Teacher professionalism in Indonesia, Malaysia, and New Zealand

Issues related to reacher professionalism may differ among countries. In Indonesia, the problems of reacher professionalism are connected to pre-service education and the lack of continuous professional development. In Malaysia, the major issues are concerned with reaching and management skills of teachers. In New Zealand, teachers face major issues related to work overload and the feeling of poor payment. Using a qualitative approach, chis conceptual research paper discusses the issues of teacher professionalism and how the government takes roles in the continuing professional development of teachers in Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand. The research data was collected from the existing literature containing descriptions and discussions on the research topic and then analyzed using content analysis.The major findings of the study include chat these three counties have issued laws, legislation, and regulations regarding the teacher profession. Then, teachers in the three countries are required to have the teacher's standard competence embodied with a certificate. In addition, before entering the classroom, all New Zealand teachers must have a certificate of teaching eligibility, while in Malaysia and Indonesia, the teacher certification is executed when teachers are already in the service. Finally, compared to Indonesia and Malaysia, New Zealand has a complete plan for improving teacher professionalism. The study concludes that the three countries put serious effort into improving the teaching profession. Similar research with more country samples would enrich the understanding of ways in which teacher professional development is conducted, thus providing valuable lessons for future reflections.