Teachers’ and Student Teachers’ Perception and Self-Efficacy on Character Education

Abstract

The ministry of education of Indonesia has issued several provisos concerning the virtues integral to school curricula, framed as character education. Teachers and, assumedly, student teachers, shoulder fundamental roles in embracing these values into school intra- and extra- curricular designs. These designs encompass primarily lesson plans and instructional materials. Notwithstanding, the current discussions have highlighted gapping void between the aspirations toward which teachers and students are expected to march and the education by which they prepare their future character education. The present study delves into teachers and student teachers’ perceptions and self-efficacy on character education. It employs descriptive quantitative design to portray the general voices among teachers and student teachers with regard to character education. The research data are collected through online survey distributed to 134 participants of diverse educational as well as professional profiles. The findings highlight the harmony among participants with regard to the urgency of embracing character education, yet ambivalence prevails when dealing with the efficacy of shouldering the task. Implications on current character education and suggestions future character education are proposed. In Indonesian setting, despite the stirrings within teacher community to give character education higher prominence, most of the participants are still doubtful about how much they can accrue positive changes in students’ characters.