REiD (Research and Evaluation in Education) ISSN 2460-6995 REiD (Research and Evaluation in Education), 3(2), 2017, 124-132 Available online at: http://journal.uny.ac.id/index.php/reid Research Article The implementation of population education in senior high school * 1 Claver Nzobonimpa; 2 Zamroni *Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Languages and Social Sciences, Université du Burundi (National University of Burundi) UNESCO Avenue No. 2, P.O. Box 1550 Bujumbura, Burundi *Email: nzobonimpacl@yahoo.fr Submitted: 14 July 2017 | Revised: 27 December 2017 | Accepted: 06 February 2018 Abstract This research aimed to evaluate the implementation of Population Education in senior high school in terms of (1) learning process, (2) learning materials, (3) evaluation process, (4) course outcome, (5) teachers’ role, (6) perception of Population Education, and (7) factors supporting and inhabitting Population Education. The research subjects were one teachers’ supervisor, three teachers, and 65 students. The data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and docu- mentation and analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics. The qualitative data collected through interviews were used for deeper explanation. The research findings were: (1) the teaching process was not quite appropriate, (2) materials for Population Education were available and ef- ficient, (3) the evaluation process was not appropriate, (4) the students were satisfied with the teachers’ role, (5) the students’ perception of Population Education was very positive, and (6) the constraints in Population Education included (a) limitation in time, (b) too many extracurricular activities, (c) rapid change of data, and (d) the validity of materials. Keywords: population education, implementation, learning process, integration How to cite item: Nzobonimpa, C., & Zamroni, Z. (2017). The implementation of population education in senior high school. REiD (Research and Evaluation in Education), 3(2), 124-132. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.21831/reid.v3i2. 10024 Introduction Education is very important for human being. Moore (2015, p. 1) says that: ‘Changes in society are often in more demands being placed on our education system’. Further, as stated in Law No. 20 of 2003, Indonesian national educational system ensures equal opportunity, improve- ment of quality, relevance and efficiency in e- ducation to meet various challenges in the de- velopment of local, national, and global lives changes (UNESCO, 2015, p. 1). Syamsudin, Budiyono, and Sutrisno (2016, p. 26) inform that the goal of education in Indonesia is to develop learners’ potentials so that they be- come Indonesian individuals with faith and fear of God, noble morals, good health, great knowledge, high competency, creativity, and independence, and become individuals who are democratic and responsible. In order to reach its education objectives, Indonesian go- vernment elaborates the curriculum which contains the objectives and strategy to achieve the education goals. In line with this opinion, Indonesian National Education Law of 2003 defines curriculum as “...a set of plan and regula- tions about the aims, content, materials of lessons and the methods employed as guidelines for implementation of learning activities to achieve given education objec- tives” (Dharma, 2008). Population Education is one of the teaching programs delivered in schools. It is a http://www.ub.edu.bi/ http://dx.doi.org/10.21831/reid.v3i2.%2010024 http://dx.doi.org/10.21831/reid.v3i2.%2010024 REiD (Research and Evaluation in Education) 125 − REiD (Research and Evaluation in Education), 3(2), 2017 program introduced due to the rapid popula- tion growth in both the industrial and devel- oping countries. In early 1960s, the study of human reproduction, birth control, and also investigation of the cause and effect of popu- lation was included into the school curriculum (Sulistyo, 1997, p. 26). In secondary schools, the government integrated Population Educa- tion topic into six subjects: Biology, Geogra- phy, Economics, Civics, Physical Education, and Anthropology with the use of the integra- tive approach. Though Population Education has been introduced in Indonesian formal education many decades ago, some problems still occur. There are still significant differences between the ideal situation (self-reported) and the ac- tual practice related to teachers' roles in teach- ing Population Education. This difference in- dicates that there are role conflicts for teach- ers in teaching Population Education. Some observable barriers related to the implemen- tation of Population Education are the lack of teachers’ knowledge and skill, and also the lack of teachers' autonomy in carrying out teaching activities. Education John Dewey (Ornstein & Levine, 1989, p. 10) considers education as a social process by which the groups of immature members, especially children, learn to participate in a group life. Thus, through education, children receive knowledge about their cultural her- itage and learn to use it in problem solving. Hills (1986, p. 50) says that education has two principles: passing on knowledge from one generation to the next, and providing the peo- ple with skills which enable them to analyze, diagnose, and question something. Education, in the narrowed sense, is regarded to be e- quivalent to instruction. It consists of ‘specific influences’ given consciously to bring in the development and growth of the students. In general, education aims to transmit a common set of beliefs, values, norms, and understand- ing from the adult to the youth. Morality, on the other hand, aims to maintain the order in a society; to respect people as well as regard them holistically (Nayef, Yaacob, & Ismail, 2013, p. 165). Population Education Viederman (V. K. Rao, 2001, p. 31) says that Population Education may be defined as an educational process which assists persons to (a) learn causes and consequences of popu- lation problems; (b) define the nature of the problems associated with population process and characteristics; and (c) assess the positive and effective means by which the society as a whole and he/she as an individual can re- spond to the areas that influence these pro- cesses in order to enhance the quality of life. Rao (2004, p. 34) says that: ‘Population Educa- tion is an educational program which provides for a study of population situation in the family, community with the purpose of developing in the students’ rational and responsible attitudes and behavior toward that situation’. Based on the definition, we can un- derstand that Population Education is a pro- gram which provides a study of population situation at various levels. It also intends to develop rational and responsible attitudes and behavior to that situation. Learning Learning is identified as some kinds of change in behavior which is relatively long lasting. According to Schunk (2012, p. 3), the definition of learning is ‘an enduring change in behavior, or in the capacity to behave in a given fash- ion, which result from practice or other form of experi- ence’. Learning aims at changing the behavior of the learner. Learning is the main activity organized in school which has three main cri- teria: (1) learning involves change, (2) learning endures over times, and (3) learning occurs through experience. Illeris (2009, p. 14) distinguishes the de- finition of learning into four. First, learning can refer to the results of individual learning processes. Second, learning refers to individ- ual psychological processes that lead to altera- tions or results described as meaning. Third, learning, as well as processes of learning, re- fers to the interaction process among individ- uals, his/her material, and social environment described as meaning. Fourth, learning and process of learning are used identically with the word teaching. It may be interpreted as a result of tacit short circuit between what is taught and what is learned. REiD (Research and Evaluation in Education) The implementation of population education... - 126 Claver Nzobonimpa & Zamroni In the discussion of learning activities, Assan (2014, p. 340) insists that learning activ- ities, especially in adults, have three features, including the facts that: (1) the learners devel- op different outlooks and approaches with maturity and/or experience; (2) the learners reveal different degrees of independence in their learning; (3) the learners exhibit a dif- ferent amount of involvement in, or different approaches to, learning tasks. The type of in- volvement is often dependent upon the con- text in which the learning activity takes place. As far as learning theories are concern- ed, we distinguish the following learning theo- ries: Self-directed learning. Borich (2000, p. 273) has defined self-directed learning as an ap- proach to teaching and learning that actively engages students in the learning process to ac- quire the high levels of behavioral complexity outcome. Mohammadi and Araghi (2013, p. 75) assert that self-directed learning refers to any self-teaching projects in which the learner establishes his specific goal, decides how to achieve it, finds the relevant resources, plans his strategies, and maintains his motivation to learn independently. Bear (2012, p. 28) argues that self-directed learning is a process which occurs when individuals take initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appro- priate learning strategies, and also evaluating learning outcomes. Cooperative learning. Unlike self-directed learning, cooperative learning is defined as ac- tivities that involve groups of students jointly working through assigned tasks (after receiv- ing instruction from the teacher) until all of the group members have successfully master- ed and completed them (Johnson, et al., in Thanh, 2014, p. 3). Discovery Learning. Joy (2014, p. 32) ex- plains that learning happens by discovering, which prioritizes reflection, thinking, experi- menting, and exploring. He also suggests that the discovery learning approach is closer to the concepts of exploration, discovering, in- vention and the ‘knowledge cannot be trans- ferred from one person to another’ concept; instead, a student needs to experience an e- vent in order to make it truly meaningful. Perception In the perspectives of social psycholo- gy, Walgito (2010, p. 99) defines perception as the process of organizing, and interpreting the stimulus received into something meaningful. In perception, the stimulus may come from the outside of the individuals (external) or within the individuals (internal). Furthermore, Mozkowit and Orgel (Walgito, 2010, p. 101) argue that perception is a global response to a stimulus. From those definitions, perception is viewed as the response to a stimulus or sur- roundings. Then these responses will be inter- preted as meaningful information related to the stimuli. Teacher’s Role in Population Education Malik, Murtaza, and Khan (2011, p. 784) determine the teachers’ role in learning- teaching processes as the persons who are re- sponsible to ensure whether the teaching pro- cess puts emphasis on course context, inter- personal relationship, or on classroom disci- pline and control. The following cases are also taken into consideration by teachers: (1) the kind of learning being promoted by putting emphasis on the acquisition of skill, facts or understanding; (2) the pattern of communica- tion in the classroom; and (3) students’ com- munication, by keeping eye on the way in which educational tasks are organized. Hudgins et al. (1983, p. 489) distinguish six roles of a teacher in the classroom. First, a teacher is a transmitter. In this role, his duty is to transmit factual information to students. Second, he is a socializer; he supervises the development of moral values and norms of his students. Third, he is an initiator and ad- ministrator of goals; he initiates and admin- isters long-range and short-run activities and goals of the class membership. Fourth, he is an evaluator. He evaluates his students’ aca- demic performance. Fifth, he is a motivator; he motivates his students to realize their a- chievement potential. Sixth, he is a disciplinar- ian. His duty is to discipline and apply sanc- tions in response to the class members’ be- havior. REiD (Research and Evaluation in Education) 127 − REiD (Research and Evaluation in Education), 3(2), 2017 Method The main aim of this research is to find out the implementation of Population Educa- tion in senior high school. This research used a mixed method (quantitative data were ana- lyzed under descriptive statistics method, then supported by qualitative data analysis). The basic assumption is that the use of both quan- titative and qualitative methods in combina- tion may provide a better understanding of the research problem and question (Creswell, 2010). The research was conducted in a senior high school in Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia, from January to April 2016. The sample consisted of 65 students of class XI, three teachers (Sociology teacher, Economics teacher, and Geography teacher), and also one supervisor. Documentation was used to collect the Population Education curriculum, students’ books, and teachers books. The sample of the research is presented in Table 1. Table 1. Research sample Data source Rate Students 65 Teachers 3 Principals 1 Total 69 Research Variables In this research, the aspects evaluated are: (1) the efficiency of the learning/teaching materials, (2) the appropriateness of the learn- ing/teaching process and evaluation process, (3) the teachers’ and students’ satisfaction on Population Education outcome, (4) the effi- ciency of the evaluation process, (5) Popula- tion Education outcome, (6) the students and teachers’ appreciation of Population Educa- tion, (7) teachers’ role, and (8) the factors that facilitate or inhibit the learning process of Po- pulation Education. Data Collection Techniques This research used a variety of data col- lection techniques, i.e. questionnaires, obser- vation, and interview. In order to collect the quantitative data, questionnaires were given to 65 students. The qualitative data were collect- ed through classroom observations and an in- terview with four teachers of Sociology, Geo- graphy, Economy and one teacher who is in charge of monitoring the social studies pro- gram. Research Instruments The research involved the following in- struments. The first one is observation guide and checklist. Observations were conducted in the beginning of the semester. Through these ob- servations, the researchers collected informa- tion about school and its Population Educa- tion program. The researchers also checked the teacher’s materials, students’ text books and some teachers’ facilities through checklist. The second instrument is a questionnaire. The students were given an open and closed questionnaire. The questions were related to (1) the efficiency of the learning material, (2) the appropriateness of learning/teaching pro- cess, (3) teachers’ and students’ satisfaction on Population Education outcome, (4) efficiency of evaluation, (5) Population Education out- come, (6) students’ and teachers’ appreciation of Population Education, (7) teachers’ role, and (8) the factors that facilitate or inhibit Population Education learning processes. The third instrument is an interview guide. The topics of the interview were identical with the ques- tionnaire evaluation aspect. Validity and Reliability of Instruments Validity assessment was required to provide an evidence related to whether the instrument indeed accomplishes what it is supposed to accomplish (Teo, 2013). In this research, the face validity and content validity were used to validate the instruments by in- volving two experts in Social Studies. In order to check whether the research instruments measured what it was supposed to measure, a tryout test was administered. The tryout re- sults had allowed the researchers to revise the content and form of some variables. Data Analysis Techniques The questionnaire applying modified Likert scale which is proposed by Mardapi REiD (Research and Evaluation in Education) The implementation of population education... - 128 Claver Nzobonimpa & Zamroni (2008, p. 23) was administered to 65 students and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Table 2 shows the criteria for learning process, ma- terial, course, outcome and also perception of Population Education. This analysis was followed by three key stages of analyzing qualitative data. Miles and Huberman in Irambona and Kumaidi (2015, p. 121) explain that the three stages of qualita- tive data analysis are data reduction, data dis- play, and conclusion formulation. The qualita- tive data were reduced to make them simpler to analyze, then were summarized and formu- lated to a conclusion. This analysis was done during data collection, as well as after all of the data had been gathered. Findings and Discussion Findings Population Education Learning Process Based on the students’ stand point, the learning process of Population Education is less appropriate. The mean score of the stu- dents’ rating is 29.6, which means that most students chose ‘sometimes’ category. Based on the interview with Geography, Economics and Sociology teachers and the teachers’ su- pervisor, it is discovered that Population Edu- cation is not planned as an integrated lesson. The researchers also discover that there are some opinions related to Population Educa- tion, including: (1) Population Education is not popular, (2) some teachers do not have any concern in teaching Population Education in their courses, (3) Population Education is not a prominent material in social science class, (4) Population Education course taught only concerns Indonesia and East Asia issues. Learning Materials Questions were asked to the students in order to discover the efficiency of learning material and sources which are used in Pop- ulation Education learning process. It is re- vealed that students are satisfied with the ma- terials. This is reflected by the number of stu- dents who chose ‘always’ and ‘often’. There are 43.07% of the students who chose ‘always’ category. Meanwhile, 24 students or 36.92% of all students chose ‘often’ category. The rest of the sample is in the two remaining catego- ries. There are 12 students choosing ‘some- times’ and only one student chose ‘never’ cat- egory. The mean score of learning material ef- ficiency is 14.17 and it is included in ‘often category’. According to the interview with the teachers, the researchers discovered that the material/books related to Population Educa- tion are easily found. It is also discovered that mass media help teachers to improve and up- date their learning material. Television, news- papers, internet and other information tech- nology help the teachers and students as the learning sources of references. Evaluation The objective of this research is to find out whether the students are given assign- ments and instruction to discuss population issues inside/outside of the class. The re- searchers found that the students’ opinion on the evaluation appropriateness is less appro- priate. There are only seven students (10.77%) who chose ‘always’ category. Meanwhile, 16 out of 65 students (24.61%) chose ‘often’ cat- egory, while more than half of the students chose ‘sometimes’ and ‘never’. Table 2. The criteria of learning process, material, course, outcome and perception Score X Categories Predicate X≥M+1SD Strongly agree/ Always (Very)Satisfying/Positive/Good/Appropriate M≤X<+1.5 SD Agree/Often Satisfying/Positive/Good /Appropriate M-1.SD≤X