Commitment to contribute, Study Plan, and Contribution after graduated
Last year, the Ministry of Human Development and Culture Coordinator stated that our students' literacy skills are concerning. The recent PISAs (Programme for International Student Assessment.) conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development also revealed that Indonesia was always among the last performers of countries' participants. Also, the quality of our students' skills in reading, measured by the recent national competency assessment, showed that only 46 % of students performed above the standards in reading while their maths and science understanding were slightly higher. Even though Indonesia was not on the list of six low-performing-readers in South East Asia reported by Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics, Indonesian students' competency in literacy skills went down during the pandemic season, reflected in national assessment results. On the opposite, these skills are needed to drill our youngsters to be high-quality communities when Indonesia develops in many aspects and marks its first century in 2045.
Working as a teacher for nearly four years made me realise that science argumentation skill is an essential aspect of addressing literacy issues. It is a consequence of our new national competency assessments, which measure literacy in reading and calculating ability. Therefore, educators need an alternative way to expand our students' activity in reading and absorbing information at school. One of the alternative learning methods I proposed is embracing argument-driven inquiry (ADI) in science learning. ADI is a learning method concentrated on argumentation skills through an experimental activity to discover science topics. During the lesson, developing an argument is one of the core syntaxes, which pushes the learners to make coherent explanations or debates. This learning method lets the students connect the facts or evidence they observe to the theoretical answers through literacy and make a strong argument that supports their claim. As a result, applying this way of learning is expected to train students' literacy mastery. I consider this idea will support governance efforts on this issue from the classes as the arteries of our education.
I began researching this learning method as my thesis to pursue my bachelor's at the University of Lampung in 2018. There are some obstacles in creating this learning method such as the modules and its assessment instruments. To illustrate, involving these skills in each learning activity requires the teacher's capability to develop debatable questions on certain scientific cases reflected in the modules, which need an expert to guide them. Also, in daily classes, teachers should confidently possess these abilities while explaining materials to create coherent argumentation through comprehension literacy. Furthermore, recent research also showed a significantly positive relationship between argumentation and scientific literacy skills. In addition, argumentation skills have a statistically predictive effect on students' scientific literacy and acted as a partial mediating variable. Consequently, argumentation and scientific literacy skills are closely related and can be used to predict students' scientific literacy skills.
The teacher who serves through direct occupation for societies deserves to experience world-class professional development as a long-term investment in our country. Therefore, to develop my competencies as a teacher and individual, I need to find the best institution to support my role in my community. For that matter, I tried to research the attentive master's program that I consider can sustain my professional competency which is the Master of Arts (MA) in Education, specifically in Science, at the University College London. Through this one-year program, I could comprehend a broader understanding and strengthen my passion for deeper theoretical aspects of science education. Also, this postgraduate study can equip me with optional related modules to my concentration and background, such as Literacy Development and Perspectives on Literacy Learning. Endlessly, this post-graduate study will also train my critical thinking skill through individual research guided by its world-leading lecturers and professors.
Professor Shirley Simon is one of my favourite UCL professors. Her research has inspired and influenced me to complete my previous discovery on students' argumentation skills, which is relevant to her current research interest. Her investigation is one of the foundational analyses in the scientific argument, and I cited her theories in my thesis. According to my research, the argument-driven inquiry model could stimulate students' strong understanding by connecting the whys and the reasons through a brief literacy and argumentation session. Consequently, I desire to investigate the correlation between scientific argumentation and literacy skills as one of Indonesia's current focal education issues. In addition, when it comes to the duration, this full-time study is also the best option as it is not a time-consuming program. Thus, I can shorten my study period and return to my workplace earlier than in the USA or Australian universities, where most of them have two-year designed programs.
After graduating, I commit to start my contribution to my school as an immediate plan. The first step I will accomplish is to change learning activities by applying updated and attractive methods to integrate argumentation skills. It is crucial to bring the students close to literacy activities by changing their daily activities. Another plan I would also address is teachers' development, especially in English skills. I plan to have an English tutorial program to improve teachers' qualifications in my school. As I consider a better English capability will support them to exceed their limit in Indonesian-based literacy by maximising linkages from UK universities. Via these networks, I plan to improve teachers' English-based literature to enrich their class learning. As we know, there are a lot of English-based learning resources they can adopt, only if they understand English well.
Within five years as an experienced teacher, I will be involved in the school curriculum development that supports friendly-literacy activities. Using a supportive curriculum design will fasten the literacy culture at school where the students can be more comparative to these activities. Therefore, literacy must be integrated into the learning schedule and positioned on students' and teachers' daily agendas. In addition, having good programs is the catalyst to create a firm mindset that reading is necessary for long life goals. In the end, having good quality programs will also affect people's satisfaction and the number of students enrolled in our school later.
My long-term goal is to be a headteacher within ten years. Through professional study in the UK, I would use my understanding and experiences to engage in school development. As a school leader, I can contribute to wider-scale societies through a regional school leader community in my area. Moreover, this platform is an influential authority in policy-making and program determinations for public and private schools. Their duties also include designing exam questions that are essential in assessing the student's knowledge every quarter. As a result, the expertise and experience I will accomplish in the UK could be disseminated around me.
In conclusion, the LPDP scholarship could afford me the possibility to bridge my goals and contribute to the student development quality in Lampung, especially in public schools. This enormous opportunity will influence the preference for public school treatment of the students. In simple yet straightforward steps of each school to support students' literacy, it is possible to elevate our student competencies to be high-quality professionals in their reign later as golden generation 2045.
