Peer Coaching: A sustainable Professional Development Model for High School EFL Teachers in Toraja Indonesia

Abstract

The teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Toraja-Indonesia is influenced by the quality of teachers from elementary to university level. The Ministry of National Education in Indonesia has stipulated four competencies that should be mastered by teachers: pedagogical competence, professional competence, personal competence, and social competence. Peer coaching promotes professionalism and remains sustainable for life-long professional development. The purpose of this study is to explore the EFL teachers’ perception toward the implementation of Peer Coaching as a sustainable Professional Development model for high school EFL teachers in Toraja Indonesia. For this study, 20 high school EFL Teachers
in Toraja were chosen randomly from both public and private schools. Data was collected by using semi-structured interviews. The descriptive qualitative results of this research show that there were two categories of EFL teachers’ perception toward the implementation of Peer Coaching Model: Positive and Negative perceptions. Positive perceptions were the improvement of EFL teachers’ professional competence, the improvement teachers’ teaching strategies and their professional self-awareness. While negative perceptions were relating to problem of time management, the lack of peer coaching procedure, lack-of self-reflection and feedback skills.