Yogyakarta State University proves its commitment to improve teacher quality by facilitating school leaders, parent council representatives, and teachers of elementary and junior high schools in a training to improve the teaching and learning process and school management in a collaboration program with the USAID Prioritas.  Entitled Meeting and Working with Teacher Training Institute Partner and Lab Schools the program was conducted on Monday, April 7^th 2014.

In  this collaboration with USAID Prioritas,  school leaders, teachers, and parent council representatives sit together to reflect on how the teaching and learning processes have been conducted,  the obstacles they find in managing their schools and making policies, planning the school programs, the parents’ involvement in running the school programs or implementing the teaching and learning process and what they have done so far to overcome those problems.

As the schools involved in this collaboration program are also the lab schools for YSU students to have teaching practices,  the students are expected to gain knowledge of  school management . “The schools are expected to be pioneers in quality education of state schools throughout the country”, said Haryanto, the Dean of the Faculty of Education. Beside, this program is aimed at enhancing the quality of the teaching practices of the student teachers.

“In the labschools, the students will learn about five mangerial aspects which are included in students, teachers, and administrative staff empowerment, library management, and school environment,” added the Head of the Teaching and Field Practices Program, Ngatman, M.Pd..

“After reflecting on the obstacles and actions to make changes in their schools, the teachers, principals, and parents sit together to later identify the needs and weaknesses of the school management and teaching and learning processes. Then the findings identified will be used to determine actions to improve the teaching and learning process and school management in two cycles within a year,” explained the Afifudin, M.Sc., Ph. D, a teacher training institute development specialist working for USAID. (yla)