Teacher agency and the implementation of CEFR-like policies for English for tourism and hospitality: insights from local vocational high schools in Indonesia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tourism is a service industry that demands well-trained professionals with internationally accredited skills including English language proficiency. Meeting such demands has been one of the foremost concerns of the ASEAN ministries of tourism and education. In collaboration with ASEAN member countries and the Australian government, Indonesian Ministry of Education and Ministry of Tourism piloted the integration of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), ASEAN Common Competency Standards for Tourism Professionals (ACCSTP), Common ASEAN Tourism Curriculum (CATC), Regional Qualifications Framework and Skills Recognition System (RQFSRS), and Indonesian Qualification Framework (IQF) into the National Curriculum (K-13) for hospitality and tourism education. Successfully trying out at hospitality and tourism colleges, the project was subsequently extended to vocational high schools. The study reported in this article investigated how the various policies were integrated by English teachers for their implementation in vocational high schools in a local Indonesian context and what outcomes and experiences resulted from this process. The article illustrates micro-level teacher agency in meeting regional, national and local policy mandates for preparing tourism and hospitality professionals for the common ASEAN job market.