PAKEM Exhibition at SD Baleharjo 2, Pacitan

SDN Baleharjo 2, Pacitan held a PAKEM Exhibition on 1 July 2005 to coincide with its school leaving ceremony. The activity that was supported by the whole school committee took place in the school yard and in four of its classrooms. According to the principal, Bpk Syamsuhadi, S.Pd, (photo below) the objective of this event was to show PAKEM learning processes to parents and to help empower the school committee.

The exhibition, which was visited by all the parents from the grades 1 to 6, was very lively because of participation of invited guests and members of the general public. The exhibition began with a drum band procession in which students, teachers and school committee members took part. This was then followed by the presentation of the students' reports and then the key activity was the exhibition itself. The exhibition took place in four classrooms that were supervised by teachers to guide visitors.

The parents walked around looking at the displays of student work, media, learning resources, and portfolios that will be taken home as a evidence of the students' work. The guides also explained about the what, why, and how of PAKEM. They also explained the use of the learning resources that are available in the school and children’s environment.

The exhibition visitors were very enthusiastic. According to Bpk Samino, one of the committee members, the activity was very interesting and the committee plans to hold exhibitions of the school's work annually because it demonstrates the students’ achievements and creativity. The activity was all the more special because it was opened by the Bupati. In the evening they held an art show which featured work from SD Baleharjo 2 students.

PAKEM Dissemination & 2nd Level Facilitators in Pacitan.

PAKEM is becoming even more evident in Pacitan district. Beside its presence in the 20 MBE target schools, active learning has been disseminated to other neighboring schools. The first year the local government allocated a budget, even though the amount was limited, to support and assist with training schools in the competency based curriculum.

Many schools were supported in conducting training. Besides this the schools themselves conducted their own training supported by MBE through the use of the district facilitators. In 2005, even though dissemination is not easy, local government remains committed to continuous development.

This commitment is spearheaded by the MBE program management duo of Drs. Kardoyo, M.Si and Bpk Misgiman, S.Pd. and fully supported by the Head of the Education Office. At every opportunity, Drs. Sakundeko, MM the young leader of the educational office repeats the slogan "There's no day without quality improvement".

To make the PAKEM dissemination to schools effective, it requires strategies that are appropriate. Dissemination that ignores sustainability will only exhaust funding and will not achieve satisfactory results.

PAKEM Orientation in Madiun SMP-MTs

One of the difficulties that is often encountered in junior secondary schools is getting PAKEM or Contextual Learning (CTL) practices adopted by all the teachers. This is because out of say 50-70 teachers only about 10 actually receive training. In Madiun, schools conducted an orientation program that involved all teachers.

The ten teachers who had been trained in PAKEM/CTL methods practiced their skills by teaching in front of the class while being observed by the other teachers who have not yet been trained. The demonstrations by the 10 trained teach-ers were divided into two sessions so that the other teachers could observe two different lessons.

They then conducted discussions in their subject groups. The discussion forum provides a means of finding good and helpful solutions to their problems. The first thing discussed was the teachers' opinion about the lessons they had observed. If they said the lessons were not very interesting, then they discussed how to make them more interesting. The discussion then moved to the preparation needed in order that classroom learning involves the students more.

From the discussions it was evident that the biggest worry teachers have was that by using PAKEM methods curriculum targets may not be achieved. The solution they found was for teachers to share their role with the students. If there was material that was easy to learn, they let the students learn it by themselves.

The teacher can then test their understanding of the material. By this method the students are more responsible and there is much activity outside school time. These orientation programs were conducted between 7 and 12 a.m.