3: 

Bachelor graduates; and (iv) Group 4: Master 

graduates. All groups were modified based 

on participants’ reports where none held a 

doctorate degree, and some reported to hold 

high school/vocational school certificates. 

The group of diploma graduates refer 

to teachers who graduated from one-year 

(Diploma I), two-years (Diploma II), three-

years (Diploma III), or four-years (Diploma 

IV) of teaching. Diploma graduates differ 

from bachelor graduates in Indonesia. 

D. Years of teaching experience 

Previous studies have emerged from 

inconclusive results in the difference in 

teacher perception of the given PD program 

based on their years of teaching experience. 

It was shown that teachers demonstrated 

gradual improvement in their approach 

toward PD program activities within a five-

year interval (Hursen, 2012). There was a 

significant difference between teachers with 

more than 21 years of teaching experience 



426 

 

and teachers with 1-5 years. On the one hand, 

teachers with 6-10, 11-15 and 16-20 years of 

teaching experience showed gradual 

improvement, although non-significant. On 

the other hand, teachers with more than 21 

years of teaching experience reported similar 

enthusiasm with novice teachers (Torff & 

Sessions, 2008). A decrease was mostly 

shown during the mid-career phase when 

teachers were exposed to many PD program 

activities. 

However, these studies did not treat 

the factor of PD program design in much 

detail. The specification of a PD program 

design proposed by the present study might 

clarify significant differences in teacher 

perception of mandatory PD based on their 

years of teaching experience. 

In this study, ANOVA was performed 

on three groups of teachers based on the 

number of years of teaching experience: (i) 

Group 1/beginning teacher = 0-8 years; (ii) 

Group 2/mid-career teacher = 8-23 years; and 

(iii) Group 3/experienced teacher = >23 years. 

The classifications are based on Beauchamp 

and colleagues (2014) who stated that 

teachers go through different stages 

throughout their careers that can influence 

their level of TSE beliefs. 

E. Employment status 

Teachers’ employment status is known 

to change teachers’ perception of PD 

programs. In particular, government teachers 

offered positive perceptions on the given PD 

program prior to their job security 

(Alwaleedi, 2017; Ashadi, 2014). They were 

able to concentrate on self-development and 

capability improvement because they were 

highly-paid with sufficient health access, and 

they were optimistic about their future 

career. They were also free to enrol in PD 

program activities based on their needs. 

However, none of these studies explicitly 

drew on the comparison between 

government and non-government teacher 

participants in a large-scale PD program. 

These studies also did not explicitly mention 

the PD program structure. The specification 

of a PD program structure is essential 

because it helps to clarify the influence of a 

particular PD program design on teacher 

attitudes (Desimone, 2009). This research 

attempts to specify the PD program type and 

gather teachers of different employment 

status to expand the current literature. 

In this study, ANOVA was also 

performed to determine if significant 

differences exist in teacher perception of 

mandatory PD. Teachers were placed into 

three groups: (i) government teacher (Group 



427 

 

1); (ii) helping teacher (Group 2); and (iii) 

non-permanent teacher (Group 4). No one 

reported as a permanent teacher (Group 3) as 

all participants work in public primary 

schools. 

F. Certification status 

Issues pertaining to non-significant 

differences in teacher perception of PD 

programs based on their certification status 

have been extensively studied in Indonesia 

(Anoraga, 2011; Mawardi, 2012; Raihani & 

Sumintono, 2010; Zein, 2016). No difference 

was shown between certified and non-

certified teachers in their approach to the 

given PD program. This issue was attributed 

to the PD program type, which is mandatory, 

but did not regard teachers’ different needs. 

It was postulated that certified teachers 

participated in more PD programs than non-

certified teachers, indicating the need for 

different PD programs to support their 

development. However, there is a gap in the 

literature where these studies did not 

investigate the mandatory PD structure. The 

present study attempts to close this gap by 

explicating the PD program design to result 

in a more targeted future improvement that 

responds to teacher needs.  

In this study, the ANOVA was also 

performed to examine differences in teacher 

perception of mandatory PD, sources of 

efficacy information, and TSE beliefs by 

certification status. Teachers were categories 

under three groupings: (i) certified teachers 

(Group 1); (ii) non-certified teachers (Group 

2); and (iii) in the process of certification 

(Group 3) 

III. METHOD 

This research took place in Bima, Nusa 

Tenggara Barat, Eastern Indonesia from 

September to October 2018. A mandatory PD 

program was implemented in Bima, which 

had interesting contexts since its quality in 

education lagged behind the national 

education standard. The Regional 

Department of Education in Bima allocated a 

lower budget for education (17.2%) than the 

regulated budget of 20% (MoEC, 2018). This 

is because the budget to be spent on 

educational purposes was used for to 

support other regional needs to compensate 

for difficulties in economic and health areas. 

This research applies quantitative 

methodology, using a survey design to 

determine the significance differences based 

on teacher demographic variables in a 

mandatory PD program. The target 

population were primary school teachers 

(n=1,199) in Bima, Eastern Indonesia. The 

present study aimed to gain 90% confidence 

level from the population of 1,200 (Cohen, et 



428 

 

al., 2018) where results were wide-ranging to 

the population (Bryman, 2016). 

Participants were recruited from 23 

public primary schools across five districts in 

Bima: (i) Asakota; (ii) Mpunda; (iii) Raba; 

(iv) Rasanae Barat; and (v) Rasanae Timur. 

Four or five schools were selected from each 

district to achieve fairness in the sample 

distribution and to obtain an adequate 

sample for the study. Purposive sampling 

was applied to access ‘knowledgeable 

people’ (Cohen, et al., 2018) who could 

provide reliable answers in the surveys. The 

selected participants had all completed the 

Education and Training for the Teaching 

Profession course (Pendidikan dan Pelatihan 

Profesi Guru or PLPG) following Teacher 

Regulation Number 18/2007. PLPG is a large-

scale Indonesian mandatory PD program 

where participants provided reliable 

answers based on their PD program 

experience. This criterion was suitable for 

the present study to investigate the impacts 

of national mandatory PD on TSE beliefs and 

sources of efficacy information. This resulted 

in a sample of 356 teachers from 23 primary 

schools across five districts participating in 

this study. 

The participants were asked about 

their perception of a mandatory PD program 

through a structured questionnaire, namely 

the Targeted Professional Development Scale 

(TPDS) (Main & Pendergast, 2017). The 

surveys were initially prepared in English, 

followed by translation to Indonesian, and 

finally back to translated into English. The 

back-translation technique was critical to 

clarify the wording of survey items, and to 

ensure accuracy in the labelling of headings 

and subheadings of the survey (Chen & 

Boore, 2010). 

The t-test and ANOVA were used to 

discover statistically significant differences 

between groups by comparing the mean 

scores of sub-groups. The t-test was used to 

compare mean scores between two different 

groups, while ANOVA was used to compare 

mean scores of more than two groups. 

IV. RESULT  

A total of 368 primary school teachers 

participated in this study. The survey data 

was collected between 10 September and 20 

October 2018. The initial screening of data 

indicated that 12 participants did not 

complete the survey, leaving more than 25% 

of the questions unanswered. Their 

responses were deleted from the dataset, 

resulting in 356 responses remaining for the 

analysis. The demographic information 

collected in the survey is summarised in 

Table 4.1. 



429 

 

Table 4.1 Demographic 

characteristics of research participants 

(n=356) 

Variable Count Percent 

Gender 

Male 

Female 

 

65 

291 

 

18.26 

81.74 

Age 

22-34 years old 

35-47 years old 

48-60 years old 

 

73 

107 

176 

 

20.5 

30.1 

49.4 

Academic qualification 

High school/vocational school 

Diploma 

Bachelor 

Master 

 

15 

29 

309 

3 

 

4.21 

8.15 

86.8 

0.84 

Years of teaching experience 

0-8 years 

8-23 years 

> 23 years 

 

51 

159 

146 

 

14.33 

44.66 

41.01 

Employment status 

Government teacher 

Helping teacher 

Permanent teacher 

Non-permanent teacher 

 

265 

2 

0 

89 

 

74.44 

0.57 

0 

25 

Certification status 

Certified 

Non-certified 

In the process of certification 

 

251 

93 

12 

 

70.51 

26.12 

3.37 

 

The participants were predominantly 

female (81.74%). Older teachers dominated 

close to 50% of teacher groups by age, leaving 

the younger teacher group with 

approximately 20% and the mid-age teacher 

group at approximately 30%. The majority of 

teachers held a bachelor degree, followed by 

a diploma degree and high school/vocational 

certificate. Three teachers had attained their 

master degrees. 

In terms of teaching experience, a small 

percentage of teachers had taught for less 

than eight years. Most teacher held 8-23 

years (44.66%) teaching experience, and for 

greater than 24 years (41.01%). In addition, 

most participants are employed in the 

government education sector (74.44%) and 

70.51% are certified teachers. There were less 

than 100 participants who were non-

permanent and non-certified teachers in the 

study cohort. 

The analyses in this section were 

conducted to test whether teacher 

perception of mandatory PD differ by gender, 

age, academic qualification, years of teaching 

experience, employment status, and 

certification status. The t-test results 

presented showed statistical significance at 

the p≤.05 level. From six demographic 

characteristics of the study participants, four 

(gender, age, years of teaching experience, 



430 

 

employment status, and certification status) 

showed significant differences. Analysis of 

participant academic qualifications 

indicated no significant difference caused by 

demographic information to the samples. 

The t-test and ANOVA results were 

significant at p≤.05 levels. 

4.1. t-test on participants’ gender 

An independent t-test sample was 

performed to examine whether any of the 

three variables would differ between female 

and male teachers. ANOVA results are 

summarised in Table 4.9. 

Table 4.2 T-test of variables by gender 

(n=356) 

 Male 

(n=65) 

M (SD) 

Female 

(n=291) 

M (SD) 

t-

value 

p-

value 

Perception of 

mandatory 

PD 

154.15 

(21.55) 

159.33 

(12.88) 

-1.87 .01* 

Note. * means that the relationship was 

statistically significant at the p<.05 level. 

It can be seen that there was a 

significant effect for gender, t(354) = -1.87, 

p=.01, with females receiving higher scores 

than male from the mandatory PD program. 

No other significant difference by gender was 

found in the other two variables of this study. 

4.2. ANOVA on participants’ age, 

academic qualification, years of 

teaching experience, employment 

status, and certification status 

Table 4.3 ANOVA results on teacher 

perception of mandatory PD (n=356) 

Predictors Sum of 

Squares 

df Mean 

Square 

F p Partial 

η² 

95% 

CI 

[LL, 

UL] 

Age 1153.38 

78108.43 

79261.81 

2 

353 

355 

576.69 

221.27 

2.61 .075 [-9.49, 

.25] 

Academic 

qualification 

24.84 

5315.08 

5339.92 

3 

352 

355 

8.28 

15.10 

.55 .650 [-

22.54, 

22.14] 

Years of 

teaching 

experience 

70.07 

5269.86 

5339.92 

2 

353 

355 

35.03 

14.93 

2.35 .097 [-

10.64, 

.76] 

Employment 

status 

4.96 

5334.97 

5339.92 

2 

353 

355 

2.48 

15.11 

.16 .164 [-

29.99, 

20.41] 

Certification 

status 

43.50 

5294.60 

5338.10 

3 

351 

354 

14.50 

15.08 

.96 .411 [-

34.69, 

20.18] 

Note: * means that the relationship was 

statistically significant at the p<.05 level; LL 



431 

 

and UL represent the lower-limit and 

upper-limit of the partial η² confidence 

interval, respectively. 

Overall, the findings indicate a clear 

pattern where the difference between male 

and female teachers only exists in their 

experiences in the mandatory PD program in 

which female teachers reported making the 

more out of their program experience 

compared to male teachers. Teachers did not 

show significant difference on their 

perception about mandatory PD based on 

their age, academic qualification, years of 

teaching experiences, employment status, 

and certification status. The summary is 

presented in the table below. 

Table 4.4 Summary of t-test and 

ANOVA results (n=356) 

Factors Gender Age Academic 

Qualification 

Years of 

Teaching 

Experience 

Employment 

Status 

Certification 

Status 

Teacher 

perception 

of 

mandatory 

PD 

√ ns ns ns ns ns 

 

V. DISCUSSION  

This study shows that female teachers 

have a more positive perception of the 

effectiveness of mandatory PD activities than 

their male counterparts. This finding offers 

new insight into PD program studies in 

Asian countries where female teachers are 

claimed to experience difficulty in 

undertaking PD program activities (Badri, et 

al., 2016). However, the claims are 

inconclusive because the study was based on 

various PD program types and did not 

investigate a specific program feature. This 

study, conversely, reveals that specific PD 

program features influence the teacher’s 

approach during participation. Some key 

features, such as active learning and 

collective participation, create collaborative 

learning environments that allow teachers to 

communicate knowledge and exchange 

experiences. This would suggest that female 

teachers tend to approach collaborative 

learning activities more skilfully than their 

male colleagues, by seeking support, agreeing 

to participate, and asking for suggestions to 

improve their practice (Johnson & Johnson, 

2002). 

There was no significant difference 

pertaining to teacher perception of 

mandatory PD activities based on age. This 

evidence is contradictory to existing 

literature reporting that older and younger 

teachers tended to approach PD programs 

differently (Heyward, et al., 2018; Saunders, 

2014). However, most previous studies have 

been based on voluntary activities where 



432 

 

teachers have different end-goals. This may 

affect their PD program experience as 

teachers’ personal choices affect their feeling 

of engagement (OECD, 2009). Both younger 

and older teachers in this study, by contrast, 

were mandated to join the PD program 

regardless of their age. They accepted the PD 

program to fulfil their obligation as 

government employees and to improve their 

competency score on the national standard 

examination for teachers. It could be said 

that their end-goal in joining the PD program 

had been already determined. This might 

lead the perception of teachers of all ages 

towards a similar level upon approaching 

mandatory PD. Evidence from this study 

lends strong support to a claim whereby 

mandatory PD is commonly designed to 

target teachers of all ages with uniformed 

content (Burns & Lawrie, 2015). 

Teacher perception of mandatory PD 

does not differ significantly by their 

academic qualification. It is contradictory in 

the literature, as it has been reported that 

teachers with higher academic qualification 

possess a higher positive attitude towards 

PD programs than teachers with lower 

academic qualification (Akbari & 

Moradkhani, 2010; Tajeddin & Khodaverdi, 

2011). The present study conversely shows 

that there was no difference between high 

school, bachelor, and master graduate 

teachers in their perception of mandatory 

PD. This discrepancy may be associated with 

the quality of Indonesian educational 

institutes that educate teachers. There is a 

gap between these institutes and real school 

practices due to institutes rarely updating 

their curricula in response to the most 

current condition in education (Leonard, 

2015). Teachers are often perplexed about 

the application of knowledge regardless of 

their academic qualification. Such 

dissonance between knowledge and real 

conditions can affect the teacher’s trust in 

professional learning as he/she cannot 

perceive how they are coherent with their 

daily practices. Evidence from this study 

supports a claim that teacher education in 

less privileged regions often does not cover 

adequate knowledge to support future 

teachers (Hansen-Thomas, et al., 2016). 

Teacher perception of mandatory PD 

has not differed significantly based on years 

of teaching experience. It contradicts the 

existing literature that reports teachers 

normally show gradual improvement in their 

perception of PD programs at five-year 

intervals (Hursen, 2012), which is when 

veteran teachers enjoy greater enthusiasm 

than novice teachers (Torff & Sessions, 

2008). In the present study, the result can be 



433 

 

attributed to the mandatory PD design that 

did not purposefully gather participants at 

similar stages of their teaching experience. 

The study does not appear to take into 

consideration the differences in number of 

years of teaching experience that contributes 

to the expansion of teachers’ existing 

knowledge. Empirical evidence from this 

study implies that the uniformed 

characteristics of Indonesian mandatory PD 

are designed to target teachers with varying 

years of teaching experience (Chang, et al., 

2013). 

No significant difference was 

identified in teacher perception of the given 

mandatory PD program based on their 

employment status as government, non-

permanent or helping teachers. This finding 

contradicts previous research where 

government teachers have claimed to 

embrace PD programs more positively than 

other employment groups (Alwaleedi, 2016; 

Shaukat, et al., 2019). What differs when 

comparing this finding with previous studies 

is the specification of the PD program type. 

The present study focused on a large-scale 

mandatory PD targeting all teachers in one-

off events. The government, non-permanent, 

and helping teachers were grouped based on 

their competency test scores. Findings from 

this study reflect on strong support to the 

principle of Indonesian mandatory PD that 

was suitable for all teachers regardless of 

their employment status (MoEC, 2017). 

No significant difference was shown in 

the teacher perception of mandatory PD 

based on certification status. This finding 

contradicts the assumption that certified 

Indonesian teachers approach the given PD 

program differently because of their 

extensive training (MoEC, 2010). Certified 

teachers often participated in extra 

professional training and workshops, and are 

expected to have better perception on the 

mandatory PD program compared to non-

certified groups. Results from the present 

study may partly be due to the mandatory PD 

activities that were designed to 

accommodate all Indonesian teachers 

regardless of their certification status. It 

reflects the objectives of the mandatory PD 

program to gather both certified and non-

certified teachers in a large-scale group to 

provide equal knowledge and information 

that is coherent with national education 

goals. Empirical evidence from this study 

lends strong support to the notion that 

Indonesian teacher certification does not 

affect their approach towards a given 

mandatory PD program (Mawardi, 2012; 

Raihani & Sumintono, 2010; World Bank, 

2011). 



434 

 

  

VI. CONCLUSION 

Non-significant differences in 

mandatory PD perception based on teacher 

demography show that Indonesian 

mandatory PD has achieved its objectives in 

implementing a large-scale uniformed 

government PD program to support all 

Indonesian teachers. The only significant 

difference is shown through teachers’ gender, 

indicating that any improvement plan on 

future mandatory PD designs can commence 

by improving benefits for both male and 

female teachers. 

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